The Year of Upgrades.

So as 2012 was winding down my friends and I declared that 2013 would be the Year of Upgrades.  The year when we say "You know what?  I'm worth that."  We all have had varying degrees of upset and woe over the last few years.  It's time to be done with that.  And quite frankly things that were ok in our 20's are maybe not so ok anymore.  We're just getting too old for that shit.

This has meant different things to each of us.  One of my friends got a kick ass new job.  Another just bought a new car and had her kitchen redone.  As a group we have stayed at hotels instead of on friends' couches, parked valet, and on one occasion flown private (I know, right!).

Random picture of Cleveland and Lake Erie from the plane last time I flew - coach with 2 kids.  Pretty sure that's the opposite of private.

And another one of Public Square from above just because it's a cool picture I haven't shared anywhere yet.

Now obviously alot of that stuff doesn't fit into my Stay at Home Pile of Kids lifestyle.  But I no longer buy myself the cheapest coffee.  And I am currently knitting with yarn that I bought when we went to Peru.  In 2007.  That until now I had deemed too nice / fine for every day use:

Sleeve #2 and Belly week #30.

I deserve decent coffee and good yarn.

Clearly the biggest upgrade we are making in 2013 is to our family.  We're going from a standard sized family to a giant over-sized party that no longer fits in a standard car/restaurant booth/hotel room.  It's going to be awesome.

More of this, please.

The other major upgrade is to our home.  And phase 1 of that was to my Dye Space.  See until now I worked in a crappy corner of the basement using a random conglomeration of stuff that I cobbled together out of necessity.  I never really dedicated a space for my work.  It was always "this will be ok" as I went along.  I literally was using an old dog crate as a drying rack.  I also had to haul all of my dye pots up and down the basement stairs to use our kitchen stove.  Which was a ridiculous situation for a whole host of reasons.  But it worked!  Kindof!

See.

Also on my list of upgrades - a new slop sink, and clean, white paint.  It really is the simple things:

New sink, New 220V hookup for a stove, and New paint job.

The before picture of my dye space is basically embarrassing.  I can't believe I worked like this:

 Which makes the after that much more awesome:

It. Is. Amazing. 

So. SO Amazing.

I was a vendor at A Knitter's Fantasy yesterday - which was the first time I had ever attempted vending at a show that large - and it went great.  I wouldn't have been able to be ready in time, or have nearly the stock that I brought with me if it wasn't for my new space:

Want to instantly upgrade a hotel room?  Dump a few hundred skeins of hand dyed yarn onto the bed.

Which translates to 3 tables full of pretty.

I have many more ideas for the dye pots and I can't wait to utilize my new space on a regular basis.  But for right now we're busy upgrading the rest of the basement.  See we're in the in-between time where the contractor is done and we're waiting on the carpet install.  During which time we need to paint ALL OF THE THINGS:

Helping to paint her new playroom.

But a finished basement is so close I can taste it.  Yay for the year of upgrades!!!

I LOVE my new studio.

So have any of you upgraded anything this year?  Anyone else want to play along with The Year of Upgrades?