Crafty or Thrifty?

Either way, I'm going to tell you how I saved myself $105 in about two hours.

Last night I was working on my latest knitting project and I hit a wall. Not a knitting wall, but a tolerance-for-my-cheap-plastic-ring-markers kind of wall. I had just sent one of them flying, again. This time right down through the cushions and all the way to the floor. While I was rummaging around for another I decided right then and there I was going to get myself some of those fancy beaded blingy type markers that have a little weight to them. I went on Etsy and looked around. Saw quite a few that I almost bought, too. Instead, when I was out getting some essentials, I got myself the materials to make my own. So here are my new $3.00 stitch markers that took me all of 30 minutes to make, and I couldn't be happier with them. (And there are tons more beads, so if I make more then they would become even cheaper!) Money saved? I'm figuring about $10.00.

Yesterday I was at the thrift store. I'd been keeping an eye open for winter boots for Kidster #1 since the summer. Because you know, it's October up here in New England, which means the snow is imminent. This trip I found a pair of L.L. Bean kids boots that look like they have never been worn. Normal retail $49.50, I paid $5. Add another $44.50 to the tally.

During the same trip my eye was drawn to this green handbag. I was not in the hunting for a new bag, but you know when you see something you like...? Ya, you do. As you may remember I am a fan of green. And I like the idea of a green handbag that can go with tan, brown, black, or just about any other color of shoe! See, I have this problem that I inherited from my mother. It is the black shoes must have a black purse, brown shoes must have a brown purse, and heaven forbid, never ever wear white shoes after Labor Day syndrome!

But I digress...my "new" bag $6. Estimated savings? Hard to tell, but I'll say $34 only because I wouldn't spend more than $40 on a purse. Which I don't because I can get them for $6. Ha!

While I love this new purse, it does have one problem that needed addressing. The interior is one large compartment with only a tiny zipper on the side for keys. I had to figure out how to adjust from my current bag that has a nice big zipper divider in the middle that makes a nice compartment on either side. I remembered seeing those purse inserts online and dug a little deeper. Found a great tutorial here on how to make your own. I made mine a little smaller, at 20" instead of 26" because I only want to fold mine in half instead of rolling it all up. I also added a loop to attach my keys. Start to finish, including waiting for the iron to heat up it took an hour. Cost $3.50, online (Etsy) it would cost about $20. Savings of $16.50.

Isn't she so cute?

There it is. I managed to save myself $105 in less than two hours. If only that money would appear in my wallet like magic.

Oh well. The kidsters are finally quiet and I'm headed downstairs to fill my new organizer! Yeah, with a beer. Happy Saturday!

Why did I do that?

I've done it again. I now have four projects going at once.

The first project was Auntie Mitts in the Atacama I had used for the scarf. I hadn't decided on a hat pattern (and still haven't) but needed to get knitting. I found one skein that was much lighter than the rest with very little of the gray and red in it. I thought it might look nice in this lace pattern and it does.

I had planned to wear them with the cast on edge at the fingers because I like the gentle scallop it has. I am mostly done with the first one, but have put this aside. I'm now thinking of just some wrist ruffles (cuffs?) instead. So while I muddle it they have taken a back burner to the other projects.

My Nimbus is going along nicely. The back was a piece of cake. Then I made the two fronts at the same time. Figured it was the best way to make them the same size! I'm about to start the sleeves already!

Then last Friday night I started this heart, a new pattern I found on Ravelry. I was at the point where the decreases start for the sweater, and being beer night I decided I had better wait for a weeknight or else I might end up with three armholes! I finished this little guy up Saturday and it is so cute, even without felting. (Apparently the designer thinks my photo is cute too because she put it on the pattern page!!!) I am hoping to make more and turn them into some sort of Valentine's Day item. Maybe a wreath, maybe some conversation hearts!

And to top it all off, there are the socks that I am making in the KAL. I am rationalizing this one away as not really being a WIP because we only get one step every Friday. It's done later that night (beer and all!) and then I have the rest of the week to work on the other items.

So as far as the WIPs go, lets look at this rationally. The socks don't really count since the that week's step gets finished right away, right? And the mitts don't count either since they are in hibernation, right? With the sweater being my weekday knitting and the hearts my weekend project (with each heart getting finished by the end of the weekend), I really only have one WIP which is the sweater!

All right! I think I'll be ok this time. I promise I wont get stressed out. And I also know that I am not casting on anything new until at least the sweater gets done!

Everyone is safe

I am happy to report that there were no knitting under the influence incidents last night and that all people, pets, and fibers are safe. I have "turned the corner" (so to speak) and joined my sides so now I can just knit, knit, (purl a little), knit and make happy cables!

Arrrrgggravated

No, I haven't turned into a pirate (although kidsters would probably get a real kick out of that). I thought knitting was supposed to be relaxing? What happened to my relaxing knitting?

I'm working on my sage cabled purse, that's what. I have knit and frogged the base out at least four times already. I think that I would be almost done with the body by now if I could just keep knitting in a continuous line instead of knit, rip, recalc, cast, knit, rip, recalc. Arrrgggh! I'm not liking this new mantra.

I'm determined to get past it and onto the body of the bag with the designs before Friday night. That gives me about 2 hours to get straightened out. Friday is beer night and beer and knitting go just fine together but add in aggravation and it could be a real problem.

Back to girly knitting

February was the pitts. I realize that I was not too happy last month. Who could blame me, with the endless cold and snow? Combine that with not too much knitting and any fiber friend would understand. But I believe that I have left that behind in February. Now that it is March it's time for me to stop thinking about making hats, mittens, and scarves for anyone and everyone. March is a month full of hopefulness. Spring is just around the corner (well, maybe), the days get longer and hopefully warmer, and lest we forget St. Patrick's day. A wonderful day to wear my favorite color and drink my favorite beverage, red hoppy beer! March is going to be my time to start focusing on what really matters.

Knitting for myself! (Oh, and a beer or two every now and then isn't so bad, is it? Yes mom, the kids are in bed.)

Or at least knitting something that I want to knit. And here it is! Ok, it doesn't look like so much yet but it has great potential. My next Amybelbag. The sage green cable tote. Green in honor of March. Plus, I thought it was a nice springy color to lift my spirits and the spirits of my good readers (all three of you!). My plan is to have cables on the front and back panel that lead up to the edge and continue into the straps. My brain has it all laid out.

The question is whether or not my fingers can make it happen.

And I am going to keep track of what I do and write up the pattern.

I'm sure I can manage both of those feats as long as I take it easy on the red hoppy stuff!

Potpourri and a pint glass

I finished it today. I wasn't going to let a wasted knitting day yesterday and three wasted hours (my knitting bag sitting at home, me not) this morning get me down today. No way. Plus, Auntie is babysitting tonight. Tonight! So I needed to get it done today. Well, I just finished Sue's Hannah hat . I added quite a few rows this time before the decreases and think it will be a good fit. Yes it looks too big on me, but remember I have that tiny bean we talked about last time. Here are some photos...

I thought this one was pretty funny because the plant behind me looks like my ponytail.

I had hubster wait for me while I ran into Joanne's to get the glass buttons I had seen a few weeks ago. Even with the 50% off coupon, the buttons were still more expensive than the yarn.

And I don't have any way to block a hat so I came up with my own. I inverted a potpourri bowl (yes, it is still filled, I don't have time to be emptying it) over another bowl and put it on a pint glass. Let's see if it is something yummy...yup! Otter Creek Octoberfest. Mmmm. All this knitting and blogging is making me thirsty.

So what I really would like to know is this...

Can good knitting, a good pattern, and the best of intentions add up to a pretty hat or one that just looks like you got sick after eating too much cotton candy?

Tidbits of knitting

Like a lot of bloggers that don't get a chance to post every day, I do create daily posts in my brain. The problem is that when the time comes that I can actually post, they are all mumbo-jumbo up there. It doesn't help that right now I have a tab open in ravelry, a tab open in facebook, and a tab open in my Yahoo, and a tab open in whatever. My "I only get an hour a day to knit" also transfers into my other favorite pastimes. Add to this the fact that it's Friday night, my kids are asleep, my husband is down the street, and I've had two beers (!!), and you can see how I might have a little problem focusing.

My biggest news is that I won a blog makeover!!! I won the blog makeover contest by inspired mama musings, which is a blog makeover by Summer's design blog! It's funny, you know, because I finally found peace with what I had. I guess that's life! And don't take me the wrong way, I am totally psyched to see what we can come up with!! And if you can't tell, count the number of exclamation points in this paragraph. Ha!

I do have a cast on to report! I started a hat for my sister in law. She is a fixture in our family. She is my kids' #1 aunt, playmate and friend. She is our A1 babysitter and all around fun person. Even better, she calls us her "fun family". How great is that? And being a teacher, will be doing some sitting for us this week! Anyway, she has this favorite orange fleece she wears and I thought it would be fun to make her a hat to go with it. She liked my Hannah hat and wears a pony tail too. Not like me who wears one every day, but often enough that she would be able to get some use out of it. So I have this yarn. It's probably the first yarn I ever bought. You know, that cheap almost pretty stuff. It looks very orange. It has some nice other colors in it, but being a thick and thin I wasn't sure that I would ever be able to make anything decent out of it. I've finished the rib section and was pleasantly surprised to see that it self stripes, sort of. I'm not too thrilled that all the other colors (pink and ochre, yeah, ochre) seem to show up more than the orange. Unfortunately I'm going to have to hurry up and finish it before I decide if I like it enough to gift it. I would like to finish it this week, as a thank you for the babysitting, but can't really gift that ugly thing, can you? I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Oh, did I mention that I won a blog makeover?!?!?!?

Yup, it's the beginning of school vacation week. That means that hubster and kidster #1 are home, and that our "normal" (ok, I'm trying to stop laughing, really I am) routine is completely thrown to the dogs. I probably will not get my computer time, and I'm going to try real hard not to let that me get too grouchy. I'll let you know how that goes.