Monday, October 27, 2014
an update & questions to you
Here's a general life update. First, I'm sorry I took an involuntary break from blogging. I've had a few technical problems which I finally resolved yesterday by erasing the entire hard drive of my laptop and installing a new operating system. Though I spent too many hours trying to figure out all that computer geek language, there's also a positive side to it: I'm now owner of an incredibly fast and perfectly organized laptop!
I must admit that my laptop used to be a big data mess - my download folder hold more than 2.5k files ( probably half of that knitting patterns that I'm never gonna use) at one point. Ugh. But I've figured out a system to keep everything neat and organized on my newly installed laptop. I'll share my laptop organizing skills in a couple of weeks - if I can manage to stay on top of all the downloads, files and photos.
Also, I used the start of the semester (thus a rather small workload) to declutter my closet and my food supplies. I'm challenging myself to only eat homemade sweets till the end of the year. Which, basically, means lots of baking over the next two months. I made oatmeal cookies to substitute for the pound of candy and store-bought cookies I got rid off last week. They turned out pretty good especially considering it only takes 5 minutes to prepare the dough & cookies and another 10 minutes to bake them. You can expect more recipe posts over the next couple of months :) So feel free to join my in my store-bought candy/cookie/cake free end of the year challenge.
I've also updated my dawanda shop with a couple more drawstring project bags. I'm currently looking into etsy/dawanda alternatives since I'm not a fan of paying 10% commission fee on every single item I made. I'm currently considering big cartel and tictail. If you have any other recommendations or would like to share your experience with one them I'd love to hear them!
Last but not least, I'd love to know what posts you like particularly or if there's anything you'd like me to blog about. I'm currently collecting blog post ideas for the next months. It seems like I have way too many ideas (I might get a little too enthusiastic whenever Christmas approaches...) so I'd love to hear what you'd like to read / see.
So that's it, I'm gonna spend the evening on the couch reading Harry Potter (I'm 2/3 into the 6th book and I'm having a hard time to put the book down in the evening.). I have a nasty cut on my finger (I might be good at baking but I'm not a talented cook...) so I'm taking a break from knitting for a couple of days. Or did anyone figure out a way to knit with a band-aid on? The yarn always seems to stick to mine :(
ps: I updated the header to somewhat freshen up the blog a little. If you're reading this using a reader you might want to click here and have a look at it.
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Hope your laptop woes weren't too woeful! It's great to hear that you've come up with a good system. I used to be really good at organizing my files, but now I have a laptop from college - which is a Mac - and a desktop that I built myself so I'd have the processing power to run my engineering programs - and that's a PC. So the computers hate talking to each other, and I can never remember which one holds which files. It's a never-ending problem!
ReplyDeleteHomemade sweets sounds like an excellent endeavor. I have been eating lots of not-good things... as in, I come home from work and I'm hungry so I open the container of Oreos. Terrible idea. I may join you... but I would also feel so bad throwing those Oreos away... I'll just try not to buy anything new ;)
I tried Big Cartel for awhile. It was pretty easy to use but I did feel like it didn't offer enough customization... this was a few years ago, though. I think if you want to have more than 5 items in your shop you have to pay $10/month? For me that wasn't a good deal because I wasn't selling enough for that $10 to be a good percentage. The other problem I had, and always have, with not using Etsy is that marketing can be so difficult. But if everyone is coming from your blog, anyway, then you've got the marketing part solved.
Blog posts: I really like your "wiwo" series right now, and anything related to works in progress. It's so fun to see tiny snapshots of someone else's creative process. Even if it's just one picture and a few sentences, it's a good peek.
SO GLAD you're liking Harry Potter. It's so hard to put down.
Sorry this is a crazy lady comment. I'm excited to see all the posts that you're excited to write!
The new header is lovely! I like a good mix of things. I remember you did a day in my life post some time ago, that was lovely as well as knitting updates, sewing and cooking. I'd love some more book recommendations if you are feeling like it. :)
ReplyDeleteOh yes, a day in the life post sounds fun! I'm gonna put it on my blog post list for the month :) I love book recommendations, too! But I always feel weird recommending craft books that I haven't used to make any projects. I tend to just look on pinterest if I need a pattern for something. But there'll definitely we a couple of novels I can recommend & review :)
DeleteHi - homemade sweets. That challenge just sounds like something I should try, too. Please keep us posted :-)
ReplyDeleteLove the new header. Soo pretty. Posts - I especially like everything "WIP", like the progress posts you've been doing mostly on larger knitting projects. Also, do you still spin from time to time? If so, I would love to see some spinning / handspun yarn / spinning equip content :) And then socks, scrappy socks, all things socks, please :-D
(By the way, feeling a little stupid here, would you mind telling me what "wiwo" means? Some sort of abbreviation, I guess? WIP-work?)
Doesn't matter at all, actually. Just post whatever you feel like. I love your blog, anyways. And Lina. Lina, of course!
Thanks!
Linda
Thank you for taking the time to comment, Linda! Wiwo means 'what I'm working on', so it's basically a wip post but I like to include non-crafty stuff from time to time, like job hunting or reorganising my computer or something since I consider those things to be stuff I'm working on, too. Also, there are no stupid questions and it's a term I came up with a couple of months ago, so don't worry about it :)
DeleteLove the header - nice change! And what a great idea to only eat homebaked sweets. I'm trying to watch my sugar also, but sometimes it's so hard.
ReplyDeleteWhat do I want to see? More beautiful photos! of Lina, your WIPs, your FO's, everything! And of course some of your recipes :)
Thanks, Lisa :) The challenge has actually been easier than expected, so far. There are just so many recipes I wanna try and sweets/cakes/cookies I wanna make. Plus, you get to actually enjoy the sugary goodness you're eating instead of having a bod conscience. At least that's been the biggest change for me, so far.
Delete