Tag: moving

Posted in Home, Queens Lake

Making a home

Posted on by kymhretz

This moving stuff is so much, not so fun, work.  Luckily Stevie came just a few days after we moved in and really made a huge dent in the unpacking.

Then my mom and her friend, Judy, were here last week. They completely unpacked Hanna’s boxes. That was a really big help. Since Hanna is away at school her room will be the acting as the guest room. My mom also worked in the yard quite a bit. She really misses having a large yard, I’m happy to accommodate her love of gardening. She prepped some garden areas, put out lots of garden decor and planted some roses. She was happy and I was happy!

I’m the indoor cat to my mom’s outdoor cat.

I love decorating, moving things around and editing what we have to work in new ways. I have an eclectic style, a bit farmhouse, a bit traditional and now a bit New Mexican. We don’t typically buy new furniture or big investment types of purchases. I like to change things around so garage or resale purchases are better for the budget and frankly my style. We have many family pieces, like the tv that my grandma dragged from someone’s trash to her house, she gutted out the tv parts leaving the shell of the case. She then refinished it, adding glass doors and a glass shelf. I use it to house the various crystal we have, also, mostly hand me downs.  I love this sort of stuff. Historical pieces, well, my history anyway.

This is the TV cabinet my Grandma repurposed

I want our house to be…..timeless, not trendy. You won’t find a sign that says “Farmhouse” or drop cloth curtains hanging from our windows or anything like that. Not trendy, rather, updated and comfortable.

After mom and Judy left I went in and added the little touches to Hanna’s room that make a place special. She wanted to incorporate cacti into the design and I found these cute cacti lights at Pier One so I tucked those under the edge of the upper cabinets. Super cute if you ask me.

Hanna chose a pretty Emerald green but I went with the lightest color on the card, Breaktime, to give a spa like feel. Before she left  for school Hanna picked out some throw pillows and accent pieces to go in her room. plus we purchased the chair and nightstands I previously talked about on my blog. I purchased new all white linens to keep with the spa/hotel vibe I wanted. I’m going to add several pictures of her room for you. What do you think? I love how it turned out.

Hanna loves it, too. And we are ready for guests! Whose coming next? YOU?

I’m hoping to squeeze in some knitting this weekend. I really should get in my craft room and finish unpacking there. I have way too many books. Not to mention I haven’t even opened the boxes labeled yarn or crafts yet, I won’t say it out loud but it’s a hot mess in there. Look at the picture with your eyes closed please.

Real life ahead————–>

Happy knitting.

 

 

Posted in Reading, Williamsburg, VA

The Journey Begins

Posted on by kymhretz

Today I moved my blog to WordPress from Blogger. I’m trying really hard to update things here regularly as I really want to share my love of knitting with you. I also want to keep track of the new things in my life. The year of 2018 is bringing so many different things. We moved from Las Cruces, New Mexico to Williamsburg, Virginia at the beginning of December in 2017. I’m really excited to live in a place that has such a rich history in the birth of our country! I’m looking forward to learning through the living history at Colonial Williamsburg and exploring Jamestown and Yorktown.

I’m currently reading the Lacemaker By Laura Frantz. It is set in Williamsburg, Virginia during the American Revolution. The Main character, Lady Elizabeth “Liberty” Lawson is charming, resilient and determined. As her world unravels around her Liberty sets her mind to fining a way to be independent using her creativity to make it on her own in a time when woman had little options. She uses her skill as a lace maker to set herself up in the folly behind the tavern Raleigh taking in lace orders and mending. [Raleigh is a real life tavern that saw many important meetings with General George Washington, Thomas Jefferson to name a few. Probably the walls hold all the secrets that went into the development of Declaration of Independence.] As the story progresses you find Liberty putting herself right in the middle of the danger and proving her name is just the beginning of who she is and what she stands for. This book is exactly what a new Virginian needs, I find I’m searching the history books to learn more about the names and places mentioned.

So here I go.

I’m on my way.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

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Posted in Family, knitting, Ravelry knit projects, yarn

Hanna’s Exoskeleton and a KAL

Posted on by kymhretz

This sweater isn’t charming or sweet. It’s odd. It’s definitely quirky. It was a fun knit. I’m smitten with it.  So is Hanna! The Shusui Shrug by Susanne Sommer

Hanna looking radiant
I rarely use black yarn because it’s so hard to see the stitches. The contrast for white and black Brioche works really well. I can easily see the stitches as the Brioche technique combines both colors for each stitch. This is great for all the inevitable mistakes that happen when knitting a big project.  I certainly had my far share of those!
Knitpicks Hawthorne Speckle
When I first saw this project on The Woolshop Podcast I went directly to Ravelry and bought the pattern. Immediately starting the search for yarn.  Find read more about that on this previous post. I have the yarn to make one for me and I really want to start that now, I’m going to hold off so I can instead focus on a KAL I want to participate in.
Hanna was excited to have a fun photo shoot for her Exoskeleton on a super cold day in the snow. She likes it, she really, really likes it.


Hanna, Hannah [Hanna and her BFF do indeed share a name] and I went to my local yarn store. Which is unbelievably exciting. I am so happy to have a LYS. It’s a great shop. The store is The Flying Needles and the owner Susan is wonderful! She is fun, charming and you can tell she has enthusiasm for the yarn she carry’s. There are so many samples in the store. It’s a feast for your eyes, bright colors in every corner, and it gives you an irresistible urge to touch all the things. Susan has a large variety of big brands, Indie and local yarns.  I’ve had no shortage of things I wanted on both occasions I visited and therefore came home with new yarns.
The first time we went in I had mentioned I was looking to add to my own yarns to knit another Find your Fade and amazingly Susan was planning a KAL for the Find Your Fade and Free your Fade patterns by Andrea Mowrey. The casting on party is January 17th during the knit in, these take place from 5-7pm every Wednesday. I attended my first one this week. There’s a nice mix of ladies and there was lots of laughter and sharing.  I was thrilled to see the different color combos shared for the KAL. I am sure these evenings will brighten my life. I’m really looking forward to being a part of the knitting world here in my new little corner in Virginia.
My Find your Fade colors
I’m actively trying to look ahead to all the wonderful things our life in Virginia is presenting. If I spend too much time dwelling on what I’ve left behind in New Mexico I might not put myself out there and find good things like the LYS. I really miss my Tuesdays and Thursdays supporting people in their knitting journey. I reallllllly miss my Monday afternoon knitting with my friends who all met at my house. I miss starting my days with Raquel, who was Tim’s caregiver, but also my friend, if I had a sister it would be her…….it is her, she will always be my sister of my heart.
Onward and upward!
Happy knitting.