Natural Mystic: India Arie

Last Saturday, hubby really pulled one off. He still manages to surprise me after all these years of being together (actually, the fact that he tolerates my daily bouts of insanity is the real shocker, but I digress...). He saw a billboard for a concert called "Jazz in the Gardens" featuring one of my favorite female artists, India.Arie I've loved EVERY song she's put on out her 2 albums and some soundtrack features so far, and this was a date weekend I will never forget. We arrived at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens and I was still not sure what the day was to bring. Hub recruited a couple of our friends to share in the festivities, just another bonus for the day. Not even intermittent rain could dampen this for me - and believe me it tried. She performed older and newer songs, and the whole thing was amplified because we lucked out and got seats 5 rows back from the stage!

I highly recommend you check her out if you're not familiar with her music. She sings such positive and genuine lyrics, and the best way I can describe her is to say that she's REAL. At times, I thought she was getting just as much joy from us as we were from her!

I feel very fortunate to spend my life with someone who cares about what I like, heck often shares those likes, and then makes an effort to surround me with things that keep me smiling.

Can you tell he's earned his brownie points for the month?

PSA: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

A friend shared this with me today, and I felt compelled to share:

The ECOBAGS® Cotton String Shopping Bag Set

Click the link above for more info; and look at the "Plastic Bags Used This Year" counter up top. Staggering...and yet so believable.

If we all decided to reduce the amount of plastic we use for our daily/weekly shopping trips by using (or even MAKING??!) something like this, can you imagine the powerful impact on waste reduction???

I want some of that action, how about you?

Travel Tales

I'm home from a trip to Little Rock for business, but even with business, there must always be room for pleasure!

Some photos to share

Have a fantastic weekend!

Face Lift

Those of you who've been joining me on this written journey for a while have seen the space around here changing slowly but surely for a while. I changed my blog name, put in some new coloring, and just generally tried to make it look more "me". I have my own grumbles about the old Blogger service, and I'm also an html Dummy (that capital D is intentional)...so any improvements you see out here come with much sweat and toil, except this

and this



These gorgeous renderings of my name, my button, and my blog title are brought to you by my insanely talented friend affectionately knows as Sheed. Now, believe me when I tell you...things like this are CAKE for him. I don't say that to minimize his efforts, I mean that to say it seems to me he can crank this stuff out in his sleep. I said it before, I ask him to do me a favor by featuring some of his talent on my blog in the form of a button and a banner, we talk a little about colors and style, he goes to it with such willingness and comes up with beautiful things I can't show enough gratitude for.

And the best part? For the low low price of $99.99 he'll do it for you too!! Kidding! Well, mostly....I do know that if you're interested in graphics work of this type or something on a larger scale, you can retain his services. Shout me out in the comments or email me directly and I'll make sure you get in touch with him.

Thank you 'Sheed! Much love always.

So get to it! Steal that button, and have yourself a beautiful day!

Voila!*

*a tribute to a friend of mine who allowed me to practice a wee bit of French this weekend, and reminded me how cool it is to know another language.

Show and tell today features another completed project that was planned executed and gifted in under 14 days. Gotta love that! It is also represents nearly 600 yards of stash reduction. Who's giddy with the knitty spirit? That's Me! That's me!

Oh! Pictures...

Prefelted


Modeled by my DD for scale :)


Fini!

Pattern: Fiber Trends Adult Clogs
Yarn: Cascade 220 Quatro and Heathers (Colors unknown because my stash has eaten the ball bands)
Almost 400 yds of the brown heather, and nearly 200 yds of the burnt orange (knit for a size 8 1/2)
Started: March 11th
Finished: March 17th

I give this pattern 5 stars! Well-written, no errors (at least in the size 8) and when you see the shaping coming together...it's truly knit magic.

My sister tried them on while still wet, and though they're a little big, she says she loves them! She received them just in time for her birthday today (happy 25th sisterberry!). It was the least I could do, after all, 9 months ago she gave me this...

Things That Make You Go Hmmmm

This site was shared with me by a fellow co-worker who crochets...Click the link to see a really interesting article, and some very cool pictures of crocheted corals

Sea Geometry

I love that we can be so easily exposed to these mind-expanding type of things so easily, don't you?

Have a Magical Day!

Blogger has repeatedly eaten every post I've tried to put out here about our trip to that universe outside our own known as Disney World. I'm attempting one last time, let's hope this will work. Otherwise, someone will have to get Mickey over here STAT to keep me from tossing the computer out the window...

Our youngest turned 4 this past weekend, and these photos show just some of that wonderful experience. The laughter, the sunshine, the junk food splurge-a-thon, and the lasting beam on the face of the birthday princess...good times!

The best part was that Mizan was convinced that the whole thing was one huge birthday party staged JUST for her...and I just couldn't bring myself to tell her otherwise. It helped that she was wearing a Happy Birthday button, so that every park employee would greet her with a "Happy Birthday Mizan!" as we strolled by. Since Auntie Kelli sent her a birthday princess crown, and she was being treated quite royally from the moment she woke up, this all seemed to go with the theme of the day! Add to that her special birthday phone call from Goofy at Magic Kingdom's Town Hall? Well! This was a day of celebration indeed. And may I just say, those Disney types? They have the formula down cold! You'd think they were pumping happy gas out into the open air. Much respect, it was working. Why even hubby was wide-eyed for much of the day. Though I expect that was mostly due to sticker shock, but nonetheless! The girls chose their adventures, and they even made it several hours before we had to start carrying them everywhere. Since the lines were much shorter than we feared thought they would be, the whole thing was truly manageable.

A great set of memories, and a reminder that we make a fabulous foursome. I leave you now with the phrase that pays...

Have a MAGICAL day!!

See What Happens

...when I go on a "yarn buying embargo"?


All the other little goodies start calling my name...

Clockwise from Top Left

• Interweave Knits Magazine Spring '07 - I really, really should just subscribe to this..I buy it anyway, but tell myself after each issue that I won't get another one until I've made at least a few projects out of the last issue. Uh huh. Hope springs eternal. I have my eye on the Indigo Ripples Skirt, the Keyhole Top, and the Merry Maiden's Dress. I might even get brave like Nikki and knit the sexy undies in the staff project section (blush!). Green Tea Raglan has caught my eye as well. IK fans out there...What are you guys considering from this issue?
• Kookaburra Delicate Wool Wash - I maintain high hopes that my Central Park Hoodie fever will pick up again soon, and that means washing and blocking, so I must have just the right wool wash (plus the needles I ordered from KnitPicks seemed awfully lonely in my shopping cart).
• Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel - widely knows under her blog alias at Glampyre Knits. I know that I'll never be able to share this book with anyone because I've already drooled over enough of the patterns that the text may soon be illegible. Lots of raglan stuff in here; shapely, modern patterns - some with flair and many with just simple elegance. A book that I can see using as a test to make several different projects by one designer and then expand on each with my own "touches".
• Size 13 KnitPicks Options tips - for my sister's birthday gift.
• Creative Zen VPlus MP3 player - as though my brain was not already on overload, I have now become a podcast addict as well. NPR's This American Life has great episodes, and for knit bits, I love Cast-On, Unwound, Ready Set Knit, LetsKnit2Gether (a videocast) and many others . Any of you out there have audio favorites to enhance your knit and crochet moments (or non-crafting down time?)
• KnitPicks Chart Keeper - for my lace project chart. I am going to knit some lace this year. Really. No, I'm serious. I'm not scared. I've got the magnetic chart keeper, what else do I need now?
• The Knitting Answer Book - It only took 11 people to convince me that I really should have this book; and not only have it, but carry it with me at all times. On a lovely Sunday morning knit & chat with my girl Tanya, I caved and bought it. Glad I did, it's small and handy, and wouldn't you know, it's got answers to questions I've been asking! Highly recommend this one...

Delicious - the whole lot! Not pictured are a crochet magazine and the size 1 and 0 needles I ordered from KnitPicks (lace, remember?! Oh, and maybe socks too). You gotta love a yarn diet for the charming way in which it fills out your notions cabinet and bookshelf, eh?

Presto Change-o!

With pointy sticks, a hook, some time and patience, I somehow managed to turn a $3.49 unfashionable adult pullover from Goodwill into this

..then this


...and finally, this







A birthday gift tank for my niece who turns 1 today! Recycled knitting + stash busting + gift giving a product of my two hands - makes you feel good, let me tell ya.

Here's a link to how you too can recycle an "oh no" handknit garment into an "oh wow" handknit keeper! And with this short article - you also get a super easy pattern, and you can join others unravelling and adding great yarns to their collection.

As near as I can figure, this is either Caron Simply Soft or Red Heart Soft Yarn. I made 5 small balls out of the yardage, and only used about 2 of them to make this little ditty. The pattern was generated by Sweater Wizard for the most part. I added the crochet trim to the neck and sleeves, exchanged a ribbed bottom for a rolled one, and put a little girly-ness on it with a simple crocheted flower and bow.

Edited to add - a shot of the tank top modeled!



Up Next....





This Grandma's Blessing scrumptiousness may just become a pair of gauntlets, so I can make a contribution to the Briar Rose Fibers Knit-A-Long! (Warning: if you visit the Briar Rose site, and you look at the yarn pictures there, you WILL buy some yarn. I'm just sayin').

Be well!