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Number 1! I'm very excited to start my own blog. As you can see on my blog roll, there are a lot of blogs that I like to read and they're all from amazing knitters, crafters & all around great people. I'm pleased to say that I have started my first knitting project...now for the reason why....

I am the product of a single parent. Or rather, that's how I like to put it. I won't go into all the family details but I will say that being an only child with a working mom means someone has to watch me right? Enter Shirley. Shirley was a kind and a bit kooky lady. She started to work on me early, furthering my knowledge of cooking and introducing me to the world of sewing. Thanks to Shirley I won second place on a doll quilt at the local fair and made countless dolls, plushies, and throws. I also made an assortment of clothing for my favorite doll since, obviously buying some would not be an option. I won't go on about all of the middle stuff. So here's the deal. After borrowing a sewing machine from my grandma for quite some time the machine pooped out on me. My grandma hadn't used it in years anyways and had had it since the dawn of time so didn't mind...but that left me without a sewing machine. That was a good 2 or 3 years ago. Finally I got another one. A singer. It was pretty! Cute & small which was perfect since I have limited space. I bought a sewing table / cabinet and got to work. The very first time I used it (after a few months of hesitation) it messed up on me. Random threads all over the place. Now let me say that the ancient machine I had been using before was a Singer and in all my time it never did that! So of course I chalked it up to me being a bit rusty and took a break from it until I could dedicate more time to learning it all over again & to practice.

Fast forward to 3 months ago. I get out my machine and with much resistance (from the machine) I manage to make 4 small hair bows and a small blanket from my little dog to lay one. Throughout this time I got jams for no reason, white thread coming up black, needles & thread breaking numerous times for no reason & finally metal rubbing against metal when the inner workings had not been tinkered with. Obviously with the last straw poking me in the eye I lugged my machine to the repair shop. Boy was that a big disaster! I was informed that not only was my machine a hunk of junk, but they also tried to sell me a machine. I also got a nice lecture on how Singers products haven't been what they used to be & that's why there are no dealers to be found & blah blah blah. All of this in a condescending tone & a "but I'll sell you this" attitude. There's nothing that pisses me off more than when say I'm taking my Ford in to be serviced & the dealer wants me to buy a BMW. (Lame analogy, sorry.)

So basically I was done with that guy. I did my research after that & found out that in fact, Singer doesn't make a good machine & found out who did. Janome! Of course with all this research I quickly came upon a machine I had to look at Janome Memory Craft 6600. I visited my local Janome dealer & fell in love. I also checked out Bernina but decided that the equal machine to the Janome basic, that I didn't want, was just under what I'd pay for the Janome 6600. So why don't I have the Janome? It's 2 grand. Though I did talk the dealer into a $200 trade in from my (I-hate-you-you-hunk-of-junk) Singer. That's still $1,800 + tax so close to the holidays. So now, sad & needing an outlet for my creative juices, my mom has taught me to knit!

My first project is a scarf. One which would have been finish by now if I wasn't such a perfectionist. You see, when I make a mistake that I can't fix I rip it all out. My first project must be a masterpiece since a) I'm going to be the one wearing it & b) it gives me more practice. Now I am learning that there are many mistakes I can figure out and fix. So all this has been a long story to say......

I now have a craft blog (of sorts) & I'm excited to show what I'm up to! I recently found out that I'll be an aunty-in law (or as I say, just aunty as I'm not an in-law yet, however my boyfriends family already consider me one of their own) in May! So after this scarf and a baby hat (or more!) for Knit One, Save One (more to come about that in coming posts) I will be working on booties, a sleeper sack & whatever else I can find that I love love love!