Cabbage Patch Kids clothes!

Listing the last few of my mother in laws adorable Cabbage Patch kids clothes on eBay!

Go check them out!

So... here we are

Wow, its been way too long since I posted here.

Changes. Been making some changes, including a major on the overall content of this blog. I want it to be more than just a knitting & crochet blog. I will use it more to talk about my views on whatever, things I have found interesting on the web, and of course knitting and crochet. My life in general I suppose. Online journal, then? Maybe that's stretching it. Or, maybe we should just leave it at, "whatever is on my mind that day that I feel the need to share with the world". Yeah, that sounds about right.

Well, the other Big Change that I should update on was the Major Move from the South East Coast to the (sort of) South West Coast. It took a while to adjust, and an even longer while to get a new routine and to make friends. This last part is always the hardest, due to my innate lack of confidence, haha. I'm sure all "newcomers" feel this to some degree!
So it took a few months to meet people and make friends. It was through a wonderful girl who I met at the masjid that I met the entire group of girls who I now consider, for the most part, great friends. Alhamdulillah! I feel right at home now, and so does the rest of my family.
Z, my 5 year old, does not want to go back to Florida. Only to visit my younger brother who still lives there. (Who, by the way, is the Last Remaining Outpost, haha! My entire immediate family lived very long in Florida, and now we've all left but him. If you're reading this, Adel, PLEASE COME HERE! I think you would love it.) Anyway... yeah so Z also refers to Florida and "Expensive Florida", which I found so hilarious the first time I heard him say that. I laughed silently, because he was very serious when he asked me a question about "Expensive Florida"... pertaining to a toy or book we left behind, but I laughed loudly at the memory when I was alone.

The Community here is a nice change, too. Very active, and following the right methodology as far as I can tell, and that makes us really happy. Z is in weekend school on Sunday, for about 4.5 hours, then gets Quran tutoring after that for about 35. hours, alhamdulillah.
I love going to our Halaqa (religious study circle) once a week. After the religious study we eat and just socialize. The kids get to play; its really cozy alhamdulillah. I also joined the Sac Muslim Moms group, and have attended every play date (they're monthly) so far. Its a nice way to get the kids some more socialization, and me too!
Then we have Story Time once a week at the library. The librarian reads a couple stories, and plays a couple games with using the feltboard too (which I really want to make for us to use in homeschooling) and then she does an arts and crafts activity. The kids love it! They get to see their new best friends, also homeschoolers, mashaallah. This family also has all boys, and the oldest 2 are close in age to my oldest two. Baby just tags along. Actually Baby plays a lot with their second child, as both are second children aren't really sociable or at the stage when they interact with their peers a lot.

Anyway, time is escaping me, so I will end this here and will post again soon, as I have to lament my current crisis, which is the cost of good yarn these days.

Til then...

MOVING!!

Well, we're going to be moving to Nothern California next month.
Yes, I'm freaking out because I have a whole house of stuff to get rid of, not to mention a couple tubs of icky acrylic and another tub full of crochet thread. I am listing diligently on Ebay again, patterns I dont need or want or am just never going to make so why keep lugging them around?

I have a few ideas floating around for doll clothing patterns, if I do make up some patterns I'll sell them via Etsy in PDF form. Or, alternatively, I'll do a website like Anna's Mochimochiland.org, where the dolls will model and I'll take pics of them, then have the pattern for sale in the shop.

I also have an idea to do an eBook tutorial on a technique that I've never seen that I'm hoping/hopeful other crocheters and knitters would benefit from.

On the needles right now: the Great Wall of Noro/kureyon; Looper's tail; and I'm going to frog Saartje's booties and redo them the seamless way, plus there was an error in the pattern and they came out all wrong. :(

Sorry for the short post and for not posting regularly!

Pic of my latest FO-- Jay Bee's Kueyon Kozy!

This is a test... I hope it works! I've been wanting to post a WIP picture, and this is perfect because the yarn is Noro Kureyon #40 (some call it electric, but I think its exactly like a male Peacock tail feather! It's GORGEOUS one of my fave shades of Noro!) Wow it's taking a long time to post... While I'm waiting I'll give a little background info about this piece. I was emailing my BFF Jay Bee back and forth over the winter, the lovely gal got her own apartment, and was living the single life... and mentioned she didn't have a teapot. I was flabbergasted! I mean, she is British, how in the world are you British and not own a teapot? So, since she told me she was engaged, I thought: presto. Perfect wedding gift. She tied the knot in December and I found a lovely teapot, sugar bowl and creamer set. It's one of those "vintage" Kelloggs ones"

which I think was the cornflakes slogan for quite a while.
It was very quirky, very Jay Bee. Plus, I have never sent that dear girl (or her boys-- they've been added to the list) a gift EVER. Which, I'm not ashamed to admit, is embarrassing and simply wrong. I've known her since I was 11! MOST of my life now! :)
Anyway, the tea cozy was done in time until I was finishing it up and was mortified to discover I had accidentally dropped two stitches waaaay below by the base. Ick, how did that happen??!?
So, I frogged and months later came around to re-do. Or rather re-knit. Now, I am on side #2 with no major calamities. I'm actually starting to imagine this cozy insulating my friends teapot. I'm also imagining knitting these up for everyone I know who owns a teapot, :)
Let me try to add the pics of this very very early on:



I think it worked... LOL!!! Well I can see them so I hope so, hehehee!! I actually finished it and will post a FO pic soon!! I'm going to make myself one also, and embroider the words "knitty" on the front... for a secret project that I hope will be as successful as I'm hoping/dreaming. Anyway, the tea cozy was a success and now I'm onto other Noro projects... I did a Booga bag for example, but ran out of yarn for the strap because I did a reinforced base.. more on that later. For now I'll post this or it will never be!

News, New Skills & Discoveries

In the past month or so, I finally mastered double-pointed needles, commonly known as DPNs. What motivated me to learn was the Basic Mittens pattern in "Knitting for Peace" by Betty Christiansen. Amazing book, its been a vital tool in my quest to start my own knitting-for-peace/charity-knitting group.

I am going to start such a group, for a sad and desolate group of people who, as far as I know right now, no one has bothered to pick up the needles and knit for. I hope to have something going early next year. So far, I've just been telling friends about the idea, and reading, researching, and knitting. I want it to be like Afghans for Afghans and The Dulaan Project.

A couple friends voiced their desire to help this cause, and one went so far as to buy a little "Learn to Knit" kit from Peace Fleece, and is now fast becoming a knitter. I'm hoping to see her this weekend and will give her handiwork a once over, and teach her how to cast on. Her mom did that step for her, and it was a disaster, since she is not a knitter!
I hope more of my friends pick up their needles for a worthy cause as this.



I also learned how to do i-cord! Discovered the 'i' stood for 'idiot' and was doubly ashamed at my slowness and stupidity in learning it. The one thing that helped was the free knitting videos on http://www.knittinghelp.com/. I still have to thank that wonderful lady for filling the role of the knitting teacher that was acutely missing from my life! I am passing on the link to others, and will email her sometime this weekend to thank her for her efforts.

What else, what else...?? Still working on Niece's blanket! LOL! It's never going to be done, and now I'm really not sure I like it as I once did, because lately I've learned the truth about Vile Acrylic yarn... :(
Anyway, I better publish this or it will never be!

Has it Been Almost a Year?

WOW!


This blog is badly neglected. I probably shouldn't have started it to begin with.


Lately, I've been working on my Mother-in-law's "Four Generations Shawl" from Spin Off magazine. My Mom gave me the pattern, and I thought it would be perfect for my MIL using the fuchsia mohair also from Mom. Its so far almost halfway done. I'm on my third cake of yarn and have just two more left. I hope I don't run out!


I'm also at the end of the overalls for S, I had to make them much bigger than the pattern. I mean, I had to put in many more rows than were in the pattern, even though my gauge is dead-on. I don't quite know how to explain this, but its O.K. That's one of the beauties of a good knitting pattern, you really can stretch the rules and make the pattern fit the person its intended for perfectly.

My latest, experimental bath mitt is nearly done. There' s a loooooong story behind that statement! Whew!

I found that pattern on the band of the Sugar n Cream cotton yarn, and loved it. Thought it'd be a great present for Mom, and I needed one, too. I knit up Mom's in no time. I got the Violet Veil color scheme, that lovely variegated with violet, blue, yellow and white, to match her garden/pansy themed bathroom.

I sent it with some handmade soap, and she thanked me for it a few days later.

I then knit up mine, using up some of the variegated yarn I had leftover from the bathmat I crocheted and thought it would be great to have a matching bath mitt! I used this color: Westport.


I was so eager to use it in my next shower. I put it on, pumped some shower gel on it, and tried to lather up. Then, I was totally bummed: the thing stretched out and totally lost shape when wet!

I posted this predicament/discovery on the About.com knitting forum, and got some great responses. Yes, I was told, this is the nature of cotton yarn. Its has no memory. We discussed alternative yarns, and one bright lady suggested I contact Sugar N Cream, which I haven't yet. I will, though, they really need to know that this yarn is NOT compatible with this pattern! Or, this yarn is not compatible with a BATH MITT.

So, days came and went, I had the baby (now 7 months!) and a couple months later visited my mom and family up north. Being a spinner, she introduced me to the a lovely world I fiber that, until then, I had no access to.
Included in the many wonderful gifts she gave me was a cake of burnt orange yarn spun from cowhair!It was pretty nifty!
Just last month I decided to knit it into a Bath Mitt using the SUgar N Cream Ball Band pattern, but I put in an eyelet row myself which I thought would make it extra-spiffy for gift-giving. I forgot to add the hanging loop!
Will post pics of it and my Peace Fleece grocery all-purpose bag soon as I can!

Anyway, I haven't tried my bath mitt yet, but if its good I'll use up the rest of the yarn for another, possibly to give as a gift.

Update! Guess I'm one of those bi-annual Bloggers

Wow! Has it really been this long since I last posted?! I have no choice BUT to be one of those bi-annual Bloggers...

Life has been extremely hectic, so much so that I've gotten almost nothing done at all in the knit & crochet department. I didn't finish that lovely bedspread for my darling oldest niece, heck I haven't even finished the sweater I made my almost 2 year old! It just needs the zipper, but stillllll.... its been almost a year since I began it.

I did have my 3rd baby, another boy!

I also did manage to complete a few little things: the crocheted kitchen rug I mentioned in my last post; a lovely bath mat; a bunch of bath mitts (which gave me many many problems that I'll get into in another post); 2 pairs of booties (one I kept for my Muffin Man, and one I gave to my mom's friend in Ohio); a cotton kitty bib; and a Grover doll from Sesame Street. He's actually from one of those vintage kits by Vogart, I got it off eBay with a bunch of other Sesame Street gang kits, like Big Bird, Bert and Cookie. I managed to get the pattern for Ernie, but hopefully will get all the kits some day.



I should be posting pictures of my recently accomplishments once the camera is repaired, or we get a new one, whichever comes first I suppose!

2 Months have elapsed already?

I can't believe we are in 2007 already! WOW! Just to update, I did NOT get my niece's Grandmother's Flower Garden bedspread afghan done, mainly due to the people at Red Heart deciding to discontinue the Medium Sage color. I now have to complete the afghan with a lighter (replacement) shade, Light Sage. I was so mad when I found out it was discontinued!

Coming along nicely!

I've been working at the bedspread/afghan and its coming along really well! I think that I really will accomplish the impossible and FINISH it once and for all! Hopefully... I think the last skein of Red Heart that I got, the light sage, should last through to the end. Let's hope so!

I was so peeved when I discovered that Red Heart discontinued the Medium Sage; seems this always happens to me with nearly every afghan I make. I made a chevron/ripple afghan years ago for my brother who is turning 14, and it has two different shades of purple, and two or three different shades of teal green in there, too. So disappointing, not being able to buy all the yarn you need at once.

I hope I can run out to Michael's or Jo-Ann's and get the rest of the Sugar N Cream to complete at least one of the kitchen rugs before I have company over Sunday. Its also a chevron/ripple pattern, made by House of White Birches. It's a two-strand pattern for durability, and I decided to make one strand acrylic and the other cotton, so the acrylic would help keep its shape. It worked up amazingly fast, and I am thrilled with the results... now if only I had the yarn to finish it! And then do the second one, too!

I'm experimenting with the Link feature above-- hope it works right! I wonder how they have links that read like phrases, not the "http" stuff...

I was thinking ahead today and realized I have so many unfinished/abandoned projects that I will likely not be participating in my local ladies group craft fair/flea market coming up December 2nd. Bummer. I also have a ton of gifts for my nieces and nephews abroad. I hope I can do it all, on top pf my other responsibilities and chores!

First Post-- On Tying Up Loose Ends!

This is my first post on my new blog!

I guess I'll dive right in... been finishing up a lot of "back-burner" projects, such as my niece's bedspread (which started out as a simple afghan but has grown and grown along with her through the years). I'm ashamed to admit that, yes, I began this afghan/bedspread like 6 years ago.
The real reason I couldn't finish it in a timely manner and the reason I usually don't finish most projects in a timely manner is due to YARN AVAILABILITY!! I start out a project with enough yarn to last a few weeks, then it runs out, and I most likely don't have the funds available to run out and restock.

Its my intention to complete it in its entirety by the end of next week. That sounds like a good goal. I hope I can meet it!
Will post pictures of the finished item.
That will be fun...