A Girl's Gotta Knit

A blog about opening A Swell Yarn Shop, knitting and the rest of the stuff that makes life fun :)

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Just had to share


The weather has been crazy around here lately. Regular NW Washington summer one day, then Florida summer the next! Us Washingtonians are not used to 95 degrees and humid weather!!!! Here is an example of what happens to Washingtonian critters when they are too hot to care about their differences!!!!

Monday, August 18, 2008

Check out this loaf!

I know on a knitting blog it makes more sense to post knitting pictures....
I could post my progress on a wrap/wide scarf I am working on, but I think I would have to block it out to have the stitch pattern show up.
I could post my progress on another AMIGURUMI I am making, but it will hopefully be a gift for someone and I don't want to spoil the suprise.
I should post the socks I am knitting in Sahara's Sister...I will do that soon
Today, I want to show you my first EVER, PERFECT loaf of bread

Ain't she a beauty?!!!

This may not seem so fabulous to some, but to me, this is big news! I have made lots of loaves of bread at this point...all very tasty. Some deformed but tasty, some super dense but tasty, some burnt on the edges but tasty inside, and on and on. This loaf, this beauty right here is perfect, it's fluffy and round and perfect :)

I am super duper hungry right now, but I had to wait to slice it up just so I could share the picture with you :)

May you have a perfect bread loaf day in your near future!!!! :)

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle-Sorbet!


Since that fateful day that I happend to catch the episode on the Discovery Channel that exposed the unspeakable damage that the garbage we thoughtlessly throw away (and ends up in landfills) does to our planet and then the chain reactions that come of it-we are now a very garbage
conscientious household. If it is degradable, we compost it. If it's recyclable, we recycle it. If it is reusable in any way, we reuse it!
Here you see only a small number of our sour cream containers (we eat an incredible amout of sour cream). These containers are so handy for left overs, side dishes to take to a party (and leave there with out worry of return), dips and on and on. Next spring I plan to use the gobbs and gobbs of them for seedling starts for our garden!!!
Our latest discovery is that Gatorade containers make the most travel friendly drink holders!!! I was gonna run out and by a bunch of reusable water bottles (at 3 bucks a bang) to reduce the number of water bottles we are recycling, then tried these guys and they work GREAT!!!
Both of these containers are perfect for the concoction you see above! A fruit smoothy and sorbet in the making! I blended it up, poured a bit into each sour cream container and popped those into the freezer for an ice cream (ok-sorbet) delight tonight, and the rest I am sipping on right now! Yummy!!!

Goes to show that being good to the enviroment is fun, creative and YUMMY!!!

July's Lucky Lurker Package

I know that I rarely post knitting progress...some might wonder if I actually do knit! Truth is, most of my knitting I have to do in secret because generally I am working on Lucky Lurker patterns and knitting up the sample in the Exclusive Lucky Lurker Colorway. So not only can no one see what I am knitting...but they most definitely cannot see the colorway I am knitting in!!! So, having said that, I really do knit-ALOT!!! Of course, pretty much every project is something using Duet Yarns.
Anyways, here is what I created last month for the July installment of the Lucky Lurker Club. The pattern is called "That's a Wrap" and the colorway is Sahara Sunset. This pattern (once all the bugs were worked out of the design) took less than a week to knit -Gotta Love IT!
There was such a frenzy among Lucky Lurkers for more of this colorway!!! What an overwhelming hit is was! Since the colorways are exclusive to only the Lucky Lurker Members, I am not able to recreate it again, however I did create Sahara's Sister as a great alternative

A great big welcome to all the Lucky Lurkers in this current round!!! It is going to be yet another fabulous round of yarny and pattern fun!!!! And if you don't see any knitting progress here on my blog, know that means all kinds of good things just for you!!!

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Just one click will help

If you click this link, an advertiser on this site will donate food to animal shelters.
That's all you gotta do is click it!!!
That's it!!
(How cool is that?!)

Monday, August 11, 2008

Can you say CUTE?!

When you just need a little instant gratification, this is the perfect project!!!
OH MY GOSH, is this not the cutest little guy EVER?!
I got this book at Stitch n Pitch. I tried to resist, but the cuteness of the little critters in the book were just too much to bare. Then after flipping through the pages about 10 times, the need to create one was so strong, I whipped out some scrap Duet Yarn and in a couple hours I had this little turtle.
The cute factor of these little things is off the charts and I desperately want to make more, but I have work to do...is it weird to want to play hooky in order to crochet little stuffed critters???

I started with one of the mini critters to try out the patterns to see if they were clear and easy to do. It was a total snap!!!! It's one stitch the entire time...just going in a circle! And you get this!!!
Just imagine all the adorable critters I can make with all my scrap Duet Yarns!!!!
Must finish my work so I can make another critter....gotta go!!! BYE!

Stitch n Pitch

Thursday was Seattle Mariners' Annual Stitch n Pitch!!!
What a great time!!! Lots of people from my local knitting group were there, there were yarn booth galore, and the Mariners hit an amazing Home Run to win the game!!!
Afterward, we were sucked into Krispy Kreme Donuts...who knew they were open so late!!! It was the first time I had even been to a Krispy Kreme and I got to see donuts being made and everything.
Several of us indulged in yarn and donut purchases that evening...some things are just too tempting to resist!!!
Another great year at Stitch n Pitch!!! Go Mariners!!!