I hate to admit it, but I am a resolution kinda gal. The thing is, I don’t have to wait til New Year’s to want to start over, but sometimes it takes an excuse like New Years to kick my butt in gear. One of the more immediate items on the to-do list is to clean this baby up:

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It’s hard to be creative when your place of creativity is trashed. It’s hard to find anything in my piles of projects (I guarantee you that I have +10 WIPs somewhere in all those bags). My knitting is MIA in there, I can’t find my crochet projects, and my jewelry stuff is everywhere, and my sewing is buried under everything. Very uninspiring. So I will be cleaning that up in hopes that I can reclaim my creativity and hopefully grasp control of this area. Wish me luck. =P

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On a brighter note, I made some handbag purchases that momentarily distracted me from my craft room frustrations. This portion of my post is an homage to my friend Jen’s Thursday Purse Days. Not only do I love my new purchases, I got a deal on them too, which I’m sure would make Jen proud.

1. Red Handbag

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This handbag was on sale and I paid only $25! It was the last one on the shelf. What’s so great about this was not only the color and the structure of it, it has a coordinating CLUTCH that fits right in - if you need to downsize, it’s so convenient! How awesome is that?

2. Chococat Handbag

It’s Chococat, hellooo! $13 at a Sanrio outlet store. Enough said. =)

I think I LIKE the idea of being organized, and sometimes I can even be anal about it, but in most cases, I’m too lazy to be a neat freak. I do, however, love all things stationary-ish and anything related to office supplies. This also applies to anything container-like (see The Container Store). Give me an office supply catalogue any day and I’ll actually take the time to thumb through it just as if it was a yarn catalogue - eyeing things that I don’t necessarily need, but it’s just eye-candy for me. =)

So today when I came across this craft container, a swivel/revolving desk organizer at my local Target’s, I nearly died with excitement. I instantly purchased it and when I got home, I went straight upstairs to my craft room to put it together.

I figured it would be a useful purchase, to help me clean up this mess on my desk (here is the before picture):

After some organizing, all clean (the after picture):

It measures 9 inches x 9 inches, all the way around. There are a couple drawers, complete with compartments, a side for magnets, two places to display a pretty picture, and oh, did I mention that it swivels?? =) A couple angles of my revolving cube organizer (click for a close-up):

Seriously, I’m so stoked about this piece of desk organization that sometimes I just sit at this desk and swivel it around and stare at it (lame, I know). It’s only a matter of time when things get messy again, but for now, I’m enjoying how everything is placed in their proper place. Yay! =)

Sorry for the small absence! Needed some time to sort some personal issues. With the quiet personal time that I had, I delved into my knitting in a therapeutic way - it was refreshing, relaxing, and soothing. No pressures to finish anything or make anything fabulous; instead, knitting purely for the delicious, rhythmic, comforting movements. All those yarn loops, coming off the needles, there’s something about it that touches the soul. For me, this is something that I can have some mastery over (if I can’t have control over anything else in my life, at least this); and when something beautiful emerges, the act of creation itself pleases something in the innermost depths of me.

So because I have been such a process knitter lately, of course, I’ve barely finished anything. I have at least 5 WIPs just sitting around waiting to be 1) blocked, 2) seamed, 3) felted. For now, I’m working on finishing at least something.

In the meantime, I’ve done some other projects…

Homemade Borscht - The first time I’ve had this soup (Russian-style) was in Pike’s Market, Seattle. Absolutely hands down fell in love with it. I’ve been trying to recreate it in my kitchen ever since, and I think I’ve found the recipe I like best:

Banana Bread (recipe courtesy of Caitlyn - thanks!)! I always love banana bread, and I am already accumulating a collection of different variations. This one I’ll definately add to my pile. I think it’s the healthiest banana bread I’ve ever made (which is a good thing)! It’s soft and sweet and very yummy.

Other projects I’ve been occuppied with… and I am so excited to reveal… my new craft/sewing room!! (Click on a thumbnail for a close-up)

I have to first say that I have a very understanding husband, who wanted to see me happy because of all the sadness I’ve been clouded with lately (he was successful - I was absolutely giddy with glee). I also have to say that this is only half of the actual room - it’s a rather large room and I felt way too guilty to take up the whole space, so my crafting space is taking up only one side of it (the other side is a computer, a guest futon/bed, etc.). I picked out a light sage color for the walls, and all the furniture are pieces from IKEA. I finally have enough cabinet/storage space to neatly organize all my things. The table space is perfect for laying out my fabrics and cutting/sewing, and I especially love the bookcases and the glass flower doors (I have a small stash, so it all fits in there perfectly).

It’s still a bit bare as I am still moving things into that space. But I’m already getting things organized and having so much fun with it!