Kind of a silly thing to say, being that I live in one of the warmest places in the country. In my defense, I’m getting a little too acclimated to extreme summer heat which there by makes me a big baby when it comes to cold. Secondly, my craft room is the coldest room in the house and third, my hands are always cold. Who can work with conditions like that. So, I’ve been working on these fingerless hand warmers. They really do the trick, even though I only have one done. The other is 3/4 of the way done and I thought I’d better share since this is the last day of my “Month of me” posting. I think I did pretty well, getting most of what I wanted done and feel pretty good about it.

 So this is how I’m doing with only one hand warmer. I wear it on my right hand for a bit to warm it up then switch it over to the left and I keep it there, leaving my right hand free to move the mouse, paint, draw, carve–the things I’ve been doing lately. Eventually I will get the other one done. I am only able to crochet when watching tv or movies (which I rarely do) and that makes it a lengthy process. (p.s.  there is no pattern for the gloves , I was just winging it).

Another thing that keeps me warm is Hot Fudge Pudding Cake from thimble.   It’s really tasty, especially when you remember the baking powder.  Don’t ask, but it’s an essential ingredient.  This recipe works really well with soy milk and earth balance.

I made these hats for my guys in only a couple of hours.  I think I may need to make them a little longer so that they fold up.  They are for when we go up the mountain with the snow and cold.  I might be making matching scarfs.  I love the color combos–very much my guys.

We also attempted to do the annual holiday photo for sending out cards (which will probably be very late).    These are some of the outtakes, although they are pretty darn cute too.

These washcloths went to Kelli for her Mozambique Goodwill packets that will be going out to lots of little youngsters in Africa. One is for her (rainbow sherbert) and the other went into the packet of goodies that my Super-E helped me with. He wrote a very nice (and long) letter in Portugese.  It’s too cute.

(Kelli, I sent them out this A.M. and am very hopeful that they will arrive quickly since we are so close.)

 

Another little bag I’ve been working on. Not exactly what I had envisioned, but close. It’s small too, but perfect for just the essentials.

I’ve been messing around with some different crochet stitches and thought I’d make little washcloths to see what they look like. They are made from cotton yarn of course.

The first stitch (grn,wht, blue) is called the “up and down stitch” which is alternating single and double crochet stitches. The second is called the “basket weave stitch” which is stitching to the front, then the back of a stitch- or something like that. It took me forever to figure this one out. I’m still learning how to read crochet patterns.

My brother-in-law thinks that crochet patterns are really some kind of secret code for women to tell eachother girlie information and secrets. Ha!

On another note, I made this very yummy and very moist zucchini bread. It is the perfect breakfast treat or afternoon snack. I always double the recipe for 2 loaves when I make this recipe because it is soooo good! The recipe is from How It All Vegan by Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer. The recipe can be found HERE.

Is this month over yet? I desperately need to get some fabric, thread and some other craft supplies. Only a few more days right? I can make it. Remind me to not announce to my husband that I am using what I have for THE WHOLE MONTH! If I hadn’t made that promise to him, I’d have been to JoAnn’s a week ago sifting through the fabric remnants! I have of list of things I want to make but I’m lacking a few of the “ingredients” to make them. Come Monday morn, I will be heading out to a thrift store (if I can find one) and to the craft store!!

I recently came across my crochet needles and decided to have a go. My grandmother crochets and taught me when I was young. I haven’t picked up my crochet needles in several years. I thought I’d try making circles to see if I could figure it out using some mutlicolored cotton yarn that I had. Once I got a good circle going I decided to try adding petals to make a flower. It turned out okay I think. I thought maybe it would make a decent wash cloth- I dunno. I’m going to wash it and see what happens.

Of course, after I started making the flower I realized I had this old book. I’ve written about it being hard to understand as far as learning to knit. It makes total sense now that I’m knitting a little (I have a little bag in the making btw). It’s an amazing book. My grandmother gave it to me over Christmas. She’s had it for years. Everything you need to know about needlework is in this book. The best thing about it is that there is a picture of EVERY kind of stitch! I haven’t been able to stop looking through it! Check out these flowers. Pretty cool I think.

And this dress is also in the book in the knitting section.

There is only one word for this dress…HHHHOT! It’s practically lingerie! You can just about see everything underneath!! Click on it to see it larger.

On a completely different note: I’ve joined The Silent K’s blog a book along. The book this round is on parenting called What Do You Really Want For Your Children. I am almost done with the first chapter and will probably post about it later today. So far, I am really enjoying it!

Lastly, I have to again try and shamelessly promote my swap . There are some really great artsy/crafty people signed up so far so check it out! Sign up closes tomorrow. It’s going to be a great swap!!

Yes, it’s the little blue scarf AGAIN. I finally finished it! Well, it’s actually been done for a few weeks, I just finally had time to post it. I am actually pretty pleased with how it turned out. I love the ribbing on it - so soft and squishy. Here is my Super E modeling it. Doesn’t he look adorable? Unfortunately (for the scarf) the warm weather is upon us and we will have to put it away for a colder time.

We went to the library a few days ago and I got some great books for knitting inspiration. AND I just found out that my good friend Maureen knows all about the knitting!! I’m making her come over right away with her needles! Here are the book’s I brought home:

Weekend Knitting: 50 unique project and ideas by Melanie Falick (the little flower shaped washcloths are super cool!)

Oddball Knitting: creative ideas for leftover yarn by Barbara Albright

Hip Knits: 65 easy projects from hot designers from Better Homes and Gardens

I’m most drawn to the Weekend Knitting book right now. It has some really amazing stuff that hopefully my friend Maureen will help me make…..right Maureen?

Here are some other great places that I have found great knitting inspiration:

This fabulous and most amazing art with knitting about connectedness made by Shoofly.

This amazing felted cat bed also by Shoofly( I plan on unraveling some old wool sweaters that I have from my pre-vegan days to try this out).

I love this beautiful shawl by Krista, this super cool drop knit scarf by Craftlog and this lovely wrappy jacket by fluffa.

This wild stripe blanket on knitty is really cool too.

AND I love this Works in Progess side bar by Michelle (look to the left in the sidebar). How cool is that!

I also wanted to link to The Painted Pear’s super cool felted slippers (posted on Jan. 10), but I couldn’t link to that particular post (sorry).

Well, I better do like the bunnies and hop to it if I’m going to get any knitting done!

Okay, I have not totally forgotten about learning to knit. I think about it all the time. I yearningly look at my sad half finished little scarf everyday. The problem? Two kids, no time, yarn issues. I know, excuses, excuses, excuses. Really though, I can’t knit when the kids are around because one wants to pull on the string and the other wants to play sword fighting with my sticks!! So, I have tried to knit during nap/quiet time or when the kids go to bed for the night. But, I’m one of those crafters that has a gazillion projects half started and when I finally have time to do something, I just end up getting discouraged looking at the pile of half finished projects and end up reading other people’s blogs instead! It is sad I know. I even tried knitting while watching the olympics, but ended up with holes in my scarf. I am still too much in the learning phase to be trying to watch TV and knit at the same time. I could hurt someone.

I promised myself I wouldn’t start something new to knit until I finished this scarf. The problem is that I dont really like the color or the yarn (acrylic) and I cast on 25 stitches but now have 27 which may be due to the two holes (see white circles). They seem so obvious when I have it in hand but not so obvious here. Anyway, there is ribbing to this scarf, so maybe once I get to that part I’ll like it a little better. This scarf would actually look really cute on my little E-guy. So, I will tread onward and finish this scarf!!!

I did finally manage to go to the knitting group I found on meetup.com. My hubby actually pushed me out the door because I hate going outside my comfort zone. I’m glad he did. I had a really nice wine-I mean time!!! Okay, there was wine there and I did enjoy a glass full but the company was very nice as well! I even met another crazy blogging person (Hi Tasha!) I am glad I went and I will definitely go to the next meet up! Hopefully I’ll have a new project in hand!!

I had a wonderful 34th birthday. It was quiet and simple but very nice. My thoughtful hubby took me out to dinner with the two little guys and I ate a few very delicious avocado spring roll appetizers and a very large bowl of the most tasty vegan pasta dish loaded with eggplant, broccoli, sun-dried tomatoes and pine nuts. After dinner, we went home to eat the most delicious homemade vegan chocolate cake (made by me but frosted by my boys) then we opened gifts. The two boys got for me (via daddy) a very beautiful peridot ring. It is really very gorgeous. And my very very thoughtful hubby bought me this book, Stitch ‘n bitch: the knitter’s handbook , to encourage and support my continued quest of learning to knit. All very exciting. I read the first 4 pages to my son for his bedtime story(sometimes I can get away with reading just about anything as long as I make it sound interesting with animated voices). Probably would have looked pretty funny from an outsider- me reading about knitting in several different animated voices. Fortunately, the first few pages of the book are about the author’s family and not about the actual knitting process. Still, probably only very slightly interesting to a 4 year old.

I have found a knitting group in my area thanks to Krista. She suggested looking up a group on meetup dot com. I will try to go next month since they only meet once every month and January’s meeting was on my birthday. I’m both excited and nervous to go check it out.

I’ve been pretty busy lately. Besides finally fighting off a cold and cough that I’ve had for the last week (my little guy has been dealing with it too) I’ve been cleaning out the closets like crazy! We are planning an out-of-state move by this summer so I have been trying to de-clutter so as to move the least amount of junk possible. Unfortunately I can’t throw anything away without first deciding if I can make something out of it instead. So, now there are miscellaneous piles all over the house: rag pile, cool fabric/old clothes pile, trash pile and the unsure pile. My favorite pile is the cool fabric/old clothes pile. It’s all of my old clothes that don’t fit me or just too out of style . It consists mostly of 100% cotton and 100% wool items (for felting). From this pile I have plans to make maybe a couple of potholders, a pillow or a few bags/purses. We’ll see. I did find an old pink wool sweater that didn’t fit right plus had a big hole under the arm. I tried felting it, but didn’t quite turn out right. I used it anyway and made this cute little purse. Its about 12×6 inches including the handle. Since it was still a little too stretchy after felting, I lined it and quilted it. I like it a lot. I don’t like the button as much but it was the biggest one I had. I guess it gives it a valentines kind of feel.

I did felt another old sweater and it turned out much better. I’m going to make a bag out of that. I will post it whenever it gets started and completed (whenever that will be).

I’m still working on knitting. I had 1/3 of my scarf done and decided to start over because of missed stitches and uneven tension. I just have the hardest time with the first few rows. I feel like I’m concentrating so hard that my hands are tense and my jaw clenched. But when I finally feel the rhythm and clicks of the needles and I loosen up and it just flows. Thank goodness too. For a while there, I thought I might stab someone with a needle. ( My poor husband better watch out. He’s usually the only one around when I knit.) It might work better for me if I had a real live knitting buddy. Maybe there is a knitting group in my area. I’ll have to check. I have had a lot of support from my cyber buddies. Thanks!

Finally, I’ve just joined a ATC (Artist Trading Card) swap. I’m super excited. It will be my first ever swap. The theme is “My ______ Valentine”. Oh, I just love getting valentines! No mean ones though. I used to get a few of those in grade school. If you’d like to check it out or join go to Life at the Lyons Den. Amy is hosting the swap.

Just thought I’d share a few gifts that I received for Christmas.

I have been really wanting to learn how to knit (for reals). I do know how to crochet and I have knitted a few scarves but they were only done with the knit stitch. I have never really known how to properly cast off and I have never known how to purl a stitch. Unfortunately I don’t know anyone who can knit. (if there is someone out there that I know who knows how to do this amazing craft please call me).

Anyway, my grandmother gave me a very cool book about needlework ( The Complete Guide to Needlework circa 1979) . I tried learning by reading the knitting section from this book but that was a disaster….

“Hold needle with slip knot in left hand. Insert right needle and take yarn around it as for knitting. Draw yarn through to form new stitch, but do not drop first loop from left needle. Instead, transfer new stitch to left needle and knit into it to form the next new stitch”

Say What?!?!?!

I just can’t learn this way. I am very much a visual learner so I needed something better than this. Fortunately I received some great knitting gifts to help me on my way to knitting something other than scarves (see my 43 things # 29).

Learn to Knit is a kit complete with video, yarn, instructions and needles (#8). I’ve watched it and am trying to make a real scarf with real knitting and purling stitches. From this I was able to watch someone do each stitch… rewind…. watch…. try…. rewind…. watch… try… etc, until I finally figured it out. I’ve learned so much from this little video. You are given instructions to make the pictured scarf. I really don’t fancy the blue yarn or the look of the scarf but its purpose is to teach you the garter stitch, stockinette stitch and ribbing. All very exciting.

The Cool Girl’s Guide to Knitting has simple instructions that are easier to follow now that I watched the above video. It has lots of cool and simple projects that I can’t wait to get started on.

Alterknits was given to me by my sweet husband. He likes to set high expectations for me because he thinks I can do anything. This book seems a little more complicated, but the projects are ultra cool and hip. There are some great felting projects in this book too. Another things I’ve always wanted to learn.

So, now all I have to do is complete my first “real” scarf. After that, I’m off to learn more and try bigger and better projects.

A special thanks to Grandma Fern, a close friend of the family, who passed away recently. It was to me, that all of her yarn was given to. I appreciate it and am looking forward to making something very special for her three beautiful great grand children whom I love dearly.