Posts Tagged ‘knitting’
Caught your attention with that blog entry title, huh? :) Well, don’t get too excited … I’m talking about felt as in the material ~ as in knitting a felted purse.
Now, originally I thought that felt was just something purchased at the craft store ~ three pieces for $1, or something cheap like that. I thought that felt was a fabric made by a machine, not something you could create yourself. Many years ago, I accidentally placed a wool sweater into the washing machine, with hot water ~ and it came out all felt-looking. Oops. But then, a few years ago, I saw my friend Carol’s beautiful felted bowl. And felted bag. And I thought, “How the heck would you knit something like that? I don’t see any stitches!”
I finished this knitting project last night for my mom. She asked if I would make her a bunch of kitchen dishcloths, which made me really excited. (Maybe she’s just humoring me, LOL!) They’re incredibly fast and easy. Sometime I’d like to try a tip that my friend Marilyn recently told me about. Wal-Mart’s craft department sells this threadlike stuff ~ it’s intended for a ballerina tutu or a wedding gown, to make the material somewhat pouffy. (I’d never heard of it before, but Marilyn bought some that’s green and said that there are different colors.) She holds this thread along with her yarn when she’s knitting a dishcloth, and it makes the dishcloth very scrubby. I felt one of her dishcloths, and it was like an exfoliant! Perfect for scrubbing dried grime off dishes (and probably lots of other household uses). I’m going to find some of that stuff the next time I’m there. One of my next knitting projects will be an Indiana dishcloth, and I’m very excited about that!
Busy afternoon today. I’m dropping Lucas off at preschool at 12:30, and I have lots of stuff to bring with me. I’m taking four empty milk jugs to contribute to the construction of the school’s igloo, and I also washed some dress-up clothes as part of their winter cleaning. While Luke’s in school, I think that I’m going to take Meredith over to the local yarn store that a friend told me about yesterday. (Lord help my wallet, LOL!) Then, after preschool, Lucas has a quick checkup at the pediatrician’s office. Sometime today, I also have to make a grocery list and work on the finishing touches for this town calendar. And I’m doing laundry ~ and I’d also like to relax and do some knitting tonight, if possible. Such a busy time of year!
Yesterday afternoon, I took the kids over to our town’s train station to help decorate for Santa’s arrival this Saturday. Lucas was *so* excited about the model train that’s there. He also saw Santa’s chair sitting in the corner and asked me, “How tall is Santa?” It was super cute. The tree that they chose for the station is so beautiful and full and smells incredible. Lucas is contributing his glittery bell ornament that he made during moms’ group on Tuesday. :) I helped string lights on the outside of the depot, and while we were doing that, we saw an eagle flying overhead! Yesterday was a great day for decorating because it was actually pretty warm ~ in the 40s and low 50s! I can’t wait to take some pictures on Saturday. It’ll be interesting to see whether Meredith enjoys Santa or is afraid of him! Oh, and Santa will arrive on one of the town’s fire trucks!
Well, I’d better go ~ the laundry probably needs to be switched around. This week has gone by *so* fast ~ how did it get to be Thursday?
Please skip this blog entry if you’re not interested in knitting! :)
I was very excited about beginning the Berry Basket dishcloth pattern ~ hopefully as a Christmas present for my mom, who is a basketweaver. However, I messed up in a few places (no clue what happened). I ripped apart the entire thing and thought that I’d start a new dishcloth ~ using my own pattern. The border was two rows of K1, P1. Then, I did a row of K2, YO1 ~ followed by a regular knitted row after that. The third row was K1, P1. Then, another regular knitted row. I kept this up, but somehow I started getting 40 or so stitches on my needle (when I had only cast on 30!). The thing was starting to look kind of round, actually!
So, I cast off, then sewed it into a circle. Looked like a snowflake or maybe a wreath to me. I added a loop for hanging. Then, I added some green and red yarn, and voilà ~ a Christmas ornament to remind me of the year that I learned how to knit (or, at least the year where I screwed up a lot of knitting projects!). :)
Wouldn’t a Christmas tree with all knitted ornaments and some cranberry/popcorn garland be *so* pretty? Oh sure, maybe I’ll just whip that out in my spare time. :)
I’m so excited about making snowflake-shaped sugar cookies today. I have navy blue and royal blue coloring, and I’m going to tint the cookies a pale blue. I also have clear, sparkly, edible glitter and some crystal sugar. I’ll probably leave some of the frosting white, too. The dough is chilling in the refrigerator. There’s a cookie exchange on Tuesday during my moms’ group meeting (where everyone comes home with three dozen different kinds of cookies, depending on how many participate!), and I’ll probably freeze some for our train station’s holiday party on the 13th. Now I just have to discipline myself not to eat too many cookies and gain a zillion pounds! These cookies have two cups of sugar and one cup of shortening ~ talk about fat and calorie overload!
By the way, we received our very first Christmas card: from our friends Vicky and Natalie. They hand-delivered it to us when they came over for Thanksgiving. :) Our first Christmas card in the mail was from fellow blogger Connie. Thank you very much! I love picking up our mail this time of year! So where’s the farthest away that you’re sending a Christmas card? I guess that ours would be relatives in California.
The only thing I have going on today is a meeting about this calendar that I’m designing, and hopefully I’ll be finished with it very soon. I feel like I can’t start on Christmas projects until it’s done. We’re almost there, though. I did address some Christmas cards last night, though, and I also stayed up late knitting. :) I’m working on a new project … Grandmother’s Favorite Dishcloth. It’s really easy so far ~ I haven’t managed to screw it up yet, but there’s still time! :)
P.S. If you’re looking for a foot-related Christmas gift for someone special (yeah, I’m not kidding!), here’s a website that has pretty much everything you can possibly imagine that relates to the feet (including special splints to help with Plantar Fasciitis). Actually, they have some socks that look super comfy ~ and look at this gadget that lets you take a walk while you’re sitting down! I need one of those for when I’m tied to the computer doing freelance work!
I forgot to tell you ~ yesterday morning, I dressed Meredith in a purple babydoll shirt with matching purple jeans (received for her birthday). When she stood up, she examined her outfit, turned around to me, and said, “I’m so cute!” I could have died laughing. It was adorable.
Right now, I’m watching a tree being cut down right in front of our house. It’s not on our property, but they pushed it over into our yard so that they can cut it into logs. Isn’t there something sad about a tree being cut down? (Or is it just me?) I’m not a “tree hugger,” per se, but I do care very much about our environment. I just hope that the tree will be used for some good purpose, like firewood for a family who might really need it this winter. It was a huge tree, too.
Last night, I stayed up until around 11 p.m. knitting. :) I was almost done with the waffle-stitch washcloth that I’d been working on, but problems developed. Somehow I screwed up a few stitches and had a big hole in the middle ~ and then there was some yarn hanging at the very end of the washcloth. Crap. No clue what I did, but I was *kind of* able to fix it with the darning needle (or whatever you call those things). I also had some trouble casting off because of the screwed-up stitches. The washcloth isn’t as big as it should be, but it’s still pretty. What I’m excited about now is beginning a new project ~ I just have to make sure that I know how to do yarn overs! Hmm … should I try my hand at knitting some discount lingerie? LOL! :)
It’s Friday, and I miss our CSA shares. :( It would be pretty chilly going over to the farm to pick them up now, though! I just miss all of that fresh produce. I can’t wait to do our CSA again next year. June seems *so* far away!
~Author unknown
Our Thanksgiving this year was *so* relaxing. I wasn’t stressed out at all, and I’m sure that having our grocery store cook the turkey was one reason why! :) Yes, cheating perhaps ~ but it was *so* easy and convenient. Why get up at 6 a.m. and stress out? I also tried to choose simple side dishes and got as much done ahead of time as possible. I had some excellent baking help on Wednesday, too! Luke and Meri stirred the pumpkin pie but quickly got tired and flopped down on the couch. :) Meredith also attempted to help me peel potatoes yesterday morning!
We invited our good friends Vicky and Natalie over. They were our neighbors when we moved to New York and lived in our first apartment, and they have become family to us. We enjoyed some appetizers, then sat down to Thanksgiving dinner. Afterward, we decided to take a short walk down our road (an awesome way to help our food digest and get some exercise and fresh air!). Then, we went upstairs for some Wii action. We have our Wii upstairs on the tv stand in our bonus room. They brought over a *fun* game called Game Party. Oh, and Vicky actually untangled the *huge* mess of yarn that the kids had created! I was *so* grateful for that! Now I can finish my first-time knitting practice. Of course, the day ended by enjoy various desserts. Vicky and Natalie brought over an amazingly rich chocolate Hershey’s ice cream pie, and we also had pumpkin pie and Thanksgiving Cake. What a *terrific* day.
Check out these Indiana Trivial Pursuit cards that Vicky made for us! How *cool* is that? Each question relates to Indiana somehow. Here’s one (answer in the comments section): “In what county is Indiana’s geographic center?” We’re going to have so much fun with those. Vicky also gave us some more beautiful handmade paper Christmas ornaments to add to our tree. She is *so* talented (and even made the box that they came in!). They will be *so* special to hang on our Christmas tree every year (and hopefully this weekend, we’ll be able to put up our tree). Here’s a photo:
I hope that all of you out there had a *wonderful* Thanksgiving, as well. We certainly have *much* to be thankful for.
I apologize for my cranky blog entry yesterday, but I sure felt better after venting. It was just one of those days. My post was very real, actually. Lots of times, I feel like I’m *always* writing sunny and cheery things here (or not truly expressing what I’m feeling because I don’t want anyone to think that I’m a bad mom). So it felt good to get some frustrations out for a change.
I’ve been up cooking since 7:30 this morning and am *loving* every minute of it! The cranberry sauce (recipe from Carol) is done, as are the pumpkin pies, most of the veggie and cheese tray, and the Thanksgiving Cake (a traditional family recipe). This afternoon, I’m going to prepare my grandma’s mashed potatoes for baking tomorrow. Aside from that, the vegetables can be done tomorrow right beforehand, and the crackers just need to be placed onto the tray along with the with dip. Yay for being prepared! :) I absolutely *love* the day before Thanksgiving. It’s *so* much fun to be at home cooking up a storm!
Stopped by Big Lots this morning to get a few things (I secretly *love* Big Lots ~ OK, so it’s not a secret anymore!). I was out of shampoo and conditioner and found some VO5 Moisture Milks Strawberries & Cream for only 79 cents apiece. What I *really* wanted was the Suave kind, but I haven’t seen that for a while in our stores. I always loved the fragrance and how it made my hair smell like strawberries all day long!
By the way, I’m still knitting but have hit a snag (pun intended!). I can cast on just fine and knit the first row, but every row past that is *so* freaking tight. Also, it seems like the first half of the stitches look just fine, but then the yarn becomes *very* dense ~ like something is getting twisted? I have no clue. I’m going to play around with it some more later, but the rest of today will be spent cleaning!
One final note: my *sincere* sympathies go out to Rachel, who lost her grandfather on Friday. I was *so* sad to hear that news. I know what it’s like ~ my grandpa passed away back in February. My heart really goes out to her. It’s hard to think about how he won’t get to see this Thanksgiving.
We watched two movies this weekend: “Transsiberian” and “The Love Guru.” Yes, two dramatically different films! :) “Transsiberian” was recommended to us by a coworker’s girlfriend, and although it was kind of weird in some ways, it was just excellent! I *really* enjoyed it. Most of the story takes place on a train, and Woody Harrelson plays a funny part. The scenery was amazing. “The Love Guru” was silly and good for laughs. Cracked me up that Mariska Hargitay was actually in the movie! I tried to do some knitting during each of these movies, but it was too dark in our living room ~ and the movies *really* captured my attention! :)
Speaking of knitting … I’m knitting now! Yay! :) Carol was *so* sweet to show me the techniques. I even purled a few stitches last night! I can’t tell you how excited I am to learn something new. Right now, I’m using some sage green yarn that she gave me to knit a basic rectangle. I think that I’ll turn it into a coffee cup “cozy” if I manage to actually do it right! :) I’d love to get good enough to make pretty dishcloths, and even down the road maybe I can make some hats for the kids. Carol started me off with some neat knitting supplies and two books to borrow. I’ve been checking those out. I put my name on the list for Ravelry, too. And yes, Kae, I *definitely* need to knit a little pair of pants for my carrot! LOL! :)
Tomorrow is going to be a crazy-busy day. In the morning at 9, I have my moms’ group meeting at our church. Then, it’s lunch on the road as I drive Lucas to preschool at 12:30. I pick him up early because the kids are doing a “Thankful Presentation” (complete with a surprise for the moms ~ I can’t wait to see what Lucas made!). Then, there’s a preschool parent advisory board meeting tomorrow night. I’m absolutely going to crash after that, I think.
Off to finish up some graphic design work ~ have a wonderful Monday, guys!
I miss crafting. It’s difficult to do while taking care of two small children. But not too long ago, I started thinking about something my friend Carol told me ~ that knitting doesn’t require pulling out a lot of supplies and that it’s something you can do while watching TV, hanging out with your family, waiting for appointments, etc. And there are *so* many bloggers out there who knit. Originally, though, I dismissed knitting because I didn’t think that I had time to learn something new ~ and I figured that I probably wouldn’t be too good at it (or patient enough). But a week or so ago, I started thinking about knitting more and more.
Saturday, I ran over to Wal-Mart to buy some new needles for our sewing machine (because crazily enough, I broke *three* of them while trying to sew a simple baby blanket!). I found some, then turned around ~ and guess what was behind me? Knitting supplies. Oh, the yarn! I found myself just staring at everything for the longest time ~ such beautiful colors! It was like looking at the various fabrics in the craft department ~ drooling over what I can possibly sew.
I’d heard several knitting friends mention Peaches & Cream yarn, so I checked that out. A color called “Earth Tone” caught my eye. But I thought, “I know absolutely *nothing* about this. I shouldn’t even look.” The yarn was so inexpensive, though! Then, I found myself walking over to the knitting needles. I saw some royal blue ones ~ size five, whatever that means! I said, “What the heck!” and took everything up to the checkout. But I felt such a twinge of excitement!
It kind of reminds me of my grandpa ~ he used to weave *gorgeous* handmade throws with acrylic yarn on his own handcrafted loom in his basement. And I remembered that a long time ago, my mom taught me how to knit ~ but I don’t remember a whole lot, and now I wish that I’d paid more attention! Anyway, I’m now the owner of a pair of blue size five knitting needles and two balls (uh, “skeins,” right?) of yarn. Last night, I managed to figure out how to do the long-tail cast on, but I can’t seem to get the first row started. It’s hard to even stick the right needle into the top stitch ~ way too tight. I know that ultimately, all of your stitches end up on the other needle ~ but that’s the point where I’m stuck. :( I’ve been checking out the website KnittingHelp.com.
Tomorrow, I’m heading over to Carol’s because she has graciously offered to help me get started. I can’t tell you how psyched I am to be starting a new craft! Maybe I could make some pretty washcloths to accompany my handmade soaps. Yay ~ I get to make things again! :)
