Did I say the drawing for this would be on November 1st? I did, didn’t I? Well, today is only…let’s see…one, two, three, four….um..the 9th!

Have I mentioned that I get distracted by sparkly things?

This month’s Creativity Challenge prize-drawing winner is….Ren of Ren Knits. She finished a couple of pillows with one shared innard. See Squarey, the ultimate dominator on the battle for the stuffing, in our flickr pool.) Ren wins a $15 gift certificate to Green Prairie Fibers. Congrats Ren!

Green Prairie Fibers is the hand-dyed yarn wondershoppe of Kristin R., she of the darling Craft Leftover blog and shop, where she offers the world a new crafty pattern every saturday. I like Kristin’s “reduce, reuse, recycle” ethic, and I find her patterns to be sweet throw-backs to another era. I especially liked this knitting bag pattern, which I’m planning to make to honor my grandmother’s aluminum knitting needle collection. You should defintely stop by her pad if you are looking to make something out of your stash.

This month’s Creativity Challenge will be posted tomorrow as a Small is Beautiful post. It’s a super easy challenge, (we don’t want to overtax ourselves over the holidays, no?) and involves tips. Oooooh! I love tips! Stop by tommorow to find the challenge and the prize!

Yours in creativity,

Magpie Girl (a.k.a. Rachelle)

Some people are born finishers. They sew together the sweater pieces they’ve knitted, send their edited articles into magazines, and actually take their packages to the post office. Yes, some people are finishers.

But we don’t have to like them.

Thankfully this last creativity challenge got me moving and I finished some projects. I finished my second embroidered kid’s jacket, and for the first time I knitted something for myself – this pretty lacey scarf made out of Kid-Lin.

In spite of these finishes, the last few days have been slow and frustrating for me. I had four days of bad migraines, followed by one blissful pain-free day which left me in a state of mania as I tried to get a backlog of stuff done. Then the migraine came back so badly that I had to take every med in my arsenal and curl up in the fetal position so I wouldn’t start vomiting and end up in the ER. (Nothing keeps you from getting sick like the idea of spending the wee hours of the night in the ER.) Today Paul and I are both sick with head colds, and tomorrow I’ll spend most of the day freezing my scalp muscles at the neurologist. Then we leave mid-week for Texas and when we return the kids get out of school at noon for ten days. Sigh. On weeks like this I feel like I never finish anything. How’s a person supposed to work?

That’s when it’s helpful for Paul to sit me down and tell me everything I actually got done. This week’s list included cleaning most of the house, folding five baskets of laundry, making it to the post office, buying the dog his special food and shampoo, and making up some shrine kits for etsy. I also pulled apart the hat I finished knitting because it didn’t fit, and I’ve got it about half way knit again.

Because of the migraines, I didn’t get the next chapter of my manuscript written, which is my biggest disappointment. Nor did I clean out the kid’s room for the move, which is stressing me out considerably. Still, not bad for a ‘sick’ week.

What do you do when your time seems to get sucked away by “other “ stuff? What do you decide to finish..and how do you talk to yourself about your accomplishments–or lack thereof? Advice for the poor of finishing, please!

Okay, response to this current challenge has been a little lackluster. Methinks the general creative soul out there might be feeling a little hopeless. Be not swayed, all ye who craft! Finishing is possible.

You’ve still got a good two weeks to wrap up just one WIP (knitter’s slang for “work in progress). And here comes the weekend, ripe with opportunity. Why not finish it up and feel the soul-nourishing satisfaction of a job well done? (Or at least just “done.”)

There’s a flickr group to post your WIP and the final finish. Those who post a finished project by November 1st will be entered in the drawing for this week’s prize. (Maybe some lovely hand dyed yarn from Green Prairie Fibers? Or the latest copy of Craft magazine if someone other than a knitter takes home the gold…..) Go on! Post your pics!

P.s. Speaking of Craft Magazine and prizes, have you been over to Sk*rt lately? Why not skirt this (see the little button below) while you head on over there?

It’s time to end the Matchbox Shrine Creativity Challenge. Doesn’t the time just fly? Thanks to all who joined the pool and especially to Claire and Tess who carved out to the time to make a pocket-sized sacred space. You’ll both be getting a make-your-own-shrine kit with supplies from my magpie hord.

The next Creativity Challenge will run until the the last Friday in October, so you’ll have three weeks to work on your project. This will also double as this month’sHabitude because it’s doubles as tiny self improvement project. The next Creativity Challenge is…..drumroll please… Finishing! That’s right, let’s resolve to finish something we’ve already started. Now is the time to put that second coat of paint on the antique frame, get your ticket stubs into your scrapbook, put the backing on the quilt, or finish up the mittens you started last winter. I know it sounds a little daunting, but won’t if feel good to get something done?

Personally, I’m pledging to finish this:

This is the Gossamer Shell Scarf from One Skien Wonders knit on the very tangly Kid Lin. Only 40 more inches to go! (The gray lines are ’saftey nets’ so if I mess up the lacework I only have to unravel a few rows.)

So what are you pledging to finish this month? Do let us know…..

For the past three weeks I’ve committed every Friday to finishing one project. Here’s a couple that I finally wrapped up.

I finally finished the piggle! I’m sure I knitted the thing 6 times over. Catie wears it to school everyday.

When I started walking more for this month’s habitude, I realized that it was still a little chilly out for skirts. I designed these WastekNot legwarmers, made out of yarn leftover from other projects. These are for the kids, and they got to pick their own buttons for the cuffs out of our button jar. Want a pair for you or your kiddo? An email and $12 will get you a set. They take about a week to make. Email moi at magpie-girl dot com. :-)

I got into the habit of knitting and lining these little bags. I use them for everything from double point needles to a case for my Zune. I got inpsired by some vintagesque fat quarters at the fabric store.

and I got this far on brown bun bun and an orange bun bun. Soon they will be finished up like these:

Melissa finally got to wear these roller girl legwarmers after I mastered double points. Now they are ridiculously easy.

Unfinished projects that lurk in my studio….

-Write authors bio for my literary agent. (Man, that sounds good!)

-Finish prayer beads cards for recent sales

-Finish assembling four month old Prayer Flags for Monkfish Abbey
(sew flags, print iron ons, iron on, hand sew to rope, hang)

-Finish last remaining Vintage Faith Rosetta
(buy one bead, string)

-Create Spring/Summer Zine (very bawdy! A front-and-back double feature of female saints and sinners)

-Knit Rebecca’s (new version)bunny for Lindsey. (From Last-Minute Knitted Gifts)

-Assemble Rebecca’s bun bun for a coworker.

-Finish Myra’s orange bun bun for baby boy Waddell. (BTW, this pattern is from Knit Wit: 30 Easy and Hip Projects (Hands-Free Step-By-Step Guides), which is a pretty good beginner’s book.)

-Turn collaged pages into a journal to sell on Lulu.

-Post list of religious books for sale.

-Finish number two of Miz’s purple-and-chartreuse roller girl legwarmers from Stitch ‘n Bitch Nation

-Knit ‘Manda’s WasteKNot speed racer legwarmers (my own design!)

-Knit a couple pair of kid’s WasteKNot leg warmers for buy magpie.

-Re-read collection of kid’s stories Paul and Rebecca published for me on Lulu and see it they’re ready to sell.

-Make personal slogan bracelets out of vintage type letters
(buy glue, file)

-Write up tons of referrals for the magpie suggests page, and consolidate the ones I’ve posted on the general blog like these.

-Custom embroider two women’s jean jackets with designs from this cool site. (I already finished one for Eden with mondoMadonna on the back.)

-Make prayer flag kits
(sew flags, write directions, assemble w/iron ons and rope)

Aqualung: Strange and Beautiful
Dreamy, melodic…makes you want to be melancholically in love with someone so intense you forget to eat anything other than artisan bread and strawberries.

The Dante Club: A Novel
Okay, so I had to to take notes on the back page of my paperback in order to keep track of the broad cast of characters , but now I’m so into it I can hardly put down this sophisticated literary mystery.

The Piggle I’ve started this and torn in out so many times I’ve probably knit three of these puppies. A knitting pal just told me how to string a “lifeline” thread through each set of lace repeats so that if I make a mistake I only have to unravel a few lines. Phew! Catie better wear this hat every day for a year!