Are you a yarn snob?

I don't really like to use that term, Yarn Snob, because it just sounds bad. I'm not trying to alienate anyone either. But if you detest acrylic then you will want to click out of this post now. Right now. And I don't want that, I'd hate to see you go. Well, maybe just hang around for a minute to find out why?

My husband's aunt used to knit and crochet like the wind. She would make samples for the LYS. We still use a beautiful blanket she made for Hubster years ago. In fact, she made dozens of the cutest baby booties as the shower favor for my baby shower. For some reason (grin) she has always loved me. Hugs the daylights out of me and packs a lipsticked kiss on me every time I see her. I must be like she daughter she never had or something. Aunt Rita has been cleaning out her house lately. Her husband died this past summer, and now her son and daughter-in-law are going to be moving in with her. She has also had problems with her hands and isn't able to knit or crochet anymore. (Pausing for a moment of silence) She has been gifting me with all of her stash. Yup. Loads. And loads more on top of that! There is no way one human being could possible knit up this much yarn if all they did was knit constantly!

There have been some interesting finds; quite a bit of Swa Laine, which looks like a mini i-cord instead of plied yarn strands. And some Lite-Lopi. But the majority of it is Acrylic. Lots of Red Heart and Caron Simply Soft. I can hear the mouse clicks now. Come back soon, will you please?

So in honor of Aunt Rita and her stash I will be holding yarn giveaways on a regular basis in the hopes of reclaiming our guest room (my craft room) before anyone visits and needs to use it! Details yet to be determined, but stay tuned!

What are your resolutions?

Ok Friends we're a month into 2010, long enough to have given up on the resolutions that wouldn't work and make the ones you are really going to try to keep. Let's keep the lists short since having too many goals that don't get met can only lead to disappointment. I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours?

1. Lose 10 pounds.
Last year I wanted to lose 10 pounds. At my physical last month I discovered I had actually gained 10 lbs since the previous visit the year earlier. Ugh. Well, the appointment was the Monday following Thanksgiving, so not all of those 10 lbs are permanent! Right? This year I am not saying that I will lose 20 lbs because let's face it, that will never happen. But I would like to lose those 10 lbs!

2. Do not let my kids' fighting drive me crazy.
They are boys. They interact like boys. They are rough and fight with each other. And I am ok with that. Repeat, I am ok with that. (OK, I'm going to need a lot of meditational breathing to get through this one).

3. No new yarn purchases unless specifically intended for a project that will begin imminently!
I think we all make these kind of resolutions at one point or another. But I have a lot of one and two skeins of wool that I will be working on using up. Purse designs are churning up above. One exception from this resolution will be recycling yarn from sweaters. I was warned that I would become addicted. While not (yet) addicted, recycling has benefits! It is lots of fun, I can do it with the kidsters in the room (they like to help!), and I seem to find very nice stuff at amazing prices lately! I wonder if I will make a new "business" out of it (smirk).

The redirect

Have you ever started a project and got about halfway through when you thought to yourself "this would look so much better as ...."? It doesn't usually happen to me because I tend to plan ahead and deliberate about the next project while I work on the current one (or as of late, four). Well, it happened to me this week. I had about ten minutes to kill off in between kidster taxiing so I sat down with my socks. I had the weather channel on (Why? They never get it right.) and was listening to the forecast of teens and negative degree wind chills. I happened to put my feet up and this was the view.

Normally I take my shoes off the second I come in the door, but like I said, I knew I was leaving again in a quick 10. I thought how funny it was that this yarn that I seemed to have no use for matched my sneakers. Then I thought about how I don't have any mittens. I have thin fleece gloves for driving and thick insulated gloves for snow, but no mittens. So the socks were redirected. I've had the peekaboo mittens pattern queued for about as long as I've been queueing in Ravelry, and what I had so far was perfect for changing over. Here are my mittens, that are just as good as gloves but better! The cuffs are a little long since I decided not to rip back the progress I had made on them as socks, but rolled up they fit just fine, perfect actually! And just in time too, it is 18 degrees with a -5 windchill today! I guess they got this one right.

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!

Finally!

I'm making socks.

Most of you are thinking..."what's the big deal!", but this will be my first foray into socks (finally, I know). I am in a Yahoo! group, one of too many, and there is a learn-to-knit-socks type of KAL that started this weekend. You get one step every week so that you have plenty of time to ask questions if you get stuck. I like that set-up and I've cast on with some Galway in a weird melon color I can't seem to find anything else to do with.

I have to say that I am not at all intimidated by socks. And I love knitting with dpns. (Magic loop will have to wait, lets try one new thing at a time here!) There is really no reason I haven't knit them before except that I just haven't knit them before. The KAL wants us to use worsted weight yarn so I'm assuming we'll be making boot socks. That's fine because I have tons of worsted weight yarn in my stash that needs to get used up. My only issue is that I am a jump right in type of person with, as you know, limited knitting time. It would be nice to make some Monkeys, or Jaywalkers, or some of these lovely socks designed by my friend Shortly, no? OK, ok, one thing at a time.

So far, so good. Look like mittens to me!

Happy Birthday Blog!

Thank you old friends (as in been around for a while) and hello new ones. I want to thank all of you for encouraging me, staying with me, and most of all humoring me for the past year. It has been fun and I look forward to my posts and reading yours now more than ever!

By the way, this is an actual cake made by my almost sister. Her website is here!

The best lasagna I ever made!

I know I've said before that I don't cook. I think that might not be exactly right since I usually muster up one or two dinners during a regular Hubster-at-work week. I have about three recipes that I do and they usually involve casseroles or crockpots.

Hubster likes to look online or clip recipes and have me try them. I think that way if they bomb it goes against my less than perfect track record instead of his (smirk). I try to look them up online and read the reviews. I usually take them for what they are worth since everyone's tastes are different. I especially laugh over the ones that say "My picky 3 year old asked for seconds!" since I have a picky three year old and he never even eats it, never mind asking for seconds.

So it was with a casual acceptance that I made the newest experiment: Crock Pot Lasagna. Hubster found it in the Kraft Food & Family magazine (online recipe here). I have a lasagna recipe but haven't made it in a few years because it takes about an hour just to put it all together. Plus I'm not a huge fan of baked pasta dishes, I don't like dried out or crusty edged pasta.

But this lasagna was excellent! Moist, saucy, delicious, serious comfort food. My only change for next time, and there will be a next time, is to add some garlic. It took only 15 minutes to make just like the recipe said (another pet peeve, when it takes you twice as long as they say). My picky three year old ate it and my even pickier five year old actually did ask for seconds, no kidding! I took a hand count on whether or not to make it again and I am proud to say I got four out of four votes! If you're looking for something super quick and yummy on a cold winter night give it a try. And let me know how your family liked it!