12 in 12 Reduce the Mileage Goals

In June 2011, I posted here about my current Reduce the Mileage Goals. Here is the update and at the bottom is the total mileage I knitted/crocheted for the year 2011!

Palm Readers in unknown yarn: 125 yards
Werewolf Hat in Cascade 128: 128 yards
Bella's Mitten in Lambs Pride Bulky hand dyed by me: 125 yards
Total yardage for July 2011 was 378.

Partial Fishy Sweater, 2 skeins of Knit Picks Wool of Andes: 220 yards
Second Bella's Mitten in Lambs Pride bulky hand dyed by me: 125 yards.
Partial Corona Sweater in Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece, 2 skeins: 430 yards.
Total yardage for August 2011 was 775 yards.

Tunisian Crochet Scarf tester, 1/2 skein of Cascade superwash sport hand dyed by me: 110 yards.
Ghey Hat in Lambs Pride Bulky hand dyed by me: 125 yards.
Vampire Diary Protector, 1 skein Full O'Sheep: 155 yards.
One Bella Mitten Arm Warmer, Lambs Pride bulky hand dyed by me: 125 yards.
Total yardage for September 2011 was 515 yards.

Zero knitting for October 2011, but I bought a pretty beaded scarf kit!

Toddler Tunic, Lambs Pride Bulky hand dyed by me: 155 yards
Red Granny Crochet Square Sweater, 4 skeins Cascade 128: 512 yards
Mud Sweater, Lambs Pride worsted, 3 skeins: 570 yards
Finished Corona Sweater, Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece: 430 yards
Half of Beaded Scarf, Interlacements Tiny Toes: 92.5 yards
Two hats, Plymouth Encore worsted: 200 yards
Total yardage for November 2011: 1,959.5 yards

Finished beaded scarf, Interlacements Tiny Toes: 92.5 yards
Family Mittens, Plymouth Baby Grande Alpaca: 110 yards
Total yardage for December 2011 202.5

So in conclusion, for the year 2011, I knitted/crocheted 11,466 yards or 6.5 miles!

On Spelling Words

James has spelling tests every Friday at school. From September to December his spelling lists consisted of basic words that were easily sounded out. In January, his teacher decided to leapfrog James to another group of spelling lists. So, things have gotten more challenging to help James learn his weekly spelling lists.

This weeks list was the following: best, green, mean, left, wheel, team, neck, sheet, deal, bell, street, reach, will and with. I took 21 popsicle sticks and wrote a single letter on each one, so that James could use the sticks to spell the words.

Despite him glaring at me, he does enjoy this "game" to learn his words.

As the challenges get harder, it is my job to be creative and keep James engaged and interested in learning. Standing over him and forcing him to do homework has never worked. We have to jiggle and wiggle and get his little mind and body moving to keep him interested.

How do you help your child with spelling?

Life Lessons

Through the years, I've found there are a few truths. In life, the many shades of gray muddy the truths of many situations. But there is one truth, orange always makes me happy. If I was to pick a color that makes me smile, it is orange.

For 12 years I had an orange kitty...You can read about him and his many foibles here:

Whiz Beta Fishing

Whiz and Jesse and the Werewolf Hat

Whiz and Guy Counseling Session Swan Dive

Whiz and Jesse and the Easter Dress

Whiz and Momma and the Baby Hold

Whiz Helping Momma Dye Yarn

Whiz and Jesse

Whiz Makes and Appearance in the Snake Story

Whiz Doofus Look in the Flower Bed

Whiz and Jesse and the Case of the Giant Backpack

Whiz Saying HI! to Momma

Whiz and the Case of the Cheating Cats

Whiz lets Jon Talk Him Down After Cat Fight

Whiz Pink Tongue, Pink Rose Picture

Whiz's Story and How He Came to Be Mine

It was a rainy, sad day on Sunday when we took Whiz to be buried at Grandpa's. James fixed my breakfast and coffee and had it waiting for me when I woke up Sunday morning. He said he wanted to do something nice to make me happy because he knew I was going to be sad to bury Whiz.

For me and mine, I believe it is our duty to go with our pet, every step of the way. We didn't hide the death from the kids. Death is one of those truths, facing it, accepting it, and moving on is all part of the process. Teaching my kids this now is so very important to me. They need to know and we navigated this loss with my kids demonstrating empathy, sorrow and so much love. I'm proud of them.

Whiz will be missed. His twin gray brother is resting by my feet on my steel toe boots. Hopefully we will have many more years with him.

Much love and hope all is well with you and yours.

Tunisian Crochet

Yesterday, my friend, Kelly of the Morris Tribe Homesteading blog, posted a video of her and I where I showed her the beginning ropes of tunisian crochet. Kelly has an enthusiasm that makes it hard not to just smile and laugh, so what you don't see is the intro where we laughed so hard at her misunderstanding my last name. She insists her kids (she has 9!) call me Mrs. Handyman and I've let it go on, but Monday for the video, she introduced me as Mrs. Handyman and I corrected her. She was floored and we got the biggest laugh out of the whole misunderstanding. So the video cues to us after the mishap. What I couldn't convey in that video was how much I love tunisian crochet because I have a small fear of camera's. Well, being in front of them. Below is some additional information, I've accumulated to get others started tunisian crocheting.

I've found several resources for designers, teachers and patterns for tunisian crochet. The tunisian crochet technique isn't very popular when compared to the crochet and knit community. I like to think of it as a bastard child of crochet and knit. When in reality it stands on its own as a wonderful technique with many possibilities.

My favorite tunisian crochet designer is Kim Guzman. I originally "met" her in Crochetville where I took her on-line class on tunisian crochet for her Butterfly Wing Afghan. Wonderful class materials and she is so helpful and always available for on-line help with any of her patterns. She just seems to be an energetic, wonderfully nice person in the crochet community. Check out her blog WIPs and Chains.

Chez Crochet (Arnie) is the guru of tunisian crochet, IMHO. She has compiled an Encyclopedia of Tunisian Crochet Stitches. I've purchased this book for $25 and read it cover to cover. Yes, I love to read pattern books. It is a wonderful book to have in your library if you are interested in doing tunisian crochet. Check out her blog Crochet Coalition.

Kim and Arnie have a Yahoo tunisian crochet group that is a wonderful resource and a compilation of resources, projects and tips, tricks and techniques of tunisian crochet.

Another designer that I've purchased patterns from is AG Mode. I purchased the Angel lace bolero, tunisian crochet pattern from her. While the finished product looks amazing, I have not been able to get past the second row in the pattern. So, I've set the pattern away and will visit it in a few years when my skills with tunisian crochet have advanced. Check out her blog AG mode...art to glam.

And the fourth resource that I have found is Sharon Silverman who has written Tunisian Crochet: The Look of Knitting with the Ease of Crocheting. She has many tunisian crochet pattern books that look amazing and they are on my Amazon.com wishlist. Check out her blog Crochet Sharon.

All pictures are projects I've done in tunisian crochet over the years. It is a fun, fast craft and I love having it in my crafting tool belt.

Purple Love

This hat. This purple hat. This purple hat that everybody loves. This purple hat that I crocheted in Caron Country (merino/acrylic blend) with a small amount of Caron Spa (bamboo/acrylic blend) that everybody loves.

Fits me.

The angels sang whenI finished it, plopped it on my head. It has to be because of the genius of the pattern, luck of picking the right yarn, which means the hat has a nice stretchy characteristic to it. Which means it fits my head as well as Jesse's head. This is what I call Purple Love, a hat for the ages.

Hope your weekend is going well. We are head, hands and heart busy.

Wood Family Plaques

On this cold, blustery day, I'm wishing for a quiet moment in the woods, surrounded by the sounds of the Earth breathing. Instead, I'm cooped in a house, in town, surrounded by the sound of school bus's, car engines and random shouts of children laughing as they walk home from school. I love this life. This simple life of schedules, video games and board games. But I want more. I yearn for the life of my childhood. No TV. Horses in the field. Hiding in hay bales. Making sand chairs to watch the clouds go by.

This is the life we have chosen for the moment, I accept that. But I dream of moments where a walk in the woods, means 10 feet out the back door. I dream of barn stalls to muck, ducks to chase, rabbits to plant gardens for, and the simple farm life. If asked where does my heart beat, where does my soul settle, I'd answer, "In the barn.".

Jon made this wood wall plaque as a Christmas gift for someone else. I commandeered it and claimed it as my own. Jon still needs to cut out the outer perimeter, but this scene settled something in me. So, for now, I'll hang this on my living room wall and when I look at it, I'll dream of the someday Jon and I will have with a barn of our own.

If you are interested in a family plaque like the one pictured, message me or comment with your email address, I'll send you details.

Much love!

Love

Jon took this picture. I believe in the idea that what we see, when translated into art, reveals the true "picture" of how the subject is viewed.

Okay, let me say this. In the above picture Jon sees me through the lens of the camera. I edited the picture for color saturation, exposure, and temperature to make it look better. I assume that I looked similar to the edited version in Jon's minds eye.

As an act of love, Jon drew this picture of myself, my dad and sister and cut it out on his CNC machine. From a distance, it looks pretty indicative of us and the picture that Jon took on the beach of Florida this past summer.


A closer look at Janne reveals, that maybe Jon artistically sees Janne as a snaggle tooth, wrinkly woman with flowing locks of hair.

Apparently, Jon sees me as a wrinkly (wow! eye wrinkles!), snaggle tooth woman with a Charlie Chaplin mustache.

He tells me I'm beautiful every day. Either I need to have his eyesight checked or shave my mustache. Either way, he must love me a lot.