I finally got brave enough to start working on my studio space/craft room/office that is our upstairs sunroom off the master bedroom.

I've got this set of cabinets from IKEA and y'all, they're just not meant for being moved every few years! I started out with four of them, bought new when we lived in Texas the year before my son was born. They moved from there to Virginia, then back to Texas, followed by California.

They were getting a little wobbly by that third move, but the packers put giant pieces of plastic wrap on them for the trip to California and they did okay!

The move to Hawaii nearly took them all out, though.

I managed to salvage three of them by separating the top and bottom parts and reinforcing the backs.

The bottoms, which are kind of like a small chest of drawers, did okay, but those top pieces weren't looking so hot when we unwrapped them!

I took all the shelves out, pulled off the splintered pieces and removed the back off one of them completely, and then I reinforced them once again with some not-so-pretty but very functional L-brackets on the outdside of each one to hold the thicker backing boards on that I had added in Hawaii.

And so I still have three cabinets! Though I'm not holding my breath for them to survive the next move. Here are two of them in the new space:

Unpacking and settling into a new house is utterly exhausting. And it takes so LONG, too.

It doesn't seem to matter how hard we go in the first week or two, we always lose steam before we're done. (And that's how you end up with boxes that don't get unpacked for several moves in a row.)

But eventually we'll get through most of it. I hope, lol.

The reason I was finally motivated to start unpacking in there was because I needed my knit blockers. I've finished two more small projects since the scarf! As you might have noticed in the picture. 😁

The first one is a Specklewerk Cowl using one of my skeins of handspun yarn, but I accidentally put a full twist into it when I joined it in the round and I didn't even notice it until I was three or four rounds in. And so I decided to leave it in!

It DID get a bit fiddly as the cowl got wider because I had to untwist it as I worked around, and I didn't anticipate how much smaller it would make the circumference, but I can still squeeze it over my head, so I called it done and gave it a bath!

What do you think about the twist worked into the cowl as you crochet? Have you ever tried something like this??

I think a traditional mobius form only has a half twist and so you have to work the piece flat and join the ends together for that.

So I'm curious to see how this piece looks after blocking (I'm hoping for a wee bit more circumference).

And yes, those are pool noodles I'm using to block the cowl! I usually flip it over after 24 hours or so, though with as humid as it is here in Georgia, and with that twist in the fabric, it might take DAYS for this thing to dry!

We'll see, though. Maybe I'll put it out in the sun tomorrow.

The other piece on my blocking mats is a new abstract landscape piece with some of my oldest handspun yarn, which was one of the supplementary samples I spun to go along with the original tapestry that was published in the Summer 2021 issue of Spin Off magazine.

It was fun to return to this fiber and give it new life! I had forgotten just how gorgeous it was.

SO many delicious little flecks of color and texture! Wildethyme Art has been one of my favorite sources for both solid fibers and fun, textured batts ever since then.

Here's how it looked after hand-winding it (still haven't found my little cake winder!):

So yummy! I was really excited to get started working on it. I think I finished it in two days flat, and that was with a mid-way frogging!

Crocheting again has felt good.

Both the cowl and the tapestry are made with the linen stitch (video tutorial and written instructions here!) and although there's some counting that goes into the beginning of a project, once it gets going it's a really excellent stitch pattern for tired brains at the end of a long day of unpacking!

Not to mention the side quest of helping my ten-year-old not be too bored over summer break. He's actually been a pretty good helper, off and on. He doesn't like flattening packing paper any more than I do, lol, but his back doesn't ache after doing it!

There's been a lot of reading, some board games, too much TV and video games, and a few walks with a bit of bird watching thrown in.

All things considered, I think we're doing all right. Summer will be over before we know it, I'm sure, and it will be time to settle into a new routine at a new school. Fifth grade this year! Hard to believe sometimes.

Okay! Before I go getting all nostalgic, I better get back to work.

My next task is figuring out how to reassemble my office chair...

Wish me luck!

-Connie

P.S. I also just unpacked my big camera, yay! I need to charge the battery and then I'll be able to get back to taking some better bird pictures, I hope. We did spot this cool dude on our walk through the neighborhood the other day, though! Cooper's hawk, I think? He let me get pretty close with my phone for this picture!