Caps For Good

This campaign is formerly called Knit One, Save One and is done by Save The Children. Basically you knit and/or crochet caps for newborns in Africa, Asia & Latin America. I have done this before and really enjoy making caps for new babies to keep warm. To join, get updates & donate visit http://www.goodgoes.org/caps. You can also download the cap making action kit by clicking here.

I have used a more simple pattern in the past and found it quick and easy to make several in a week. Click here and see rectangle hat on page 4, right side.

If you knit or crochet I urge you to make at least 1 cap. The simple patterns take only a few hours at most and it will provide warmth for a sweet new little baby.

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Olive Afghan Photo!

It's about time I've posted a photo of my completed Olive Afghan. I must say it is super soft and warm. I left off the fringe as this yarn tends to fray on the raw edge and I happen to like the way it looks without.



I plan on making more since it's so easy and quick, but for now I will start a different pattern and see how I do. It will be a tighter knit and take much longer but seems very promising!

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Am I missing something?

So I'm making great progress on my Olive Afghan. The only problem is, I've never worked with more than one ball of yarn at once and something strange has happened.



Do you see it. The small bunch on the right? Has ths happened to anyone?



Is it something I've done? Are the balls uneven? I've tried to pull yarn out evenly, but unfortunately, it's not happening that way. I suppose I'll just run with it and tie on the new yarn sooner that I thought. Let's just hope I don't have to buy even more yarn. I suppose it would be justifyable....it's for a current project that I don't see putting on hold at any point.

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Progression

So here it is, this is attempt #3 on the first night. I haven't gotten too far yet but it's knitting up amazingly. No hang-ups yet, but it's early still.



For fun, here is a picture of the needles I'm using. I laid a pair of size 8's for comparison.



Off I go to knit some more. Or be lazy and watch a movie. ;)

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No Knitting, But A Fuzzy!

I had really hoped to knit this weekend, but that didn't work out. I'm not quite sure why I didn't, maybe it was that I had never seen Troy and Frank wanted to watch it Saturday. It could have been that I rested all day Saturday to just catch up on what my body has been missing, sleep. Whatever the case, I didn't knit. Unfortunately, that means I'm that much more behind on my goals. I'm going to be looking over my goals and deciding which will actually be accomplished this year and then make a schedule to hold me to it. It sounds like work when things are supposed to be for pleasure and fun, but honestly being the way that I am, it just makes it that much more fun.

I recently (over a month ago, oops) discovered the nifty "stash" and "needle" features on Ravelry. If you don't know about them already, they let you keep track of your yarn stash and needles that you already have! You can keep it simple with just the brand names, types, & color of yarn along with the quanity, or you can add a picture, keep track of when and where it was purchased, even where you have it stored! I went through my entire stash and was surprised at how efficient the feature makes everything. Additionally, when you que or cast on a project, you can link the yarn your using. So helpful, no? I just love it!

Since there was no knitting this weekend, my Sunday had to be filled with something other than sleeping. Frank & I joined my mom up in the foothills/mountains at a friends house and had dinner. We also watched a monvie after a walk around the property. Oh how I love it up there! I wish I had taken more pictures, but alas I didn't. Hopefully when things aren't so dry I will take more and capture the true beauty that is up there. Here in the city there is always noise. In the middle of the day up in Squaw Valley? Nothing but the sounds of a gentle breeze in the trees. Magic! Frank & I will definitely be going again and hopefully get some property somewhere up there or in a similar atmosphere in the future.

Now is the time to share the pictures that I did get! We found a tarancula! I took soo many pictures of it while everyone else stood back and cringed. I just love bugs and spiders and animals! Lol.






And I leave you with a picture from our drive home, while the sun was setting.

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Victories & Frusterations

Oh my! I am pleased to say that I sent off 2 more preemie sized baby caps to Knit One, Save One. I can honestly say this is a super easy thing to do for a charity. Easier than giving money, given most of our financial situations. (Though I did still donate, the cause is just too wonderful.) I'll be working on more caps for this years campaign and hope to have at least 5 to send. I may even work on another pattern! Or spice up the current one I used.




Yesterday was a hard one for me. I've been working on my "test" blanket for at least a month now. I have frogged it easily 6 times, if not more. Here's my problem. You begin by casting on 68 stitches. You knit for 8 rows to make a border. This is so easy! Then the 9th row you do the following:


Knit 14, purl 10, knit 10, purl 10, knit 10, purl 10, knit 4.


So I go along exactly as it says...and when I get to knit 4, I only have 2 stitches! Every time people! I count 68 stitches on row 8, begin the pattern with row 9 and this is the same thing I come up with. I just can't figure it out. You would think the hard part is purling, since I've only done knitted stitched, but the hard part it the counting I guess. So I start again and again and again. And then I thought, well maybe I am just doing too much of a certain stitch during the row. so I knit the last 2 and count. Wouldn't you know I only count 66! Please help me! What in the world am I doing wrong? Now mind you I was watching the super bowl while 3 of these knitting getting to the same point, frogging and beginning again took place. But I was counting! Double-checking! I need a test blanket vacation before I get frustrated with knitting altogether. New scarf anyone? Oh that's right, I need one!




I'm a bad girl and haven't been reading more of my book. I've wanted to, but with all this knitting and frogging and mailing of hats and taking care of my just-got-sick Frank. I hate to see him all stuffy and head cold-y.




BTW...I just had to mention the wonderful meal I made the other night. I cheated a bit really, but I'm trying to work on my list of goals for this year and that meant to cook! A long time ago I received this wonderful cookbook published by Disney. (I actually have 2 of these. The one I refer to now is the newer of the two and much larger.) One of my favorite recipes is for a maple glazed chicken. Yum! One problem, I no longer eat chicken! Could I possibly branch out to fit my pescetarian-ism? Yes! So here's what I did.


I took two salmon fillets (the frozen kind) quick-thawed them, (took 10 minutes under cold water, forever!), removed the skin and then placed them on a foil-lined cookie sheet (shiny side of the foil down). While your salmon is thawing you place 2 tablespoons of butter, 4 teaspoons of lemon juice (I eye this part. If you have the store bought lemon juice that comes in the lemon shaped contained just put in three or four quick squeezes to taste), and about 1/2 a cup of your favorite maple syrup. The recipe calls for 1/4 cup, but I really like the maple taste and apply it periodically during baking. Pour a few spoonfuls over the fillets until they looked covered and pop them into the oven at 425 for about 15 minutes. I go in about every 5 minutes and re-apply the maple coating. Now after the 15 minutes my salmon wasn't done. (Maybe I didn't completely thaw it.....gotta work on that patience thing.) I turned off the oven and turned on the broiler on hi. Placed the salmon back in about 5 inches away from the boiler (If yours is in your oven as well and now a separate drawer) and let it cook while checking on it every now-and-again for 4 minutes. It got a little golden on the top and perfectly flaky inside. I take them out and plate, adding a bit more maple goodness and serve with steamed broccoli and shells & white cheddar. (You know, mac & cheese but with white cheddar, my favorite!) The shells & white cheddar came from a box, but it's delicious. Steamed broccoli is so easy and my favorite veggie. I have to say that I liked the salmon better than the chicken (from what I remember of it) and Frank got seconds!




It was horribly simple to most of you I'm sure, but so yummy! Now what will be my next experiment?

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Sick

Oh I've been sick! I don't mean a little sick, I mean a lot sick. Usually I try to go to work unless I feel like I'm dying, and in the case of last week (one day) even if I do. Turns out I have a sinus infection (which I usually get around this time of year and in fact went to the doctor for it 1 day before last year than I did this year....super weird), and I have a throat infection, which I don't believe I have ever had before. I need to say this....I was SO out of it! It's crazy how bad it all was this time. I was not understanding things that were being said to me, I wasn't saying anything that really made sense, and that when I could actually talk. Yeah, I lost my voice completely. Whispering even hurt my throat and head. The coughing brought that on I suppose. I missed 3 days of work last week, which was torture. Being home during the day sucks! Being home during the day sick & alone...even worse. In fact I was desperate to come to work today because I had to get outta that place! Now being at work....oh my. I'm annoyed by the phone ringing, people asking questions, nagging cough, emails that have been sitting here for so many days, my boss making 18763458935479 personal phone calls within the first few hours of the day...it's all too much. But at least I'm not at home!!!

Okay that was a lot of "...-ing". How about the second part of my post eh? (If you've managed to drag through all that which might not had made sense.) Knit One, Save One! The deadline has been extended until the 31st of this month! I didn't find out until Tuesday I believe but it's alright. I actually have 1 cap already made that I finish just after the previous deadline so that will be on it's way and I have began another one. (Don't worry they will be washed before sending & handled by my mother. I don't want to send my yucky germs!) Anywho, I am excited to be able to send a couple more. If not for aformentioned cold symptoms, I may have been able to knit up a few more! Just like I had planned whatever doesn't get finished by this deadline will go along with others that I will knit up during the year for this years campaign.

Let's see what else? Ah! I began my book "The Gentle Art Of Domesicity" and I am super excited to dive in! I have only finished the introduction but already I am wrapped up in all that it will be. I will keep you updated on my readings. I have also began Brain Age, a Nintendo DS game. It's hard! I first tested my brain age when I was sick last week. That was probably a bad idea. You see my brain age was 62, which is terrible because the best brain age you can have is 20....and I'm only 22! Now the fact that the one test I took to gauge this invloved verbalizing answers, and I had no way to properly (or non-painfully) verbalize may have added to my poor score, however I am proud to announce that I have taken more test after some training activities and am now 42! (Again I may have been a bit out of it when taking the test, we shall see next week when I'm pretty much healthy and close to being off antibiotics.) You should check out the game, at least online, it's silly but fun. It has helped my discover a new passion, Sudoku! Let me say that I am dislexic with numbers, I do not kid. They jumble up and make me horrible at math, which in turn makes me very sad. However I love this game! It makes me feel so smart! Probably old news to a lot of people but there it is.

I began a sort of test blanket for a baby blanket I will be knitting up for my sister-in-law-ish. I haven't gotten that far since having to frog it for lack of 2 stiches at the end of my first knitting/purling row. It was terrible, this will be a long project! I only hope I can finish the test sucessfully as well as the real thing before late May (her due date)! (Bonus points if I can have it by the baby shower, eh?)

That's about all I have for this post. Hopefully next post will be more positive and with a fully functioning brain!

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Knit One, Save One

Finally, some picture of my finished product. Ultimately I only made one hat in time to send off but I have since made another one and will save it until next year!

 

Model: Little Panda

I have been a terrible blogger. It's been busy with the holidays and well...I can make all the excuses I want but the truth is that I haven't had much to blog about. That and that fact that I have no idea who, if anyone reads this. No comments....Oh well.

I guess I could blog about New Years resolutions. I don't make them. I resolve things when they need to be resolved. I do however, make goals for myself. So here's my list. It will grow as I think of more things I need or want to do.

Crafty Goals:

Knit more scarves

Make 1 pattern variation for every basic scarf

Knit 1 blanket for charity

Knit more baby caps for the next round of Knit One, Save One

Knit baby blankets

If baby blankets are finished begin a project to make a set

Practice hand quilting

If comfortable, begin Follow-The-Lines quilt

Attempt 1 knitted toy

Make knitted ornaments to but in clear balls

Knit afghan squares to join for full afghan

Personal Goals:

Stick to a workout plan & stay fit

Read atleast 1 book

Add 1 rosary to my collection

Send in flowers for my Grandmas memorial rosary

New myspace layout (lol)

Play more DS! (already got a start on that)

Add atleast 1 more Betsey Johnson jewelry piece

Charge at least 1 tank of gas on the credit card then immediately off (building credit!)

Keep Organized!

Take a trip somewhere nice.

Adventure

Garden in real life

Become more bold in the kitchen

Love Frank more (everyday)

So that's what I have now. Some are silly and some are very ambitious. But that what it is and I will cross stuff off as I get things accomplished. Maybe I'll add a special section to my blog that has my lists. I'm sure I will update progress on each project / goal.

Cheers all!

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Done-zo!

So here is the picture as promised, just a little late.....

I have already started a scarf and finished it. I have started my preemie sized baby cap...not sure when I can finish that. I have also started another scarf it should be finished soon since it's really thick yarn. Then I have yet another scarf to make. And this must be all before Christmas.....after Christmas I have 2 scarfs to make. And a ton on baby stuff. I'm excited!

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Done!

My scarf is finally finished! I'm actually wearing it today. But of course, the pictures that Frank and I took last night are at the house. I even took one with me actually wearing the scarf. Blah. Pictures next post?

So I guess now it's official, I am a knitter. I'm a knitter & a sewer! It's funny because I consider myself very progressive. I even listen to free speech radio. However lately I've been so interested in the magic of being a stay at home, wife-girlfriend-whatever. Not so much in the "stay at home" way though. More in the "I have mastered traditional task and hobbies" kinda way. Does that make any sense? Now don't get me wrong, stay at home moms- wives-whatever, are awesome! They manage whole house holds and look good doing it I'm sure. However, financially & also for the sake of my sanity, it's just not an option. Despite the fact that my job is high stress, low rewards & infinitely repetitive, I actually like it. I also like the fact that having so little time to do cook, clean & squeeze in time with just Frank is limited, it motivates me to clean quick, cook efficiently & enjoy time playing videos games of talking with my love. I think if I did stay at home, I'd still end up creating my own business to keep my occupied!

So enough on my little tangent, my next project! I completely blanked last week about our Starbucks get together to learn the simple pattern for the preemie size hat. (Remember Knit One, Save One!) I suppose I'm on my own! Luckily, the campaign provides simple & well as intermediate patterns. ( We all know which I'll be using! LOL!) I'll keep you updated on that progress, you know, once I actually start it.

My yarn stash is already insane! 2 balls of bamboo in a wheat color, 8 balls of alpaca (4 in sky blue, 4 in a honey) 2 thick & quicks for scarves & 1 white (I forget) for another scarf. The alpaca projects I must keep to myself. You never know who may be reading this! Let's not get started on how many pairs of needles I have. My poor closet shelf has 2 bins full of fabric, yarn, batting & various articles of clothing just waiting for a project. Considering I'm only knitting right now due to lack of a sewing machine, that's pretty ambitious stash. I'll have to post a picture one day for you to get the whole idea.

I can't wait to have our own place so I can have a room & a closet just for that! Sharing a closet with Frank & my crafting stuff is a bit hard. Especially in a 10 x 10 room. Yes it's insanely small for 2 people, but we manage. I mean we essentially have 2 rooms, one in each house. However that makes it difficult since someone might need something & it's probably at the other house. This creates another problem since the houses are 30 minutes apart. It's craziness & it's wearing but at the end of the day we're just happy to live together & if this arrangement is what allows that, then it's what we'll do. I say 1 more year & we'll be out on our own. (I better start working on my insurance license!) Hopefully when we are ready to move there's a perfect 2 bedroom with our name on it. We've already decided that the extra bedroom with be the piano / craft room. That way we both have a space for our hobbies. We'll see how that goes. I believe we'll be aiming for a house but I won't really know until we get there right?


Okay, back to work for me. My tea is finally waking me up & my desk is calling to be cleared before tomorrow afternoon. I'll be back next post with pictures & hopefully more frequent posting.

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Slowly but surely

It's all coming along! I'm happy to say I am halfway through with my frist project and the more I work on it the faster it goes andthe more I get done in shorter amounts of time! I'm excited that I could have this scarf donesoon and moveon to bigger and better things!

So now I feel is a good time to talk about my second project. Many of you knitters may have already heard of Knit One, Save one. It's a campaign for Save the children in which we knit a premie sized cap and with it we attached a letter to our President elect. I'm so glad it's Barack Obama! (Sorry for the little politcal side not, I just had to.) Basically our message is to bring forth awareness of the problems for children and new mothers around the world and to helpromote more funding for programs that can help. Obviosly I have never knitted a cap so instead of knitting of of the patterns provided I will being going to a class/get-together at a local Starbucks and learn how to knit and easy cap. I'm afraid of two things. 1) I don't normally drink too much coffee but with it being cold iced tea may be a bad idea. Which means coffee!!!! 2) This is my first time with double pointed needles! Eek! Anywho, I will let you know how that all goes. If you'd like to learn more I have made a link, just click on the campaign image below. If you're not a knitter you can still participate so click and read! This is a wonderful cause!

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1

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!

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