Blessings, Roses, and Piles of Stuff

Yesterday I tweeted this:

I have come to the conclusion I have too much stuff. World, please stop making things I want. Thank you. 🙂

And it is completely true. I have too much stuff. Too many cross stitch charts/kits, too much yarn, too many books. Too much of everything. Three things got me thinking about this. First, my aunt is in Mexico for the next four months and she has shared with me before how the people there make do with so much less than what we have. And second, with my local yarn shop closing and hosting a major sale, I stocked up on a whole pile of yarn at really good prices but have no place to put it. (Eight balls of Berroco Suede for CAN$1 each instead of the regular CAN$12.99? Yes, please!)  And the third was sorting through Baby Man’s toys.  With his 2nd birthday coming up, I figured it was time to pass on or throw away his baby toys.  And even with the culling I did, he still has a ridiculous amount of toys.

I wonder why it is that North American society is so fixated on gathering things.  I know I have more cross stitch supplies than I can use in a lifetime, and yet every time a favourite designer releases a pattern I have to look and see if it is something I want, and it usually  is.  With 52 WIPs and 62 kitted up designs (yes, that is one more than last time, see below), you’d think I was set for life.  But, I’m always looking for something new.  I wonder if this is a search for “Something More”, a search our whole society seems to be on.

Yes, I’m in a bit of an introspective mood.  I have been pretty sad since we had Isis put down last week, which means I’ve been doing a lot of navel gazing.  I am, slowing, feeling better.  And it is the kind words of friends and family that have helped the most.  I think I surprised myself by how upset I’ve been, but it is to be expected, I suppose, when you lose a companion of 16+ years.

Anyway, on to the fun stuff!  While I didn’t win Pauline’s blogoversary draw (Congratulations Blu! You seem to be having a fabulous run of good luck lately!), she has offered to stitch me a pinkeep too.  And I am just tickled pink by that. The generosity of the stitching blog-o-sphere is wonderful. Thank you, Pauline.

And that brings me to prize I won from Yoyo for the 2009 Totally Useless Stitch Along.  She sent me needles, folding scissors, Roses Are Red from La-D-Da and all the threads needed to stitch it.  I’m so happy! And, I’ve got the perfect fabric to stitch the design on, a weirdly coloured Days Gone By from Silkweaver (I say that because it looks different than the other pieces of that colour I have seen).  So, that makes kitted design #62, but I think I will get started on it soon since it will be perfect to display for Valentine’s Day.  Thank you, Yoyo.

TUSAL Prize

Even though I’ve been feeling sad, I have been stitching and knitting.  I’ve made progress on Enchanting Lair’s Kitchen Blessing, but I’ve run out of the silk I’m using.  I’ll be picking up some more tonight. (Thank you, Erica!)

Kitchen Blessing by Enchanting Lair

I’ve also stitched some more on Sewing the Seeds.  No new mistakes, so far.  But I am missing two DMC colours, which I am sure I had bought.  Again, I’ll get these tonight.

Sewing the Seeds

And here is the Kris Knits January KAL up to part 2.  I still have no idea what it is.

Kris Knits January KAL - Part 2

I’m also working on socks for my husband, using Ultra Alpaca Fine and a face mask, and a wee baby jacket using Bernat’s Cottontots.  But neither of those are at a point where they are interesting to look at.