Month: June 2012

Knitted Coraline sweater; child and adult size

Aynaria 15 Comments

I’m not sure what possessed me to search for a human sized Coraline sweater, but about an hour ago my search led me to the official Coraline website, and there I found a knitted Coraline sweater.

I’d written about Coraline’s sweater before…

ICoraline jones profile‘d read the Coraline by Neil Gaimon years ago, and only saw the movie recently. Since that time, my daughter, and I’ve watched Coraline the movie numerous times. When watching the movie, my daughter’s crocheted amigurumi Coraline is right beside her.

Part of my fascination was the miniaturized outfits, some were obviously knitted and the signature sweater was knitted by Althea Crome.

While I highly doubt that I’ll make a knitted Coraline sweater for myself, I do know my daughter would love this sweater.

I’ve printed out my .pdf copy of the free Coraline knitted sweater, and when the weather is cool, I’ll curl up while my daughter is doing her homework, and start knitting her a Coraline sweater.

Where’s the meat; it’s in there

Aynaria 7 Comments

I must say that I’m proud of one of my friends. I talked about M in a recent post…

Stir fry with ham 1

There is no way he’d have eaten something like this, a few months ago, but he is now. He didn’t need to lose weight, he’s physically active, and he’s been my workout buddy off and on for years… but he still wanted to clean up his act. He’s observed my energy levels via our gym workouts, and I seemingly never get tired despite the intensity… and so he wanted to see whether changing his diet might give him an energy boost.

Naturally, I thought he was joking since he’s teased me about my vegan ways for years… but he wasn’t.

He still eats meat, but he now vegetables accompany most of his meals. Which is a huge jump from where he used to be, and so I’m pleased that he’s gradually including vegetables into his daily eating routine.

Certain foods he would state he wouldn’t give up, he has, or realized that he didn’t need. The upside is he has more energy, and getting the extra bursts of energy. Some think of it as a second wind, Which is something he definitely needs if he thinks he can hang with me with my power workouts or my long runs.

The key to his success was baby steps…

I gradually suggested introducing increasing vegetables into fruit juice, and smoothies. Other ways were to puree vegetables into delicious sauce to marinate with his meat based meals. In time his taste buds changed, and he didn’t mind eating vegetables that were in bigger portions, and he now eats some of them raw.

You don’t have to be vegetarian or vegan to be healthy. In fact, I’ve met some extremely unhealthy plant based eaters, but you do have to make healthy food choices, regardless of your eating lifestyle.

 

 

Knitting: Simple heart

Aynaria 4 Comments

This knitted heart was easy to make, but I’m not pleased with it, and so I’m knitting another.

Knitted Heart 2

It’ll be the third heart I’ve knitted in the past two days. The first my daughter immediately claimed for one of her Monster High dolls. No worries, since these hearts knit up quickly. Creating a simple crocheted or knitted item can be a welcome break from the projects that require your undivided attention, such as the paid pattern test that I’m currently crocheting.

Knitted Heart 1

You’ll need to know how to make knitting increases, with this heart, but with the right instructions, it’s fairly simple to complete.

With the third heart, I’m using size 15 circular knitting needles, and a super chunky yarn… I had originally purchased it for a crochet project; however halfway through… I realized I didn’t like the yarn for the item, and I frogged it (ripped out the stitches)… Have you ever had that happen, created something you weren’t satisfied with?

The designer for this pattern, calls it the heart with many uses, and I’d have to agree with her since I’ve already thought of numerous ways these knitted hearts can be used; cat toys, moth repellents, pillows for my daughter’s Monster High dolls, dream pillows, etc.,

Devoting most of my online time to my own websites, not other social media sites

Aynaria 7 Comments

A few months ago, a long-time friends, M, complained to me that one of his (newer) niche websites was not receiving too much traffic.  My response…”Quit spending so much time on Facebook, and other social media sites, and channel some of that activity into your own sites.”

We were at lunch at the time, catching up with each others lives, family, and each others online ventures (we both have online business and personal sites).

Promote Your Brand Online Social media can be a great way to promote your business/personal site. And if you think about it, your business site, or personal site, can be a form of social media too.

But, the problem I see is that some people, like M, put social networking sites ahead of their own. Which doesn’t make sense to me since you’re actively promoting your work on another business site. And doing nothing to make your own virtual space more appealing to visitors. Social media sites can change their rules at any time, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Facebook has done this now and again, and a lot of their changes I wasn’t thrilled about, but since most of my time is spent on my own sites; it hasn’t affected me.

Personally, I always find it disappointing when I see business/person has done a lot of interaction via other social media sources, but you go to their business/personal site, and it’s obvious it isn’t receiving too much attention.

I do interact on other social media sites, and some are extremely effective for my personal sites. But, the majority of my online time, is still spent on the sites that I own.

M did take my advice, and while he does promote his site on Facebook, and other social media sites, most of his attention is focused on his own “social media websites,” which is how it should be for the goals he’s trying to achieve. The good news is that  his traffic, and online income for that site, started to increase.

Interesting read: Since when are blogs not social media?

Happy Father’s Day, dad….

Aynaria 3 Comments

My earliest memories of my father were on the track…

I was four years old. He was at the track with his running buddy, and there I was, wanting to follow him everywhere. Naturally, I couldn’t keep up with them, but he could see me wherever he was on the track, and years later he told me. That I never gave up, I kept running, as he said, you had great endurance. The fact that I never stopped running until they were finished is no surprise. I wanted to be like him, after all, even at a young age. 

You could say I’m a female version of my father. Even though I look very feminine, I’m not… which I believe my mother didn’t like when I was a child. She wanted a “girly girl” and that wasn’t I, it still isn’t. Persistent, usually smiling, laid back, I enjoy helping others, passionate about my beliefs, but I’m accepting of others too… and I’m a hard worker. I enjoy physical activity, and even if I’m tired, I keep moving. Just like my dad…

My father is now 74 years old, and still physically active, and can still beat people much younger than he in running or lifting weights. It’s not that they are so slow, he’s just that fast and strong. He takes care of himself, and he still possesses other qualities I’ve admired. I’d be thrilled if I’m the same way, if I reach his age. And there’s hope, since I’m following the same course right now. 😉

I don’t need a special day to let my father know how awesome he really is, but it’s nice to have a day to honor him, just the same. 🙂 And you know something, outside of my daughter, he’s the one that receives the majority of my crochet and knitted projects, because he’s craft worthy. 

To all the amazing fathers out there…

I wish you all a Happy Father’s Day.

Knitting: How to make increases

Aynaria 6 Comments

Yesterday, I mentioned I requested to test a quick knitting pattern for a designer who posted on Ravelry.

The project took only a few hours to knit; I made it last evening.

As a knitter you’ll occasionally create an item  that requires knitting increases. It was required in the pattern I tested, and while I learned how to make increases in my knitting a long time ago, I was about eight years old, a new knitter might not know how to make them. If they’re like myself seeing someone doing certain things can be more helpful than reading about it.

I searched for some knitting video tutorials that did a good job showing how to make knitting increases in your work…

Unlike the crochet video tutorials, thus far, the knitting video tutorials I’ve found don’t even compare to the ones made by Teresa Richardson aka crochetgeek on YouTube, most of the ones I’ve seen weren’t done in slow motion.

 

The above video is one of the better knitting videos I’ve seen that shows users how to make knitting increases within their work.  So if you’re new to knitting, check out the above video on how to make increases.

Temptation: Pattern testing; to test or not to test?

Aynaria 2 Comments

Lately, I haven’t been too much pattern testing, on Ravelry. I have plenty of my own crochet and knitting projects to keep me busy for a long time.

And then there’s that paid pattern testing….

Recently I was approached via email by a designer asking whether I was interested in pattern testing, and after some deliberation I did accept. That pattern test differs from the others I’ve done on Ravelry since it’s a paid pattern test. And no, they didn’t find me via Ravelry. I really can’t write about what exactly I’m testing. I must say the yarn that was sent to me, along with the actual pattern is lovely, and I’m having a lot of fun.

Earlier today, I gave into my temptation when I saw a cute knitted heart pattern on Ravelry, and I’ve asked to test the pattern. It’s a knitted heart, is simple to make and will be completed within a few hours; which is the only reason I’ve requested to test it. And while I’ve made plenty of knitted hearts before, I wanted to knit a simple pattern from one of the pattern testers. This pattern, if the designer accepts my request, will be the first knitted pattern I’ve tested on Ravelry.

Other pattern tests were for crochet. It was my newest craft, and since I rarely follow a pattern, I thought it would be great to not only improve my crochet skills but see if I could follow a pattern. I  didn’t have any issues, once I knew the crochet abbreviations, and it was a great chance to practice crocheting while learning new techniques.

If I receive the pattern, I most likely will knit sometime this weekend. A quick and easy knit, when I need a distraction from some of the more intricate knitting projects.