{Inspiration}

I was surfing around last night and stumbled on to Budget Wise Home where they feature lots of great ideas for decorating that cost little to nothing. Since my decorating budget is nothing, it works well for me! I particularly was inspired by this photo here:

photos are from Real Simple and Pottery Barn

Isn't that the COOLEST idea? Books are a huge issue in this house and we have way more than we have space for. I ran out to the living room as soon as I saw the photo and whipped up a version of my own.


What do you think? I've been wanting a table here forever because it's sorta off in a corner and there's no place to set a book or a tea cup. It's the most comfortable seat in the house and unfortunately it's rarely used. It still needs a tall lamp I think.

Of course, solving one problem caused another. Now the bottom of my bookcase is looking sparse.


And man oh man does that bookcase need some sprucing up. Maybe this spring it'll get a coat of black paint or something. Any ideas? Opinions?

Don't worry, I'll be back to my normal knitting updates soon. The first sock is done and I've go the toes of the second cast on. :)

{Why In The World...?}

So... I'm looking around online for a way to spruce up some sorta tacky glass vases I have around from different flowers we've ordered and I come across about 6 billion posts about how to re-use Glass Jars. I pause to look at them because I had just recently pulled a few glass jars aside and run them through the dishwasher thinking maybe I'd do something with them later. Much later, is what I was thinking.

This was supposed to be a picture of some empty jars.

These 6 billion websites, such as this one or this one, pretty much made me feel like a idiot. lol I'm a person who tries to do as much as is easy when it comes to the Three R's, such as composting, recycling plastic/glass/tin, buy stuff in bulk to use less packaging... stuff like that. That being said... for some reason ... I had not thought to store food in jars after they were empty. Why in the world hadn't I thought of that???

It's almost easier TO use them than to NOT use them. It means fewer plastic storage containers and all their dumb lids, fewer chemicals leaching in to the food we eat when it's reheated in the microwave, fewer trips to the recycling center, and on and on and on. And it's so darn easy! Just a trip through the dishwasher and they're ready to use.

marshmallows, pasta, and cinnamon sticks

After pulling out the three jars I had put aside to use at some later date for something I hadn't thought of yet, I went through our recycling bin and found a few more of different sizes. I've got almost all the food in the cupboard in sealed containers now instead of just plastic bags twisted at the top, or open cardboard boxes.

So with one project done and feeling oh so proud of myself, I started to spruce up the rest of the house a bit. Nothing big, you understand, just tiny projects that have all made a teeny difference. I snipped some greens to put in those glass vases I mentioned. They now reside on the credenza that's been naked since the Christmas decorations came down.


Then I reorganized a few things in the kitchen (oh lord the kitchen... that's a whole seperate post. lol)




And added a very simple tie back to the curtain in the dining room:


Overall I've had a productive morning even though that's meant only a few rows on the socks in progress. I plan to keep every glass jar that makes it's way through our kitchen and even to choose products in glass containers over products in cardboard or plastic from now on. What about you guys - what do you do with your glass jars? Or is this something that's new to you to? (oh umm... I think that was just me. lol)

{I have a Knitting Fairy}

My friend Hope is the very sweetest person I have ever met. She's an experienced knitter that visited my very tiny town when she was little and contacted me out of the blue one day on Ravelry. Ever since then I have been showered with knitterly gifts and there is no way that I can thank her enough. As a full time student there is little I can afford to splurge on. Her gifts have given me the opportunity to knit my first shawl in the most amazing yarn I have ever set my paws on, much less knit with, and she gifted me with the yarn for my first sweater.

While I was on the phone and she was walking me through some finishing techniques for said sweater I was expressing frustration with not having pictures and such, or the proper tools for pinning pieces together (I was using old locking stitch markers of my Grandmother's, which were brittle plastic and kept snapping in half on me!)

She mentioned that she may be able to help with that, and a few days later, this came in the mail:


I can not tell you how overjoyed I was. I started to tear up with such deep feelings of gratitude.

Hope - I don't know how you found me or why you picked me, a virtual stranger, to shower with such gracious gifts . Thank you... just thank you so much for enriching my experience of learning to knit and being such a wonderful friend.

{Red Dwarf Socks}

Anyone remember this sweater that I recycled, and was going to become a different sweater but instead became an epic failure? (in my defense, I had no clue what I was doing and didn't follow a pattern. Yeah. I know. lol).


This soft fuzzy angora blend yarn has been sitting in my stash since almost the conception of my blog and now it's being it's being reincarnated a second time. This time: socks! I cast on my Red Dwarf Socks last weekend and have only had time (or energy) to do a few rows each night. The repeat pattern is super easy to remember and I love that the pattern is written for toe up on two circular needles, since that's my preferred sock method thus far. I'll still have to figure out how to alter patterns to be able to do them that way if they aren't written from the toe up. Can't be that hard, can it? hehe

Here's what sock 1 looks like so far:


The pattern in this yarn isn't as pronounced as in the pattern's picture, but I still think it makes a pretty little detail. I don't think I'm going to do the pattern again on the back of the socks once I'm up on the leg as the pattern calls for. I'm thinking instead I'll just do ribbing around the back for a better fit because the yarn doesn't have a lot of elasticity.

{My First Sweater}

I began the Climbing Vines Pullover on December 28th, 2009 and proceeded to knit like a mad woman while I was on break from school. The progressed slowed a little after I started my internship a week ago, but today, January 10th, 2010, I present to you:


... the completed sweater.


... and again closer up.

I'm pretty happy with it after the blocking process. I think it did manage to shrink up just a little and I'll remember to shrink it a bit after each washing. It's not super duper flattering in person (though I managed to pull it off okay for the photo. hehe It's COLD out there!) but it's cute and warm. I'm happy with how the charted vines came out and I think it adds a neat touch.

The arms don't sit right for sure. Anyone have any idea where I can go to get good info on fitting shoulders?

My main lesson from this project though is fit. I know now that I'm a fan of a bit of negative ease so if I'm stuck between two sizes next time I'll go down and not up.

And thank you so so much to everyone who left lovely messages for me to find this morning. I really appreciated the kind words. :) I did take your advice and began knitting a bit on my other mindless project, the Modern Log Cabin Blanket. I have all 4 colours integrated now and thought I'd share that too.

These yarns are all 100% acrylic that I got from my Sister in Law for Christmas. I'm really surprised at how nice these Bernat Super-deal yarns feel! They're pretty soft and nice to knit with. The colours don't show up perfect, though. The dark one isn't brown it's more a dark purple. From now on this will be my go-to project for nights like last night - I don't care if it takes me a year to knit it. lol

Thank you to everyone again for your encouragement!

{I got a feelin'...}

I was hesitant to write about this on my blog because it's a hard feeling for me to put my finger on, but since it's not the first time I've noticed this phenomenon in myself maybe it's important for me to try to think it through.

After I've completed a big project I find myself feeling.... down? blue? sad? depressed just a little? I'm not sure what to call it. It's like I build myself up as I'm getting close to completing a project and then once it's done I have a big fall. Maybe I was thinking that my sweater was going to look like the professional one in the photo, and when it didn't come out 100% perfect, I was disappointed? I know that's not fair to myself, this is my first real sweater... but I tend to expect a lot from myself. In one way, these higher expectations I have let me tackle bigger projects without fear of failure, but at the same time when they don't come out perfect maybe I'm a little too hard on myself.

I'm not even sure if that's what it is. Is this common? Does anyone else get these kind of feelings after a big project is off the needles?

Maybe it's more like I'm just taking a breather before my next project. I've been excited to cast on my next socks, but just can't get up the enthusiasm to do it tonight. I sort of feel like I'm in a haze just wandering around the house without any knitting projects and wondering what to do. :)

{Blocking}

The Climbing Vines Pullover is complete and now it's blocking:

bad bedroom overhead lighting. lol

I have to say that I'm not *thrilled* with it. It's quite a bit big on me, which I think was maybe a poor choice of size more than my gauge. I think just because of the shape I am it's going to be hard for me to find a regular pattern with the hip to waist ratio that I need, just like it's difficult for me to find clothes in stores that fit me nice.

I'm not happy with how the shoulders sit either, they're pretty bulky. I used the back-stitch to do all the finishing and maybe I just didn't fit the shoulders just perfect.

There are some things I like about it though. First of all, it's my first big completed project! I learned a ton of new techniques with this project - mostly finishing kind of stuff. I also got to do shaping work, like at the shoulders, while following the chart for the leaf pattern. That was a little tricky and I think I pulled it off okay. I also get to use my new blocking mat! hehe

So it's laying there sorta scrunched in, hoping that the 25% wool will pull it a bit smaller so it fits better. :) I'll have a pic of me in it for you tomorrow once Mr. Pie is home in the daylight.