Pushers and Leechers

A friend of mine found it quite simple to categorize men. She would say that they are either fun or boring. The fun ones are less than responsible; the boring ones are very responsible, but don't ask them to be fun. I thought it was funny, but I don't usually subscribe to such a generalization. However, I am going to contradict myself with the following post.

Today, I want to talk about two types of people I have frequently come across in my life: the pushers and the leechers. I don't really have any leechers left in my life (let me check...nope, I think I got rid of all of them). But, there are many pushers still left in my close circle of family and friends.

If you're wondering what I mean by these names, let me explain. A leecher is a person (friend or not) who just sucks the life right out of you. The darkness and self pity they live in is so strong that it just takes all the happy energy from everyone around them. In my early 20s I had a friend like that. Even when I think of her now, all I see is this type of gray veil surrounding her. Now, I don't mean to say that she is a bad person. She is not. But, she was a toxic person...at least for my type of personality.

The pusher is a person (friend or not) that pushes their way into your life. They are bossy, strong-willed and try to get you to do what they want, see life through their eyes and basically live your life the way they think is right. Balls to those people! They really irritate me. I have a friend who is that way. She's a great person (I can attest to that), but her behavior is very invasive. That also means that she is a toxic person...again, at least for my type of personality.

Now, what I have learned is that you have to hold onto your "self" when your dealing with a leechers. Their "vacuum cleaner" personality is already turned on. You just have to hold on to something and wait for them to leave. In my case, I've never really had a problem with this type of personality. I just stuck around for a while, listened to them, and went on my way.

My problem has always been the pusher. With pushers, you HAVE to have strong, almost immovable boundaries. It's like you're the goalie, and they are going to try to score anyway they can...even if it's with a cheap shot (hope you're all following my metaphor). Boundaries are one of my weak spots. I never know if setting limits is a good thing or if I'm just being mean and unreasonable. (Seriously, I am working on it!) Unfortunately, I have this nagging certainty that once I truly learn to set boundaries, these types of people will just vanish from my life (or in the worst of cases, I will learn how to deal with them in a healthy way).

How about you guys? Have you met a leecher or pusher you just can't shake? Any other type of people who frequently show up in life (good or bad)? I'd really like to know, so feel free to comment. :)

Re-vamping

After much thought, I have decided to change the direction of my blog. As you can see in the blog description (in the header), I no longer subscribe to "a blog about crafts & life". Don't get me wrong, I still love crafts. I do consider myself to be, for the most part, a craftsman. I like making things with my hands, I love cooking, baking, etc. But, I realized that that's not what this blog was "supposed" to be about.

Without knowing it (or rather, failing to admit it to myself), the main purpose of this blog was to talk about myself and how I've managed to build my life even if (especially because) it's not quite how I imagined it would be when I was kid.

Lately, I've been reminded about something my high school director said to me. I used to compete in extemporaneous speech, and I wasn't great at it. But, I did manage to do some damage especially when I got a topic that I was passionate about. Once he told me that he knew exactly what rounds I would do well in when he got a chance to look at the topics. "The environment? Oh, yeah, Pini's going to knock this one out of the park." And (as much as I hated to admit it) he was right.

The greatest lesson I think that I learned from that is that life is easy, pleasurable and satisfying when you follow your heart. Well, lately I haven't been following my heart, and that has been a bummer. So, that's one of the reasons (maybe the only one or at least the most important one) that motivated my changing the course of this blog.

I hope that those of you following me and those of you who stumble upon this blog are not taken aback by this change. Trust me when I say: it was a change that needed to be made :) and I'm quite certain that it will actually make me want to blog more frequently. So, until next time!

Crafty Idea of the Week - Halloween Edition

Hey, y'all! I've finally found a moment to sit down and update the old blog. I hope that today's crafty idea will be worth the wait. Since Halloween is close at hand, and everyone is probably running around looking for their costumes (or rather waiting 'til the last minute to throw one together), I got to thinking about the poor, neglected trick or treat bag.

Remember the plastic jack o lanterns we used to go trick or treating? or the plastic bags we would get at school? They were cool and got the job done. But, they were always missing the cute factor...until now. I recently came across these candy corn trick or treat bags and thought I would share.

CANDY CORN TRICK OR TREAT BAG (from purlbee.com)

Here's the link if you want to check out the patterns and instructions. It looks pretty easy, and I bet you could even change the color the stripe to match your outfit!
Happy Halloween everyone...have fun and be safe.

Motivational Monday

I was recently reminded of this motto:

"Hope floats"

...so keep the faith, y'all

Happy Monday!

Pattern of the Week

When I saw the following pattern, I just had to share it with you guys. I get daily newsletters from Knitting Daily (Beading and Quilting Daily, too). For the most part, the newsletters contain info about techniques, where to shop and some rather traditional patterns.

But, I thought this one was really impressive. For me, the coolest part is that the designer (Norah Gaughan) has a double degree in biology AND art. Too cool!

POTW: Knitted Tree Topper, by Norah Gaughan
Photo from www.knittingdaily.com

This pattern uses double pointed needles (DPNs) and is stuffed to keep the star pointy.

This project can be made with different colored yarns to get different effects. The more advanced crocheters will also be able to deduce the pattern from this photo.

You can download the pattern here...and see some other versions and a video here.

Hope you liked it...Merry Christmas!

Pattern of the Week (x2)

I know, I know, I know. I just can't seem to get myself organized to post every week. I haven't given up, though.

Here are a couple more patterns that I've found. The first is from knitty.com (my goto place for knitting patterns). The second pattern is from a crafty blog, Pretty Ditty. Check them both out for good patterns and ideas.

POTW1: (Not-all-the-way) Fingerless Gloves, Cigar by Kerri Cadd. Photo by LuAnn Cadd
I LOVE these gloves. They would have come in really handy when I was a student. I don't really think they are just for men, though. Actually, I think that any artist, painter, draftsmen would be thrilled to own a pair.

I plan on making myself a pair for the winter. I just need to find the perfect yarn. :)

POTW 2: Halloween Delight - Pretty Ditty Apron, by Pretty Ditty. Photo from pretty-ditty.blogspot.com

A friend of mine posted an apron that she made a few months ago. It was really nice. I loved it. So, when I came across this apron, it reminded me of her. :)

If you go to Pretty Ditty's blog, you will see a whole bunch of homemade products. She sells her patterns and products at her Etsy shop. If you want some good ideas, surf on down to her blog.

Well, that's it for this week. Hope you like these patterns.

Pattern of the Week (x2)

Okay, so I have been a little tied up in the past few weeks. But, I think I'm finally hitting my stride. Since I haven't posted a POTW, I'm going to give you TWO this week :).

Winter is upon us (in the northern hemisphere actually, cuz here it's almost summer, ha!) and I've been checking The Purl Bee and Knitty for some season appropriate ideas. Here are my choices:

POTW 1: Daisy Stitch Handwarmers (picture from purlbee.com)

I found these a couple of years ago. LOVE! They are so adorable and easier to make than you think. There's a great deal of repetition in the pattern. Once you get a rhythm going, it goes very quickly.







POTW 2: Mushroom Hat (picture from purlbee.com)

My sister loved this hat and wants one for winter. So, off to find lovely yarn to make it. :)









So, that's it for this week. I hope you try these patterns. They just take a little patience, but the results are awesome. Good luck and see ya next week.

Motivational Monday

No quote today, just a story that I hope motivates you guys to do anything you put your mind to.

As of last Monday, I am officially off of my anti anxiety meds! I was a bit worried because every time my doc would lower by dosage, I would feel the effects within a couple of days. So far, the only withdrawal symptom I'm experiencing is that it's taking a little longer for me to fall asleep.

Before the meds and therapy, it would take me anywhere between 45 min to an hour to fall asleep. During the night, I would wake up 4 or 5 times. Needless to say, I would usually wake up tired in the morning.

Now, it takes me about 30 minutes to fall asleep and I don't wake up at all during the night at all. A fair trade off if you ask me. :)

I really appreciate the experiences that some of you shared with me. They really have helped me through this experience.

Well, hope you have a great Monday and week!!

Motivational Monday

Not much to say today. I'll just leave you with a quote that always makes me smile. Read it, remember it and use it :) and let me know how it goes.

"Ba-zinga"

-Dr. Sheldon Cooper, The Big Bang Theory

Pattern of the Week...with a twist

Okay, so this week wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be. It has been very looooong, though. So, I'm glad the weekend is here.

Anyways, back to the "pattern" of the week. This week I decided to do something different and post a recipe...just because that's how I roll, ;). Today's recipe is pita bread, pita bread, pita bread!!! I LOVE pita bread. I'm a big fan of crusts so this is the best kind of bread for me :)

ROTW: Pita Bread (picture from about.com)

I found this recipe online and it is fabulous. The author, Dedemed, is very thorough with her explanation. You will get about 15, 6-7" pitas with this recipe.

I've made these pitas twice, once with 100% whole wheat flour and once with 100% all-purpose flour. The whole wheat version didn't puff up very much, but the all-purpose version was just beautiful and yummy with a warm, yeasty smell.

If you want to use whole wheat, I strongly suggest you mix it with all-purpose flour if you want the bread to puff up (I would say 1/2-1/2, but I haven't tried it yet so you might want to stick with a 1/3 to 2/3 ratio).

Here are some other pointers so that you can get the best pita bread possible:

• Yes, the oven has to be THAT hot (500°)
• You have to use plenty of flour to roll out the bread, because the dough gets very sticky.
  
• Don't leave them in the oven too long. I don't let them brown, because they tend to get brittle if they bake too long.
  
• Store them in a plastic bag to keep them moist. Make sure they are cold before you stick them in the bag...you don't want wet pitas.
  
• Fry them up. This recipe makes yummy pita chips.

That's it, guys. I must say it again: this recipe makes great pita bread. Don't be afraid of the yeast, just let it bubble up and it's good to go. Happy cooking!

p.s. If you have a problem with the link, let me know, and I'll see what I can do.

Progress Report: Pattern of the Week

Hey guys! Like I promised here are some pictures of my Dolman-sleeve bolero. I haven't had much time to work on it, so it's coming along quite slowly :(. But, I'm going to make the effort to speed things along because it's getting quite hot, and I'd really like to use it for summer :)

Enjoy!

My progress so far. Slow but steady!

The long stitches I put in every nine rows. Makes knitting SO much faster :)

The two yarns that I'm using to knit. I had them both for the longest time and could never quite find the right project...'til now.

This week has flown right by. I so do appreciate short work weeks, but I almost forgot it was Friday! Anyways, here's my pattern for the week. It's a dolman sleeve bolero. I love boleros, and I've been wanting to make something with a dolman sleeve ever since I found out what a dolmen sleeve was...ha! Without further ado here's the:

POTW: Dolman Sleeve Bolero

I pick two different yarns, 100% cotton. One is a gorgeous teal color and the other is variegated with light calypso and tan. I love the combination.

The pattern and instructions can be found here. I'm adjusting the pattern to my size so there's a lot of frogging and re-knitting going on. Aaand, I also tweeked the pattern a little by adding a long stitch every nine rows. Alas, that is the life of a knitter. I'm about halfway done with the first sleeve. I'll be sure to post a photo of my progress next week.

If you're a beginner, this is a great project to try. The website is in Spanish, but just follow the pattern mold and use the stitch you are most comfortable with. Have fun!

Pattern of the Week

This pattern isn't a new find. It's actually an old one. I subscribe to knitty.com, and they have some fabulous patterns for knitters. If you're a beginner or a seasoned pro, check it out.

POTW: Nob Hill Shrug

As most knitters, I started knitting scarves. That got boring really fast, so I started looking for more challenging patterns. Soon, I was making boleros and shrugs...the next logical progression, in my experience.

This pattern is slightly more challenging than a regular bolero or shrug just because of the shaping required. Even so, it is a very fast project to knit.

I made my own version of this shrug last year. It is very comfortable and stylish. :)

Motivational Monday

Hey guys! Here I am again. Wow, two posts in 5 days. That's some sort of record for me ;)

This post was inspired by all my friends who hate Mondays. I, personally, love Mondays. Yep, you can call me crazy, but I think of them as a fresh, clean slate for the rest of the week.

Anyways, every Monday I'll be posting a comment or quote to get your week going with a bit of humor and/or some motivation. Here's the first of many:

"The best measure of a man's honesty isn't his income tax return. It's the zero adjust on his bathroom scale."

-Arthur C. Clarke

Enjoy your week!

Pattern of the Week

As you have probably already figured out, I've been really lazy about updating my blog. Well, I decided that that had to be fixed. So, here's my first post about the "Pattern of the Week" or POTW. Props to Kathryn W, because I stole this idea from her. :)

You can check back every Friday to see a new sewing/knitting/etc pattern or project that I find inspiring or note worthy.

POTW: Laptop Sleeve with Folk Embroidery by kuutydruk

I found this project on Etsy and thought it was just darling. I recently purchased a 17" laptop and have found it hard to keep it protected in a safe, but attractive way.

Both my sister and me liked it so much that we've decided to use a similar design with Chilean motifs for Cupernickel Crafts.

I'll let you know how the prototype goes.

Whole lotta working going on

Wow, since my last post there's been a whole lot of stuff on my plate.

So, first we lost an associate. Boo :(. But she's doing good, so yay :).

We started the whole process of the online business. Whoa, is it more work than we expected! We started a blog, opened an Etsy and Paypal account. We thought about creating a Facebook profile but chose to start a Flickr account instead. All the while we were in limbo with the name!!!

But we finally decided on the name: Cupernickel. As we posted on our blog: "Cupernickel is a combination of two worlds, just like us. In fact the name (deliberately misspelled) comes from a copper-nickel alloy that is used in jewelry and coins. In Chile, it is referred to as alpaca, just like the camelid."

The Cupernickel blog has 3 posts. Please, check it out. So far, our Flickr account has a few pictures of our last vacation to the south of Chile...more will be uploaded soon. We expect to create a second photostream with our creations within the next couple of weeks.

Well, there you go. I'll try to get back to blogging on a more frequent basis. I'll keep you posted.

And then there were two...

Since my last post one of the partners decided not to participate in the company, so that just leaves me and my sister. I was sad to let her go, because we really get along great. But I understand that she has some issues that she needs to work out before getting involved in building a company.

About the company, we've gone through some changes and adjustments. Now we're focused on creating products with local goods but with our own twist. We've drawn upon our last vacation and the amazing landscapes in this long and varied country. Check this site out. The photos are fabulous and really inspirational.

We've both gotten into "old" crafting techniques which are now in style again, like felting and origami. I really enjoy drawing from the past to make things new and more current.

Right now we only have about three and a half project done so I kinda feel like we're a jeep stuck in the mud: trying real hard but getting no where fast. Even so, I'm really happy and enjoying myself immensely. :) I'll make sure to post our products as soon as I can so that y'all can take a look at them.

Laters

New Phase

So after a few months of therapy, I can truly say (with documentation in hand) that I'm more screwed up than I thought. For the most part, I've enjoyed my sessions, but others have been stressful and draining. I've learned a lot about myself and my family. Now, I guess I'm on the road to dealing with those issues.

But that's not why I'm posting today. I wanted to announce that we have officially started our company: Top Era Designs. That's what we're calling ourselves. ERA are the last three letters of our last names. Pretty neat, huh?

Today was our first day of office work, and it was quite interesting. There are three of us: Me, my sister and Daniela. All of us are TCK and that's been helpful. But just like any group of people we have our differences. However, for the most part, I think that we are going to get along fine.

Good luck to us! And I'll let you know when we have our websites up.

Summer + Viña = Seaside stroll

Last Saturday, I went to Viña with my sister and cousin, Yusi. We had lunch at Pizza Hut (yay!) and decided to take a stroll across the beach on our way to the mall. It was a gorgeous day, and luckily I had my camera with me. Enjoy the pics!

Sorry, wasn't in the mood to stitch the photos, but I think you can get a gist of the whole picture.

The pier you see in the background is scheduled to be torn down. What a shame, it's a local landmark where ships carrying sugar would embark. Unfortunately, it's in such a state of decay that it's no longer safe to walk on.

Sand art. I love the Homer Sand dude. hahaha.

My sister and Yusi on the boardwalk.

The poor pier.

One Month

So, it's almost been one month since my first panic attack. During the first few weeks I still had some minor episodes during sleep, but they were short and few. Since December 22 there have been no attacks or episodes. Yay me! Thanks to my happy pills (which are rather miraculous), I no longer have anxiety but I do experience passing moments of slight fear. Almost like something spooks me, but it's like a whisper and soon passes.

Despite my advances, December has been the longest month of my life, basically because I have done nothing. Let me re-phrase that: I haven't done anything on the professional front. That has got to be the hardest thing in the world for me to endure. I told my shrink that I feel totally irresponsible and un-professional, but he keeps reminding me that I'm not at 100% and that it's "me time". It's a moment in my life where I get to do what I want. That's kind of hard to adjust to.

I have been dedicated to doing some crafts, especially decorating pre-made mdf boxes. It worked out perfect because I gave some of them away for Christmas presents. I recently moved on to my unfinished knitting projects and am about to start making furniture because I'm getting so bored. Hahahaha! That's just like me, I always go overboard and not like normal people, but at the speed of light. But, my body keeps reminding me to slow down. At night when I wake up, if I turn around in bed too fast, I feel like I might lose my breath. So, I have to remind myself that no one is rushing me. I take it easy, breathe and everything settles. It's amazing to me that my body is so much smarter than my mind, so to speak.

Thanks to my therapy sessions, I've learned a lot about myself through my past experiences. I know that sounds weird and obvious, but when you have lay out your life in front of someone else, you pick up on things that you never noticed the first time around. The way my family unit is constructed is one of those eye-opening revelations. I thought that I was a psychotically independent because I was just born that way, and now I'm beginning to see that my nuclear family created such tight bonds that it made me an island.

The great thing about all of this is that it doesn't depress me. On the contrary, I'm really happy that I made the choice to treat my panic attacks. Since I started my treatment, I've had the opportunity to talk to a lot of friends and acquaintances about this. You would not believe the amount of people walking around with untreated panic attacks and depressions. I don't know how they do it, how they survive, how they remain so functional. Let me just tell you, my panic attack scared the *@!"$%&* out of me. I could not imagine going through this without treatment.

Anyways, that's what I've been up to. I'll be sure to post pics of my recent projects the next time I log on.