YoP Sunday post #5

I've decided to number my posts so I can keep up with how many weeks I have left for our little project here. Thank you to everyone who gave me advise on my Baby Blanket. It turned out beautifully (at least to me) nice and square and the edging was done in the right amount of stitches. 3 Days I worked on the math for that bit and still I didn't trust myself. I just added rows until I had it square and then started the shell pattern at the bottom of the blanket, in the end I had to unravel 1 row anyway but that didn't bother me so much since I hadn't cut and finished that edge yet. My picture came out sideways again, still dont know why, maybe one day I'll get the hang of that.

After that sucess I began my Baby Kimono Wrap which it turns out keeps telling me how dumb I am! This is as far as I can get because I need serious help. Anyone who crochets Please take a look at this pattern and tell me what's going on when I get to # 4 because I have tried several things and they all look terrible. The pattern is a free one from Ravelry so if you have the time to spare I would greatly appreciate help. If my Blog does not allow you to leave comments feel free to leave me a message(pm) on Rav. under Trenody85.

This next picture would have been a disaster if someone hadn't told me that Top Down Crocheted Hats stay flat until you finish with the increase rows. There May have been some hysterical crying during the 4 assumed failures before I got that bit of advise but if there were I would never admit it.

This is the second half of my Mystery 220 group project. I had meant to post this last WIP Wednesday but then I decided not to over burden myself so close to the beginning of the school year meaning that I have decided to combine all knitting posts in the Sunday post so that I have more time during the week for "Midgets" homework plus regular meal and earlier bed times. Sometimes her homework can take a couple hours all by itself.

this last picture is what my Mystery looks like all layed out on a chair. I know it must be a wrap or table runner because I can't think of anything else it could be, though with the pic I chose for the first half, a blanket was a good guess. We just got a new clue on this so in a few weeks I may have a new update about this project.

We also started a few new mysteries and I will be starting a pair of socks in a few days with my other groups. Love all the blogs I have read so far, can't wait for all your next updates.

YOP Sunday Again!?

I cannot believe this is Sunday. Where have I been all this week? Oh, well I guess some days are like that, especially when it's so hot that all we think about is finding someplace cooler to be.

Knitting/crocheting in public makes me feel like an alien around here. Everyone keeps giving me sideways glances and outright stares sometimes. A bit daunting really but I "manned up" and kept right on. The kids were the best part of K/CIP, they seemed facinated with the hook flipping and twisting. Sometimes it was so quiet you could hear the slide of the hook through the loops. There's nothing like watching a child's eyes as all that yarn comes right out the middle of the ball. Really sad though when the parents got embarrases by their staring, I mean they weren't touchingand grabbing or being loud or anything. I guess most people down here think it is a solitary craft for people who want to be alone.

I really wanted to finish my Baby Blanket. Crocheting a Blanket of any size is uncomfortable at this time of year so I tried to limit myself to Air Conditioned places with that project. I did learn something about myself though. I just began Corcheting a month or so ago and this blanket was my first real project besides dishclothes. I knew that I am a tight knitter so I was kinda expecting this but my crocket blanket is a full 6" shorter and than the one in the pattern. My measurements were supposed to come out at 34" tall and 37"long but I've only got 25" tall and 30 1/2" wide. That is an insane amount smaller than I wanted but as a beginner I do not know what I can do about making it longer. There is a border around the blanket so if I add rows I may mess up the shell pattern. I have asked the Moderator in my Learning Crochet group on Ravelry but so far no reply. Understandable since I only asked this morning at 3 :). Plus this pattern was supposed to use 18oz of yarn but I still have about 1/3 of my Pound Of Love ball left.

Here's a pic of it so far. I love this stitch, it lays nice and flat for me, which I can't say about some of my knitting.

Thanks for all your comments on this blog. I don't know how to reply to comments, I'm just not that savy but I did want everyone to know that they are appreciated.

Almost a WIP Wednesday Post

But not quite the thing because I didn't want to start WIP wednesday until Tami's Amis started her new year (so I wouldn't feel so behind) plus we're going to talk about a little more than knitting/crochet.

I have quite a few things OTN right now Cornfield, the Baby Blanket, and my Mystery 220 Project from my list and I'll soon be starting a few pairs of socks for another KAL.



 My Mystery 220, 1000 members Project. Twice as long as this now but I can't get it all in the pic anymore. Each section between the beads is another clue and there have been 13 so far with another clue coming out tomorrow. So this is only clues 1-7 maybe I will try to get another pic with clue 8-13 for next Wednesdays post.

 My Baby blanket has finally gotten larger than the Pound of Love yarn ball I'm crocheting it from though maybe it's cheating a bit because the ball is Shrinking  ; ).

My Cornfield summer top is coming along but I'm not happy with it at all. I used a size 5 circular needle and I think it was too large a needle for this yarn. I guesses at the needle size because this brand of yarn has virtually no information on the band, now I think I should have gone with a size 3. I think I'm going to switch to 3's after a few more rows and just have a ruffle around the bottom of the shirt. If you don't think that would work please leave me a comment or email with your suggestions. I really do not want to start over as I have already done that 3 times because of mistakes while learning the pattern.

 I've been working (WIP) on eating a little healthier too. My Father is turning 50 this December and that shocked me a bit. I mean I don't feel like my "Daddy" should be 50 at all. I began to worry about his heart and then all our hearts after I had read up on some of the ingredients in our favorite foods and OMG some of that stuff was so bad I couldn't even imagine feeding it to our local Racoons and Rats. I don't even want to think about what it has done to us! The recipes I've tried form this book so far are delicious.

 This is a gravy I made from this book. We love gravy. Plus gravy makes carrots bearable for "Midget" surprisingly though she loves Brussel Sprouts. This gravy was from the Roast recipe and it had bits of beef all in it . Sooo good. I don't know why my picture of the book came out sideways, I guess it's a computer glitch because the pic of the mystery did the same.

This is what kept me from my crafting during the first week of YOP. The color came out a bit darker than we had imagined but I love it anyway. My part of this project was furniture removal (nice title for grunting and heaving until we had an empty half to stain and then doing it all over again reversed) and rearanging the end product. That pic is not the end result BTW just a halfway point, haven't taken any pics lately been too busy doing Back-to School things.

That's it for me today. Next week I have an exciting post mostly from our summer science project.

(YoP) Update, Growing up

I finished my Bag for the Car. Yay! When "Midget" was little she would play with one or two toys in the car and leave them everywhere. Then she met The Grouch.

 He took care of our toys while we wern't there. He also had a small bag in him for any trash we might need to feed him while we were out.

A couple years later and our little Grouchie is no longer "cool" and must not be seen by anyone at school. *Sigh*. Why does my little baby have to grow up:(
So a new solutio was called for and here's what I decided to do.

Make a new bag and pass Grouch off to my nephew. Made quite a few modifications to the ravelry pattern for this like handle placement etc... but we have a new placce for out toys and Tada! it's girlie too! I've been waiting for this girlie stage to come back for about a year instead of this Tomboy who doesn't like dress up but now we have a happy medium and here's hoping it stays until she's a teenager.

YOP Sunday Post

A real post for the Year of Projects Blog-a-Long! Last Sunday I had nothing to show from my projects list, I hadn't even begun any of the projects yet because I was playing catch up with my other alongs. This week I have 1 near project, and a replacement project that I modified to look the way I wanted instead. 

This was the intended Basket Project nearly done and I hated it! Just wasn't turning out the way I'd hoped.

This is what I decided to do instead. Started all over and modified a pattern from ravelry to add bands of ribbon for stability and handles for ease. All my current balls of reminents fit and now that they're all together I can see that I have enough S&C cotton for a funky project or a bunch of scrunchies.

A Yarn Giveaway

There'a a giveaway at Delusional Knitter. I am so excited! I've never bought or been given any yarn so nice as this stuff. Mostly because I'm a newish knitter and am too nervous about ruining it but I can say that if I win I'll be sublimly happy. It's only open till the July 15th so hurry up and enter k.

The Garden

So far the garden is doing well this year. We have had a few problems with the corn and root veggies not turning out well. The corn gets half tall and starts spitting out tiny (3-5 inch) ears, and thats with the husks and the root veggies put out plenty of greenery but no actual veggie on bottom. I have never had any luck with these but I try again every year adding a little evtra bunny poo or putting them in a spot with slightly different soil (can't go far though only a half acre here) in the end I will probably always have to buy these from the store or farmers market but The Trying won't hurt me either. Just makes me more inventive.

 Beans on fallen limb teepees, Tomatoes, and Short Corn.

The Squash plant is popping them out like crazy and so is the Okra. There must be a least 10 Cantaloups and 15 Watermelons a few early Pumpkins and tons of Cucumbers. Pickles will be made over and over again this year I'm sure.

My strawberry patch hanging around that tree is growing for it's first year and doing well.

If you know what I can do for my corn and root veggies just comment below and I'll try it out next year :).

It's honey, Honey

I love honey! I use it to sweeten things like cakes and tea, I use it in my super secret steak marinade and now I use it for nosebleeds.

"Nosebleeds?" you say, well yes! Exactly. I know it may not seem to make sense but we all (the family collectively) have allergies none so bad as the "Midget" who actually has severe 20 minute long nosebleeds at least twice a week, sometimes more often than that. She's had her nose vein burned surgically 2 times and about 9 months after each the nosebleeds started again.

Last year I heard that honey may help with alergies. Local Honey that is. Honey from within 5-10 miles of your house is best for treating alergies because it has all the pollens from your area. The bees use the pollen and nectars in the making of honey then "Midget"eats the honey in small doses (1 Tablespoon a day) plus anything I use it in the making of and hopefully builds up a small resistance to our resident pollens. So I found a guy last year that is about 4 miles from our house and bought some honey. This whole year has been a test or this honey theory.

Findings: it does help but it will not do everything. Midget still had nosebleeds when she went to her aunts house 45 min away. Extreem heat and the time of day had a lot to do with the one's she had at home I'm sure. She still woke up around Dew fall at night sometimes but those were smaller nosebleeds. All-in-all I will continue to but local honey in bulk every year I can afford to because any little bit that helps to releave this burden from her is awesome to me. I have had to have talks with her because she was embarrased to have them during school or church. Plus she didn't understand how scared it could make her friends Mommy during sleepovers. Now we don't have to worry so much, but I still carry around napkins and cold water bottles just in case.

I guess I'll never stop doing that (no matter how many times she says, ugh mom!).

Year Of Projects(YOP) Update

Sad news! I did not complete any of my projects. Haven't even begun any of them. We're in the middle of staining our livingroom floor and "nesting" (moving furniture around aimlessly until we find some arrangement we can live with) so I have not had much time to knit/crochet. I have also fallen behind in my KAL/CAL's and so I decided to catch up first because each project clue from my mystery groups should only take a day or less and then I will feel better about casting on something new.

In all I am in 5 other KAL/CAL's which means if all goes well I should have a better update post for next Sunday. I have enjoyed reading everyone elses posts and can't wait to see what you've all gotten done. Next week, promise (hope).

My Year Of Projects

I'm a bit late with my list of Knit/Crochet projects. This group project was supposed to begin July 1st I know but I only just found this group and decided to join up. I can't wait to begin! I have some projects just for me, some for others, a few KAL's/CAL's and some that are Mysteries :). Here's my list. Only 17 total but I've only been knitting a year and crocheting only a month.

For me:

•  Granny Squares (for whatever comes to mind when my skein is gone)
• Crocheted Crosshatch Socks
• Crocheted Basket (for my remnants)
• Flowery Stitch Markers
• Simple Summer Socks

For others:

1. Swimming Hole
2. Lace Gloves
3. Pretty In Misti Shrug
4. Running Horse Hat
5. Car Bag

 Alongs:

• Cornfield (KAL)
• Baby Blanket

For a Baby:

1. Little Bitty Noggin Cap
2. Pig Bottle Warmer
3. Best Ever Booties
4. Baby Mittens
5. Baby Kimono Wrap
6. Plus the baby blanket above (though I'm only doing one)

Supplies for Needful Times

There's a Giveaway going on over at http://www.smockityfrocks.com/ and this one is right there in my mind always. Food with a long shelflife. To be exact think Dried Apples and such. One thing I love most in Autumn is to go to a Pick-your-own farm and bring home boxes of apples to can (sauce, pie filling...etc.) and dehydrate. Times are what they are and gas costs too much to even go the hour away to get to the apples! So, next best solution? Buy it canned on sale of course, or if your me try like crazy to Win it anytime you can! There are 3 canned items up for winning and I can't wait to find out who gets lucky this time.

Cheese Giveaway

They are giving away cheese (I know crazy right. Who would give away yummy cheese?) over at http://cheeseslave.com/ . You can enter in several kinds of ways and the giveaway is open until near the end of June. They have 2 cow cheeses, 1 goat cheese and 1 sheep cheese so this is a great opportunity to try new things.