Procrastinating -- the eco conscious way

I should be working on an application which is due tomorrow, but I want the offered position so much it's scary to actually apply. Even to start writing the letter as once it's sent you can't go back and chance anything, can't regret anything, and it's so daunting. I want it so much -- and therefore I'll also be so sad if I don't get picked (no, I'm not telling just, not just because the odds are against me!).

Anyway, the way a creative person deals with these problems is... yes, of cause, by procrastinating! In this case, I'm sorting old clothes for my rag rug project. The clothes have already been culled when I did a wardrobe spring clean, basically it's clothes that are in too bad a condition to mend in a good way. Cheap clothes aren't always as easy to mend as the quality of the fabric is so bad and some of my clothes are so old, the fabric is worn down too much by now.

I sort them into four piles: t-shirt materials, cotton, cat prints and the rest. The t-shirts will become tarn for a crochet rug and the cotton might be used for locker hooking as it's a technique I want to try. When it comes to cat fabrics and cat prints, I want to save at least a few scraps as, you know... cats. The rest, I don't know what to do with yet.

As for why I'm making a rug, it's mainly because I don't want to spend money on bedroom rugs as they will inevitably be peed or barfed on by the cats. We have even had poo accidents. And I don't want to pay money for a rug that'll might end up being ruined in a few weeks. This way, I get the material free and I don't pay myself for labour. Sure, it won't be fun seeing a cat puking on a rug I've spent days making, but better than than seeing it happen to a rug that cost me hard-earned cash.

Also, recycling is green. I mean, mending clothes so you don't have to buy new ones are greener, but once you can't do that anymore you must of cause put the rags to use somewhere. Some rags I use for cleaning my floor, others become craft materials -- these rags will become rugs.


The application? Don't worry, there's still time -- there's a reason I sat down today like it was deadline day and not tomorrow. I'll finish it in time, I just wish I could feel as confident that I have a chance at the position... *sigh* I really want this, but there are so many talanted people I'm competing with... It's better to focus on the rug for a while, try to forget worrying.

Yes, that is a cat in a night cap in the middle.

Red tulips

Just a little pic of red tulips as I don't have time to post the pics I hoped to be ready to post today...

The tulips came with the warm weather this weekend. Now they're in full bloom and it's a sunny summer's day outside.

Ok... a pic of one of the yellow ones too.

Happy Easter!

It's easter again and I thought I'd show a few påskris pics. They're not great, but ironically this is something my sis put together some weeks ago and today we don't have a decorated påskris as the plum blossom wilted and this one was thrown out. So I don't have anything else to photograph.

The sparse decoration, notably lacking feathers, is due to her just putting up the new egg decorations she bought the day before. And, really, I'm not sure it was ever intended as a påskris, she just put the eggs there to see what they looked like. But the unorthodox choice of branches did make a very pretty påskris while it lasted, the blossom made it feel like the spring warmth was already here (especially when it bloomed during some pretty chilly, grey and rainy days).

Normally we use hazel branches or perhaps a few twigs of birch, but since the storm knocked down some of the trees my sis has spent the spring dragging in random branches and twigs to save them when the trees and bushes had to be cut down and disposed of.

Hope you're all having a lovely holiday!

Daffodils for easter

It's easter and the daffodils are in full bloom. I'll keep the text short and just let the pics speak today.

Of cause the cats were nearby, but it was only Jinja who wanted to pose:

I won't wish happy easter yet as I planned on doing that with a post tomorrow. But until then, hope you're having a lovely spring weekend!

Should I destash?

It's that time again -- a day when I go window shopping for beads and it ends up with the should-I-destash-or-not dallying that I do every now and then. As a hobbyist, I can't just buy beads all the time. Not selling anything, destashing it one of the ways I finance my bead addiction.

I've thought about doing something drastic and sell beads I've kept for some time and never used, mainly as a way to focus on the type of beads I love the most and build up a stash of beads that work well together, not just look pretty on their own. Out with the aqua fired agate rounds and rosequartz, in with the stone picasso beads and aged seeds.

It can feel so good to destash. Out with the old, in with the new. It's both a physical and mental spring cleaning. While keeping most of the stash (it's big), it's still a bit like creating a clean slate, a new start.


So why don't I destash? It's often a matter of doubting there's an interest and buying and a matter of time as it means you have to take photos, set prices, consider making bead soups or not, posting it online -- and then once the orders come you have all the administration around that. Putting the order together, letting the person know if someone else just bought that bead, wait for payment, buy stamps (which isn't that easy when living in the countryside with no bus lines and no driver's licence) and package everything. Last time I did a big destash I made a whole set of blog posts, as you can still see as I haven't taken the blog down.

I mean, it's fun too as you get money and more space for new beads. It's just that I want to feel certain it's worth all the work.

The one side I don't like about destashing is calculating the price -- and, yes, I know that with my education it should be super easy. I just hate the idea of overpricing and feel worried no one is going to buy unless I sell it cheap. Now you might say "well, why don't you go the auction route and let the buyers set the price"? But I don't feel confident that I'd get enough bidders interested -- or indeed that there'd be more than one or two finding my auctions.

One thing I've thought about is making lots -- everything from cheap bead lots to "premium style" with more expensive beads and supplies -- as it keeps the amount of work down a bit. But then I run into the problem of combining lots and making interesting mixes that'll attract buyers. I don't want to end up with people not buying because they just want one piece or two in a lot.


Unfortunately, the last three or four times I've thought about destashing I've gotten stuck in those kind of thoughts and never got around to destash. Now I feel like I can't let that happen again. I should take a day to just sit down a cull beads. Go through every box, jar and bag. Really ask myself if I should hang on to that or that bead/finding/cord. Yes, you might find that it was a good thing to save one day, but some beads will just work their way to the bottom of the stash and stay there forever unless you sell them or give them away.

Fingers crossed I get further than this old verbal rehash this time...

The yellow garden

It's the season of yellow flowers, at least in our garden. Of cause there's been yellow flowers earlier this spring too as well as there are a few flowers in other colour than yellow (scilla, violets etc), but right now it's the yellow colour that dominated against the green grass and budding leaves. Daffodils, lesser celadines (svalört), forsythia and the last few yellow stars-of-bethlehem (vårlök). The yellow crocus are, on the other hand, wilted by now. Not sure about the tussilagos as we don't have them right hear, but I'm adding a pic I took a little over two weeks ago.

Not all daffodils are in full bloom just yet, but they still fill much of the northern lawn as usual.

Even indoors, the yellow flowers are present, brightening the rooms.

What I'm working on

I'm playing with leather cords again. Hopefully I'll be showing some pics of the finished bracelets by the end of next week. The first one's ready, but I'm saving them for one post of all three pieces.