A Girl's Gotta Knit

Mover and Groover

2011-04-22T10:28:00.000-07:00

Wow, time flies when you have a mobile child!!!

This new talent happend 2 months ago and I have been chasing her ever since!!!!

She just gets faster and faster each day. Here to there, there to here. One second she is to my left, the next she is no where to be found. Add to this, the major interest in tasting EVERYTHING on the ground...this momma is always on her toes!

Thankfully, she is the most wonderful little girl in the entire world...otherwise, I would just be a frazzled mess. But that little giggle or scrinchy smile makes when I catch her makes it so totally worth it!!!

I love my little love bug!!!!

Daddy's little Seahawk fan

2011-01-09T14:23:00.000-08:00

If you know my husband, you know he is a Seahawk's fan. Not the kind that starts rooting for them once they make it to the play-offs, or just when he happens to catch a game...but an ALL OUT, DIE-HARD, THE WORLD STOPS ON SUNDAYS (during football season), WIN OR LOOSE-HE IS SCREAMING AT THE TV FOR THEM, fan.Well, the Seahawks did something amazing; even though they had a loosing record, they managed to make it to the play-offs this year. So, my sweet P's daddy got to dress her for the occasion!
That's right, she is dressed head to toe in Seahawks gear...right down to her teether!!! I have to admit, she makes a dang cute Seahawk's fan!

Daddy's hoping some day she will join him, on Sundays, in screaming at the TV and rooting his favorite team on (because momma doesn't get it!)

2010

2010-12-27T10:36:00.000-08:00

As the year comes to an end, I am looking back and realizing that the last 6 months have been something to be exceptionally grateful for.

There are many people who have been a part of that and I want to take a moment to tell them how thankful I am to them and how much I love them.

To Presley; You have changed my world. You are the most beautiful person I have been lucky enough to meet. Your smile is contagious, your happy go-lucky personality is amazing. I am so thankful to get to be your mom.

To my sister, Karla; Thank you for being there for Presley's birth. Without any hesitation, you stayed by my side for the three days it took to bring her into this world. You are an amazing sister and I am so glad that Presley has you for an auntie!

To my husband, Ken; Thank you for all those breakfasts left on my night stand so that I could have a little food in my tummy and be able to stay in bed a little longer in the hopes of a little more sleep. As Presley grows, I have no doubt she is going to get to experience some truly fabulous adventures with you.

To my sisters in law, Trina & Jaime; thank you for being there while I was on bedrest and being a 'back to bed nazi' while I needed to heal. Trina, you went above and beyond each time you were here. I am embarassed and thankful for all the dishes, laundry and cleaning you did. Presley is very lucky to have you as her aunties!

To my friend, Amy; You helped me keep my sanity with your frequent visits while I was home stuggling with feeding for so many months. Without you, I would have forgotten that there was a world outside my door. You patiently encouraged some outtings and helped me realize that I may still have struggles, but I could take them on WHILE being out in the world. You are an amazing friend and I look forward to many more outtings!

To the boob duo, Shawna & MJ; thank you for your ongoing support as I tried to learn to breast feed my daughter. I understand why so many people give up and go to a bottle and without you guys, I may have missed out on the remarkable experience of breast feeding my daughter.

To my mommy partner in crime, Laura; This experience has been all the more exciting having met you and going through this journey at the same time as you. As hurdles arise and triumphs have been achieved, being able to talk to you and share them with you has made this even more wonderful. I am looking forward to many more playdates and conversations!

To all of Presley's Grammies and Pappas; thank you for loving my daughter so much. She is truly blessed to have so many people around her that are proud of her and love her.

To all of our friends and loved ones; your support and encouragement are amazing. Thank you for listening to my never ending stories about her spit up, naptime routines and milestone developments. I am sure it is torture at times and I really appreciate you listening with a smile and a warm heart!!!

2011, I am looking forward to meeting you and seeing what you have in store. Thank you for an awesome 2010...it has been an amazing gift!

Painfully long upload times.......

2010-12-17T14:32:00.000-08:00

I would love to keep this blog updated, I really would....

But I only have a few baby free moments a day to do so. Generally, her 15 minutes naps are the only oppurtunity I really have. That precious 15 minutes, if it is not used to eat food, pay bills or fold laundry, could be my blog posting time.

COULD being the important word here.

The painfully looooooooooong upload times take every bit of every second of those few spare minutes. In the end, the post is a hurried mess and I left out half of what I wanted to document.

And so...instead of thoughtfully written and documented moments of time, Facebook wins with instant posting and picture sharing. Though, not everyone can see what is going on as publicly...at least it gets posted.

Oh blogger, how I wish you would update your technology.....

Wait, what happend to November?

2010-12-17T14:16:00.001-08:00

November makes her 5 months already??? WOW! Where in the world does the time go???

One moment you have this new born baby, the next she is this amazing little girl.
At 4 months she had started sitting...not with total control, but sitting none-the-less.
At 5 months, Miss P can not only sit, but she can catch herself if she starts to fall. She can flail her arms with excitement at the same time too! It's a whole new world this little girl is seeing. And if that weren't enough, she goes and discovers she loves standing!!!
Her Auntie Jacque came over to see how big her neice had gotten, imagine her suprise when she saw this after the last visit we were still being ever-so-careful with her neck and head!

The time just goes by so fast. I am doing my best to burn every moment into memory, but with so much I want to remember about her, I worry that my brain is going to burst.

She is wonderful, she is amazing, she makes me so happy to have her as my daughter!

50mm f1.8

2010-10-19T13:30:00.001-07:00

As you know, I love taking pictures..my camera goes everywhere with me.
I have more photo albums filled on my book shelf than anyone I know. (Speaking of which, I have 300 photo prints waiting for their place in a photo album right now)

With the addition of Miss P, I have had even more reason to snap away!!! I have used the heck out of my point and shoot camera...and the dSLR stayed in the bag because I didn't really know how to use all those functions. Yeah, I took those photography classes in high school so I knew a little about how to catch good candids of people, but when you start taking about f-stops and apertures you've lost me.
Then a friend from my knitting group, who happens to be a local photographer (see Sweet River Photography), decided to offer a 'how to use your dSLR camera' class. I jumped at the chase. In very simple terms, she explained apertures, ISOs and f-stops. We snapped lots of pictures with our ISOs high and low and with our shutters fast and slow. We learned so much my head was spinning and I was excited to get home and pla with my camera...the one that had been collecting dust for 2 years.

And I have played and played and played...
Immediately after the class I purchased the 50mm f1.8 lense and I have been having a ball ever since. Before those numbers wouldn't have made any sense to me, now my http://www.amazon.com/ wish list is filled with lenses like the 10-22mm f3.5-4, the 15mm f2.8 fisheye, the 24-70mm f2.8 and the 70-200mm f2.8L and I am trying to figure out ways to add them all to my collection.
With this new information and my snazzy new lense, my pictures have improved a hundred times over. My only regret...not taking the class sooner and capturing Miss P's first weeks in far better quality than my point and shoot did!!!

Diaper time

2010-10-19T13:13:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how fast Miss P is growing!!! It wasn't even 4 months ago that she weighed less than a bag of flour...now she is as big as a bag of potatoes.

Before she was born I made 20 diapers in a '0-6 month' size and 28 in a '6-12 month' size. I don't know who decided what sizes for babies, but they are WAY OFF!!!

Miss P, like I mentiond, isn't even 4 months old yet (but will be in a few days) and she is now comfortably into 9 month old clothing. That also means, the first 20 diapers I made her and history...they are already packed away. The other 28 diapers, which were going to last until she was 1 year old, are not far behind.

So, now it's time to make more. Yes, I know I could just buy some. However, if you compared the diapers I have made to the cotton ones you can buy, you would see why I won't even waist my money on them. (Honestly, I am not sure how those store bought ones last longer than an hour on a baby...they do not look terribly absorbent). My diapers are soft, thin and absorbent.

My original ones were made following the basic prefold shape. Absorbent part in the middle, single layer of fabric on both sides. They do work awesome, but I thought I'd try something different with the next batch. I figured, if I am making them, why follow that same basic design...why not have a diaper that I don't have to fold before I use it.

And so, the 8prototype was created. And I have to admit, they worked pretty fabulously!!! I have tweeked the design a bit, mainly for more coverage.

Now, it's just a matter of finding some hands free time to get them cut out and sewn-because this daily diaper washing is getting tough to keep up with!!!

Wish me luck!!!

The pumpkin patch

2010-10-18T12:18:00.001-07:00

Woke up to a gorgeous Saturday morning in October!!! Days like this are few and far between as the night comes earlier, the weather turns colder and fall is upon us. So we had to take advantage of it by heading to the pumpkin patch. We met up with some great friends we met in our birth class. Laura and Carl had their little guy, Wyatt, just a few weeks after Presley!

After lots and lots of cute baby pictures we headed out into the patch to pick out pumpkins.
With so many to choose from, there was a little wondering going on to find the perfect ones. Finally we each left with our family of 3 perfect pumpkins....We also left with sugar pumpkins for pumpkin pie, carmel corn for grubbing on, a bushel of brussle sprouts and acorn squash for dinner.

What a fabulous day!!!

I expected to be covered in spit-up...

2010-10-12T13:55:00.001-07:00

As June 20th approached, I prepared myself for the things I knew were going to happen...I knew that I was going to be covered in spit-up every day and I was going to have be OK with that.

I knew that sleep was going to be in 3 hour blocks and that was as good as it was going to get for a while.

I knew that everything I used to do with my time was going to be put on hold for a while.

I knew that she was going to cry unconsolably and I was going to need to be patient and just comfort her.

And on June 23rd she arrived...and it all began.
The crying, the spitting up, the short bits of sleep and zero time to call my own....
She did everything a baby is expected to do and she did it well. What happend that was totally unexpected was I love every single minute of it!

The middle of the night feedings are the most magical time I ever thought possible. Just her and me, everything is completely quiet and she is in my arms. I get to watch her as she eats. Watch her little nose wiggle and her little hand reach aimlessly trying to gently grab something. I get to listen to her breath as she drifts off to sleep when she is done. Then I spend the next hour just watching her sleep (knowing I need to go to sleep because we will be doing this again in a few hours)When she cries unconsolably I happily take her in my arms and stroll around the house, rocking her and loving her and soaking up the memory of her beautiful cries. Long after she has quieted down, you can still find me holding, rocking and loving her. Again, I do everything I can to burn these moments to memory, because I know they won't last long.

And just as I am soaking it all in and loving every perfect little bit about her it gets even better.
She starts to coo and the sound just melts my heart...the gentle beautiful sounds coming from my beautiful little girl art the most magical thing I have ever heard.
And just as I think it can't get any better than this, she learns to blow little spit bubbles. Perfect little clusters of bubbles coming from her lips constantly, drenching the front of her shirt and making me laugh.
Then, when I believe my little girl can't be any more perfect, she laughs back at me. I have never been so proud of anything as I was when my baby girl laughed for the first time.

I may be sleep deprived, I may be covered in spit-up and I may not get a chance to put on my make-up every day, but she is perfect in every way and I could not be happier to be her momma.

This is love, this is magic, this takes my breath away.....

Going a different way

2010-04-02T07:23:00.000-07:00

With the usual winter slow down for yarn sales still in progress my creative juices needed a new outlet. With baby on the way, I figured I would combine my dying skills with baby neccessities.I came up with these! Tie-dyed and screen printed onesies.

The coolest onesies I have ever seen, (I haven't seen that many, but still-they ROCK)
So I have been learning both screen printing and how to make all the supplies for that AND dying on cotton fibers (which is dramatically different that wool dying). I am having a ball with it....so much so I opened up a show on Esty.
You can find these and lots of other onesies right Here.
These are not your Target or Walmart style here, oh no...these are for the cool & unique babies out there that dress in one of a kind items.
Rock ON!!

Lil Chickies Everywhere....

2010-03-23T15:57:00.000-07:00

Hang onto your hats...this post may be cuteness overload :) Exactly 2 weeks ago, my box of 17 chicks arrived in the mail. They were soooooo ready to get out of that box and into their nice warm brooder.
As so in the brooder they went and immediately they went to scratching and pecking and running around. The little puff balls were so entertaining to watch I noticed an hour had drifted away without me even realizing it.
Oh and those cute little peep peep peeps...it would just melt your heart.

Now with two weeks past, they are AT LEAST twice as big as in these pictures, and though they are still very cute...they are kind of at that awkward stage. They have almost fully feathered wings, but the rest of their body is still covered in chickie fuzz.

Even at that awkward stage they are a blast to simply sit and watch....

25 weeks

2010-03-09T21:51:00.000-08:00

Alright, we are at week 25! I would like to say it has flashed by...but I have to admit I am counting the weeks as they pass and how many there are to go.

After another week long horrible cold I survived without any cold medicine, it's hard not to look forward to things like benadryl or a big ole swig of nyquil. The strangest part is I haven't been sick for 20 years-until I was pregnant. And it has now happend twice in the last 6 months!

Truth be told, this does seem to be a wonderfully smooth pregnancy...I am just used to my body working a certain way and not being able to do things throws me for a loop. Like tieing my shoes...I had no idea how difficult that would become. Or when people joked that I would one day not be able to see my toes...I confess, I didn't take them seriously, but I now know that is about a month away. Or how about when you are laying down to sleep, all snuggled in, and baby decideds it's time to practice her dance moves...obviously she is not on the same sleep schedule as me :)So, here I am at 25 weeks...I am officially in maternity pants and far more comfortable than I was when I was still trying to squeeze into my regular jeans!!! I wear maternity tops now too because my regular shirts won't fit around my belly any more. And I am now showing enough that I actually look pregnant and not just like I have eaten too many pizzas! I even got asked when I was due by a complete stranger...I actually thought she was very brave to attempt that question, but it made me feel a lot better about being so rolly-polly!!!

Only 15 weeks left...I seriously need to get my hiney in gear and get some baby things made!!!!

I Heart Indie Crafts

2010-03-09T21:37:00.001-08:00

Over the weekend I took A Swell Yarn Shop out to the public to I Heart Indie Craft Show in Kirkland, WA. What a great time. This was definitely my kind of show...vendors with creations of all kinds!!! There were some of the super cool unique crafts there, if I hadn't been a vendor I would have definitely enjoyed being a customer (I DID do a little shopping!).

What was even more special about it was that my sister Karla also did the show with her super cool neck gaiters (which I bought another one of...just couldn't resist). It was the first time Stitchasaurus was out in public selling her wares. I was very thankful I had my neck gaiter when Monday brought a mini flurry of snow. They are the handiest things EVER (and very soft and cozy to boot!) :)

I am very seriously considering doing the show again in May...only drawback is I will be very very preggo by then :) Stay tuned and to find out if you show A Swell Yarn Shop in person again soon :)

Chickens

2010-03-02T21:00:00.000-08:00

It's almost spring once again and since I discovered my new addiction last year, I have been eagerly awaiting February. That's because February means CHICKEN time :) That's right! Chickens!Right now the feed stores are getting all their day old chicks in. People have their brooders all set up, heat lamp ready, for all those little peeps. Well, this year, instead of going to the feed store and fighting the crowd on a give breeds day, I opted to order my chicks by mail. That's right, BY MAIL. You can get chicks sent right to your local post office for pick up!!! Mind you, I still stocked the feed store websites to see when my preferred breeds were coming in, but when I noticed they were weeks apart I decided to give mail order a try.

My little peeps are scheduled to arrive next week!!! I have Australorps (the black one), Red Star (orange one) and White Leghorns (white one) coming! A couple weeks later I will be getting a couple silkies just for the novelty of them...they are cute little puff balls!

What this means for everyone who has already enjoyed my happy chicken eggs is there will be even more available come this fall. So no one will be left out any more.

I gotta say, never in a million years would I have imagined how much I would love raising chickens...but it might possibly be my number one favorite hobby. It combines my love of critters and my love of colors (plumage & egg) and puts them together like sewing and knitting have never done before.

Stay tuned for adorable chick photos coming soon! :)

20 Weeks

2010-02-28T07:58:00.001-08:00

Holey COW, has it really been more than six months since I last posted?! I have definitely dropped the ball on keeping this blog updated.

Well, let's quickly get back up to speed.

In the last six months we went to Las Vegas with one of my little sisters, Karla, for her very first time. Obviously we had loads of fun!

Next, Ken and I became parents to be. This is me at 20.5 weeks. I am now at 24 weeks tomorrow so I will have to get a new picture up here.

We shared the news of the baby during a game of pictionary...it was hilarious. It was Ken & I's turn and we followed our plan-Ken drew a picture of a pregnant woman and I yelled out "I'm pregnant". They all looked at us very confused, so I yelled it again. Finally my mom pointed out, "that's not the word"...everyone else looked on, still very confused. So Ken yelled out, "Angi's pregnant". With shock and happiness, they finally understood what we were telling them. So wish we would have had that on camera-such a funny moment!!!

Since then my tummy has been expanding and my clothes has gotten tighter and more uncomfortable....I am officially wearing maternity clothes now. WOW-I never saw this day in my future :P

Let's see, other than that Ken's been a super busy bee with work. This winter didn't bring the usual 3 month vacation for him. We are both very happy about that!

I am still making yarn as often as I can. Between running the house, paying the bills, doing the company paperwork, taking care of critters and occasionally getting out of the house, my free time has been sparing to say the least. Such is life :)

Well, I think that will bring things up to speed...:)

2009-08-21T07:27:00.000-07:00

It dawned on me, during one of my regular stops at Carpinito Bros, that summer is drawing to a close. What? SERIOUSLY? How can that be? Well, the zucchinis don't lie! Each visit to the farm had mounds and mounds of zucchinis and rock bottom prices per pound. Of course I would load up with what I needed for the next week or so (which is quite a bit since I have discovered I love zucchini in EVERYTHING) and be on my way until the next time. (Keeping in mind I am not currently mentioning the other $40 worth of vegetables I HAD TO HAVE until the next time).
Well, this particular visit came the discovery of the itty bitty bin of zucchini. I was panic struck-literally! How will I make it without zucchini in my food? How do I get some and save them for winter? Is there enough, if I buy them ALL, for the winter???? You should know that I DO appreciate the fact the biggest panic in my life at the moment is how to preserve zucchini for winter use!!! Anyways, I bought 10 lbs of little tender zucchinis and 5 lbs of green pepper and eggplants and headed home to start slicing and dicing for freezing these summer pleasures. The 10 lbs of zucchini took about an hour and half to slice up-not too shabby of an investment since in the winter the price for imported zucchini is more than 4 times what I paid today! Now that those are in the freezer I am once again panicy...is that enough? Do I have enough for the spaghetti sauces??? AHHHH!

I am half way through the eggplants, since you have to slightly steam them first to be able to freeze them and this morning the green peppers are calling my name...begging to get sliced, diced and frozen so they can be enjoyed another day!

If I get all that done and my work for today before 6pm, I am headed back to Carpinito Bros for more zucchini!!!!

Autumn Colorways

2009-08-20T14:54:00.000-07:00

After an all the responses I got with suggestions for new colorways, the direction was clear...

Time for some Autumn colors!!!

How about a stroll down Autumn Lane

Or an afternoon walk through a Pumpkin Patch

But be on your toes...watch out for those Wicked Pumpkins

Very spoiled chickens

2009-08-20T14:46:00.000-07:00

This moment brought to you by my very spoiled chickens!

Oatmeal & yogurt breakfast!

Do you think they like it??????? :)

Our first eggs!

2009-07-09T21:24:00.000-07:00

OK, I will try to keep my overwhelming enthusiasm to a minimum with this post :)

WE GOT OUR FIRST EGGS!!!!

Yep, after two straight days of our Speckled Sussex clucking non-stop, Wednesday just after 3pm she layed her first egg. Since she had been clucking non-stop for so long, I hadn't really thought much of it on Wednesday...but the added squaks caught my attention. She was going on and on and on. Then she found her way to the nesting box and our Barred Rock went in and joined her (I think more for moral support because she was making such a fuss).

After a bit the Barred Rock stood up and I heard a little thud. I admit I gasped a little with excitement right then at the thought that we might have gotten our first egg.

I waited a little longer for the Sussex to stop clucking and walk away too...she was not leaving! She was too busy building a nest around herself! So Ken reached in through the chicken door and she hopped out of the nest.

TWO EGGS!

Each had layed their very first eggs at the same time!

And let me tell you what, she had a thing or two to say about her eggs being taken! Oh My Gosh...I didn't know a chicken could get so angry!

Needless to say, it was a very exciting chicken day on the Kreutzer Critter Farm! :)

First thing from the garden

2009-06-24T14:10:00.000-07:00

It was time to do a little snipping to my basil plants to get them to leaf out even more. By the time I finished snipping I was excited to see I had enough leaves for a small batch of pesto! MMmmmmm, pesto :)So I picked off all the leaves and tossed those into the blender. Then I threw in a few cloves of garlic and some olives. I then drizzled it with olive oil.

Other great additions, if I had been prepared, would have been grated parmesan cheese, pine nuts, and sundried tomatoes.
Then I pulse the blender. Because this was a small batch I had to keep pushing the stuff back onto the blades. Went you do a larger batch the stuff seems to stir itself a little better. I didn't mind the extra effort, we were gonna have fresh pesto tonight for dinner!!!

Still blending...but almost there!

Perfect!!!

As it settles, the oil will rise to the top and seal in the freshness. The flavors will start to blend together and by dinner time, we will be able to have pesto over pasta, pesto on some toasted bread, pesto in spaghetti sauce, pesto on top of crackers with cream cheese...oh my gosh, I am suddenly very hungry!

I L-O-V-E hats!!!!!

2009-06-22T12:44:00.001-07:00

I am a hat person! Everyone who knows me has seen me in all kinds of hats. Baseball caps, country cottage hats, knitted beanies, berets, ear-flap hats, bandanas, ANYTHING! I love 'em!

Well, this hat sky-rocketted to the top of my list! I started it on a Friday and finished on Wednesday and my poor wrists were not happy about the constant knitting!

This thing is soooo cool. You knit it flat and sideways! So your row is the brim to the crown and back. There are short rows for the decrease in the crown and the band around your head is super cool too!

I have already cast on my next one! Duet Yarns of course and I am doing it double stranded. It's going to be sooo pretty!!!

A commentor was kind enough to pass on this amazing info!!!!

Just some info. you might want to know:I did some internet searching and found that the hat book can be downloaded in pdf format for £11.50 (or about $22.00 US dollars) directly from the author: http://www.woollywormhead.com/going-straight/The author also is selling some patterns from the book for $5.00 each through patternfish - and I think the pattern you used is one of them.PS: the hat looks great on you!!

Too hard to resist!

2009-06-22T12:25:00.000-07:00

Admittedly, Duet Yarns are my favorite yarns and I realize I may be a little biased :)

I love the base yarn and I love the colorways. Of course...otherwise I wouldn't make it.

There are some batches, however, that I just cannot bare to put them all on the website and this was one of these batches!

These puppies just SCREAM summer!!!!

Daffodil, Peaches, Mandarin yum, yum, yum, yum, yum!

I do my best to resist keeping one of every color I make...but my will power was not strong enough on this batch. Yep, I admit it! I kept a couple colors for myself! If you want to get your hands on any before I keep them all for myself, I suggest you get on by the website as soon as possible!!!!!!!

Gwen's Preformance

2009-06-08T09:06:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend, Gwen-a fellow knitter, was in a belly dance preformance at a local pub.

What a cool experience. I had never been to such a thing!

In addition, if you ask me, I think Gwen's preformance was the very best one!!!

Here is a little snippity of her preformance!

Thinking about Father's Day and new babies?

2009-05-27T10:19:00.000-07:00

Have you started thinking about Father's Day? Are there some new babies you are knitting for? Then you will be very excited about the new Sale Bundles of Duet Yarns! These are absolutely perfect for a pair of socks for Dad.

Or soooooooo cute in little girls matching hat and socks set.

Or just right for that rough and tumble little guy in your life.

Sale yarns do not happen often at A Swell Yarn Shop, but when they do it is an awesome time to score some great deals.

Come by and check out these bundles! And remember you are just in time to get a pair of socks done for Dad for this Father's Day!

Another step closer to green

2009-05-24T11:04:00.001-07:00

As time to goes on, I continue to find new ways to live a 'greener' life. Reducing waste, reusing things that can be reused for different functions, and so on.

The next step on the list were reuseable sandwhich bags!

I got coordinating fabrics and nylon for the lining. I made an 8"x8" pattern for the front and a 8"x8" with flap pattern for the back. I grabbed my handy dandy rotary cutter and cut out all the pieces in no time flat.

Then I stacked the pieces together and stitched them up. Each lined with the nylon for moister resistance for even the juiciest sandwhiches or tomatoes waiting for their future salad.

After I got them seamed and topstitched, I used heat set velco for the closure.

These are totally washable and can be used for anything we would normally put in a plastic baggie and toss in the fridge.

It is a small effort to stop using those little plastic bags, but it makes a big impact on the earth. I love these little things!

Eat healthy-On the cheap!

2009-05-21T13:28:00.000-07:00

It is a general misconception that eating healthy, real or natural foods is expensive. I beg to differ!

To prove myself, I am going to share some easy, inexpensive food ideas with you-starting now.

BEANS

Beans are about a buck a can at the grocery store. I know this because I used to buy dozens of cans at a time. I do love my burritos, so these were a must have in my cupboard. Dozens of cans was about $12-20 of my grocery bill and that's a lot of money!

A cheap alternative...make them yourself in less time than it takes to drive to the grocery store.

First you hit up a bulk store. We have Cash n' Carry here. It's like a mini Costco, with no membership dues and better prices. It aint a fancy place and what's available is limited, but for price-they are tought to beat!

Get a 25 lb bag of beans for about $10 or less. That's $0.40 a lb (about a $1.60 less than a regular grocery stores dry beans)

Grab a couple/few scoops full and put them in a bowl. If you are doing black beans, don't use your nicest ceramic bowl...it will stain the sides.

Now fill it up with water-(I use filtered).

Now forget about it. Total prep time=less than 1 minute

24 hours later, drain and rinse your beans. This makes it so you don't have a family of 'tootie pants' people. Yep, washing off the soaking water also washes away the tootie enzymes!

Now, pull out that crockpot that hasn't been touched in years...it's the thing your mother passed on to you in the very very back of one of your cabinets.

Put your rinsed beans in the crockpot, fill with water (I use filtered), set to low.

Now forget about it until tomorrow. Total time =2 minutes

12 hours later, test your beans. If they are to your tenderness liking, flip them up to high for about 10-15 mintues to get them super hot.

Grab some jars and put your beans in them, filling the rest up with liquid. Put your lids on. Total time=2 minutes

Now, let them cool. You will hear the jar lids pop when they have sucked all the air out. These can be stored in your refridgerator sealed like this for up to a month. That's it- you are done!

Total time and cost=Less than 5 minutes, and about $1.00 for about $8 of grocery store canned beans.

I usually do two or three batches at a time, when one is cooking, I am soaking the next bunch of beans and just rotate them. The crockpot in on the counter for three days and I have over a months worth of beans made and waiting for me in my fridge.

Perfect for burritos, southwestern breakfast scrambles, stews, chilis and on and on.

Pinto beans are great if you puree them before you put them in jars-refried beans without the fat!

Viola!

I need a new pair of socks!

2009-05-06T10:53:00.000-07:00

I decided I needed a new pair of socks, so I cast on these on Sunday afternoon.

I wanted a mindless pair to work on, but I needed a little bit of a pattern to keep me interested. I don't know if you can see the diagonal pattern (easier to see on the left one from this angle), but it is a simple shift of one purl each room. Mindless, but interesting.

Since my wardrobe has shifted from browns, reds and greys of winter weather to orange, green and pink for the spring season these will be great with everything!

They are going so quickly, I am be done in just a couple weeks! I love nearly instant gratification when knitting!

The maiden dye batch

2009-05-05T14:11:00.000-07:00

For the very first time EVER, I dyed my first batch of yarn in my new very own yarn workshop!!! I finally got most of my supplies moved into the new shop. At this point I just need to do a bit of fine tuning on placement of things so that I can easily grab and reach everything I need. But all in all, it worked out fabulously!! Check out this Prickly Catcus.

Since my workshop is in our garage, I work with the door open. It was a gorgeous 70 degree April day (a very exciting thing in itself here in the NW) and my excitement for the weather and this maiden dye batch rolled over into the fabulously bright colors I created! This Citrus Blast speaks for itself!

One such color is this absolutely yummy Buttercup. I know you yellow lovers out there don't get thrown a bone very often, but this yellow is totally worth the wait! It is a soft butter yellow with delicate apricot sweeps within it. Seriously the prettiest yellow I have ever seen.
Then I got really crazy and kooky with the coordinating color here. How about this Spring Greens? The perfect spring green coupled with a seedling green-it is rare indeed that the coordinating color is lighter than the main color!
The shop is going to be fabulous! As I work on getting all the wrinkles ironed out and everything running smoothly, more and more batches will be headed to the website. Start your lurking :)

Where's the YARN?!

2009-04-30T09:56:00.000-07:00

I took a bit of an unannounced hiatus from yarn dyeing because we had some plumbing issues in the house that originally were only going to take a weekend to get fixed.

As the project got underway improvements and upgrades were added which also added a bit more time to the project.

As a result of these upgrades and improvements, I am now fully operational in my own yarn dyeing studio out in the garage!!!!

It may not look all that exciting at first glance, but that is a gas stove in the corner, a utility sized sink with cold and ultra hot water plumbed to it, and a work surface sooooo big that I can't even imagine using the entire thing.

All this in the same area that I currently prep the yarn in.

Seriously, everything is now in one place...OK, not everything-finished yarn still has the safety of a closed off room in the house and I don't forsee changing that-BUT STILL, how super fabulous is this?!

I have already been twirling around ideas for the first batch scheduled to be dyed tomorrow and ideas about all the other projects I can now work on with out having to clean everything up in order to make dinner.

This is a yarn dyers dream come true- at least this yarn dyers dream :)

Wish me luck getting everything hooked up and organized today...I have lots of supplies to move out of the kitchen :)

The chickens get some weeds

2009-04-30T09:46:00.000-07:00

I have had a number of requests for a 'chicken' update. This is my first video on my blog, so I hope it works....This is the chickens getting their favorite morning snack; a big ole pile of weeds!!!!! They are so much fun to watch-which I never would have guessed when we decided to add them to our back yard. The funniest bit of it is when one chicken will take a leaf or something out of the big ole pile and run away. The rest of the chickens go chancing after as if that is the very best piece in the whole pile. Never mind the remaining mound of other weeds they can have :)

They have their chicken run now too, so when the chase is on it's even more entertaining to watch them run through both areas!

We are sooooo digging having chickens. I only wish we had done it sooner! Can't wait for the eggs that will begin in about 8 weeks or so. That is just an added bonus to all the entertainment they are already giving us :)

Are you kidding me????

2009-04-01T09:55:00.000-07:00

Today is April 1st and unfortunately the scene outside is no joke. It is snowing! UGGHHHHHH!!!

Generally, I am the first to welcome the white flakey wonders enjoy the brisk chill of the breeze it brings, but this year is a little different.

All through 'winter' I welcomed the white fluffy stuff with appreciative thoughts...even as I had to have my hubby take me to the post office to safely drop off Lucky Lurker packages in 18" of snow.

We roped a sled to the back of a pick up and enjoyed local sledding fun.

We enjoyed what we had while we had it, thinking it would some day go away.

That was over 4 months ago. My appreciation has worn off!!!!

This year I have little chicky girls newly outside that I want to see happy and comfortable not thrust into the harsh cold temperatures of a season past.

I have seedlings that are over taking our kitchen because I can't put them outside to get aclimated because it's too darn cold. I have another tray ready to get off the little germinating heating pad and there is just no room left for them!

It's been so soggy we can't get the plastic on the green house and so cold we can't put the plants outside even if we could.

I am just ready for spring. So April Fool's Day-you've had your fun, the jokes on me. Now bring on the sun!!!!!

Coolest Coop on the Block

2009-04-01T09:42:00.000-07:00

For the chicks four week birthday they got moved out to their super cool coop!!!

4' x 10' construction complete with a loft area housing 3 comfy nesting boxes and a removeable roosting ladder. Unit comes complete with an overwhelming 9 roosts total. That's an individual roost for every single hen!

Traction bumps on the ramp to the loft area make easy access for even the whimpiest chicken.

2 seperate heat lamps in the loft and downstairs make for cozy nights and warm days.

Flooring consists of chopped straw and loose dirt; ideal for scratching hens ready to do some scrounging.

Permenant deluxe chicken run in the works. 8'x 10' construction for frolicing the day away or restless afternoon when a hen just needs to stretch her tail feathers.

Can you tell I have been spending a lot of time on real estate websites?

Seriously though, this is a super cool coop and the girls are loving the new ground to investigate!!

Pictures of the chicks to come, I only have video of moving day so far.

I've said it before...now I'll say it again

2009-03-18T16:36:00.001-07:00

It truly amazes me that within only a few weeks these chicks look almost like, welll-chickens! Every day is a new batch of feathers or a scruffy area that is about to turn into feathers.

Each day, they get a little more skittish and a little more rambunctious.

If they seem bored or just done scratching at the ground 'cuz they can't find anything new, I simply sprinkly in a little shredded paper and they go CRAZY!!!!!! At first it seems to be the happiest moment of their entire life, then one chick grabs a pieces (of the hundreds) and starts running in circles. All the other chicks start chasing after her because she must have the very best piece available. It is hilarious to watch the excitement!

I do believe they will be out in their snazzy new coop in about a week! The coop is actually very cool...they are definitely going to be the coolest chickens on the block :)

New Funky Do!

2009-02-28T13:48:00.000-08:00

I do love to try new stuff with my hair...I figure, it's just hair, it will grow back so what the heck!

Well, all my life I have gone from hair stylist to hair stylist trying to find someone who will do something to my hair that makes me go, "That's it!!!! I love it!" I have had so many hair cuts that look nice, but 'nice' is not what I have been going for.

I FINALLY met my perfect hair stylist...I am keeping him FOREVER

because he created this....

A look that is soooooo completely different than anything I have ever had!

But it totally suits me. It is (at least in my opinion) the perfect hair cut!!!!

Now, my hubby, on the other hand, this hair cut is a little outside his idea of a perfect cut on me. Like most guys, he does love long flowing hair (which I had when we got married), but it's nothing that a few extra hugs and kisses and big bowls of ice cream can't fix :)

They grow up so fast!

2009-02-28T13:30:00.000-08:00

It is absolutely amazing how fast these little buggers grow!

It has only been 3 days since they were hatched and they already have wing feathers! It was soooo cool to watch too. I looked at them first thing in the morning yesterday and they each only had a feather or two...by that evening, they had their whole first row of feathers. By today, they are already working on the second row!

And what little cuties they are.

I can already tell which one is a bit of a bully. I read that to keep pecking at eachother down, you need to keep their boredom down. So I sprinkle little bits of spreaded paper at one time, put wooden perchs in at another time, toilet paper rolls later, etc.It seems to be working so far...I haven't seen the horrific cannibal pecking that I read can happen, but the sense of urgency to get the coop done as they grow so quickly is definitely on us.

So, thanks to my husbands endless skills as a carpenter, we whipped out the frame of the coop last night.

What you see is a coop that stands 8' tall and there will be a door I can walk into at this end. Then the platform you see will be their 'coop' portion with the roosts and the nesting boxes and it will be closed in. The floor/ground area will be entirely open except for the ramp leading into the coop.

They say you need 5 sq ft of space per bird, if you count just the floor area, they have that! If the coop area and all the roosts are added to that, then we totally have room for like 5 more chickens :) hubby isn't going for this calculation so I think we will stay put with our 9!!!!

But seriously, 9 chickens will give us more than enough eggs and entertainment.

I already have a waiting list for the eggs!!! Everyone loves farm fresh eggs!!!!!! :)

Little changes become big changes :)

2009-02-25T14:15:00.000-08:00

As we are work our way towards a 'green' lifestyle...
Once you learn a little about the damage that the everyday household products and foods are causing, it's tough to ignore it and going on using those products. So you learn a little, you change a little, you learn a little more and you change a little more. Along the way you are possibly stopping the cause of something as major as heart disease or as minor as peanut allergies by tossing out that bottle of Windex and using straight ole vinegar. You are making sure the polar bears have icebergs to swim to and slowing their extinction by simply turning off the light in a room you are not in. These are simple things that make a big difference.
The more simple things I learn, the more difficult things I learn too.
The difficult stuff is the meats you get in the store. I won't even begin to tell you how horrific that stuff is, you can investigate that on your own(the book The Omnivore's Dilemma is a great place to start) and no...ignorance doesn't make it any less true. But here is one very minor reason (which should suggest how bad the rest is) why we now get our meats from local farmers. (see http://www.meat.org/) The local farms are easy to find, just google farms in your area. It's pretty cool to get to meet the people behind the food you will eat and actually know where your food came from.
So...then next reasonable conclusions is, 'why not have our own farm?!'
Well, I do understand that we live on a very small piece of land and a farm really isn't an option...

But our own eggs are totally an option!!!!! Actually they are an option even on pretty dang small a pieces of land.
I will now introduce you to our source of 100% cruelty free, natural, farm fresh eggs!
I am SOOOOOOO EXCITED!
I have read every book the library has on chickens...selecting the breeds to get (I chose Ameraucana, Speckled Sussex, Rhoad Island Red, and Barred Rock if you wanna know!) the space needed, the number of eggs to expect and coop designers (thank goodness for my handy dandy contractor hubby who will help me build it!)
Aren't they sooo cute?! (sorry for the red glow...that's their heat lamp!)

Spring means GREEN!

2009-02-23T12:12:00.000-08:00

One look at the new yarns on the website you can tell I have been inspired by the approach of Spring!

How about a Bean Stalk for a little boy's sweater or even Jack's Magic Bean? Both are XXL for it's the perfect yardage for a cute little cardi!

Then there's Knute's Tail and Pickled Mustard which not only have cool names but are both in fingering weight (MIDDY) and in these fabulous shades of green that are very tough to come by.

Here we have Green Bean -the green that is practically perfect in every way!

If you are having a little spring fever too and ready to get some fresh springy yarn on the needles...this is the perfect time to pick up a few skeins :)

Happy knitting!!!!

2009-02-17T11:47:00.001-08:00

On Thursday, February 12th 2009 I did something great. I joined in for the HSUS Lobby day to be a voice for animals and it was FANTASTIC!
The current bills up for vote that we were there to get support for included, the issue near and dear to my heart, ending puppymills, ending animal abuse by not allowing a charged animal cruelty felon to posses another similar animal, upholding trapping restrictions and finally helping fund spay and nueter programs for those who cannot afford it.
The whole thing sounds far more intimidating that it actually was!!!! The way you 'lobby' is by simply finding out who your Senate and Legislative reps are and go knock on their door. Seriously, you and I can knock on their door.....not only can we, but they want us to!!!!! They want to know what you-their constituents-think. You can do this by knocking on their door, sending them an e-mail or giving them a call. Seriously, YOU can make a difference by speaking your mind. WOW!!!!
So I walked my hiney to my representatives' doors and I let them know that I would like them to support the bill to end puppy mills in Washington!
Even though I donate to so many animal charities I can't even count, I now feel like I have actually done something proactive to help the critters. I also learned that sending an e-mail regularly about the issues that concern me can make a difference.
If you have a cause near and dear to your heart, I urge you to contact your representatives! It's pretty cool to help make a difference!

Getting Crazy with the Dyes

2009-01-27T19:27:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the wonderful persistance of the Lurkers over on Ravelry that desperately wanted some Semi-Solid Duet Yarn, I have been really getting crazy with this new technique and I am having a ball!At first is was difficult for me to leave well enough alone because I am do love my varying color combinations......

But then, I started to really get into the subtle color changes of the same tones....

And then, I will add just a splash of another color for a completely different look....

And then, I just get crazy with the dyes and create some of the coolest effects on the yarn!

I am really having fun with this and you can expect to see lots more to come!!!

Check out what I just added over at A Swell Yarn Shop!

Deliciousness to go

2009-01-26T17:29:00.000-08:00

Lately I have been trying to avoid processed (prepared/boxed) food.

One of my favorite snacks is granola bars so I wanted to see if I could come up with a granola bar of my very own.

Let me tell you what...not only did I come up with my own granola bar, but this granola bar blows all other commercial granola bars out of the water. They are an easy grab and go snack and they make you feel full for a good couple hours because the ingredients are things that your body can actually process and use. AND you don't even have to bake 'em!

I can't say enough about how flippin' good these little hunks of heaven are...so I will have to give you the recipe so you can try it yourself.

This recipe can be cut in half if you want to start small...but I warn you, they will go quickly :)

In a Large Bowl put

2 Cups Peanut Butter (I use Adams)

2 Cups Honey (I use a local Honey Farm's honey)

In a different Large Bowl put

3 Cups Old Fashion Oats

2 Cups All Bran Cereal

1 Cup Wheat Germ (this adds the tons to the fabulous flavor)

1 Cup Crushed Walnuts

2 Cups Craisins

1/2 Cup Ground Flax Seed (must be ground)

Put the Honey and Peanut Butter bowl in the microwave for about 2 minutes-enough to be able to easily mix it.

Stir the dry stuff.

Pour the dry stuff into the honey and peanut butter mixture and mix really well. Mix until it starts to clump. If you don't get clumping (because different honey has different thicknesses) or you want it sweeter, add more honey.

Once thouroughly mixed, press into a cake pan (if not non-stick, oil or spray lightly).

Cut it now into squares now.

Put it into the fridge and it will firm up and it will then be ready to eat.

That's it!!!! You can make this in about 15 minutes total!!!!!!!!

Enjoy :)

Sleepy Sarah

2009-01-24T08:03:00.001-08:00

I have been knitting and crocheting like crazy these days! I still need to take some pictures of my finished stuff, but here is one photo of my Sleeping Sarah by Owlishly. If you haven't seen her crochet cuties, you are really missing out! They are adorable.

This one was a 3 evening project. I LOVE instant gratification!!!! Especially when it's this cute!

Just to make you drool a little

2009-01-22T08:49:00.000-08:00

I have been getting lots of e-mails asking when there will be new yarn!

The answer to that question is, "There will be new yarn on the website today!!!"

As you can see, these do not have the labels on them yet...so you have to wait just a little longer.

But I thought I would at least let you drool a little until I get them posted :)

Check ME out!!!

2009-01-18T13:29:00.001-08:00

December 16th is just about the HAPPIEST DAY in my yarn career (2nd only to the day that Renaissance Yarns discovered my yarns and asked to carry them in their store...making them the first store my yarns were ever carried) because Knit1 magazine featured 10 Indie Yarn Dyers AND (drum roll..........)

I WAS ONE OF THE 10

How amazing is that????????? Can you believe it? My yarn is in a National Magazine for all knitters to see!

It's on page 16 in the Winter 2008 issue!

They don't have the 'duet' color with it which is a little bit of a bummer because that is kinda what my yarn is all about. But regardless, it is there, in a magazine, on newstands right now....

Still quite a shock....

Go get your copy!!!! :)

I do want to add that the most important reason I was even considered for this magazine is because of you Duet Yarn knitters and Lucky Lurkers. Without you there would be no Duet Yarns and no Lucky Lurker Club.

I owe a big thank you to each and every one of you who have ever purchased, raved about, blogged about, talked about, or knitted with DUET YARNS!!!! You guys are the best and I am so lucky to get to make yarns for you!!!!!!!

Seach AND Help Dogs in need!

2009-01-18T12:57:00.000-08:00

This is the Coooooooolest thing I learned this month!!!

Dogpile is a search engine that donates to the ASPCA with every search you do!
How flippin' cool is that. The only thing you have to do is search your internet stuff through their search engine and BAM money helps critters in need.
Obviously, I instantly put this as my home page!!!!!!!!
I get all the search results I am looking for and I am helping critters at the same time.
I absolutely urge every person to set this as their home page....your clicks will save critters lives and feed starving animals!!!!
Do it quick, because, as a small company working toward a good cause-it is struggling to get their name out there to make a real difference AND survive. Please join me in supporting them!!!!!
Dogpile BABY-the only way to search :)

Penny Pinching!

2008-11-21T08:15:00.000-08:00

In these tight economic times, we-just like everyone else, have found our incomes drastically cut and searching for ways to cut costs.

I noticed that Oprah was having a show on the 'thriftiest family in America' so I DVRed the episode to see if I could get some great cost cutting tips.

Some of the things were as simple as unplugging things when you aren't using them. Apparently 10% of all energy costs go to things that are plugged in but not even turned on! How crazy is that?! So now I go around unplugging anything and everything I can. It's a little tedious...but the woman on there that did it went from a $260 power bill down to a $62 power bill. I like that kind of savings :)

Then there was another woman that was 'the queen of coupons'. Her story was shocking! She had a grocery bill of over $120 and after all her coupons were taking off, it was $37-WOW!!! I have never been a coupon clipper. I figured the effort to save $0.55 was not worth my time. After seeing how her savings added up I rescued the Sunday paper and all it's ads from the recycle bin and started clipping. We picked up some of our Thanksgiving fixin's and after my coupons and special prices, I saved $55.47! While our bill was no where as low as $37 I was happy with my efforts and will be anxiously awaiting this week's Sunday paper. :) Now, if I can just figure out those double coupon days and where that happens at...I will make a killing on my savings!!!!

Well, gotta go. Got some lamps to go unplug!!!!

Holiday Knitting Ideas: iPod Cozy

2008-11-05T09:41:00.000-08:00

Last month I started posting some holiday knitting ideas. This is one of my favorites - it's a super simple pattern, a quick knit, and perfect for so many people on my list. I mean, who doesn't have an iPod these days?

I got this particular pattern from http://www.grumperina.com/ but there are lots more out there.

The best part is that with a quick change in gauge, you can knit this up with Duet Yarn leftovers or even some of the new holiday colorways or semi solids!

It certainly beats the Ferarri Cozy as far as time-invested goes ;)

Going Green: How to Save $100 Without Really Trying

2008-11-03T11:23:00.000-08:00

I'm so happy that last time I blogged about going green, I had such a positive response! I thought I'd share a list of some of the tiny changes that DH and I have made around the house. At first it was just an effort to reduce our impact on the environment, but we were very happy to see that just these little changes saved us about $100 on our utility bills!!

Easy tips for going green (and saving money):

Only run full loads in the laundry and dishwasher
Run the laundry and dish cycles after 7pm when water consumption is down and costs are lower
Turn lights off when you aren't in the room, or try putting lights on a timer
Turn off the computer and other big electronics before bed (power strips are a big help here)
Keep heat at 60 degrees, especially when you're sleeping or away from home (a programmable thermostat is a big help here)

Can you believe just those little changes had such a big impact? What's been working well for you?

Brand-New Holiday Colorways Available Now

2008-10-27T16:23:00.001-07:00

Are you ready for Christmas knitting? I know I haven't made quite as much progess as I'd hoped! But don’t worry, we've still got plenty of time. Swing by A Swell Yarn Shop to load up on yarn in the brand-new holiday colorways! Here's a quick rundown of some of my favorites:

Holiday Spirit – The rich colors and warmth of the Christmas season inspired this traditional colorway.

Noble Fir – Inspired by and named for the iconic Christmas tree, this colorway reveals A Swell Yarn Shop’s Northwestern roots.

Caribbean Autumn – Who doesn’t daydream of tropical vacations this time of year? Bring a little paradise to your knitting needles, at least.

And these are just the beginning, there are lots of great new colors to choose from! How are your holiday knitting projects coming along?

Semi-Solids

2008-10-22T09:50:00.001-07:00

Thanks again to the suggestions and encouragement of the folks over at the Lucky Lurker Ravelry Group there are now semi-solids available at A Swell Yarn Shop.

Usually I do very definite different colors within a skein...I like dramatic, bold, contrasting, coordinating, subtle and pretty colors all together. As a dyer, you do what you love. Well, the folks over on Ravelry kept requesting semi-solids. I tried some here and there and the color changes were so subtle that I couldn't leave well enough alone and had to make them more dramatic. This time, however, I just went with it....

I let the be soft and gentle and flow into eachother. I took a breath and decided to wait to see how they looked once they were dry.

Wouldn'tcha know it...those guys were right. These semi-solids turned out GORGEOUS, even if I do say so myself!!!

I did them in both DK weight and Fingering weight !

I was so excited to see these all done, that I made another batch too!!! Those are drying on the racks right now! So, even though some of this batch of semi-solids are already sold out...there are more to come!!!! I am loving these so much, there is a chance they will make a more frequent appearance too!!!

Let me know what you think of them and what semi-solid colors you would like to see!!!!!

Help Californians Stop Animal Cruelty

2008-10-20T10:48:00.000-07:00

This is a cause near and dear to my heart. You wouldn't believe how some farm animals are treated - forced to live in small cages their whole lives, abused and mistreated. Not to mention, factory farms who carry out practices like these put us all at risk, fostering the spread of diseases that can affect people. Californians are trying to do something about it, and I hope other states will follow suit.

Proposition 2 aims to end three specific types of cruelty:

Veal Cages: Calves are taken from their mothers when they are just hours or days old and tethered by their necks in crates too narrow for them to turn around or even lie down comfortably. Virtually immobilized and prevented from engaging in natural behavior, they suffer immensely.

Gestation Crages: During nearly their entire four-month pregnancies, female pigs used for breeding are confined in barren gestation crates – individual, metal stalls only two-feet wide. The crates are so small that the animals cannot even turn around. Barely able to move, these highly intelligent and social animals suffer terribly and develop crippling joint disorders and lameness.

Battery Cages: Nationwide, hundreds of millions of egg‐laying hens are confined in tiny, barren, battery cages so small that the birds can’t spread their wings, nest, dust-bathe, perch, or even walk more than a few painful steps. Each caged hen has less space than a sheet of letter‐sized paper on which to live for more than a year before she is killed.

The proposition is endorsed by more than 100 animal protection charities including many California humane societies and SPCAs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, and beyond; and the State Humane Association of California. Leaders like The Humane Society of the United States, Farm Sanctuary, Best Friends Animal Society, and the California Veterinary Medical Association recommend voting YES! on Prop 2.

Similar laws have already been passed in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, and Oregon, and if this measure is passed in California, hopefully similar laws will become even more widespread.

California residents will have to get out and vote, but the rest of us can help too. Californians for Humane Farms is trying to raise $200,000 to get their advertisement about proposition 2 on television so that more voters will be educated when it comes time to vote. It sounds like a lot of money, but every little bit helps. You can watch the ad and make donations here. Or just send a link to your friends and family.

Sneak Peak: Lucky Lurker Pattern Contest Winner

2008-10-17T12:21:00.000-07:00

Just like the save your sole sneak peak, this pattern won't be available at A Swell Yarn Shop until January, but I'm so excited about these patterns that just I can't keep them to myself.

Northwest Rain, designed by Jennifer Shuster, was another winning pattern from our Lucky Lurkers pattern contest this summer. The pattern, along with a skein of Rhythm of Rain Skinny Duet Yarn was sent to members of the Lucky Lurker club in September.

Can't wait until January to start a new Lucky Lurker pattern project? Check out patterns from previous rounds of the Lucky Lurker Club that are available to buy here. And don't forget, signups for the February-March-April round begin in December (membership makes a great Christmas gift!).

Knitting by the Fire

2008-10-16T15:46:00.000-07:00

After SEVERAL requests during the summer from fellow Renton Knitters from knit night, we FINALLY had our 'knitting by the fire' night!
It was fabulous! The Lucky Lurker members of the group were among the first to arrive and the conversation quickly went to "did you get your package" and "I got my package". Even the local Lucky Lurkers don't know when their packages are going to arrive and they are just and suprised as those around the world.

Mr Ken custom made our deck when we first moved in here and add the fantastic feature of a built in fire pit. The Renton Knitters had been asking for a long time about a night to come over and knit around the fire. Last night was that night!

I think pretty much everyone came (which is right around 18 regulars) and it was a full deck. There was so much delicious food, I went back and filled my plate with different items 2 different times!!! Yummy!!!

There was knitting, talking and s'more making. Not suprisingly for here in the Northwest, we did get some sprinkles that kept us mostly under cover, but the fire definitely kept us warm...or was that the hot totties? Either way it was a great time and I am ready to do it again!

Tips for Going Green: Homemade Laundry Detergent

2008-10-15T09:53:00.000-07:00

Some of you already know about my efforts to “go green” – not only is it good for the environment, but it’s way easier and more fun than I initially expected!

This homemade laundry detergent is just another great example of that. It’s easier on the environment, drastically cheaper than commercial detergents and it leaves clothes noticeably softer! And (my favorite part) you can even customize your fragrance or choose to go completely fragrance free!

I used this recipe to make detergent for everyone on my Christmas list last year. I had some funny looks at first, but then after each person did their first load with it, I started getting calls from them for the recipe so they could make more! It’s proof that green products not only work, but sometimes do the job even better!

Materials

Large pot that holds at least 2 gallons of water
1/3 bar of Fels Naptha laundry soap
1/2 cup of sodium carbonate (aka washing soda)
1/2 - 1 cup borax
Optional: Fragrance
Container to store detergent in

Instructions:

In a stock pot that can hold 2 gallon water, add 1 inch of water and heat to medium/high heat
Add 1/3 bar of grated Fels Naptha laundry bar soap and melt completely
Add 1/2 cup washing soda/sodium carbonate (this is not the same as baking soda)
Add 1/2-1 cup borax
Melt until dissolved
Optional: Add fragrance if desired
Stir in 2 gallons water
Remove from heat and let mixture sit 24 hours
Stir and transfer to storage container

What changes have you made at home in an effort to “go green”? I’d love to hear what’s worked (and what hasn’t) for you!

Sneak Peak: Lucky Lurker Pattern Contest Winner

2008-10-13T09:34:00.000-07:00

This pattern won't be available at A Swell Yarn Shop until January, but I couldn't help but give a sneak preview.

Save Your Sole, designed by Tori Barnhart, was the winning pattern from our Lucky Lurkers pattern contest this summer. The pattern, along with a half skein each of coordinating and main color DeKay yarn, was sent in a welcome package to members of the September-October-November Lucky Lurker club members.

I've been using this stitch pattern on a project (more on that later), and boy does it grab the attention of other knitters!!

I know January is a long time to wait. In the meantime, you can whet your appetite for lucky lurker knits by checking out the patterns that are available to buy here. Bonus, they're now available in downloadable PDF format, so you can get started on a new project right away! And don't forget, membership for the Lucky Lurker Club will open again in December.

Instant Gratification: Patterns Now Available in Downloadable PDF

2008-10-10T09:46:00.000-07:00

Great news! You no longer have to wait for patterns you purchased at A Swell Yarn Shop to arrive in your mailbox - patterns are now available in a downloadable PDF format!! You can get started on your new projects right away and save a couple bucks since there are no shipping charges! The Lucky Lurkers over at Ravelry made the brilliant suggestion, and I was happy to oblige. Although, I’m no techy and can barely work my MP3 player, so I owe a big thanks to Kelly Magill who converted all the patterns to PDF.

Patterns are free, of course, to current Lucky Lurker Club members along with a skein of the same yarn used to create it. For those not in the current round of Lucky Lurkers, patterns will be available for purchase online once the round has ended. Here are just a few of the patterns now available:

Glitten (Glove / Mitten, get it? ;) )
made with Original or DeKay Duet Yarn

That’s a Wrap
made with Original or DeKay Duet Yarn

Fancy Pants
made with Skinny Duet Yarn

Be sure to check out the other patterns we have available here, and remember, enrollment for the next round of the Lucky Lurker Club starts in December (and makes a great Christmas gift)!!

Holiday Knitting Ideas: Decorative Icicles

2008-10-09T13:45:00.000-07:00

In a previous post, I promised I'd share some ideas I have for quick holiday knits. This time it's a beautiful, delicate pattern for decorative icicles. This pattern was created by Judith Prindle and I found it on her Knitting Pattern Depot blog.

Materials:

# 4 needles
bedspread weight cotton thread
1 small bead for each icicle

Directions:

Cast on 3 stitches, leaving the tail long enough to become half of the hanging loop.

Knit until desired length, turning always in the same direction. I turned away from me and
gave the icicle a tug after every row. This becomes second nature after a while.
Mine are 22 rows, about 3 & 1/3 inches, but icicles can be any size you want.

When you cut the thread, leave the end long enough to secure the bead, work the thread through the icicle, and have enough for remaining for the other half of the hanging loop.

Now, knit all 3 stitches together, cut and pull theend through the last stitch, pull tight.

Bring the thread around the bead through the last stitch.

Work the thread up the side of the icicle securing it by looping it around a stitch,
every 2-3 stitches.

Tie the beginning thread to the ending thread by looping it through itself.

I think these would look great on a Christmas tree, hanging in a window or even off the mantle. Heck, they might even look good tied in the ribbon of a wrapped gift! What do you think?

Knitting for a Good Cause: Winter Clothes for Underprivileged Babies

2008-10-08T13:51:00.000-07:00

Are you looking for a quick-to-knit, instant satisfaction project for a good cause? Crafty Me Yarns, Elgar Richardson, and the Montgomery Hospital in Norristown, PA have joined forces to create Knitting for Babies, a project to provide warm winter clothes for underprivileged babies, from newborns to about 4 years old. Want to help? All you have to do is knit or crochet a baby item, such as a little hat, sweater, or booties, and send it to:

Knitting for Babies
Crafty Me Yarns
515 Maple Street
Conshohocken, PA 19428

Remember, there are lots of great DK, fingering and even light fingering weight yarns over at A Swell Yarn Shop perfect for baby patterns. You may even have enough left over in your personal stash for a quick set of booties!

If you have any questions, e-mail Anita at Crafty Me Yarns: anita@craftymeyarns.com

Holiday Knitting Ideas: Full Scale Ferrari??

2008-10-07T11:33:00.001-07:00

It's that time of year again when I'm spending more and more time planning for and working on holiday knitting projects. More on my ideas later. But in a quick search for some simple knits, I came across this blog about a woman who knitted a full-size ferrari cozy!

No kidding - look closely, the whole thing is knitted! Apparently it's made up of 250 squares hand knit by Lauren and 20 other knitters. Not to mention she welded the metal frame it's sitting on. Sheesh!

I love cozies as much as the next gal, but I don't think I'll get that ambitious this year. What are you working on for the holidays?

Easy Halloween Craft Idea – Trash Bag Ghosts

2008-10-06T13:50:00.000-07:00

The crisp fall weather that’s finally hit Seattle doesn’t just mean that the fall holidays are right around the corner – it also a great excuse to stay inside on the weekends and work on crafts!

This weekend was a quickie for Halloween: Trash bag ghosts! Here are some simple tips for getting your ghostly crew up and running.

Materials Needed:

Kitchen sized trash bag (I was able to make 10 ghosts with just one)
Scissors
Needle and thread
Black sharpie marker
Something to stuff heads with (In an effort to recycle, I used balled up paper from an old catalog, but cotton balls or even paper towels would also work)
OPTIONAL: Lollipops
OPTIONAL: Rubber bands

Steps:

Cut white trash bag into squares (mine were about 12” sq)

Ball up old paper or cotton balls and place on center of square

Pinch the trash bag around the head to form a neck and secure with rubber band or thread (I used thread, which was a little tricky to tie by myself - rubber bands may be easier)

Use a permanent marker to draw the ghost’s ghoulish face

Thread a needle

Pull needle and thread through the top of the poor little ghost’s head

Tie a small knot to secure the thread and cut the thread to your desired hanging length

Rinse and repeat :)

I made 10 of these little guys and then hung them outside the house. For about $1.25 worth of supplies, they make quite an impact!

And as another option, you can replace the paper/cotton ball head with a lollipops and skip steps 5-8. These might make cute additions for the kid's lunches or gather them up in a spooky vase for a ghoulish boquet!

Angi's Shelter and Rescue Center

2008-09-03T07:08:00.000-07:00

Ask I was packaging orders to send out yesterday, there was a knock on the door. Flustered because I knew it was the postman here to pick up the packages that I scheduled for pick up (that I hadn't yet finished packaging) I rushed to the door to say, they will be ready in just a minute.

I was a bit taken off guard when I opened my door and it was a neighbor with this kitten in her arm. This kitten needed a new home and 'Angi's Shelter and Rescue Center' :) was in charge.

This little girl can't be more than 6 weeks old and she was found about 2 weeks ago...way too young to be away from momma. She's gonna need a bit of TLC and nurishment, but she definitely has spunk to spare!!!

Most shocking of all, Mr Ken seems to be leaning toward keeping her-WOW!!! After our luck with our kitties, I have to admit I am apprehensive about doing that...but I guess we will just see how the other kitties take to her. Time will tell.

In the meantime...introducing Ms Botita (means booties in spanish)

becauseshe has white booties on all four paws :)

Just had to share

2008-08-26T08:32:00.000-07:00

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!!!!

Check out this loaf!

2008-08-18T14:44:00.000-07:00

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!!!! :)

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle-Sorbet!

2008-08-13T17:32:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-13T06:31:00.000-07:00

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!!!

Just one click will help

2008-08-12T08:52:00.000-07:00

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?!)

Can you say CUTE?!

2008-08-11T14:08:00.001-07:00

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

2008-08-11T13:59:00.000-07:00

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!!!

Speaking in Public

2008-07-25T07:38:00.000-07:00

So, behind the safetly of a computer monitor, I am pretty outgoing. With people I know, I am pretty outgoing. Put me around people I don't know and I turn 8 shades of red when I speak.

So I have decided to live on the edge and accept Amy's (a Lucky Lurker, e-mailing pal, fellow knitter) invitation to speak at their Knitting Guild in Bellevue WA on Monday night!

I am going to be speaking about my wonderful world of Duet Yarns!

Actually, Amy said that it's a smaller group during the summer so this will be more of a question and answer type thing than actually 'speaking' (can you hear my sign of relief all the way on the east coast?). Q & A is definitely more my speed...feels more like friends talking yarn than anything!

I am actually pretty excited!!! Nervous, but excited! And I am bringing yarn! An evening talking yarn sounds fabulous to me!!! Wish you all could come!!! For those of you who are going to be there...I can't wait to meet you!!! :)

Sign Ups started TODAY!!!

2008-07-21T15:59:00.000-07:00

Today is the day!!! Open sign ups began for all hopeful Lucky Lurkers!

If you haven't been a part of the Lucky Lurker Club before, here's the low down. Over the course of 3 months (Sept. Oct. Nov) I send out a skein of Duet Yarns in an exclusive colorway never available to anyone else. Each month is a different weight yarn and each one comes with a pattern specially designed with that yarn.

In addition, a welcome package is sent out in August that is sure to get everyone excited about the upcoming months. With every pattern and skein, $1 of each person's membership goes to an animal shelter to help homeless critters. The appreciation from these shelters has been fantastic and it's all in the name of Lucky Lurker Members!
Space is limited because I can only dye a certain amount at one time, so once the club is full-that's it. Every round so far has been sold out. There's only a few spaces left right now and I only posted the openings this morning!!!!

Hopefully everyone that is wanting a spot is able to get it!!!

Happy lurking!!

And the winner is.....

2008-07-17T08:11:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone who submitted a pattern in the first ever "Win a Spot in the Lucky Lurker Club Design Contest"!!!!!! They were all absolutely fabulous and deciding was very difficult!!!!

The winners of the contest were Tori, Kelly, Elaine, and Jennifer!!!!

But wait, that's 4 winners and I said I was only offering 3 spots...

Well, one of these wonderful designers did something I had never considered-She created a brand new Basic Duet Sock design!!!

That means, the upcoming round of Lucky Lurker Club with have 4 brand new designs instead of 3 !!!

Congratulations everyone!!!! I can't wait to share your designs!!!

Bonding Bunnies

2008-07-08T09:16:00.000-07:00

After the last few months of bunny after bunny getting spayed, the day had finally come where they were all healed and ready to be put into their new colony.

The decision to put all my bunnies together happend because I know the benefits of the bond bunnies can share through cuddling and grooming eachother. Originally, it was strongly reccommended to not to put them all together because of the loss of fur production. After 2 years, and more than enough angora fur than I can spin in a lifetime, their happiness is far more important than the fur I can get.

And so the process began...we went from indoors/seperate cages, to enclosed outdoor(Bundo)/seperate cages to this! That was a chore itself. We had to dig out all the dirt from before, and go down about 6", lay a layer of wire on the ground so they can't dig through and then bring in a new layer of gravel and spread that.

Then I added, 7 hiding spaces for 5 bunnies, one tube to run through, a litterbox cage, and a lovely seagrass mat to add to the ambiance :) Then I added the bunnies. That wasnt' pretty AT ALL! It was all out war! After a few hours of watching them constantly and seperating them with a broom, I opted for a ride in the truck to help with the bonding process.

In the truck each one went.

Back and forth in the drive way, over and over

Until all the bunnies are doing this.

Pretty much what the car ride does is put all their differences aside and has them join together out of fear. I have bonded 2 bunnies before, but 5 at once definitely required more aggressive measures.

So back to the new Bundo the very scared bunnies went. There continued to be some bonding and pairing, then once the fear of that truck ride passed it was all out war again.

I ended up sleeping in the Bundo part of the night with them to make sure the attacks didn't go to far. It was a restless night and by morning, they seem to be ready to get some rest themselves. I slipped away to get cleaned up for the day and that's when the two want-to-be queen's went at it. I caught only the end of it and it had been a doozy. Penelope has definitely been kicked down the totem pole. I almost went to the vet with her (which can do more harm than good, because seperating them can make them an outcast and their beating post) Thankfully, she seemd to perk back up minutes before we were to leave!

The rest of the day had relatively minor scuffles and my anxiety level, though still quite high, has come down a bit. By night time I was confident that I didn't need to sleep in the Bundo with them because the fights were getting less agressive. Today is that much better. We are now 36 hours into the bonding process and I am very pleased. This is definitely not something I ever want to do again, because it is heartaching to see your little furbabies attacked, but I remind myself that they are animals and this is their process-I can break up the fights for their safety, but they need to work through their process.

The end result will be so worth it! The companionship, the snuggles, the constant exercise and the freedom. They will be very happy bunnies!

This round of Lucky Lurker

2008-07-04T08:39:00.000-07:00

By now, everyone has recieved their June installment of the Lucky Lurker Club! I am kinda excited about this one because it's the first of it's kind that I have ever designed and I love that it's something you can make with sock weight yarn that isn't socks!

I am sure, like many of you out there, I have an over abundance of sock weight yarns. I do love knitting socks, I have 2 pair on the needles right now, but to keep things interesting I like to add different projects into the mix so I don't get burnt out on the socks. This one was a BLAST! So quick and easy to knit...now I find myself thinking, "Oh that yarn would make a pretty pair of undies!!"

I hope everyone loved the fresh idea for sock weight yarn too!

Since I forgot to share May's installment of the Lucky Lurker Club, here is the pattern that was included in May. It's Mermaiden Tale. I created a stitch repetition that would sorta duplicate scales then the waviness for a mermaid tale. It was pretty fun to have a theme for the stitches that I used. Knowing I wanted an aquatic feel to it put a new spin on designing it!

The response was overwhelming for this colorway too! Lots of Blue Lovers out there!!!!

I hope all you Lucky Lurkers are having as much fun as I am this round!!!

Stay tuned for July's installment!!!

2008-06-26T08:49:00.000-07:00

Well, we got back from a little mini vacation in Vegas last week. Mr Ken and his Dad played in the World Series of Poker and they had a blast. Neither made it to the money-but it was an amazing experience for both.
While they played, my friend and I cruised Vegas and I was introduced to the wonderful world of Vegas shopping. I am absolutely a NON-Shopper. I learned to make my own clothes when I was 10 years old and from that day forward I have been cursed with that knowledge. I will look at a shirt and think, "that's $10 worth of material, I won't pay $50 for that" or, "this is the shottiest seaming I have ever seen, I won't pay $50 for that!" So I pretty much never go shopping because it's so frustrating. Vegas shopping, I discovered, is like yarn shopping when you are on vacation...it's more like a souvenir, so regular shopping rules do not apply and you are temporarily allowed to buy things you won't normally buy. It was GREAT and I scored BIG TIME with 3 gorgeous, vintage style jackets!
Anyways, Vegas was fun as always, then there was the coming home part where the plane almosted crashed! Apparently our plane came in a bit close the previously landed plane and got caught in it's jet stream...that slammed us down on to the runway, jerked the plane to the left and shimmied us around before we bounced back up. Then we slammed back down a second time and at this point it was shear silence inside the plane. Again, we were jerked around and suddenly we were taking off again and back up in the air moments later. I pretty much didn't want to land at all at that point. I was perfectly content to just hang out in the air indefinitely. But we landed safely after that. Gotta say, it was pretty scary!
Now it's back to the real world...no waitresses coming by offering drinks every 30 minutes, no ding ding ding of the slot machines, no flashing lights drawing you in. It's good to be home, but I sure do love Vegas!

Independence Day

2008-06-24T10:41:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but I can't believe that the 4th of July is right around the corner.

This year has flown by...soon it will be time to start thinking of Christmas creations.

Pretend I didn't say that...I don't want to scare anyone-we still have 6 months to have everything done :) LOL!

Anyways, I do have this new Independence colorway right in time for the upcoming holiday and year round patriotic enthusiasm :) There are also lots of new Skinny colorways as well as DK Yumminess. Come on by and check it out!!!

Win a FREE spot into the Lucky Lurker Club!!!!!!

2008-06-13T11:08:00.000-07:00

Calling all designers!!! Here is your chance to win a spot in the next round of the Lucky Lurker Club. I am looking for a design with pattern in each the Skinny, Middy and DK Duet Sock Yarn.

How to win your free spot: Submit your Skinny, Middy or DK design via pictures and a portion of the pattern to sales@aswellyarnshop.com by July 15th. Designs can be anything...just so long as it uses a major portion of the skein. There will be one design selected in each the Skinny, Middy and DK for use in the next round of Lucky Lurker Club. The design selected in each weight receives a free spot in the next round of Lucky Lurker-a $105 value!

The details...once selected, a final draft of the pattern is due July 31st. The pattern becomes property of A Swell Yarn Shop. The three winners will be announced July 18th. Oh yeah, and you have to be able to keep a secret and not show anyone your winning design! :) The designs not selected will not be used in any way-they are your designs and I complete respect that.

I can't wait to see what you come up with! Happy knitting! ~Angela

Knitters Unite for Butter

2008-05-29T10:06:00.001-07:00

I know I am part of one of the most unique knitting groups around

Renton Knitters (a yahoo group) are known for their high energy, friendly & welcoming attitude, occassional risque conversations! Now we can add Butter Churners to the list of qualities!!!Joanne, always ready with a new idea or thing to try out, sent me a link on how to make butter...I was very intrigued indeed! When she suggested she show me how to do it during our weekly knitting group I was enthusiastically on board!

And so the two jars went around the circle so everyone could help make the butter. Low and behold, it turned in to real live butter! With a quick trip to the nearby gas station for some crackers we all got to sample our efforts!

Yummy!!!!

Now the mind is turning...how about garlic butter, or honey butter, or cinnamon sugar butter, or chive butter, or........ the possiblities are endless!!!!

Now for something completely different....

2008-05-26T18:48:00.001-07:00

It's Memorial Day weekend-first and foremost, I am so thankful to all the men and women who fight or give their lives for our freedom!

This three day weekend, I had the whole house to myself and I had all kinds of projects I wanted to do with my solo time! Here you see some batts that I spun, plied and set! The orangy one is from Joanne...who is considering making batts to sell on etsy. I think she should go for it!

Then I finished up an order for a shop and got that all packed up and ready to go

Then Liberty came by so I could show her how to make lye based soap. I prefaced this crafty event with the fact that I was no expert...I had only done it a few times and knew sorta what I was doing! I forgot to take pictures, but it was a goat's milk recipe and it seemed to go pretty well. You never know sometimes until it has cured for the 4 weeks whether or not the batch turned out. Fingers crossed!!

Then I decided to do SOMETHING with the lemon balm that is taking over a section of my yard. I cut a huge bundle of stems off and dried out the leaves. Then made an ointement for cuts and scratches. Yep, I made and ointement...how cool is that?! I have no idea how well it will work.

Then, in my quest to stock the shelves with lowfat, easy to grab snacks, I made a loaf of polenta bread. This isn't really something you would eat as it is...it's more like a pizza dough that you would pile stuff on top of.

When that took only about 3 minutes to whip up, I decided to try to make tortillas!

I do realize that these barely resemble a circular shape....but aside from their deformity, they are dang good!!!! Kinda a cross between a corn and a flour tortilla. That took 2 minutes per tortilla, so it was a snap to whip up!

I made a mexi vegi jumble to pile on top of them for dinner and I had me a fancy quesadilla!!! Yum Yum!! :)

Oh yes, and I worked on Junes Lucky Lurker Pattern...but obviously I can't show that here!!!

I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday weekend!!!

Your spare wishes

2008-05-23T07:21:00.001-07:00

Just one last quick update, because I don't mean to bore you with all the details...

By 7pm last night, and after talking to more neighbors, I had come to the realization that they just weren't willing to send a statement in about those dogs-they just didn't want to cause a bigger problem.

Then, at 7:30pm we got a call! It was one of the neighbors and she wanted the e-mail address to send in her statement!!!!

To everyone who sent a wish this way yesterday...IT WORKED!!!!

Thank you soooooo much!!!!

Another little heart broken

2008-05-22T07:43:00.000-07:00

As you might imagine, yesterday was a very difficult day.

I contacted animal control to file a report. They needed the report to be as detailed as possible. The images of the vicious attack flash through my mind over and over as it is. Recounting the event in frame by frame detail (I witnessed the entire thing) proved to be a challenge in composure-I didn't win that challenge.

Then I noticed there was another heart breaking. Poor Macquiri spent the entire day waiting for Holly to come home. He seemed bewildered when they weren't doing their usual acrobatic rountine in the yard first thing in the morning. The flips and running bolts across the yard with eachother. Then, for the remainder of the day he simply waited on the deck for her to come home...watching every inch of the back yard, just waiting. Ugh! If only there were a way to explain to a kitty what is going on. They've been together since they were weeks old...they've never been apart.

Ken and I talked to every neighbor that borders these dogs house. Every one of them is aware that there is a problem and has been aware for years! Every one presumes the fence will keep them safe. The neighbors most closely bordering have had issues, we urged them to send in additional information to animal control. I got the impression they don't want to make any waves. I am soooo wishing that they do the right thing...not just for us and our kitty, but for the continued danger these dogs present. I understand not wanting make waves becasue you still have to live next to your neighbor, but sometimes the risk is too much to ignore.

If you have any extra wishes to spare today, please send one to our neighbors that they will send in additional information against these dogs!!

It's not right!

2008-05-21T07:44:00.000-07:00

Last night we lost our kitty, Hallebanos!

She was viciously attacked by our neighbors dogs.

Holly was so sweet and had never learned to be afraid of dogs. This kitty, with personality to spare, would actually flirt with dogs by rubbing against them and rolling on her back in front of them. We assume that she attempted to do just this last night, but she chose two very vicious dogs and at her tiny size, she didn't stand a chance.

It was a horrible sight and today I will be spending the day determined to file complaints against the dogs, who also neighbor a daycare, and take it as far as I can. Looking back, I wish I had filed a complaint earlier because we knew they were vicious dogs from the day we moved in...but we simply thought the fence between us and them would keep us out of harms way. We were very wrong in that assumption.

What's worse is this is the third year in a row that we had lost one of our much loved pets at this time of year. After last year we feared it might be a pattern, but thought we were in the clear this year since all our animals are young and healthy. Again we were very wrong on that assumption.

If anyone has any suggestions on who to contact with regard to reporting a vicious animal, any information would be very appreciated!!!!!

Cotton!!!

2008-05-08T07:55:00.000-07:00

After the seedling overload of 2006 I had cut myself off from ever doing seedlings again. They had to be established plants for me purchase them.

Well, a friend of mine who always has a different way of looking at things, decided she was going to grow cotton! I was happy to root her on from afar because I am not allowed to buy seeds. So she handed me two packets of cotton seeds and said that they don't count since I didn't buy them :)

Well, I planted the seeds on Saturday and they are already this big!!! I am amazed!!! They are growing soooooooooo fast. I am thinking at this pace they will be ready for the yard in the next couple weeks!!!

Look how cute they look at newly sprouted plants. AAAaaahhhh so cute!

Can I get an OOooh Aaaahhh?!

2008-05-07T09:24:00.000-07:00

The shops have been requesting it...I thought about it...and decided to go for it.

Some of the wonderful shops that carry Swell Yarn Duet Collection will now be able to carry roving for their customer's spinning delight!

You wanna know a secret?! I love all of these colors so much I kinda want to keep them all for myself :) There is nothing like bright fun colors to get me in the mood to do a project!!

In knitting news, I have been plugging away on the Lucky Lurker Pattern for May (which you don't get to see) but when I am knitting in public and run the risk of bumping into a Lucky Lurker I have been working on this! I am soooooo loving this sweater! I have only worked on it for 3 very short intervals and I am nearly finished with the back already! How great is that?! I can already tell this will be a new favorite sweater! :)

With the free time that Mr Ken and I can grab up, we have run off to our new property to working on making it a fun camping place for our family and friends. We have been busting our hineys so much that coming home and working is actually more relaxing!!! The latest task was cutting down and cleaning up a dead tree. Sounds simple enough, but the friggin' rounds are heavy! I was ready for bed at 8pm that day!!! The next luxury item is the outhouse...because we don't want our friends and family to have to rough it completely! :)

Guppy is giving his approval on the progress so far! :)

I've been tagged

2008-05-03T13:18:00.000-07:00

6 weird things about me
I was tagged by the most creatively energetic person I have ever met: Diana.
The rules are:
*Link to the person that tagged you.
*Post the rules on your blog.
*Share six weird things/habits/quirks about yourself.
*Tag six others. And let them know they’ve been tagged!
Here are 6 weird {things/habits/quirks} about me…
~I love Raisin Bran but I pick out all the raisins before I eat it. (bran flakes are not the same)
~Repeative noises drive me NUTS!!!!...as kids, my brother tormented me endlessly with this.
~I don't call anyone 'just because'...I feel like I should have a good reason to take up their time.
~I NEVER sit on a public toilet, paper covers or not!
~I twirl and fiddle with my hair constantly.
~My hubby pointed out that I like my cup of coffee hot, but rarely do I drink it until it gets cold.

Now I tag
Macoco
Alyssa
Rhonda
Liberty
Angela
Nancy

Cute little cardi

2008-04-24T07:58:00.001-07:00

I finally got this cute little cardi on the needles! I saw the pattern and finished sweater at Renaissance Yarns and absolutely went goo-goo for it. So much so they were kind enough to take it off the manequin so I could try it on to see what size to make. This is going to one of those sweaters that I wear ALL THE TIME :)
Now, time for more natural yummy goodness.

This trail mix sort of concoction was a snap to make. It is so good AND everything is 100% natural. A great thing when we are making the switch away from commercially processed foods and all the chemicals that go into them. The flavor almost reminds me of Trix cereal as I nibble away.

So here's the recipe

Puffed Corn (found in organic isle at grocery store)

Popcorn (air popped of course)

Raisins

Dried Apricots-cut into pieces with kitchen scissors

Almonds-broken up with a hammer while in a ziplock (great for getting out aggression)

**Mix all this together in a big ole bowl**

1 Cup of Honey (this is a ball park...use enough to coat everything)

2-3 TBSP Butter (organic of course)

**On the stove, heat until runny**

Pour over mixture in the bowl,

Sprinkle Orange Zest generously (I have TONS of this from all the oranges I dehydrated)

Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes, stirring a couple times. I pulled it out when the popcorn started to turn golden.

VOILA!!! A yummy, healthy snack

It you try it, let me know what you think!!! :)

Our home away from home

2008-04-23T07:16:00.001-07:00

On Thursday night we finally got the call we had been waiting 2 months for...our property was ready to sign for! WooooHooo! The camper was loaded within a few hours and we had both figured out a way to cram a whole Friday into a 'get out of town early' Friday.

Off we went...

On the way, I tried to work on the May Lurker Lurker pattern and could not, for the life of me, figure out the stitch pattern I needed to use to create the look I am going for (obviously can't share pictures) so I opted for a washcloth to continue in my 'Green' home conversion.

Did you know how horribly bad sponges are for the enviroment...not only to use, but once they get thrown out and end up in the land fill?! Holey Mackeroley...it really is a snowball, once you learn a little about the Organic or Green movement, there really is no turning back and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Next up is the cotton I dyed up last summer...I think it will make a cute selection of washclothes!!!!

Anyways, this property comes with private beach rights to a beach that has

oysters and clams as far as the eye can see!

It is absolutely incredible and we are so excited!!! We got the most amazing deal ever because the piece of property is mostly swamp, but it has just enough room for plenty of friends and family to join us for all the many camping trips to come. So if ever you are trying to find me on a weekend, this is pretty much where I will be from here on out :)

Right here at our

'Campsite Sweet Campsite'

I invented an hors d'œuvre!

2008-04-16T16:56:00.000-07:00

First I started by making my own chips (this picture doesn't show them off well). This idea started with loving salsa, but hating the loads of fat in the tortilla chips. So I take flour tortilla shells and cut them into wedges, dip them in lime juice and sprinkle generously with all kinds of mexican spices. Yummy! Bake at 350 until crispy! Voila, a perfect salsa dipping chip with a fraction of the fat.

Then I make a mismash of yummy mexican fixin's. Black beans, onions, rice, tomatoes, cilantro, ref. beans and whatever else I could find in the cupboard. I would have added jalepenos, but I didn't know if our guests would be hip on that :)

Then on the same pan that I cooked the chips on (which is still loaded with all those great seasonings) I slice a block of polenta into 1/8" pieces and cooked until slightly (slightly, slightly) golden on both sides. Then I loaded them each up with a bit of the mismash.

I cooked that for about 15 minutes...basically until they were warm throughout.

Then topped those with a bit of Pepper Jack Cheese to hold it all together. Popped them back in the oven to melt the cheese......THEN

I poked those chips right in top and served!

They go GREAT with Margaritas too!!!!

Here's to our first sunny day in NW Washington!!!! Yummy!

Plowing the field

2008-04-11T10:25:00.001-07:00

Farmer Ken went out to plow the fields. It's already April and normally everything would be planted by now, but we are having the weirdest weather (snow showers!!!) and it's making it very risky to plant anything for fear of freezing!

A few doors down from us is a sweet family and a couple of their kids came by looking for odd jobs to earn money. So for the last year the little girl weeds each week. After Mr Ken got the "field" plowed she and I went out to pluck the last of the weeds. UGH-with all the rain it is a goopy mess! This may sound strange...but after everything is all weeded and plowed, it is the prettiest dirt ever!So now our fingers are crossed for the sun to stick around for a little while, or at least that the snow has stopped passing through, because we hope to have some of our garden planted this weekend.
Tomatoes, jalepenos, potatoes, onion, squash, lettuce, sugar peas, carrots, zucchini, pumpkins, garlic....I love fresh produce!!!!
This year I am going to try a little canning! It would be nice to have our own vegetables year round!!!!

Oh how I love a finished project posting in the morning!

2008-04-10T09:24:00.001-07:00

I kitchenered the heel closed on the second sock last night and now have a finished pair of socks just for me!

These socks are made out of the Middy and, as those of you who have knit with the Middy already know, they are sooooo squishy soft!

The pattern is an 'ostrich plume' all the way up the sock...it was a simple stitch but it looks sooo cool going up the entire length of the socks.

I wanted a pair of socks that came over the point where my calf curves in (just below the knee)...I got a little impatient and figured I was already there (but still had yarn left) and cast off. Shame on me, because these lovely socks come just to the widest point on my calf! Just a few more rows and I would have had the exactly lenght I was going for!!!! Shame on ME!!!! But I love them anyways!!! :)

So there's one project finished and even better I have a SECOND finished project to post this morning!!! Yep, I finished two projects last night! :)

I finished the crochet wrap! And I LOVE IT!!! OMG...look at all these colors! (Did you know I am a color loving girl?!) So bright and happy!!!

A few of my fellow knitters from my Stitch N Bitch group now what to learn crochet because these cute rows of flowers are soooooo pretty!

This wrap is going to be perfect for grabbing something to keep warm, being snuggled up in the house, or when I need to run to the mailbox and we continue to have bizarre snow flurries in April!

The yarn for this wrap was of course Duet Sock Yarn, in the DK weight. Each skein did three complete rows, which would make it great to use up scrap after a finished pair of socks and just do one row of each color!

Oh how I do love finished project postings in the morning!!!!

Do you know what this means??????

2008-04-09T16:07:00.000-07:00

I am not saying when or if these have gone out...

But Lucky Lurkers.....Start Lurking!

March Lucky Lurker

2008-04-08T13:45:00.000-07:00

I can safely guess that all the Lucky Lurker's recieved their final installment of Lucky Lurker Yarn of the Month Club.

I was really excited about this pattern because it was an oppurtunity to show that Duet Sock Yarns aren't just for socks! Duet Yarns are great for any pattern that has a coordinating color as an accent...what's even better is when a pattern does call for a coordinating accept, Duet Yarns have the accent color that you can be certain is a perfect pair!

This scarf was inspired by a number of vintage magazines and patterns I had been flipping through lately. The scalloped edge and brooch like flower helped create the perfect look.

I hope this inspired a few lucky lurkers to try out some non-sock patterns with their duet yarns...maybe a baby item, a pair of gloves, a doggy sweater, whatever has caught your eye!!!

I offer apologies in advance if this adds to the Duet addiction!!! :)

Happy knitting!

Oprah exposed Puppymills!!!

2008-04-08T08:46:00.000-07:00

Last week, one of the greatest things happend on the Oprah show...

She exposed Puppymills and where puppies in a petstore come from!

As you know, I passionately want to help stop puppymills...but it is a huge battle and without everyone first knowing where puppies in a petstore come from, it's a battle that is tough to fight.

Last week on the Oprah show, millions of viewers finally learned where those cute little puppies in a petstore come from and it wasn't pretty!!!!

I am sooooooo thankful that so many more people now know about puppymills.

It was a difficult show to watch because I have researched all the details of what happens to the poor breeder dogs. I had to walk away from the television to stop the tears as they showed the horrible abuse that goes on.

Female dogs with tumors from feeding their hundreds of puppies, filthy conditions, chains that had grown into the necks of dogs, dogs that couldn't bark because a pole was shoved down their throat, dogs that didn't know how to walk because they had never touch a piece of ground in their life.

I hope this is the first in huge steps to stop puppymills and the sale of puppies in petstores.

If you had the oppurtunity to catch the show, I hope you now understand why you get the puppymill brochure in your package when you order from me.

The only thing that needs to happen to stop puppymills is never to buy a puppy from a petstore...no matter what!!!!

A BIG ROUND OF APPLAUSE TO OPRAH FOR HELPING IN THIS FIGHT!!!

Mom and Mom-in-Law- No need to get excited

2008-03-26T13:10:00.001-07:00

I feel the need to title this entry "No need to get excited" because the last time I posted a finished project in which I was learning how to do a top down sweater (done in a baby size so I could learn the technique with out trying an entire adult sweater) I got the most bizarre phone call from my mother, asking me repeatedly if I had anything new to tell her about. I know moms can be kooky sometimes, but I am fairly certain the top down baby sweater had something to do with it.

That said, MOM AND MOM-IN-LAW...THERE IS NO BABY ON THE WAY! I am considering adding on this chunky/heavy worsted weight yarn to my line of Duet Yarns and this was just to test the yarn on a small and quick project. Believe it or not, this entire little outfit took just over 200 yards! WOW. I was told by a couple mommies in my knitting group that this is a newborn size, but still a sweater and bottom for a smidge over 200 yards is pretty dang good.

I really love the yarn so it's safe to say you will be seeing it very soon on the website.

Oh yeah and this sweater is the 5 hour quickie sweater which is SUPER quick as long as you read the directions (the stitch count is there for a reason!)

and the bottoms are Curly Purly and has ribbing instead of short rows which is something that soakers have...but I don't know much more than that, I am just telling you what the mommy in my knitting group said :)

So there ya go. A cute little outfit which means pretty yarn to come on the website :)

What Lucky Lurkers get....

2008-03-14T11:25:00.000-07:00

If you aren't already a Lucky Lurker Yarn of the Month Club I wanted to share a little sampling of what you have been missing...(I am so bad, aren't I?!)

For three months, Lucky Lurker Members get a skein of Duet Yarns in an exclusive colorway that is never available on the website.

With that exclusive yarn, they get an orginal design pattern created with that colorway.
The spaces are limited...

Thing is, I only have two hands and can only dye so much yarn at a time

so I have to limit the number of Lucky Lurkers members

Lucky Lurkers are always offered their spots in the next round first...

Then I have an open registration for newcomers hoping to become

Lucky Lurker Members

That open registration begins 9am March 24th.

You should know that judging by the number of current Lucky Lurkers e-mailing and asking if they will be able to hold their spot, the number of spaces for newcomers may be in short supply.

The next round of Lucky Lurkers will have patterns for anything from Socks to Stuffed Critters to anything in between...because sock yarn isn't just for socks any more!!!

PS. Yes, the patterns will be available after the close of the following Lucky Lurker round (ie patterns from round 1 will be available on the website during round 3, etc)

Good luck to everyone who hopes to join the upcoming round of Lucky Lurker Club and happy knitting!!!

Let's talk UFOs

2008-03-13T10:38:00.000-07:00

Every so often, that little voice pops into your head as reminds you, 'you really need to finish that project some day'. For me...this afgahn is that project. It keeps going and going and going....I do work on it too. A granny square here, a granny square there. If I am not mistaken, this afgahn is 6 years in the making!!!!

So what's the hold up? Well, for those of you who don't know the story behind it....Years ago (6 years ago) I saw the pattern for this afgahn and loved it. I didn't know how to crochet, so I taught myself with this project. Yes, I did an afgahn and MY FIRST PROJECT. I really don't know what I was thinking. Well...I continued along and bought more and more balls of yarn along the way. The one company stopped making one of the yarns, then a store I purchased several of the yarns at closed and the yarn was no where else to be found. Plain and simple, I was screwed. Then while I figured out what to do with a half finished afgahn that I can't find the yarn for, I tried another smaller crochet project. That's when I learned that I had done EVERY SINGLE STITCH WRONG on that afgahn.

**Sigh**

So, I hopped back on that horse, decided to take apart all the squares and fill it in with solid pink granny squares to get to the right size. I am still making solid pink squares to this day. AND I have to remember to do every stitch wrong, just like I did when I started making the afgahn so that everything matches!

This will definitely be a blanket that will be considered a keepsake!!!

Then we go to these socks (do you see a color similarity here? At least I am consistent)

I love these socks, I don't really know what happend. I just kinda lost steam. They are always in my knitting bag and they go everywhere with me, but I always seem to reach for a different project when reach in the bag. So close to done too!!!

Then there's my wrap. This big ole honker is one row from being done!!! I just have to wind the skein in to a ball and I am on my way. It is a little embarrassing that the winding of the ball is my main reason for procrastination!!! I am totally loving this thing though! It is going to be perfect to wrap around my shoulders to take the chill off!

And then there is this!!! I have wanted to knit this cardigan since the day I got the magazine-that was January 2005!!! I have the yarn in balls and ready to go! I think this is the coolest vintage modern looking cardigan EVER!!

I have no idea why this thing hasn't been started. Ever time I finish a project, I just don't seem to cast on for this cardigan. I think 2008 is the year though!!! It's been on my mind alot lately and I have been looking at the picture often. I think it's gonna happen!!!

Now, one thing I do tell myself when I start to feel guilt over my unfinished projects is that, every month I finish a project completely, not only finish it but create and design it for the Lucky Lurker yarn of the month. And on top of that I am doing my regular knitting that I can share with you here. That's when I tell myself I only have one set of hands and I still love all my UFOs so I am certain every last one of them will get done! The afgahn, I am confident, will be the last one finished!!! :) LOL :)

Since I can't share knitting progress

2008-03-06T11:28:00.000-08:00

Since I can't share my knitting progress (you can always know it's lucky lurker time when I don't show any knitting for a while) I will share what else I have been up to. I whipped out these adorable skirts in an afternoon each!!! Once I got my measurements down and the basic pattern created, the skirts are a breeze to put together and I LOVE THEM!!!! It is taking every bit of will power I've got not to run the fabric store and get fabric for more!!!!! Do you think it would be weird to wear the same skirt everyday but in a different color?! I am really torn on this question, because I want to make so many more of these!
Then, with the arrival of a little sunshine and the idea that spring is on it's way...Mr Ken and I rushed off to McClendon's Garden section and stocked up on bulbs for both the front yard and the garden. I am totally excited about planting the rhubarb!!! I can almost smell the strawberry rhubarb pie right now.

My splurge purchase was this apple tree- Check this out!!! It has 5 different apples types that will grow on it! Each main branch is a different type of apple. How cool is that?! I am sure this is a well known thing to all of you who know stuff about gardening, but to me this is a brilliant creation! WOW! I can't wait to see all these different apples all over it!

In the midst of all these little projects...Mr Ken needed to spend his Christmas gift certificate and the brand new Cabela's sporting good store which is about an hour and a half away. I don't know how many of these stores are around the US, but it was a sight to see!!!! This photo is their display right in the middle of the entire store!!! Absolutely amazing!!!! I knew we were in for a long day...but after 3 hours in the store (and the 1 1/2 hour to get there and the 1 1/2 hour trip home ahead) I finally had to drag Mr Ken out of there....and believe me, he was like a kid in a candy store-he would have happily stayed for hours more!

I have to admit the place is pretty cool...but I think I am going to encourage him to go with some of his guy friends for his next trip. I am just not as into as fishing lures as you might think!!! :)

How are the worms?!!!!!

2008-03-06T10:59:00.000-08:00

I know this is a burning question in everyone's mind...HOW ARE ANGI'S WORMS?! It's been a month with no update...was there a worm emergency? did the worms eat through the compost bin and cause chaos throughout the county? how are those worms????

Well, breath easy! The worms are just fine!!! :) LOL!

I put those little buggers in the bin and didn't see any progress! Being the slightly high strung person that I am (no need for affirmations from those that know me well), I was somewhat disappointed with their lack of speediness. Then my worm book arrived and it turns out the poor little guys do not like temperatures below 55 degrees and they were either snuggling together for heat or had already kicked the bucket since temperatures were only reaching highs of 45 at the time.

Now that the temperatures have been rising, those little worms are busting their little hineys (I don't think they actually have hineys...oh well) and making compost like you wouldn't believe!!! I am so excited for my little worms!!! :)

In the meantime, as you can see from my recent book additions, I am continuing to learn way too much about how horrible everything around us is!!!! Once you know a little, it's like a snowball that keeps growing and growing. Now, I am trying to make everything from scratch to avoid as many additives (that may not be as safe as you think) as I can.

It has been a fun learning experience! I have made granola which is YUMMY!!! Soy ice cream, bean salads and no knead breads that are delicious. And this may sound like it would be way too much work to incorporate into your regular life, but it only really takes about 1/2 hour per thing...which is pretty much the time it takes to drive somewhere to get convienience food-and you save on the gas money!

My nemesis so far is real bread!!! UUUGGGHHHHH! First one was a solid concrete rock by the time it cooled. The second one only rose about 1/2 way so it was the densest bread I have ever made my hubby eat (he's such a trooper). After careful consideration, I believe I keep the temperature too low in the house for bread to rise. I am going to try a warmed oven that has been turned off. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

To make myself feel a little better about my complete failure at making bread, I whipped out a batch of old fashioned Castile soap. Oils and fats mixed with flesh burning chemicals I can do with success...mixing yeast with flour and water I can't do- What's up with that?! :)

It's been a lot of fun to create these 'natural' things...I feel better about what we are surrounding ourselves with in this house and in our food and I am learning sooooo much along the way. I am actually thankful that I have learned about what is in commercial products so I would have the oppurtunity to 'create' a natural alternatives!!!

Animal Photo Contest

2008-02-14T12:52:00.001-08:00

OK...I need your help!!!

I entered Guppy into a photo contest and I need your vote to win!!!

Go to Humane Society photo contest page and search by pet name.

My little cutie is GUPPY!

Quick...go now!!! :)

Thank you!!!

I've got WORMS!!!!

2008-02-13T10:45:00.000-08:00

If anyone would have told me I would one day be excited about worms I would have told them they were NUTS!!!
My worms arrived today, so I got straight to work putting the new compost bin together.
I had already purchased the bin and drilled the holes in the top and bottom for air and had found a few branches for strategic placement to promote air flow.
Then I just has to wait for my worms to arrive from Planet Natural. I probably could have found a local garden store or something and will probably do that when I need more worms.

Once they were here, I wetted some newspaper and poured in a bucket of our garden soil, then I sprinkled them on top. What fun to watch!!! They started wriggling right into the dirt as soon as they landed. It was really cool to watch!!!

I have now added some bananna peels and bits and pieces of some of our veggie remants and they should be happy little worms for a while!!!

I can't wait to see the progress as they get to work on composting!!!

XXL Galore

2008-02-10T19:05:00.000-08:00

The XXL Duets on the website have been very much lacking for quite some time...a few nice folks with XXL feet to knit for have been kindly reminding me to get some new stuff up!!!

So, I have done exactly that!!!

I have completely loaded up the XXL section with more colorways than have ever been available at one time!!!

So, if you have been itching to try out a pair of those

thigh high legs warms that are popping up all over the place.......

Or still need to knit those socks you promised dear old dad months ago...

Or, just want to knit a bigger sock than the Original Duet skein can do

This is definitely the upload of yarns for you!!!

Stop by and check them out...before I send out the announcement to everyone!!! :)

Ignorance is bliss...

2008-02-06T11:22:00.000-08:00

It all started with a very casual converstation with a friend about plastic and do we really know if it's safe. All I was thinking was, "idunno!" Then she went on to say...'like when you microwave it, there's gotta be some chemicals coming out of it and getting on the food'. My thought was then, "Oh my gosh, you think so?" And I could have left it as the casual conversation it was, but the wonder about the chemicals stayed with me. So I started using glass containers a little more, until I could read a little about it.

So I read a little more about it, which lead to learning that we have amazingly dangerous chemicals right under our sinks! "THAT'S JUST GREAT!!!" I thought, and made some natural household cleaners (some of which were part of the Christmas presents I made this year)

That casual conversation lead to a string of changes and more learning.

HOLEY CRAP...the food we put in our bodies!!! The destruction of the enviroment!!! The landfills over-flowing!!! UUUuugh!!!

I know I have only begun to scratch the surface, and that's what scares me!!!! And it's too late to go back to ignorance...there is ABSOLUTELY no way you will get me to eat the meat from a chain grocery store now!!!! I can't bare to put anything in the garbage can that will end up in a landfill. And now I have to think of a safe way to dispose of all those cleaning chemicals under our sink, because now I can't bring myself to pour them down the drain.

Since I can't go back to not knowing, I must go foward (but I might stop reading about this stuff for a while)... our garden is getting planned, I am learning how to can fruits and vegetables, I have begun researching food dehydrators and decided on this one. I have also started looking into purchasing direct from a local farmer for our meat and eggs and I have Red Wiggler Worms on their way here for our compost bin.

The moral of the story

What you don't know CAN kill you...

or at least give you unexplained allergies, cause cancer, destroy our enviroment, kill off species of animals, etc......