Cool Hat

I love this hat, and to make things even better, it was really easy to knit up. I had it finished in just a couple of days. The pattern is found in the book, Knitting for Peace, by Betty Christiansen.

Also finished up a scarf I had been working on since December. A version of my favorite color, purple!

Beads, Beads and More Beads

I have an addictive personality, and it really shows through in my crafts. I start doing something, decide I enjoy it, and many times about go overboard doing it. Thus, the beaded bracelets. I made bracelets until my eyes were seeing beads even when they were closed. And what, you ask, am I going to do with all of them? Why, stuff them in my drawer with the rest of my loose jewelry, of course! Here are my newest creations.

I love the green round beads, even though I can't think of a thing to wear them with!

Doesn't the middle one remind you of Oreo cookies?

This morning I went to a class to learn about jewelry making, gardening, and freezer meals. Crafts, food and menu planning. Three of my favorite subjects! This was one of a series of classes put on through my church on subjects similar to these. For the jewelry section we made bracelets. The one I made was green and orange, in honor of the Fiskateers group I'm in. I love the colors. This is my daughter modeling it.

The freezer meals we sampled were breakfast burritos, egg and muffin sandwiches, chicken quesadillas, Avocado Dip, and chocolate chip cookies. All of the food was yummy! I really like the idea of making food ahead of time and freezing it. It really cuts down on the prep time, especially for us at dinnertime. If you'd like any of these recipes, just comment or email me and I'll get them to you.
*
The gardening section was so informative. Who knew I should be preparing my soil right now? I am not much of a gardener but have always wanted to learn more. I can't wait to try all these new ideas on my vegetable garden this year. Now, if I could only get my peach tree to thrive in this Northern Nevada climate. . .

I'm typing this from my new laptop I received for christmas. This is actuallly my first blog post with pictures that I opened and saved on the laptop. A big deal for me because I am so computer challenged. And the blog post wasn't even planned! Here's what my thought process is doing inside my brain these days: Today the whole family cleaned house (you can read more about the why the need to clean the house from top to bottom here) I needed a little break so I went outside and started to clean out my car. I found my sock project bag in the car with these socks. The socks reminded me that I needed to take a picture of them to put on my Ravelry account. I got out the camera, snapped a couple of pictures of the socks, 'cuz I'm loving them so much, then remembered that I needed to take an "after" picture of my craft room - after it's been cleaned up. I have such a short attention span! Needless to say, after the camera was in my hand I got practially Nothing done in the way of cleaning.

I loved knitting these socks - one of them only took me 3 days to finish! You can find the pattern here

The yarn I used was Dancing by Knit Picks. Yarn from my stash.

A close-up of the pattern work. Tilt your head to the left and you can see the hearts made with yarn-overs.

A much cleaner craft room!

We are deep cleaning the craft room. We're rearranging furniture, adding a tv in the hopes that will motivate us to use the treadmill, and I am throwing away A LOT of stuff.

Don't these two pictures look like I have a neat, orderly craft room?

Ok, now see below for the REAL picture. A lot of the stuff in the middle of the floor came from five bookcases/shelves, which we are downsizing to just three.

We've done the rearranging, and the room looks much better than this. I will post "after" pictures when we're finished. I've even cleared a space on my craft desk, and made some cards tonight:

Fiskars Ultra ShapeXpress

I got my Fiskars Ultra ShapeXpress out the other day to use for a layout, and found another use for it. I love rub-ons but like to keep them together in one sheet, which makes it a little difficult to try to cut one rub-on out that is in the middle. I used the Ultra ShapeXpress to cut out the saying in the middle, without having to cut out any other rub-ons, which would give me a great chance to lose all those little pieces I would have had to cut out. I love the way it cuts - very sharp blade, so keep away from little children. You can see this and other Fiskars products here.

*

Take a Knitting Survey

This one had me thinking back some years. Feel free to cut and paste to your own blog. After all, that's what I did.

Bold for stuff you've done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you're not planning on doing.

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-upKnitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with bananafiber yarn
Domino knitting (=modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffitti knitting: knitting items on, or to be left on the street
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Household items: dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies...
knitting socks- or other small tubular items- on two circulars
Dying with plant colours
Knitting items for a wedding
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else's handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Machine knitting
Knitting with selfpatterning/selfstriping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/armwarmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public