Layettes, Noro and stashbusting

Hey everybody. Wanna see some stuff I made? No? Too bad, here it is anyways:

This is a layette for one of the eleventy million pregnant women that I work with. She is a really cool chick, and she is having a boy, in case you weren't able to tell. The sweater pattern is called Baby It's Cold Outside by Julie Holetz aka SkaMama. You can find it on the CrochetMe website. The hat I made up, along with the blankie.

I'm pretty happy with the sweater. It's the first baby sweater I ever made. And all of the above projects were made with yarn from my stash. Woo hoo! Somebody stop me!


Here is the progess being made on the Noro stole. I am quite pleased with it. It is rife with mistakes, but you people should know by now that I don't really care all that much. This is about two and a half skeins worth - I do believe it is going to be quite long. It will need to be majorly blocked so that you can see the bobble lace and so the edges don't curl up. That should be an adventure, as I have never blocked anything before. Probably because I have used mostly acrylic up to this point. Try not to cringe.

Just get a load of that woolly goodness.

And finally, here is a picture of two of my favorite people in the world - my DD Banana and my Dad. Are they cute or what? Dad took the picture himself. He's so talented.

That's all for now folks. Thanks for stopping by.

I has a bucket

Mission: Possible

Hey everybody!

How's it going. Things are just dandy here. As an addendum to my last post, I am making a committment to myself and my family - are you ready?

No frivolous expenditures from now until at least my birthday, which is at the end of May.

Yep, you read that right. No yarn purchasing, taking my lunch to school instead of buying (the cafeteria food sucks anyway, so that shouldn't be too difficult), making tea in the morning instead of buying coffee. No clothes purchasing. And so on.

I owe it to myself and my hubby. I was watching 20/20 last week (why yes, I am turning into an old person), and it was about debt in America. Since 1989, Americans have tripled their credit card debt. Tripled!! And I can assure you that I have done nothing to help. So no more. I am going to use what I have, wear what I have, knit/crochet what I have, and be happy with what I have, because gosh darn it, I have a lot of nice stuff. Not to mention, WT and I would like to buy a new house in two to four years. Of course, we have been saying that for the past two to four years, but it's time for us to get serious about it.

So there you have it. I am going to be Frugal Sally for the next 4 months and 2 weeks, possibly longer. Let's see how I do. No malls. No craft stores. No LYSs.

It's all good. Thanks for stopping by.

What I need

I never make any formal New Year's resolutions, but each new year does give me pause to think about myself and how I might improve. Last year was kind of tough, and I want this year to be better. But how?

I began to think about what I need versus what I want. I want a lot of things, and I don't want to want a lot of things. I try not to be materialistic. I've been watching the evening news a lot lately, and reading books, and reading articles online, and man, there are a plethora of people in this world who are a lot worse off than I am. I think about the 34,400+ Iraqis that died last year. I think about the people in Darfur who are victims of genocide. I think about the victims of Hurricane Katrina. I think of fathers and mothers in third world countries who hold their children in their arms as they die from malnutrition or AIDS or ebola, powerless to save their babies. And I think to myself, I've got it good.

So here is what I need:
~ I need sleep. Sleep is good for you and helps you heal, both emotionally and physically. It is good.
~ I need food. I am fortunate to live in a country where I can get any kind of food I want inside of 20 minutes. I try not to take this fact for granted.
~ I need love. This includes affection, companionship, platonic love, parental love, romantic love, and genuine conversation. I would shrivel up and die if I didn't have my family and friends.

Really, all the other stuff is not so important. It certainly makes life more pleasant. I am not trying to be morose or melodramatic, just appreciative of what I have.

So here is what I am grateful for (yes, I know it's bad grammar to end a sentence with a preposition; sue me):
~ I am grateful for my health.
~ I am grateful for my daughter and her health.
~ I am grateful for my husband and father and brother and friends and their health.
~ I am grateful for the food I have to eat every day, whenever I want to eat it.
~ I am grateful for our house.
~ I am grateful for my warm bed, with my warm husband in it with me.
~ I am grateful for my friends.
~ I am grateful that I am a white American. We have it a lot easier than most other people in the world. You know it's true, and that's a shame.
~ I am grateful for my job.
~ I am grateful for my hobbies, like knitting and painting and photography.

This list could go on and on, but I'll stop there for now. I'm not a terribly religious person, but each night when I go to bed, I pray and thank God for the things that I have. It's easy to take things for granted, and if I keep any resolution this year, I want to continue to be grateful and not take things for granted. You never know when you might not have them anymore.

Photos as promised

Oh yeah. That's what I'm talking about. Don't you just love that Noro? Look at those colors. They're much prettier in person. So's the stole, you can barely see the pattern at all here. Oh well, for those of you that will be at SnB tomorrow night, you'll get to see it up close and personal.

And how about that leg warmer, eh? The kid mohair gives it a lovely halo, and it is so darn soft that I may very well wear these leg warmers for the rest of my life.

Okay, maybe not in the summer, but you know what I mean.

In other news, the important men in my life want me to make stuff for them!! Dad wants an orange tea cozy (Yes. Orange.) and Little Brother wants a nice knit cap. WT wants a sweater!! I just have to figure out which sweater for him. I purchased Ann Budd's Book of Knitting Patterns, or whatever the hell it's called, that gives you a boatload of patterns for standard projects in all gauges and sizes. Anne Marie, my neighbor and knitter extraordinaire, turned me on to that book. It's cool.

I'm gonna go knit now. Thanks for stopping by!

Post script to last entry

1. The Kureyon colorway is 170, lot A.
2. I think the leg warmers will fit.
3. I found out why I was ending up with extra stitches after the bobble lace repeat (I first typed 'booble'; it made me laugh a little.) on the Zen Garden Stole and managed to fix it.
4. I'm not feeling quite as lazy as yesterday, so hopefully I'll post pics today or tomorrow, especially since I have two projects on the needles and one project on the hook to show you.
5. I think that's it for now.

I'm not making any New Year's Resolutions. Many people do, but when I try to, I get overwhelmed by it all and fail to keep them. I'm going to make Everyday Resolutions. When I wake up each morning, I am going to say,"Today I resolve to ____." And that's that. Much more manageable and attainable, for me at least.

I actually remembered to put exercise clothes and sneakers in the car this morning so I can go for a run after school. This is a momentous event - it demonstrates planning and remembering on my part. Congratulate me.

Got's to go now peeps. Thanks for stopping by. I'll see my local knitting friends at SnB tomorrow night, yay!!

I promise to post photos soon.

I'm just so darn lazy these days. Speaking of which, happy belated New Year! I do hope that 2007 will be better than 2006 (read: no deaths in the family). Anyhoo, here's what I'm working on:

First, I cast on about 20 times for the stupid leg warmers in Last Minute Knitted Gifts. Which of course are labeled "super-easy". Since this was the first project on which I was using my new Denise Interchangeables, it took me a bit to realize that 12" is the length of the needles I needed to use, not just the cord. Duh. So I finally figured it out, and then cast on again. But the pattern said to cast on 46 stitches, and that just seems impossible to me. I could not make it work for the life of me. I checked for errata, and there is none for that particular pattern, so I cast on 12 extra stitches and it's working much better now, although I still think they may be a bit small. Oh well, they are nice and stretchy, and the yarn is to die for.

Second, I used the gift certificate from my dad to purchase 6 skeins of Noro Kureyon is this lovely rainbow colorway (don't ask the number, I don't know). I am using this to make the Zen Garden Stole (you can Google it, I'm too lazy to make a link right now). It is a nice stole, and it has a fun bobble lace pattern going on. I had to rip out the first bobble lace repeat last night though, because I somehow ended up with 5 extra stitches. And the pattern calls for Silk Garden, but I can't afford that, and Geez Louise does that Kureyon felt fast. Whoa. So I'll keep you updated on that.

Third - are you ready? - I actually knitted a SWATCH to CHECK my GAUGE before casting on for Norah Gaughan's Kenobi Sweater. Oh my goodness, are you so proud of me? I am. Good thing too, because I need to use bigger needles. So I have yet to re-swatch, but I'll let you know how it goes.

So there you have it. I'm having fun. Thanks for stopping by and reading my pictureless blog.