Free day = work day

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Is it odd that many of my “free days” actually turn into a workday? Around 6:00 am I was outside weeding our flower gardens, I then moved into the fruit and vegetable garden, and picked two large cabbage heads. I’ll be cutting them up and putting them in the freezer. Afterwards I tilled part of the garden where I’ll be planting vegetables that will be harvested in late July/August.

At 11:00 am I dropped off my daughter at her best friends house. I finished steam cleaning the carpets. I really should clean out Angel the guinea pig cage. Also, Mr. Bentley (our Shih Tzu) needs a bath.

I’m hoping that I get a chance to work on the knitted beanie hat this evening. Last night, at my daughters bedtime, I crocheted a beanie hat with a brim for one of her create a Monster High dolls. She loves the hat, I’ll have to post pictures. She just got the doll yesterday, for doing a continually awesome job with her music lessons. My daughter rarely get rewards for good behavior, that’s expected after all. But I do continually praise her for the things she does. We all need to hear positive things about out abilities, and sometimes I do reward her.

Today’s exercise was all outdoors. Although I didn’t go to the gym, I received an excellent workout with the yard work around the house. And I was loving that, as far as I can remember I’ve always been physically active, and so its a habit. If I don’t exercise I don’t feel great. Staying physically active means I can eat whatever I want, without becoming overweight. But of course… I don’t eat whatever I want. I do however, eat delicious foods that just happen to be healthy.

Those that know me well, know I hate sitting on my butt all day, so even when my clients work has me chained to my !7″ MacBook Pro, I take regular breaks to stretch, or do exercises while seated. I did the same when I worked in corporate setting.

While today wasn’t “free” in the sense that I didn’t do nothing, it was free in that I wasn’t focused on clients, and I accomplished exactly what I wanted. 

Lyrics: Louis Armstrong; Whistle While You Work

Whistle while you work

Put on that grin and start right in
To whistle loud and long
Just hum a merry tune

Just do your best and take a rest
And sing yourself a song

When there’s too much to do
Don’t let it bother you
Forget your troubles try to be
Just like the cheerful chickadee
And whistle while you work

Come on get smart and tune up and start
To whistle while you work

Yes when there’s too much to do
Don’t let it bother you
Forget your troubles try to be
Just like that cheerful chickadee
Whistle while you work
Come on get smart tune up and start
To whistle while you work

Hooks and Needles; downtime projects

Aynaria 4 Comments

So… I’m coming to the end of my latest pattern test, and I’ve told myself not to volunteer for anything else until August..

Yeah, we’ll see how that goes.

In my defense some of the crocheted and knitted patterns that I’ve tested (over the past seven months) have been added to my Christmas list, a few were given to my daughter and her classmates, and some of the items I pattern tested were donated to a few local charities where I’m actively involved.

Items like the crocheted bookworm bookmarks, weren’t from a pattern tests, but were inspired by watching a crochet designers bookmarks, and thinking back to the bookmarks I received as a child. So no pattern test with those, just made them based on my childhood memories. The bookworms were made for my daughter and her third grade class, the majority of them love to read I might add, how cool is that? At her age, I was reading at high school level, my daughter is doing the same.

So… for my Christmas list, it means since some of the pattern tested items were made as gifts, that’s one less item for me to make. Yeah!

At the speed I’m going, I should be finished my handcrafted items before October is over. I still need to make holiday cards for the upcoming holidays; Halloween, Thanksgiving, and of course Christmas… but those are a lot easier to make, thanks to my Cuttlebug, awesome collection of stamps (traditional and digital), and a super creative mommy and daughter duo (my daughter and I).

When I need a break from some of my larger projects, like the knitted Coraline sweater I’ll be making for my daughter, or the knitted Guernsey sweater I’ll be knitting for my father, I’ll be adding washcloths/dishcloths to the mix. Both are the perfect size to try out new design ideas, and the result is I have a product that I can use, or gift to someone else.

Downtime projects; crocheted and knitted dishcloths and washcloths

I’ve always adored hand crocheted and knitted dishcloths/washcloths over the typical store bought variety. I found them to be a lot thicker, and more absorbant. My hand-crocheted and knitted washcloths also do a great job of gently exfoliating the skin. My dishcloths are excellent in cleaning utensils where common kitchen scrubbers are a No-No. They’re made from 100% cotton after all.

Before I use them, or send them or gift them to others… I always toss them in the wash a few times, to get rid of the residue that the store bought yarn is treated with during processing. Those who receive them as gifts, have always clamored for more, and raved about how much they like them more than the store bought variety.

How long does it take to make crocheted or knitted washcloths/dishcloths?

The knitting variety usually takes between one to six hours to create depending on the complexity, yarn, and needles used.  Crochet (usually)takes a lot less. My preference is the knitted variety. Mainly because I find them to be more stretchy, which I adore. But, I love the crocheted ones also, and have made several of those when trying out new stitches/design ideas.

While I’m not sure when I’ll be posting a washcloth/dishcloth giveaway, eventually I’ll do one here at Celebrate Life. It most likely will be towards Autumn, by that time my soapmaking days (for the year at least) will be over, and I can include that in my giveaway.

Hanging with nature; early morning gardening….

Aynaria 4 Comments

Gardening and early mornings seem to go together… you know? it’s usually much cooler, which means I can complete a lot of work; weeding, bug removal, harvesting, without getting hot.

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Around 5:00 am this morning, you could find me in our garden applying a homemade remedy to the plants.  It’s organic, and the insects, and some animals, don’t like it at all! Which works out perfectly for us! How fun would it be to be fighting with insects or groundhogs for fruits and vegetables? Beans were picked, weeds and insects were removed, and I did a bit of digging too. It’s a great workout.

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The above photo shows a portion of a garden row. What you’re looking at is pole beans (left), and broccoli (right).

On the other side of broccoli is one of our cabbage rows. I’ll have to take pictures since they’re huge. I was in the garden for about two hours, and now I’m back inside. The garden is about an acre.

I have a free day, since my client’s work is complete. I tossed the clothing into the washing machine, before I headed out to the garden this morning, and the only thing left to do is fold our clothes. Later on I’ll work on the knitted beanie hat, perhaps I’ll finish it today.

My daughter is still sleeping.

 

Knitted amigurumi

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The first amigurumi’s I made were crocheted earlier this year, but it wasn’t the first time I’d heard about them.

I’d discovered them through an amazing knitter who makes exquisite amigurumi dolls. She’s the most talented amigurumi doll artists I’ve seen thus far.  In fact, the moment my daughter saw the dolls she asked me if I could make some for her.

Initially I was planning on doing that, but the more I thought about it…  I  realized that perhaps I my first amigurumi items should be crocheted. After all, I accomplished a lot of  my “handcrafted yarn firsts” with knitting; sweaters, socks, pillows, glove, and hats. Which make sense, I have been knitting for thirty-three years but since I learned only to crochet in December 2011, there weren’t to many items that I hadn’t knitted.

Because of this, I decided crochet would get the first crack at amigurumis…

And so began my love of amigurumi, although it’s only been seven months since I started crocheting, I’ve easily made over forty amigurumi items, some were given to my daughter, while others were handed out to her classmates and the rest were donated to various local charities. It feels great.

While I know I could easily go to the store and purchase the item, which would reduce my time with the item. I enjoy the time I spend with each item, since I look at it as a “labor of love” since I’m taking time out of my busy schedule to make something for someone else.

Next week, I most likely will start working on a few amigurumi dolls while my daughter and I area away for the holidays. Of course she’ll be my tester, I’ll give her the first few knitted dolls, once I’m comfortable knitting amigurumis, I’ll start adding those to my list of items to gift to others. Soon, I’ll be making another crocheted, or perhaps knitted, Coraline. My daughter’s best friend saw hers, and I know she wants one for herself. And while she’s much to polite to come out and ask, she did make a point of telling me how awesome it was.

I just returned from a board meeting, but I’m sure sometime this evening, after my daughter is sleeping, I’ll flip though some of the knitted amigurumi doll patterns that I’d located earlier today, and I’ll most likely will work on the knitted beanie hat, before I go to bed.

So much hair….

Aynaria 6 Comments

The day after Vacation Bible School began, I changed my daughter’s hairstyle. She told me that braids were for babies, and asked that I style her hair differently.

Her hair is a lot like my own; super thick and curly. If it were straight, it would be halfway down her back. She adores her curls and ringlets that were hidden within the braids, and is now styling her own hair. After a few days of wearing it out, she now rotates between wearing it that way, and pulling it back into one of the crocheted or knitted ponytail holders I made for her.

 

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In the above, my daughter is being silly. She was drinking her water, and talking about it’s benefits, and explaining why it should be part of everyones daily intake if they’re fortunate to have an abundance of it. Not everyone has easy access to water.

When I mentioned changing her hairstyle to Jennifer, scrapbooker/card making artist, via email that I styled my daughter’s hair differently she asked to see pictures. I’ve took several pictures of my daughter yesterday, and will be sending them to her, by mail, sometime this week.

 My daughter is a “tomboy/girly girl”  and she loves wearing my handcrafted creations, such as the crocheted leviathan band, which is great since I can make plenty of cute items for her.

Knitted ribbed beanie hat progress

Aynaria 4 Comments

Do you remember the silly mistakes I made with the knitted beanie hat?

Hopefully the knitted beanie hat mistakes are behind me. I did make another simple mistake yesterday. Instead of doing 3″ of the brim color, I went ahead and did 5″.

Knitted ridged beanie hat 2 new

I included the large brim in the above picture, shortly afterwards I frogged it back to 3″. The purple isn’t part of the design, those are my lifelines, in case of a mistake (like was made here) I just have to frog (rip out stitches) to where it’s mistake free, or in this case frog to 3″.

In my defense I do like making the ridge stitch. It’s simple and elegant. After ripping out the stitches, I immediately proceeded to add one more row of that color, before switching to purple for the crown.

You could say this was a teachable moment, since I used this opportunity to talk with my nine-year old daughter about mistakes, and how we all make them. Instead of giving up, we should continue trying until we get it right. It sounds simple enough right? Amazingly a lot of people give up on many things, because they weren’t able to master something, early.

The reality is there are many things in life that will take a lot of practice before you master the technique.

Gearing up for Christmas: knitted Guernsey sweater by Debbie Bliss; free pattern

Aynaria 8 Comments

Today in my Lutheran church, I noticed that we’re already starting to promote Operation Christmas Child, It’s nice to see this is something going on throughout the year, because lets face it… some families could use our help all year-round. A lot of the gifts for Operation Christmas Child, are sent to children in other countries, but there are plenty of children, and families, here in the USA that could use assistance, so I support them too.

The mention of Christmas in the church bulletin, made me think of my own Christmas list…

Of course I’ll be making handcrafted items for a few local charities, it’s something I’ve been doing for years, but I’ll also be making items for those I know too; if they’re craft worthy. At the top of my list is my nine-year old daughter, and my father comes next. He loves anything I make for him. This year I’m making him a few handcrafted items; a hat, scarf, mittens, socks, and I’m thinking of making him a traditional knitted Guernsey Sweater.

Before morning service, my online search landed me onto this page featuring a free guernsey knitted sweater by Debbie Bliss. Naturally, I saved and printed the .pdf file, and within the next week I’ll start working on the sweater. Since I’m starting on the sweater in advance, there’s really no need to rush, it will be one of my longer “works in progress”.

I’ll definitely use some type of wool for his sweater. Unlike myself, it doesn’t make him itch. While I could never wear the item, because of a rash that would develop from the wool I don’t have any problem crocheting or knitting something made out of wool. Perhaps it’s because the project only stays in my hand, and not other parts of my skin?

My father loves to be outside, even when the weather is cold, I know knitting him something such as this will be helpful in keeping him warm, and perhaps my mother won’t fuss about him coming in the house.

Interesting knitting tidbit: Did you know that many historians believe that men created knitting?