Pennies & pondering.

After a little depression related to my student loans, I have been debating ways of making additional money.  I really don't think my sanity could handle actually working two jobs.  I did that when we were saving money to go to Europe.  It was stressful and really no fun.  I'm not super crafty or creative.  I don't have an eye for designing printables.  What skill do I have that I could use to make money from home (because this blog certainly isn't making me any money)?

Well I can crochet.  Albeit, I'm not wonderful at it.  Practice makes perfect though, right?  I've been pondering the idea of starting a little Etsy shop.

Now currently there are almost 200,000 items (although compare that to the 1,057,000 listed under art) listed under the crochet category on Etsy.  I don't think that out of that many items I would have a spotlight.  I do have this little blog though.  If I am able to put the word out with my blog, I'm hoping that people would help support me (especially as people are turning more to "small businesses" for their purchases).  If I decided to make the Etsy plunge, all money would go to help pay off my student loan debt.

So my questions are:

Would it be worth the extra pennies?

Do you have an Etsy shop?  If so, what do you think makes it (or does not make it) successful?

Would you support me?

Gettin' crafty with it.

Looks like someone is being crafty and already sticking with her 2012 goals.  Isn't that the thing with New Year's resolutions though?  They're always easy to commit to in the month of January.

Ps. This is a circle scarf crocheted using bulky yarn.  It's my first "different" project (read: that's not a basic scarf crocheted in simplistic rows).  If you're interested in the pattern, it can be found on Ravlery (if you're a member) or here.

Bring it 2012.

Happy 2012 friends!

D and I celebrated with a delicious dinner, drinks, and rang in the new year in our PJs with BFW in our hearts.

Now to think about goals and resolutions for the new year.  Over the holidays, I guest posted on Claire's blog about my hopes for 2012.  My only real goal last year was to run more.  I feel pretty confident in saying that I succeeded at that.  I still have my 101 in 1001 list that needs to have a bit more attention paid to it.  I plan to take some time to review that bad boy this week.  I have just a few things I want to try and do this year.

Run another big race.  

I'm not sure if I want it to be another half marathon.  I'm still not ready to take on a full marathon.  I would love to beat my previous half time though.  Mainly I want to have another goal race to work towards.  I'll be researching this soon.  Ideally, it would be awesome to plan a big vacation around a race, so we'll see.

Start eating vegetarian.


I've mentioned a few times about my thoughts on going semi-vegetarian.  I'm still going to eat fish, but my plan is to not eat anything that is specifically raised for slaughter.  I'll still eat venison, eggs, milk, etc.  I'm still on the line about beer dinners and traveling.  This is a decision I feel morally ok with though.  After D and I complete our traditional No-Meat January, I'll keep on eating mostly vegetarian.

Keep crocheting.

At the beginning of 2011, I was re-learning how to crochet.  Then I just stopped.  I restarted and made scarves for my sisters for Christmas and have almost finished a Georgia-inspired (red+black) scarf for D.  I really want to maintain this skill/hobby and improve.  I'd love to get involved in a club here in Raleigh.

And there ya have it!  Three simple "goals" to keep me going through the year.  Now to get cracking on completing my 101 in 1001!