Serenity

Orlando park lighthouse, December 2006

I wish I could climb right into that photo. I settled for a quick yoga session this morning instead. Just some deep breathing and stretching, but yoga has a nourishing ability to "transport" my mind when I need to start a day off just right. Day 5 of eating raw for wellness has begun well...I'm pretty surprised that I haven't had as many cravings or moments of weekness to pop somehting in the microwave or fire up the stove. Or heck, even to tear open a bag of something sweet or salty. I had a couple of "what am I supposed to eat now???" moments, and also some "oh great, salad again" laments, but otherwise, doing fine. I'm committed to the 7 days, and since I'm already a sashimi fan, I think I can extend this even longer...we'll see.

Knit bits....not much to show right now, but I am proud to say that in keeping with my stashalong efforts I've become quite neurotic about using up EVERY yard of the skeins I'm using for my projects. For example, from my younger nephew's sweater leftovers I made this

freestyle beanie for my older nephew

and this

freestyle crocheted coaster (snuggles the tea mug just so)

Since I booked my ticket to Stitches Midwest I have kicked the yarn buying embargo into high gear. This No New Yarn policy does have it's recourse you must understand. I want to be able to completely lose myself in that wall-to-wall fiber filled convention center in August. Hence, no leftovers are safe in the stash, and no new comers are welcome!! (unless they are gifts, which I will accept with great glee) Ha! Next thing you know I'll be making chunky wool ponchos and carrying 3 strands of worsted for a pair of socks. Say I won't!

Mwah! Have a wonderful weekend all!

Lunch is Served

Today is day 3 in my 7 days to WELL. I'm using that phrase as it was sent to me by my oldest and bestest friend Opal (hey Ras!). She recently did a 2-week stint of raw foods only to help clean out her body and get back to some healthier eating habits. As soon as she wrote me about it, a light went off. I've been back and forth to the doctor one too many times in the last couple months...standard stuff - cold/flu/Strep...but it's the battery of antibiotics I've had to take that's been needling me. I subscribe to the school of thought that says we all have entirely too much of that stuff in our systems at any given time, and that if we can do better on the preventative side of things, we should.

So, I am.

Veggie Juice fixins for lunch today

I shopped early Monday for a bunch of the fruits and veggies that I love. It surely helps that eating well and feasting on produce is not a strange phenomenon in my house; neither is abstinence from certain foods for that matter. I keep saying that my on-going battle with the munchies and my sugar loving alter ego is mostly mental. If I can get my mind right, my body will follow.

I must say, today's dessert does looks especially appealing.



Be well darlings!

Out of the Closet

Best place for an elephant is right out in the middle of the living room so we can talk about it, right? Right...let's have it. I present, my unfinished object queue (those presentable enough for photographing)


Central Park Hoodie from Fall '06 KnitScene (for me)


Back now done (with short row shoulders no less!); Sleeves done; Right and Left front started


Sangria Socks (for me)


Still being neglected right now (I blame the slowness of dpns)


Plymouth Encore Afghan - a very late gift(I might just frog this and do one big one, instead of individual blocks)



Crochet Beach Bag (from Family Circle Knit & Crochet)


Felted Striped Tote (from One Skein book)


Interweave Crochet Hipster Belt - needs loops and fringe



On the brighter side...here are 2 items that were unfinished at the original writing of this post, but which have since been COMPLETED!! (Woo hoo!)

Chunky Gift Scarf:

Combined Red Heart "Soft", Berroco "Softy", and some gold novelty yarn from Kelli
Started:Early January 2007
Finished: Feb 15, 2007

Baby Sweater (for my nephew):

Yarn: Jo-Ann's Sensations Yarn in "Licorice"
Started: June 2006
Finished: February 14, 2007
Sadly, as he is now about to be 8 months old, it will not likely fit him much longer. Thank goodness I have another nephew to pass this along to (3 months old)

So there they be! Look for these to be featured in future posts as finished projects. And if they don't - you have these pictures to smack me over the head with, as it were.

Unfinisher's Log...Day 2341

Well, at least it feels that way...

As many of you that browse the web know, there is a group out there for just about EVERY old thing...

I've joined this stash busting effort (again) this year in the hopes that I can get my stash down to something manageable, and something comprised of only yarns that I just can't WAIT to knit with. I really want to tuck some more knitting techniques under my belt, but that means casting on new swatches at least; the length of the Yet-To-Be-Knit list doesn't let me feel free enough to do that yet. Woe is me!

Best way to take on a problem is to face it right? Yeah...that's what I thought when I pulled out every.single.yard. of yarn that I have in my (ahem) guest room and decided to photograph it for accountability. Brace yourself...





Now I know that some of you will look at that shameful shot and say "hmmm....that's not so bad", but others are having to hold on to something and breath very slowly, as I did. This was a wickedly rude awakening. Mostly because that photo doesn't actually show all the skeins (they couldn't all fit), and because it doesn't include the Mound O' Acrylic fire hazard:




Bah! Even that's a cropped shot (*shudder*). We don't want to hurt anyone's retinas; look away if you must.

My friends, something must be done! There is some great stuff in there! My ridiculous but lovely fiber haul from Stitches Midwest; some of Cindy's yarn; all my travel yarn loot; gifted yarn. Cashmere! There is cashmere in there people! It should have seen the light of my needle ends months ago. No excuse.

So, I'm good and determined. I last bought yarn on January 29th, and I'm on a minimum 2-month yarn embargo. My next knitting-related purchase of any substance will be a super nifty blocking board. Alas, that won't be until the unfinished knit and crochet item list comes down though. Oh...did I forget to mention that? The stash pile photo conveniently (mercifully!) does not include the stack of items not yet completed. That post will be for another day - maybe tomorrow. I need a lie down...

Super Saturday (With Lily Chin Photos)

May I just say again, membership has it's privileges.

This past weekend was a memorable one for many reasons. The primary reason is that I'm finally home from the frozen north, and although the temperature here is nowhere near tropical, I'll take a 60 over a 6-degree day any old time. I continue my quest to have the company open a Florida office...I'll keep you posted.

First up Saturday morning was Library Story time - LOVE. THIS. SERVICE. Every Saturday, the girls and I head out to the Main library and spend an hour with Miss Amber (what a sweetie) listening to stories, singing and dancing, and doing a craft -all with the theme for that week. This week was Silly Stories, and there was even a movie, at which I was laughing right out loud. Yeah, I kinda get into it. Behold the girls in their Silly Hats!

Next up, a definite knitting journey highlight! I took a class on Saturday afternoon with Lily Chin, world's fastest crocheter and a super fab knitting designer/celebrity. She was visiting the LYS for 4 classes this weekend, and as an employee I was able to attend the Reversible Cables Class(Lily calls them "Ribbles"). I was SO thrilled and admittedly star struck! You can clearly see I lost all composure by the size of that foolish grin I'm wearing in the photo with her. I learned so much about the construction of cables, they are deceptively easy; and she also gave us some insight to how she plans out designs for using cables (there was graph paper and math and I didn't faint!). She has such an amazing energy and charisma, and her work speaks for itself. You can check out her collection here, and her tour schedule here. I highly recommend taking a class with her.

As if the class wasn't great enough, it was an extra treat to see some of her books and many of her designs hanging up around the room. I also got confirmation from her on the Chelsea yarn I have in my stash - it's going to be great for socks, just as I hoped. She showed me a nice mini cabled pair already knit up. It's all I can do not to cast on for them this very second. *Sigh* Good times.

More knit progress next time!

Knit Yourself Well

My youngest and I came down with Strep this week, and we've both had a time of it. I finally listened to some good advice and headed to the doctor. We got our meds in short order and the improvement is noticeable already.

Well let's face it, sick time doubles quite nicely as knit time. And what better way to introduce some warm and fuzzy feelings to an otherwise icky situation than to knit for someone else? Though I won't say who these are for specifically, those of you who follow the blog (including the recipient) will notice that (a) these are baby hats and (b)baby talk on this blog is very recent, so going just a few posts back will completely give it away. In the last 2 days I made 2 wee hats for this darling new princess, and here they are:

Just a little artsy rendition there...the hats are strategically placed on the Debbie Bliss Baby Knits book cover. Inside this book are the most adorable, yet completely doable baby items. I started small by making the seed stitch hat you see on the left in the photo, but there is much more to do in this book, and I'm grateful our local library carries it. The hat on the right is made with hand-dyed yarn from an artist named Jamie Harmon in upstate New York. In my stash busting efforts, I'm diving deep! This yarn was purchased in January of 2006 on one of my first New York City yarn crawls. I'm pretty certain I bought it at Downtown Yarns, but don't hold me to that.










No pattern for the hand-dyed mini beret. I was actually inspired to just wing it by some email conversations about designing and modifying patterns to suit your taste. They are very different in size too; I wanted this little darling to have a hat for now and a hat for later.

Other than the hoodie, I've also started these Garter Rib Socks from the pattern in Sensational Knitted Socks.




I'm working these on size 2 (3mm) circulars, so the rows are slow to show up. This is portable though and the color (Cherry Blossom Fibers' Sangria) is delicious!

Have a wonderful weekend dear readers! Remember it's Black History Month - here's hoping you'll seek out, read, listen to or find something new to learn and love!