When we were kids, my little sister was pretty well obsessed with this show on Nickelodeon Called David the Gnome. For those of you who may not know David (or may need a memory jogger), YouTube is very helpful
I saw on Ravelry where MH had made this adorable little gnome (which she has not blogged about so I can not show you here) and I knew that I had to make one for my sister. Since she likes gnomes and Travelocity also pimps a gnome in their commercials, I dediced to get it together and get one ready for her camping trip tomorrow.
She aptly named him David and they will be leaving tonight for the Great Smokey Mountains. Hopefully, David will have lots of fun adventures that I can share with you here. Now of course, my 3 year old wants a gnome, so another one should appear on the scene shortly.
Also, please now note that I have THE HUNGER to make little crochet creatures. Hopefully my tutor will help me in this endeavor.
I forgot that I found a previously “lost item” the other night while looking through my cotton yarn stash. It is not really anything to get excited about, but I didn’t want it to go un-blogged. This was the Monthly Dishcloth for June 2008. Somehow it got lost in the shuffle before I could get it photographed and posted. So without further ado:
After much consideration (and encouragement from Mary), I am learning to crochet. I am trying to approach this new endeavor with much zeal while at the same time, trying not to overwhelm myself. I started of with what else but dishcloths and now feel that I am the master of the single crochet!!
I also (with considerable help) made a Christmasy potholder
I have some other things up my sleeve, but they are surprises, so you will have to wait for them to be revealed- read: as soon as my kind teacher finds it in her to commence with my lessons!!! (I am rather nervewracking and often difficult to teach.) There is also a bit of knitting going on and plans for Halloween themed items. I am trying to get back in the swing of things.
Big Daddy informed me last night that he felt that we need new kitchen towels. He then suggested that I get to knitting some since I have 2 cones of yarn just laying around the house (along with various other yarns that could also be used to knit towels and kitchen cloths). I guess sometime this weekend, I will get out the needles and get to work. I doubt they will be anything sophisticated but they will be a knitted item nonetheless.
In the meantime, I have a bit of content up and running on my new site. It is a work in progress, but I hope to have some actual food reviews up by the end of the day.
Well, I am still here, but I am taking a bit of a hiatus from knitting. Why you might ask? Well if you look at my 2008 book list, you will be able to see where a good chunk of my time has been spent. Truthfully, I just needed a break to decide if this was a hobby I wanted to continue with or not. I have decided that I will, but it will likely be summer before I get cranked back up again. Hopefully the summer will afford me more free time and I won’t feel like it takes me 6 weeks to finish one measly dishcloth. With that being said, I am excited to announce today the launching of a new blog, Insanity Cooks. My husband is a bit tired of hearing me talk about food and what to cook and what cookbook I like to read these days, so I have launched a new site to write it all down. I love food and I love to cook so this seemed like a good fit for me. Now, as you will see from my introduction on that site, I am not a chef nor have I ever studied any type of professional cooking (unless you count watching the Food Network) so really all you are going to get is an account of what recipes I am trying or a discussion on what I cooked for supper last night. All in all, I think it should be fun, and I hope that you will check it out!! Come on over!!
I mentioned earlier that over the Christmas break, I made a simple scarf for my son. (His name really isn’t Bob.) Here are the pictures albeit they do look pretty crappy.
He is 5 and I really didn’t see the need to go through much trouble as it most likely will end up lost on the playground somewhere at school. He wanted something to wear “hunting” with his dad, so I just cast on and garter stitch abounds. I used a whole skein of Bernat Camouflage. He seems very pleased with it. The bad thing is here in MS, it really hasn’t been cold enough for him to wear it much.
In other news, I have finally received my invitation from Ravelry. I am trying to get some things up, but I haven’t had a lo tof time to fiddle with it. My knitting is seriously unsophisticated compared to most of the people on that site, but I thought it would be fun to join since all of my Wednesday noon knitters are on there. I have been cruising for patterns and have found a few things on there that catch my eye. Hopefully, in a week or so, I will have some things in my notebook so I will look like an actual knitter. Look me up. I am insanityknits there as well.
I have been meeting with a few women here on campus on Wed. during lunch to knit and socialize a bit. Since tomorrow is Wed. and I currently don’t have a mobile project on the needles, I need to think of something I can bring tomorrow. I have vowed to cast on a scarf so I guess that will be the item du jour.
Well, I was bad this weekend and didn’t knit a stitch. That means I am behind on my goals for the list. I did get a few other items crossed off and managed to make significant progress on some of the others. I have been studying patterns though and have some idea of what I would like to knit next so all is not lost. You can check out my plans here. I will try and update this page as I add new ideas. The projects I am planning are simple, but that is the point. Simple items that will relax me to make. That was the whole point of starting this hobby in the fist place.
Getting back to the list, I have learned a few things about myself already by doing this exercise. Making a list will still not force me to clean. Drinking more water is good for me and makes me feel good for doing it. It is hard for me to choose between knitting and reading. Keeping a food journal really points out all of your bad eating habits. Reading from the Bible and a good devotional everyday is so good for the soul. Well, Thursday will be here soon enough and I still have items that need my attention. Gotta force myself to scrub those toilets!!!
There was a bit of knitting over the Christmas break. I made a few dishcloths (surprise, surprise) and decided that they would make a great Christmas happy for Big Daddy’s step-mother. She does a lot of handwashing and I know that she will put these cloths to good use. Due to the business of the holiday, I do not have any photos of the cloths in their pretty, blocked, gift-ready form. I just have a few that I took after I had them completed. Bear with me as the lighting is no good.
This is the Mistake Rib discloth pattern. I really enjoyed making this one as I felt that it knitted up quickly.
I absolutely love this next cloth, the Kitchen Cotton Dishcloth. I have made it before and love the way it looks when finished. It is also a fairly quick and easy knit.
My final selection comes from the group Monthly Dishcloths, which is a group through Yahoo. This was a February KAL titled Valentine Hearts.
I promise to try and never show such crappy photos again but I use the holidays as my excuse for the lack of attention to detail.
I also made a simple garter stitch scarf for my 5 y/o. I don’t have any photos of it today but hope to have some soon.
Now for the update, I have been making steady progress on my list of 50 things in 14 days. A few items have been completed. I took my kids to a movie and watched a movie with my husband that was not my choice. I am hopefully establishing some habits that will last after the 14 days are up. I still have a long way to go to getting all of the items completed, but I think I will be successful. I did make one minor change to the list. When looking and attempting to better organize my yarn stash, I came across some yarn that I had bought to knit a blanket. Item 44 has been changed from learn to knit a hat to cast on for a blanket. Hopefully, this will jump-start a new project that has been “in the works” for way too long. Also, I am currently working on my 2008 Goals page, so be looking for updates there on current and future projects.
I know it has been quite a while since I have posted anything here. My life has been plagued with unorganization. There has been very little knitting. I am uninspired- in a rut if you will. I don’t really do New Year’s resolutions, so I will spare you a boring list of things I will never do. What I do have today is somewhat unique. I have seen several places where people challenge themselves to do a certain amount of things in a certain amount of time. The best example of this is the 101 things in 1001 daysthat I have seen on a few blogs. What I have done here is a twist on that. To battle my unproductive ways, I have created a unique list. I am going to challenge myself to get 50 things done in the next 14 days. Starting today and ending on the 31st, I will be working to complete the items on the list below. I will give you updates as I get things completed. This list is not meant to be anything impressive or to show off how good my time management skills are. It is simply to see if I can create for myself a to-do list and complete it within the given time frame. Plus, it is a great way to make me get up and get all of my housework done and still find the time for personal projects, family time and time for myself.
Here is the list:
50 Things in 14 days
1. Balance my checkbook
2. Catch up on laundry
3. Clean the stove
4. Scrub both bathrooms
5. Watch The Painted Veil
6. Watch Flightplan
7. Read my Bible every day
8. Cook supper at least 8 nights
9. reorganize cook books
10. drink 48 oz of water every day
11. drink 8 oz of milk every day
12. eat breakfast every day
13. blog at least 4 times
14. knit 5 dishcloths
15. catch up on my tv watching
16. start working on Big Daddy’s scarf
17. keep food journal
18. try 4 new recipies
19. pack up old clothes
20. work on reorganizing my daughter’s room
21. watch a movie that Big Daddy picks that I normally wouldn’t pick
22. play Candyland with my kids
23. reorganize my kitchen counters
24. clean out the refrigerator
25. straighten up my bedside table
26. make a charitable donation
27. go on a date with Big Daddy
28. start 2008 tax notebook
29. organize 2007 household taxes
30. organize 2007 business taxes
31. read to the kids every night
32. take the kids to a movie
33. read from My Utmost for His Highest every day
34. organize the kitchen cabinets
35. organize my yarn stash
36. watch the Music Man
37. read Cold Mountain
38. hang the kids school pictures
39. spend time with my grandmother
40. work on budget for Feb
41. email friends I haven’t talked to in a while
42. reorganize entertainment center
43. watch Underdog with my kids
44. cast on a blanket
45. read a non-fiction book
46. make a pot of homemade soup
47. clean off the sofa table
48. bake a cake
49. bring my lunch to work every day
50. clean off the front porch
Some of the items are included simply to help me get in the habit of doing them. This is sort of a to-do list/New Year’s resolution list combined. I do have a bit of knitting from over the break, but that will have to wait until Monday.
I finally have some photos to share. These are both patterns from the Yahoo Group Knitted Kitty Dishcloths. I finished them a while back but never could get around to blocking them. Part of my deal with myself about starting to knit the baby items was that I had to finish up some old projects first. These will likely be the last dishcloths I make for a while as the baby list continues to grow and then it will be time to get serious about Christmas.
The first is another dinosaur cloth for my son and his strong obsession with the pre-historic. My daughter has even learned to identify dinosaurs thanks to spending untold hours watching Jurassic Park and Land Before Time and the requisite sequels. I proudly present to you………
T-REX
The next cloth is one in the never ending collection of yellow or yellow ombre cloths and towels that I have decided to bestow upon my sister. Now that she is a married woman, she needs more and more cloths to help out in the kitchen as she learns to cook. I really like the way this cloth turned out.
HEARTS BIG AND SMALL
I was a tired girl last night so I was only able to knit a scant few rows on my baby blanket last night. I hope to get a bit more progress going tonight as I have completed the border and am starting to work the pattern. Maybe after the weekend, I will have enough progress to give you a good idea of what the pattern will look like. I have two more items that I need to block tonight so if all goes well, there will be more pics tomorrow.
Posted by mhsmom 
Posted by mhsmom 
Posted by mhsmom 
