Sunday, July 26, 2009

Knit for your Weekend

Hello darlings! How was your weekend? Mine was pretty darn good and it's not over yet. It's been a little chilly and rainy this weekend, but that's okay. Spent some good time with family and friends! My mom came over Saturday and she and I and the kiddo went for a walk in the rain to the park near our house. I love the way the rain smells, especially after all the wildfire smoke this summer. Saturday night the Hub and I and some friends went to see some good music and have some tasty beer. He does a podcast with a couple friends and they focus on Alaskan musicians. This week they hung out with David Reynolds, boy and his guitar, definitely worth a listen! He had a couple gigs in town and is heading out this week. So last night it was the Snow Goose restaurant, which houses the Sleeping Lady Brewery. Good times.
Nice lazy Sunday morning today and in about an hour [Friend Who Bakes] will be coming over to sew! Although I'm feeling my sticks and string the past few days, sewing has a faster gratification rate.
I wanted to say a few things here, too. I've gotten a couple questions about my blog/patterns. The answer is YES. Link to me! I love how knitting and crafting can bring together people across the country and the world for no other reason than a common interest in yarn! Link to me! Use my patterns! Share them with anyone!
As far as selling things, I prefer my patterns to be for personal use, gifts and such. If you knit and someone else wants to commission a project, this seems perfectly reasonable to me. I'm going to try to get an Etsy store up and running in the fall and I'd like to reserve the right to sell my finished products commercially.
Let's end on a happy note, shall we? Another of my tomatoes is turning red and should be ready to pick in a couple days. This one is all mine!
Have a good week, friends!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

My Week in Crafting



So, here's the rest of the of the specifically designed chemo hats. Yarn is very important for these! I'm totally into Plymouth Oh My! yarn. I don't care that the stuff is not good for washing! It makes up for whatever it lacks in being SO SOFT. SOFT. This is the perfect yarn for chemo hats. Also tried some Bernat Natural Blends Bamboo. Very nice and soft too! And inexpensive. Well, both of those, really. And here's another shot of the wig, I think the kiddo took that picture, it's his new hobby.
Also, I'm finalizing the pattern for the newborn size of the baby cardigan. My thoughts are posting this size for free on here, then eventually working out sizing for up to 24 months and compiling into a PDF for my eventual Etsy store. So, that should be up soon. I'm making a set of them for my dear friend who has a baby due in a month! And I get to visit her in Colorado and hopefully get to meet the new bitty baby! So exciting! P.S. I know you're reading this and I just found the perfect buttons for the orange version!
In other craftabulous news (wow, my spell check didn't underline craftabulous) I've spent the past three evenings being creative with the kiddo. We got some of that Crayola Model Magic, pretty fun stuff. He made a ladybug I'm really impressed with. He's also started drawing faces and I have pictures on the fridge at home and stapled to the wall at work. Makes me smile when I'm stuck at work. Tonight we had [Friend Who Bakes] and her step-daughter over for hanging out with craft projects. Mostly beading, a little modelling clay. Good times!
On the garden front, I have no idea what's going on. I skipped the long trip this week because my dad went up the same time I usually go and he took care of the watering for me. Not too optimistic about anything but peas and potatoes. My plants at home are doing very well, though! Kiddo and I pick the peas as they grow. I figured out something to do with all the basil, too. My gawd, try this! Delicious. Seriously.
I got my first two little tomatoes and gave them to my dad. I should have swiped a bite before he ate them, now I'll never know how tasty they were! Sad. But there are more growing! It's so exciting to be growing food, even if it's way more time and energy than going to the store and grabbing a few tomatoes and peas.
Alright, time for bed! Woo! New free pattern coming soon!

Saturday, July 18, 2009

PSA

We here at Knit For Your Life feel it is our duty to share some disturbing information with you. As you may or may not be aware, there is a growing problem in so many communities across America and the world. I admit that I have become involved and feel I need to share the facts with my readership so they may not fall into this vicious cycle, as I have.
I used to consider this problem something that affected people different from me, older people, people with more time and money to spare. But it turns out the problem goes deeper than that. Younger generations are getting involved, and the internet is so readily available with all the information you need whether for personal use or on a large distribution scale.
I admit, for me, it started as just something to try, I was never too serious about it. Personal use, I thought, maybe a little for family or friends if they wanted some. But before I realized it, things were getting out of hand and I feel I'm in over my head.
You may not realize it, but someone you know may be in the same situation. I personally know of at least 5 people with same problem I have, although they're not as deep into it as I am.
I feel it is up to me to do my part to make people aware of this problem and ask you to share this information with anyone you know.
I have a picture to share, but you may find this image disturbing.
Below is a picture of a recent crop from my "personal" stash.
Basil: It's easier than you think.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Summer time!


So, of course, I meant to have more pictures things I've gotten done, but here's a start. You'll just have to check back for more later!
Because there's pictures of the wig, but not of the other two hats I'm working on. Special wig and hats for chemo-head. Not the kiddo, he's just the model.
And I have yet to get a picture of the cute sweater I knitted out of that Noro. But stick around, baby, I can change! I've just been busy with summer. I need to get as much out of it as I can! The long days are amazing, but they're getting shorter already. We actually have to turn the lights on around 10:30, ridiculous. But we got a ride-along bike for the kiddo, since I hate trailers and he was too big for the plastic baby seat thing last summer. I love it! Some of the cheaper ones, people are giving bad reviews because the rear wheel locks up. We had the same problem once or twice, but it can be easily fixed by holding the pedals and pulling the wheel against them to tighten what's inside. No problems since, and it was $120 cheaper than the exellently reviewed REI models. But no pictures of that either.
I picked my first crop at the garden two weeks ago. Radishes are so gratifying! Picked the rest of them yesterday. Also have a second round growing.
OH! Guess what else! I've been really excited about trying pickling since we started this garden, so a couple days ago, I had my first attempt. My brother-in-law's birthday is in September and I'm %99.9 sure he hasn't, doesn't and won't read my blog, so I can post this. He likes spicy stuff, so I thought this would be good. He doesn't get them all, though!
It drives me nuts that they have to age, I want to see how they turn out!
Here's how I connect gardening to knitting: I really really want to knit a fruit and veggie basket, including the basket.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Y'all come back now, y'hear?

I have some knitting to show! And some veggies from the garden! And a totally awesome looking first attempt at pickling!
But here's the catch: later.
I'm at work right now, sneaking a blog in. Later today I have to drive 2 hours to tend the garden, see how things are going and hopefully drive home tonight. Last week was a day-trip fail. I figured I'd head up when it was nap time for the kiddo and head home at bed time. Nap time worked, bed time didn't. He usually goes to bed at 8:00, but we got home after 10:00 and I figured since he was still up, he needed a shower. That makes for a cranky baby the next day, let me tell ya. We'll see how it goes today.
I have the day off tomorrow, though! And that means I'll have time to show and tell about stuff!