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.

Knit Local

Knit Local by Tanis Gray (Ravelry link) was a book I didn't let it sit more than 2 seconds on my Amazon Wish List (Amazon link). I saw it, bought it, LOVED it. Google the book and you'll see lots of reviews. For me, though, I bought this book to learn more about what companies are here locally and what local yarn stores carry Made in the USA yarns.


The book includes 28 knit and crochet patterns, that while all are gorgeous, only 2 of them popped out to me; Straits of Mackinac Vest that is knit in bulky yarn and big needles and Wildflowers Scarf that is crocheted in laceweight yarn using small hook.

I was super sad to see that the one Brown Sheep pattern was for an afghan made out of worsted weight Lambs Pride. I've worked with Lambs Pride quite a bit and LOVE it, but an afghan out of it is several things, 1. a labor of love 2. a hard hit to the pocket book and 3. a PITA to hand wash. Maybe when I'm older, kids are older, dogs stop slobbering, cats stop peeing and random body parts stop excreting, I'll consider making a hand wash only afghan.

This book is a favorite of mine, and I wanted to post an educational, link heavy blog to give me a place to compile everything in one spot too, that is easily accessible. Win win for all of us!

My goal is to eventually try each and every yarn that is made locally, here in the U.S.A.. I've included a few extra links to yarns I love that were not featured in the book.

Beaverslide Dry Goods

Bijou Basin Ranch

Briar Rose

Brown Sheep Company (Fiberworks, Fiberlicious, Main Street Yarns, Wooly Bully)

Buffalo Gold

Cestari

Cherry Tree Hill

Conjoined Creations (Fiberlicious, Wooly Bully)

Elsawool

Farmhouse Yarns (Katherine's Web, Wooly Bully)

The Fibre Company

Green Mountain Spinnery

Hazel Knits

Imperial Stock Ranch (Wooly Bully)

Juniper Moon Farm

Kollage Yarns (Fiberworks)

Kraemer Yarns (Fiberworks)

Lorna's Laces (Fibrege, Lambkins, Main Street Yarns)

Morehouse Farm Merino

Mountain Meadow Wool

Ozark Handspun (Fibrege)

Pagewood Farm (Katherine's Web, Wooly Bully, Fiberlicious)


Quince & Co

Red Barn Yarn

Solitude Wool

Stonehedge Fiber Mill (Knitwits)

Swans Island Yarn


And to complete my "Get it all in one place" theme, I'm linking up my local yarn stores (LYS) in anticipation of a yarn store crawl I am planning.

Katherine's Web, 174 South Main Street, Waynesville, Ohio 45068, Hours: Wed-Sat 12-4PM

Wooly Bully, 135 S. Main Street, Springboro, Ohio 45066, Hours: Mon-Sat 10AM-5PM

Fiberworks, 1350A North Fairfield Rd Beavercreek, OH 45432, Hours: Monday 10 to 8:30pm, Tuesday 10 to 6pm, Wednesday 10 to 6pm, Thursday 10 to 9pm, Friday 10 to 6pm, Saturday 1 to 5pm, Sunday 1 to 5pm

Main Street Yarns, 126 West Main Street, Mason, Ohio 45040, Hours: Mon-Thur 10AM-7PM, Fri & Sat 10AM-5PM

Fiberlicious, 8157 Camargo Road, Madeira, Ohio 45243, Hours: Mondays & Wednesdays
10am - 5pm, Fridays & Saturdays 10am - 2pm

Fiberge, 9901 Montgomery Road, Cincinnati, OH 45242, Hours: Monday: 11am - 6pm, Tuesday & Wednesday: 11am - 8pm, Thursday & Friday: 11am - 6pm, Saturday: 11am - 5pm

Lambkins Hideaway, 217 South B Street, Hamilton, OH 45013, Hours: Mon 11AM-7PM, Tues 11AM-5PM, Thurs & Fri 11AM-5PM, Sat 10AM-5PM, Sun 12-5PM

Knitwits Yarn Shop, 620 Buttermilk Pike, Crescent Springs,KY 41017, Hours: Tues 11AM-8PM, Wed-Fri 11AM-6PM, Sat 10AM-5PM, Sun 1-4PM

WHEW!!! Research takes time! But it has been fun to see what yarns I want to keep my eyes peeled for when visiting LYS.

Have a good one!

Wood Knit Wall Hangings

Jon made these wood wall hangings. I asked him to make me a "knit" themed wood plaque and this is what he came up with. I'm gobsmacked at how much I enjoy them.

Jon's style has always been simplicity with a touch of ornateness. (That is a skein of bulky Lambs Pride and Addi Turbo Needles Jon drew for the project.)

I took these to knit night to see if these wood wall plaques would be marketable to knitters. You see, I'm fascinated with wood, so I assume (sometimes wrongly) that others will "get" the interesting factor of these things.

Jon would like to start selling these, but with a bit of hohum response from real life knitters in town, it seems that maybe these wouldn't be marketable.

That is the tricky thing with markets. Finding a small item like this, that would appeal to a lot of people, is tricky. We need a small item to list in the Etsy shop, and knitters are known to love all things knit. So, it isn't too much of a leap to assume these would have shop appeal.

Would you buy? These are made out of cherry wood, cut out with a router, and sealed with a nice matte finish. Other plaques would be out of different woods, basically what is on hand in the wood shop. We reuse wood from cabinets, to pallets to trees we've sawed down ourselves. Whatever inspires Jon at the moment.

My absolute favorite part of these two wood plaques is the "Stick it in your YAM". It should be a new knitters slogan for "Shut up, I'm knitting!"

The texture effect of the routered lines make me want to continuously pet these things. I mean, yarn in wood?! That is a marriage of my two favorite things!

Whiz Beta Fishing

Sunday's at the Handy Household are busy with cleaning. I know, I know, Sundays are supposed to be a day of rest. Through negotiations with my kids, since they now are responsible for cleaning some areas of the house, we agreed on Sundays as the day I would enforce cleaning regimens.

Oh, I know people say, "Clean every day and it won't be a big deal." "A happy house is a clean house!" *barf* and "I wasn't raised to leave dishes in the sink at night."

Well, this Handy Hooker has never had a shiny sink last longer than 5 minutes. I despise washing dishes, hate cleaning and at the end all this house is happiest when I'm happiest. So, Sunday's it is for cleaning. I had a few minutes before the timer went off telling the kids it was time to clean. Figured I'd get a leg up and toss in some laundry. As I'm going through James's room gathering dirty laundry, I caught Whiz eyeing the Beta fish a little too intently.

I dashed out to grab the camera, fluffed the pillows on James bed and settled in to see what Whiz would do. You see, Jon had told me a few days ago that if the fish came up missing I needed to check the cats for evidence. I laughed him off and just couldn't believe my little wooteedoo would actually try to catch the fish.

Oh! He looked so innocent sitting there.

AW! Look! They are kissing!

Then the paw swipe! Swiper, NO SWIPING!

Guess Jon was right. Once again. Whiz WAS fishing for a snack.

Misti Shrug

The Misti Shrug was one of those projects that I saw and instantly loved. I didn't know if I could pull it off wearing it, but as a knitter, the big needles, big yarn with a lace pattern appealed to my "let's try new things" creative process.

Doing lace in bulky yarn is always an exercise of surprise and delight to me. Lace patterns typically call for small yarn, small needles and lots of time. I don't want to spend "lots" of time on a project. I guess you could say I'm a wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am knitter.

I want it hard and fast. Still talking knitting, people. Control that mind of yours.

I'm not a fan of the name, Misti. Probably had a girl named that call me names in High School. Grow up already, Sara.

Anywho! The project went quick. The yarn is bulky Lambs Pride hand dyed by me. I am not too thrilled with the green in this skein. It is just a little too neonish???

I've also found the perfect hair accessory, a crochet hook.

To conclude this post, a gratuitous boy story.

James was dressed in layers of pants and shirts this past weekend in anticipation of us visiting a local horse farm. We stopped at Boston Market to eat. While sitting in the booth waiting for our food, James is rubbing his crotch. When suddenly he announced to the patrons in the dining room, "I need to take off some of these pants cause it is making my peepee long.".

Hope your week is going well. Have a good one!