Does it Count?

Does it count as fiscal responsibility if the money was spent at Goodwill?

A while ago, I purchased this book.  I really want to make those cupcake pincushions that are shown on the cover.  There are lots of other crafts in the book I would like to make, too.  One must acquire a collection of wool sweaters to felt, if the crafts are to be made!  I started looking over the summer and managed to find a few sweaters but did not have a nice color variety. 

Today, I had a small load of stuff to free myself from at the local Goodwill store.  I really went in just to see if they had any vintage sheets to add to my little collection for the vintage sheet quilt I am planning to make.  You can see that I managed to make it home with no sheets, but plenty of sweaters!  I also found a nice Ann Taylor Loft sweater for myself.  

My best deal of the day was a ball of Berroco Suede yarn for a whopping $.99!  I couldn't just leave that lonely ball of yarn there.  I did a search after I got home and Webs is selling it for $10 a ball.  I am not sure what I will end up making out of it, but that's okay.

Now, I just have to get to felting those sweaters so that I can get started on some of the projects.  And, in case you are wondering, there were plenty of wool sweaters that I left at the store...I just tried to pick a nice variety of colors and textures.

Finished Mitts!

I finished my Mitt Envy mitt's last night.  I'm so happy and a bit proud, too.  I'm sure I will wear them multiple times in the next week.

Lately...

Lately, I have been working on a pair of Mitt Envy mitts.   I am completely done with the left mitt and I think that I am working on the third repeat on the right.  I am sure to finish either tonight or possibly tomorrow night.  However, I couldn't wait to show off what I have finished so far:

This mitt is being modeled by my husband.  The mitt fits my hand very well, but I am glad to know that they stretch a bit and will fit his wider man hands, too.  I am sure I will make him a pair in the future.  Plus, I couldn't get a good photo while trying to model the mitt on my own hand.  Not that this is the best photo, either, but at least you get to look at hairy man arms instead of hairy lady arms.

I have really enjoyed knitting this pattern and will definitely be making more of these mitts.  It is a project that would  be very portable for me when I am going to all of the car shows/cruise nights with my husband in the summer. 

Yesterday, I took my one finished mitt with me to some of my schools, just to show off.  I'm telling you, the ladies all made me feel so cool that I could knit such a thing.  Although, I keep telling people it's just that I am good at following directions! 

p.s. I was wrong about yesterday's post being the 100th...this is the 100th, but all of my comments from yesterday still stand...

We've Been Seeing...

a lot of these looks lately:

Admittedly, this photo was taken during the summer.  The look is still the same.  She wants to go for walks, but it is cold in these parts right about now.  Plus, when she actually goes for the walk she ends up fizzling out about half way thru.  We are all hoping that spring comes around sooner rather than later.

Of course, then we'll be seeing more looks like this:

P.S. I am TOTALLY ignoring the fact that this is my 100th post since I am not prepared for that...wanted to do something jazzy or give something away...so we'll have to do that another time...like the 107th post or the 111th post.

A Cutie!

This is my sweet nephew modeling the hat that I made for him.

 He is such a sweetie and I am glad that he likes his hat, too. 

My brother also requested another hat for himself...I guess their puppy/dog got ahold of the hat and tore it up a bit.  He liked it enough to ask for another one, though.  He's going to send me photos of that hat, too.  He didn't know if it could be repaired or not.  Honestly, though, I don't think I would know how to go about repairing a hat that's been chewed by a dog.  It might actually take less of my time to make a new one.

Cables Forever

This is the third dishcloth that I have completed since 2010 began, and I've got another that is about 1/2 finished.  You can find the pattern at Knit Dishcloth Corner.  The patterns are listed in French and then most of them are translated into English beneath that.  I printed off several that I plan to try.  The name of this one is Torsades and is under the "initié" section.

This is the first time that I ever knit cables.  I did not find it to be all that hard, actually.  I didn't have a cable needle, but I made do with a spare needle I had.  It turned out pretty good.  I think it would look better if I blocked it.  However, I plan to keep it for myself so I probably will not bother. 

Icicle Saturday

It really doesn't matter that it is cold out or that there are icicles hanging from nearly every inch of the gutters because the sun is shining.  The sun makes everything okay.

My Wake Up

This is how I woke up this morning:

I was sleeping, very content, when I heard a semi-loud thud following by my husband hollering at the cats.

  Admittedly, it is partially my fault.  You see there is a cabinet set into the corner where the wall that is part of the living room and the hall wall meet.  I tend to let mail get stacked up there (see 2010 Commitment #1).  It is also the place where we store our jar of cat treats. 

As soon as my husband is up in the morning, or arrives home from work in the morning, at least one cat is on the "perch" waiting for treats to be dolled out.  Well, I'm guessing that he hadn't passed out treats yet (why do it right away?) and one of the cats was sitting on the mail...the mail slid out from under the cats...the cat slipped and tumbled off the perch...and the plant go knocked over and busted wide open. 

Now I've got to go and buy a new pot today because I certainly don't have any pots that size just sitting around in the garage :-( 

First FO of the New Year

This is my first finished object of 2010.  I'm not crazy about it.  I wasn't crazy about it, even 15 rows in, but I decided to just go ahead and finish it anyway.  I didn't knit as many repeats as the pattern called for... I don't like my cloths that big.  I imagine I will put it in the gift bin.  The good news is that I used stash yarn!

It's a crummy photo, too...but I was outside trying to get as much natural light as possible and it was 4ºF out there and with the windchill it was something like -14ºF and I was in my stocking feet not bundled up so I didn't linger too long.

I'm just trying to decide what to work on next....thinking about working on a UFO instead of casting on something new. 

2010 Commitments

I have never really been one to make any New Year's Resolutions.  Plus, I really don't like to call them resolutions.  I'm not really sure why.  Anyway, last year I commited myself to learning how to knit and I think that I can say I met that commitment and even surpassed just learning to knit.

I had not really thought about it prior to today, but then I saw several comments in various places on the internet regarding 2010 being the start of a new decade.  I started thinking, "What will I commit myself to for this year and for the future beyond that?"

These are the things I am planning to commit myself to this year:

1)  Keeping a tidier house.  (This kind-of fell by the wayside this past year when I became so engaged in knitting an I need to get back to it.)

2)  Being healthier -- exercise, fixing healthier and well rounded meals again  (of course, this also involves figuring out what is wrong with my refridgerator as it keeps freezing most of my produce -- I'm starting this afternoon by blowing out the underneath with my husband's air compressor)

3)  Crafting from my stash -- whether it is knitting, crocheting, sewing.  Part of this goes back to keeping a tidier house...if I don't have as much stuff, it will be a lot easier to keep tidy.  Plus, it will be cheaper, too.  And, I'm thinking that if there are things in my stash that I don't love I need to find a purpose for them that I can be okay with.

4)  Being more fiscally responsible -- not buying things that I really don't need and back to the crafting from my stash.  It just seems to be what I need to do for now.

I'm sure that there are more things I could commit to for this year, but I want to keep it reasonable.  What are you committing to for the new year?

I'll leave you with a photo of my last completed knitting project of 2009, a hat (ravelry link) for my nephew (which I even managed to get in the mail already, too!):  {It's made of sock yarn which is why I think it looks a little sqiggiley}