Today was another sick day for me. I had horrible insomnia last night and woke up late in the day with a slight fever. Most of the day consisted of sitting on the couch with a bowl of popcorn, a huge water bottle, and the cats watching episodes of Clean House. Man, I love that show. Eventually I felt better, enough to actually start tidying the house. Maybe Niecy Nash inspired me to get up and moving or maybe it was the fact that being sick and immobile all day BLOWS. I took care of the usual suspect: dishes, bedroom, bathroom. And then I knew I had to get in the craft after posting the embarrassing pictures. I wanted to prove that I could get it together and I think I did a nice job. I even hung a decorative calendar on the wall.

This colorful calendar is from Jess Gonacha who happens to live in the Atlanta area. Not only is she a fantastic digital artist, she’s also local for me, which made purchasing her calendar all that more enjoyable. We don’t have much art up in the house yet so anything on the walls is exciting and makes the space look fresh. I love it!

And then I got to work on my circular needle binder. For some reason the only clear sleeves I could find at Sam Flax the day I gathered supplies for this binder were photo sleeves divided into quarters. I figured I could make it work, and it sort of did, but when you have two pairs of 60 inch long size US 11 needles to squeeze into a tiny pouch, it isn’t the best fit. When I cleaned out my closet earlier this week I discovered a huge pack of plastic sleeves I had left over from my senior English portfolio. Yay!

So I went from this- with the circular needles stuck in tiny quarter-page pockets-

To a beautifully organized and tabbed binder full of my circs-

I also put my loose paper patterns in sleeves and added them to the back. Now everything is consolidated and easy to find.

I’ve decided to get circular needles to work on my scarf. I knit almost everything with circular needles nowadays and I find straight needles kind of awkward and heavy to handle. If I’m wearing something with long sleeves the ends of the needles get caught up in my sleeves. And with the scarf getting heavier and heavier, any less bulk is a good thing. I may sub tomorrow if I feel better, so I think I’ll reward myself with a trip to Knitch (yay!) if I get a job and make it through the day!

Remember those cardboard boxes in the picture from my last post? Stinky moved into the bottom apartment.

I’ve been on a mission in 2009 to read great books. When I graduated last Spring with my English degree, I was determined not to read anything more in depth than a fashion magazine for awhile and I’m glad I went through that phase, because now I’m ready to get back into some meaty books. I walk through bookstores with desire. With the weather so nice, I took little Harper (baby I nanny for two days a week) into the East Atlanta Village and stopped by Bound to Be Read Books and got two new books.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel and Trailer Trashed by Hollis Gillespie.

I just started Pi and really love Martel’s philosophical style and world influences. World literature fascinates me and I can’t wait to get deeper into this book. Hollis Gillespie’s new book is the third memoir she’s written and she lives in Atlanta. When I worked at WRAS-FM I had the pleasure of interviewing her and Grant Henry. I was high on Sudafed and a sinus infection and had the best time. I still keep in touch with them a few times during the year, but really I love living in my own city vicariously through her books. If you like David Sedaris, give Hollis Gillespie a shot. You might not get all the references to various locales in Atlanta, but her childhood tales bring the laughter and the tears.

I also picked up Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut at Borders the other day. I’ve read Slaughterhouse-Five, Man Without a Country, and “Fates Worse Than Death” from him and love, love, LOVE me some Vonnegut. I hope I don’t get too impatient and start reading all three of these at once. Geeze, it’ll be just like when I start a zillion knitting projects at once… heh.

I just got a call to sub tomorrow from a friend so it is time to end posting and get to sleep! Have a wonderful week. I have plans to recycle some cardboard mailers I found later this week, maybe start blocking the end of the Mario Scarf, and to drink lots and lots of water! No more being sick!

I’ve seen all these awesome pictures of craft rooms floating around the Interwebs lately. Whip Up featured some spectuacular rooms recently that make me pine for a steady income so that I can ravage IKEA and organize to my heart’s content. At the beginning of January I completely cleaned and organized my craft room and posted the pictures on Flickr. I look at those pictures and just sigh. I wish I were the type of person who is able to simply put things away after use. Instead I tend to let things simmer, pile up, and expand until I have a mini-meltdown and clean everything at once.

Things are in another expansion phase right now. I have a feeling that after posting this I’ll be overcome with shame and having major cleaning session tomorrow afternoon. I’m the messiest person I know, but boy do I love to organize!

The left side of the room is obviously the space I occupy and use the most. Definitely could stand some de-cluttering.

This is my spinning corner. I just hung a calendar set from Jess Gonacha, but my arrangment isn't doing so well. The brown boxes used to hold all my yarn.

I did get the chance to reorganize the closet this week. It may not look like it, but things are much easier to reach and my books are better arranged. The yarn is now in clear plastic containers- much better than cardboard boxes.

I love how these clear containers wrangle the yarn and display it so nicely. No more cats in the yarn boxes.

So there it is. The craft room in all its messy glory. I’d love to see pictures of your craft/creating rooms and want to post a few of them. I love finding new inspiration for this room because, in turn, it inspires me!

And since I said the other day that I’d include stuff about my cats, I have a picture for you of Stinky. This cat has the quirkiest personality of any cat I’ve met. She’s such a nut. We’re always finding her making funny faces or odd positions. Here’s a recent pose on our bed:

Lovely, no?

I hope everyone’s had a great Valentine’s weekend. I’ve been battling a slew of various illnesses over the past few days including a stomach virus. The poor boyfriend took me to the Highland Bakery for breakfast and I ate my pancakes and bacon and promptly got sick when we got home. I was so sad because he’d been looking forward to treating me to a Valentine’s breakfast all week and I was looking forward to the Highland Bakery’s super crunchy bacon. Stomach virus aside, it’s been a nice day and I have to share the Valetine from Anenome Letterpress on Etsy I gave Jason- it’s so nerdy!

Brilliant.