Progress All Around

Knitting at work is probably the greatest decision I've ever made. Also, having a job where I have some time for it is even better! Since starting my first pair of socks ever on Saturday (or was it Sunday?) I'm about half way through the first sock. I would probably be a lot further if I had been bringing my actual copy of Getting Started Knitting Socks to work with me, but since I already haul too much stuff back and forth I've been snapping pictures of the pattern on my phone and going from that. So I can only get so much done in a day, doing it that way. Luckily I'm reading Wicked for the third or fourth time, so don't worry...it's not like I have nothing to do when I'm not knitting!

Anyway, I've just passed the heel on my first sock, which I've heard from some other knitters is the most frustrating part of socks...and well, so far, so good! I'm actually pretty pleased with them so far!

The best thing about knitting at work is that I'm getting two projects done at once. I don't normally like to bounce between projects, because one always ends up being forgotten, but if I keep one at work and one at home I think I'll do okay.

At home I'm working on a Jake the Dog hat, which (like most of what I make) is from my own pattern. It's probably the most complicated thing I've come up with on my own, but it's not too bad (at least I don't think so).

I had been planning on selling it in my shop, but my 5 year old is really excited about it and asked me if he could have it. I know it's an item that would sell (I have yet to sell anything online yet!) but I may just give in to his adorable charms and let him have it...and then I can make another to sell. Or vice versa! We'll see!

The other day I managed to sew Jakes nose onto his jowls. All that's left is to sew that onto the hat, as well as the eyes and ears, and we're golden!

I'm super excited about a book I got last night too. My favorite section of Indigo is the knitting one...although I rarely pick out a book I have to buy. I like to make my own patterns most of the time. But I saw this and I had to have it.

Right? It has the patterns for the cute things on the front, but mostly I wanted it for the charts! It has charts for both upper and lower case letters for a handful of fonts, and all I could think of was all the possibilities for personalized projects!! As usual, I think I'll test drive it with something for my son, and if all goes well maybe I'll offer up personalization in my Etsy shop (and of course via Facebook, etc).

Now, not only can I knit all the things, but I can also knit all the names!!!!

We Go Way Back

On top of my hobby of knitting, I've been super sucked into Ancestry lately.  It started as an innocent curiosity about a month ago, and I've since expanded my tree to a total of 586 people so far (yes, I have an insanely huge family), started a paid membership, and have spent quite a bit of time (both and work and at home) trying to find new things.

Today I made one hell of a discovery.  My mom had added her many, many, many cousins on her dad's side, as well as her aunts and uncles, for me.  I noticed that one of her aunts was a Clifton before she got married - and it just so happens that my dad's mom comes from the Clifton family as well.  Not only that, but they all originate, at some point or another, in southern Alberta.  So I pointed that out to my mom, and she said she'd always wondered whether there was a relation... and I instantly became determined and knew I would have to find out!  I quickly messaged my mom's cousin Sharon (the one who's mom was a Clifton) and asked for her mom's parents' names.  Luckily she knew them, and I added their names to my tree.  Immediately Robert's name (her grandfather) came up with a hint!  YES!  I clicked it and one of the hints was someone else's tree complete with a picture!!!  I sent the picture on to Sharon, who confirmed that it was definitely her grandfather!  Awesome!!!  So, I searched my tree for anyone with the same name.  There was another Robert Clifton, but the years didn't line up right, so I assumed it was the younger Robert's namesake.  Thanks to Ancestry hints, though, I quickly found the connection between my dad's Clifton's, and my mom's cousin's.

I am indeed related to those cousins in more than one way!  Sharon's great-great-grandfather, John Clifton, is also my dad's great-great-grandfather.  Small world... especially if you come from a long line of LDS people who, at some point, lived in/were born in/grew up in southern Alberta!

And now, off to make some more discoveries!

Work Life

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm a receptionist at a printing company. I'll be the first to admit, it gets a little quiet down here (especially since the majority of my co-workers are on an entirely different floor than me) so I have a lot of down time. In the past three months, I've spent most of that down time reading - in fact I've gotten through about 6 books in the past three months!

But since Christmas is right around the corner and I'll inevitably have a lot to make in the next two months (yikes!) I've finally brought some knitting in with me!

I've wanted to learn socks for as long as I've been knitting, but it always ends up on the back burner. I finally picked up a sock book recommended to me on Instagram (I believe it's called Getting Started Knitting Socks) and I'm gonna do it!!

I'm starting out by knitting a pair of rather plain socks for my son. Making things for him is great practice!

All in all, here's what my day looks like today (or at least my morning, so far):

And We're Off!

Having recently opened my Etsy shop, KnitsyBitsySpiders, after what seems like ages of planning, I've decided to go into it full force and add a blog to my list of KBS-themed Internet goodies.  I've had a Facebook page as well as a Twitter account focused on KBS for months (ever since I started putting my shop together) and I figure the next step I should take is blogging.

So I guess an introduction would be a good place to start, right?  I'm terrible at talking about myself, but I'll give it a go!

First off, my name is Kayla.  I work as a receptionist at a printing company, which leaves me a fair amount of time to screw around on the Internet (while still doing my job, of course).  I worked in retail for years, and finally managed to get out of that and into this three months ago - and let me just say, thank god.  Quite frankly, I was a mess when I was in retail.  Schedules that are never the same, dealing with jerks all the time (customers and coworkers alike)... that puts a lot of stress on a person, even if the job itself was never stressful!  Now I have a regular, normal schedule... I like the people I work with... and I'm pretty damn good at my job!

Aside from that, obviously I love to knit.  That started when I was pregnant with my son, and just kind of took off from there.  I didn't get really into it until he was a little bit older, but I just kind of took to it like I had been doing it my whole life, and selling what I make just eventually became the next step.  Honestly, if I could not work (even though I love my job) and just spend all of my time knitting, I would be a very happy girl!

I'm a bit of a TV addict too, I'll be the first to admit... but hey, there is really nothing better than sitting in front of a good show and getting some knitting done!  (On a related note... I can't wait for the fall shows to start tonight!)

I'm also a little bit of a comic book geek.  I'm fairly new to it, but I'm getting pulled in more and more as time goes on!

As you may have guessed, I am also a mom.  I have a five year old son, Aden, who just started kindergarten this month!  He's a smart kid, with a super creative imagination, and like most five year old boys, a love for superheroes.  He absolutely loves knitted things from me (we'll see how long that lasts), including the Batman hat and Spider-man mittens I made for him last year.  I'm currently working on a Jake the Dog hat, which I had planned on selling but he seems to have claimed for himself - I might just have to make another one for the shop!

I'm not with Aden's dad, and Aden's time is split between both of our houses - but I am with a wonderful man, Tyler, and we're getting married in just less than a year!  We're planning an awesome comic-book-themed geek fest, complete with deep-fried pickles (basically the entire reason I wanted the venue we chose) and hopefully as little stress as possible!  We live in a tiny apartment with a black cat named Hailstorm (Aden named her when he was three) and walls covered in geek art.

And, I think that's pretty much it!

Here is where you can find KnitsyBitsySpiders on Etsy!  In the future I'll be posting pictures of my creations as they come together, as well as (maybe) some knitting tutorials and things like that.  I know a few people have asked how I make my bear ears, so I may share that here fairly soon.  And, so I don't bore you all to tears, I'll talk about other stuff here too - life, wedding, etc, etc, etc.

For more pictures and other related stuff, you can also check out my KBS Facebook page and my Twitter account!

Knitting requests are something I've always done as well, so please feel free to get in touch with me if there is something you'd like to see!  I always have an ongoing list of projects, so I can't guarantee you'll get anything right away, but keep me in mind! :)