Cause for Celebration - Happy Birthday Mizan

a photo recap...

Ahhh...Love at First Step*

*clicking the title of this post will take you to my Ravelry Project Page with the full details about this project and a few more photos...

This yarn started out its life as another pair of socks altogether, but after some frustration with modifying that pattern to be knit toe up with a short row heel, I went digging around Ravelry for a replacement pattern. Cables? Toe Up? Easy to memorize repeats? Yes please !

Boyfriend Socks by Alice Bell
Yarn by Tess Designer Yarns, Super Sock & Baby yarn
Needles - US 1 1/2 (2.5mm) mostly; US 0 for the ankle and heel section

The knitting on these started in October, and ended in March...interesting that their twisty-turny meandering pattern matches quite well my knitting life - and life in general - over that same time period. I worried over EVERY thing each time I picked these up. Would they end up too small? (nope!) Could I deal with a certain amount of pooling? (no problem!) Can I live with the holes in my first short row heel? (of course! a badge of honor!). But once I bound off with some great instruction from this video, the worry slipped away. I LUV them!

Hand knits belong in the great outdoors

Mods:
~I skipped the cabling pattern on the back of the leg and knit plain stockinette there instead. I wanted these to be longer, and thought this would be a good way to maximize yarn usage.

This yarn is wonderful! Really springy and the color is so rich. It doesn't split, and the slight variegation still allows the cables to show up well. I would make this pattern again, and I will definitely use this yarn again (ahem...I have 2 more skeins in the stash, so...).

Oh, and I MUST give a shout out to all you Toe Up Sock Knitters - this technique is brilliant! I knit until there were only inches of yarn left to use. I feel so resourceful and non-wasteful and satisfied. Sigh. Already looking forward to my next pair

I Am This Close to a Pair of Socks

Bracelet by 579 Jewelry

Yarn by Tess Designer Yarns (Ravelry link)

March to the Finish

I'm a bit of a joiner. I troll my Ravelry groups almost daily and find that I'm often writing posts that say

"I'm in!" or

"Oooh, me too" or

"I soooo need this challenge right now. Yippppeee! Count me in!"....and so on.

Which in concept is fine, because that's the beauty of finding a community where we can share our goals and challenges and triumphs. Except for one little thing - I'm waaaaaay more of a joiner than I am a finisher. For all my "I'm in!" posts, I've got at least as many "I didn't make it to the goal" posts. Wait, actually, that's probably not true. When I fizzle out or run out of time, I'm usually hiding somewhere in a corner hoping no one will notice.

For whatever reason though (insanity?) this doesn't keep me from being a consummate joiner to the next new group adventure. So - forward I go into another "-a-long" of sorts, the Stash and Burn Group's March to the Finish 2009. The goal is to work monogamously on a project - or projects - until you've reduced or eliminated your list of UFO's. Those of you've who have been 'round this blog a few times will surely recognize the targets on my list:

Adachi's Cardigan, Girlfriend Socks, and Jaden

There they are - staring at me in all their blatant incompleteness and demanding accountability. I'll keep you posted on my progress this month, and if you're Marching to the finish too let us know!

Oh, and if anyone asks how I did for the Stashalong Finishing in February, or how my Vestuary vest came out or if I've made progress for the Year-Long Gift-a-Long? Just pretend you haven't seen or heard from me in a long, long time, ok? Thanks!

An Original (sort of)

A friend saw this cute accessory on television and asked me to make it for her for an upcoming trip to the mountains (shiver). A simple but fun challenge...the first photo in the mosaic shows the original piece, the others show my interpretation:



Project deets:
Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande Yarn (a bulky)
US 9 needles; knit at 4sts/in
Crochet Flower is from this pattern (Um...I will be making more of these, so easy as to be magical)

The original photo came from this website, and while browsing over there I saw another item I would like to recreate. I'll keep you posted!

Super Saturday

The girls and I spent some time making bread the other day and it was such a great reminder to slow down, enjoy the process, and then - enjoy the rewards!

I have a Betty Crocker recipe book (gotta love the classics!) and I've made some of the things in it so many times it looks like I've mashed parts of the end products into the pages...but as long as I can follow the easy instructions, there will be homemade goodies to share. It might be time for me to make some scanned copies of the banana bread recipe though, I'm just sayin...

I highly recommend this kind of therapeutic endeavor. My work and travel schedule have been so crazy lately that I'm beginning to forget how to wind down. This was a very welcome reminder.

We used the time in while waiting for the dough to rise to talk about the chemistry of yeast and warm liquids and what air does to dough. Homeschooling has taught us that absolutely everything is a learning opportunity.

I love that the girls are always open to try new things...

Bulbous Bread Bears

Umm, unfortunately though, in my photo chronicling, I wasn't quite quick enough with the camera for the "after" shots...clearly we enjoyed them.

For more kitchen therapy and delicious inspiration, go see what Sharon and Nancy made - Yum!

Who Knew?

What fun you can have when you Google your name

Souvenirs

Warning: There is mention of undergarments (but in a most innocent way) :)

Sharesies

I did this out on Facebook and thought it would make a good blog post.
The orginal rules are:
Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

Here are my 25 things - mostly deliberate, but some very random...

1. I used to bite my nails ALOT. I don't think they've ever recovered.

2. I have crowd deafness.

3. My secret wish is to sing professionally. Oops - now it's not a secret.

4. I don't think I know myself very well. This makes me feel hopeful and sad all at once.

5. According to recent tests, I"m allergic to wheat, corn, dairy, eggs, vinegar, and chocolate. I've become quite the meat and potatoes girl since (hold the potatoes please).

6. I grew up less than 2 miles away from my husband but never knew him in childhood. We left the island the same year and moved thousands of miles apart, then met back in that same place 13 years later. The rest is an ongoing history.

7. I hate green peas.

8. I use the term Best Friend to describe 4 people in my life. I have no issue with the fact that it doesn't fit the literal meaning of the term; it fits each of them perfectly.

9. Often my brain works like a CD Player on repeat, with images, conversations, and thoughts that run continuously over and over. It's the reason I can't watch horror movies.

10. Not once in my career have I felt completely settled in my professional work. This drives me and frightens me.

11. Red is my power color.

12. My daughters are the only thing that I'm truly 100% convinced I've done right and to the best of my ability so far.

13. I envy people that can completely relax.

14. I would do my college years all over again, and change very little.

15. This year I have a goal to eliminate all foods from my diet that I know for a fact don't agree with me.

16. Pilates has changed my self-image.

17. My two worst traits are my over-eagerness to please and my fear of confrontation.

18. My two best traits are my ever-ready smile and my patience with others.

19. I have way more ego than most people think, and certainly more than I usually admit to (ha! there goes that little secret too!)

20. I could drink hot (caffeine free) tea all day every day, happily forsaking any other beverage.

21. My sister is the funniest, most talented person I know. She's also the most fragile, which makes those other 2 things even more admirable.

22. There are a lot of dichotomies in my life. Here's another one...the number of online sites and "communities" I'm part of often makes me feel very connected and in touch. That is until I stop and really think about it. Am I really?

23. I'm pretty impressed with the fact that I made it to #23. For a self-proclaimed open person, I'm actually very secretive.

24. I'm a big softie and cry VERY easily - happy or sad tears - they flow freely either way. I even tear up sometimes when I'm talking about something that I am passionate about, even if it's something benign.

25. Dancing and laughing are two of my favorite things; I find joy in opportunities to do both. Sometimes...when things really line up well, my dancing illicits laughter from others, and that is a very sweet thing.

Your turn!

Maui Moments 2 - Seaside Stroll

While visiting the island, we had a good percentage of our itinerary planned out for us, which turned out to be a very welcome "structure" to balance the random relaxation. The Zip Line outing, for example is one that I'm not sure I would have drummed up on my own, so for that and several other opportunities, we're really grateful.

However, in his very typical (and wonderful) style, my hubby made a way for us to find our own memorable experience. He took my hand one morning and decided that we should walk until we found something worth seeing.

Boy did we ever...

This is one week away that we won't soon forget. There is such energy and renewal in the natural wonders of our planet. I've been reminded now to take them in more and more and to appreciate even the slowest moments.

Maui Moments

Drew and I are away on a very special first trip to Maui. This is a combination of work reward trip, second honeymoon, mind and body reset, and so much more. I'm so grateful for the ability to take pictures and film parts of it to help keep these memories fresh. Over the next couple of posts, I'll share some of those photo memories with you


Yesterday we tried Zip Lining...

Only a vehicle like this could make it over the roads up here...

Wild Horses watch our ascent




Tell me again how completely safe this is?



Nothing to it but to do it! (You can see the video of my turn here)


If I'm still smiling, you know it couldn't have been that scary :-)

And....I've got the best travel partner EVER

More Progress

Happy New Year!
I hope everyone has had a great couple of weeks celebrating, eating, loving, laughing and getting some much needed merriment!

There are great steps being made over here chez BrownBerry; the knitting clan is growing its skills! Adachi told me that she'd like to learn something new in her latest project, and I'm all in favor of that. Taking on a new technique with each project is a great way to expand the toolkit, so I thought it was time that she learn to purl. She was so enthusiastic about learning this new stitch, it was cute to watch. I'll let her tell you herself...

With that great start and some elbow grease - what started as this...



Became this...



It just never gets old for me! I encourage her as much as I can and will try to help her avoid my own pitfalls (overstashing, too many WIPs, one-ball wonders, and so on). We're having a great time.

2009 Goals & Come See Our New Shop!

If you make a list of items you intend to work on, strive toward, and (gasp!) successfully accomplish within a certain time frame, but you do it in December - can you avoid calling them Resolutions? Well, if it's your blog, I would say the answer is yes! :)

The following "2009 Goals" are all related to my craft. The Life List is a work in progress...don't ask.

I may or may not come back and update this, but here is what I've got so far (with some knit pics mixed in to add some color):

Reduce my carbon footprint:

• Print patterns only when I'm ready to actually make an item; this is one of the lynchpins to my ultimate goal of keeping a cleaner more organized work and craft space (somehow the craft bleeds over into the work area quite consistently, go figure.)
• Use more naturally made and animal fiber yarns; I really don't know the science here, but if a yarn is 100% plastics-based and flammable to boot, I'm open to all options that will justify me replacing it with a woollier or furrier alternative.
• Get at least 3 more sweaters from Goodwill to unravel and re-fashion into something great.
• Go one full quarter without buying a magazine, pattern booklet, or knitting book.
• Go one full quarter without printing a pattern; naturally I can make things by viewing the patterns on screen, but similar to Goal #1 this will mean less paper stacked up around me - and perhaps more FOs will be piled up around me instead?
  

Find my style:

• Select projects from each of these categories to knit for myself: socks, sweater, hat, shawl/wrap/stole. The intent here is to find just the right fit and style for my body type and my (sorely lacking) fashion sense
• Swatch, knit, repeat
  

Branch out:

• Learn and try at least 5 new techniques in knitting and/or crochet. I anticipate that this will go hand-in-hand with the previous Goal of finding my style
  
• Attend a workshop or class through my LYS or a store I find while traveling.
  

and of course...

Grow the business for my new Etsy Shop - Taaa Daaaaaaa!!



A joint venture with my girl Tangodiva. Think outside the brand - buy handmade!


That's as far as I've reached in the thinking process. I'm sure there will be more to come because overachieving with list MAKING is one of my specialities.

Your turn!!

Cruise Vacation - The Recap

Hello!! ~ insert frantic waving ~

We've been back home from the vacation for a couple of weeks and I STILL feel like I could pack up and do it all over again. Thankfully (pun intended) after we landed home I got right on a plane for 2 days of work travel, then home again for the Thanksgiving holiday. Thanksgiving was very quiet for us this year, and that suited us just fine. We are traditionally all in the turkey feasting and family gathering and over eating and random napping. No one can do triple servings in a kitchen like me and my momma! Not this year though...we spent such a lovely time with both grandmas, pops, an aunt and some family friends that we felt pretty well caught up on the family gathering part. As for the overeating and random napping? Check, and check! Got plenty of that in too on the cruise.

Here is a smattering of the vacation photos (trimmed from the 499 I stuffed into the camera). There's a slide show at the end if you feel like pouring a cuppa' and taking a saunter through the journey with us.

Our shore stops were in Puerto Rico, St. Thomas (my favorite), and St. Maarten. As you probably know, when you arrive anywhere via cruise ship, your experience of the destination spot can be somewhat "canned" - all mapped out for you from the minute you disembark until the time you set sail again. That is,of course, if you're NOT traveling with MY husband. We've cruised three times now, and not once have we gone the traditional "excursion" route. Hub loves to find local people, chat them up, and score some sweet tips and deals on tours, where to eat, and where to shop. Our experience is all the richer because of it.


One of the biggest pleasures I had was seeing the girls in a constant state of wonderment. We are so blessed that their stamina and their charm allows us to take them ANYwhere and we can be confident that they'll have a good time, and spread the smiles. It was really a treat to expose them to so many new things.

The "get up and go whenever you please" factor of homeschooling totally rocks!

A close second on the Lasting Memory scale was seeing my mother-in-law go from someone who hasn't left her home state in 30 years to someone who now calls me every other day to ask what I've found out about our NEXT family cruise (watch for it, December 2009!). She so thoroughly enjoyed herself that she came home and was on a veritable CAMPAIGN to get every last family member within 100 miles to start putting their pennies together so we can all set sail together next year. Cuteness!

If you think you might be into round-the clock service of fresh, delicious food, twice a day turn down service in your room, back-to-back days of island hopping, first class workout facilities, super service staff, and freedom to do everything or nothing for days on end - try a cruise. And if you do...I want to hear about it because apparently, it has now become our annual family tradition, and I'm always open for some great travel tips :)

Click right here to be linked to a slide show with many more pictures!