It's for charity!

I usually always have something on the needles for charity. I have a group called The Firewalker Project that sends chemo caps and prayer shawls to Midwestern cancer centers and usually knit for Caps For A Cure as well. I think I feel like... I can knit well and if I have something I am good at, I should use it for good (with great power comes great responsibility!).

I received an email about an auction/raffle going on to raise money for the Friends of Ostomates-Worldwide and decided to knit a new Dichotomy shawl to send. I made it pink and white striped and actually didn't get a picture of it before I sent it out (oops). But I hope it brings in some good money! If you are in the Aurora, IL area on October 26th, go check it out!

My company is having it's annual food drive in a month and I am knitting up some things to donate to the silent auction. Last year, my large gnomes brought in $80 a piece and my ninja brought in $50.

Not the real charity gnomes

The ninja found a home

This year, I'm knitting dishcloths to add to a kitchen gift basket. I figure a set of 3, plus a few crocheted scrubbies a friend is donating, plus some other goodies, would make a nice auction item. And the bright and cheerful yellow and white yarn can't hurt.

Then I'm making the awesome rainbow scarf I made myself, but in Indianapolis Colts colors.

Lastly, I'm making a set of Adventure Gnomes to auction off. Those little guys have all the fun!

Philip the gnome in the Philippines

photos by Amy Brown

hooo boy

photo by Warren Sifre

Sir Crooked Beard at Victoria Falls, Africa

photo by Becky Savage

Herbie running the Get Your Rear In Gear race!
photo by http://instagram.com/eyesnappedonyou

Knit for Charity!

Fallin'

Fall is pretty much here. The windows are open, the air conditioner is off (buh-bye, high electric bill!) and I am happier. I do think Fall is my favorite season.

I'm super happy to report that I completed my first 5K since injuring my back! I did it in under an hour and cut one minute off my average mile. Last year was the inaugural Choose to Move: Race to Beat Parkinson's and since it hits so close to my dad's birthday, I've decided I will be walking (and maybe running) the 5K every year. My sister joined me last year and my mom joined us both this year. They did the 1 mile fun walk and I tackled the 5K walk (untimed). There was a really good crowd this year and I hope it keeps getting bigger!

Me, mom & April

 

:)

Next Sunday, my friend and I tackle the Chocoholic Frolic.

On The Needles

Still working on the Noro Waterfall scarf. I really need to get monogamous on something so I can start knocking these things off the needles. The color changes on this one are so addicting to watch so I may just cozy up to this scarf for a while.

Also still working on a Christmas present for my mom. I have about 30 rows (lonnnnggg rows) left to knit before the finishing. It's very pretty as well but I won't be able to mention it or post pictures until after the holidays. Arrrgh.

My Halloween socks are languishing.

I casted on one more Christmas present today - bulky weight yarn  so it should go quickly.

Boy, have I reconsidered my Christmas knitting. The majority of things I planned are no longer on the list to be worked for Christmas. I don't want to stress myself out this year and there are so many things I want to knit for myself.

Off The Needles

Another FO! I finished a present for my massage therapist - the Dichotomy shawl! The yarn is so dang pretty I really sped through knitting this just to keep seeing the color changes.

I do hope she likes it!

I also made up 2 Adventure Gnomes to give away this week. They went to the co-workers who paid $80 for a big handknit gnome for our silent auction at work that benefited a local food bank. I wanted to give them a little something extra.

The military gnome is just a little version of the big one that was requested. I made the other in leftover light blue and navy blue yarn. I changed the pattern to knit in the round because I really dislike seaming!

Cute little guys :)

Casting About

While I was looking for yarn for the gnomes, I found I had lots of spare yarn, little bits and pieces. So today I bought about 10 little totes and sorted all the spare yarn by weight. I'm thinking for most of the extra yarn, I have enough for some chemo caps, more adventure gnomes and I'm thinking of using iMake's mitered square recipe to make a pillow cover for a throw pillow. I have enough weights I think I could do the pillow and get a throw blanket out of them!

That's about it... back to listening to podcasts and knitting before heading back to the concrete jungle tomorrow!

Podcast Spotlight: 2 Knit Lit Chicks

I've been catching up on some podcasts that I kind of let go for a bit recently. Any podcast about knitting and books is pretty going to be on my iPod and the 2 Knit Lit Chicks is one I started listening to after CraftLit.

This is another mother/daughter podcast and it's full of content: from knitting to contests to books to everything else. Most of the episodes come in about an hour, which seems a pretty decent time to just sit and relax, craft and listen.

Their shownotes (linked above) are chokeful of links to pretty much everything they talk about. They have a book talk section and I'm at a loss how these 2 women read SO much (and I thought I was a big reader!) but they are heavy on audiobooks as well. So far, I have to admit that their book tastes really do not mesh with mine but I love listening to the very honest reviews - if they don't like a book, they do not like a book.

They are joining some other podcasters to put on a knitting retreat in California and, just based on listening to the podcast, I would love to go and meet these ladies!

They often have contests in their group on Ravelry and also host several KALs (knit-a-longs). The Mother Bear Project seems to be their pet project and I have since bought the pattern to start my own bears for the KALs.

Give these ladies a listen!

Welcome back!

So I have been gone for a bit. It's been a rough few months but I'm really trying to get on an upswing. I had a get together at my house in memory of my friend, Becky, who passed away in July. There ended up about 15 or so people, enjoying good food, beverages and the most perfect weather we could have hoped for. I think Becky had something to do with the weather, considering it was terribly hot and humid for weeks and cold and rainy the day before the party. I'm still struggling a bit with her not being here but someday I know I won't look back on her with such sadness.

The day after the party, I messed up my back (again) helping my dog get up the ramp to the SUV. I ended up missing 3 days of work, barely able to move and sick as a dog because I managed to give myself a bowel obstruction as well (long story - lots of abdominal surgeries). I'm somewhat mobile now and back to caring to knit and read again. I don't like being forced down like that so I'm hoping to get through it soon.

Onwards!

On The Needles
So a lot of what is on the needles will be acting as Christmas presents so I can't quite say much about them now. I can say that I had Voolenvine yarns custom dye some yarn for presents for my mother and sister. I can also say I've ripped out 3 projects that I started knitting with it, not because of the yarn or colors because they are beautiful, but because the patterns weren't showcasing the colors. I finally went back to an old favorite and got about 3 inches knit up and I think I'm happy now. The colors are the focal point and that's what I wanted.

I dug up some Noro from my stash and started a scarf for a special person. Not really for Christmas per se, just because I felt the need to give this person something beautiful. I've not knit with Noro before, although Becky and I enabled each other to buy quite a bit of it and she did make a scarf out of hers, so I'm really happy to see how it's working. The color changes are very potato chip knitting, I keep wanting to knit to get to the next color! I love how the pattern (Waterfall scarf) is working out as well. I also know of other yarn in my stash that needs to become this scarf.

Noro!

I'm working on another Dichotomy for my massage therapist for Christmas. I showed her my Game of Thrones one and she loved it so I decided to make her one. I found some really cool yarn in my stash that I got in North Carolina at Charlotte Yarn. It reminds me of a campfire, the way it runs from tans to grays to yellow to orange. It's from Classic Shades in Natural Glow. I think this will be amazing when it's done.

I still have a pair of vanilla socks on the needles for me in Gnomeacres Smell My Feet. I have a feeling they won't be done for Halloween. Ah well. I want to buy her new fall colors but I must stay on a yarn diet!

FO Party!
Truly?!?! I got another project done!  I made my mom a Gaptastic cowl because she really wanted one after seeing the one I made for my sister and for me. Mom knits but I don't think she's as enthusiastic about it as I am, so I bought some Knit Picks Full Circle bulky yarn in Tomatillo. It's wool and made from recycled fiber. I love it and went back and got some blue for myself. The only thing about making this cowl in a solid color is boy, you can see the mistakes in the seed stitch.

In Your Ear
I've been trying to catch up on podcasts and failing so I went back to Craftlit and am trying to finish Little Women. My book club for it is long over but now it's a mission to get that book done. It's not really my type of book but I'm halfway through so I will be getting it done :)

For Your Eyes Only
Finally finished up Season 4 of Haven and ready to begin actively watching Season 5. Also working through Outlander on Starz and am really enjoying it. I'm being slow watching that because I'm still reading the book. I think Voolenvine is doing some Outlander colorways which might damage my yarn diet. Darn it!

Quenching Your Thirst
A friend and I went to a new (to us) winery in Fishers. Harmony Winery is a cute little place that actually offers up a lot more than you would expect. You can make your own wine there using all of their equipment (no investment!) and you can even have custom labels printed for your wine. They had a huge selection of wine with about 10-15 on their actual tasting menu. For $5 you could taste 10 wines. I like fruit wines to an extent (and no one does them better than Butler Winery in Bloomington) but Harmony takes regular wine and adds the fruit to it, instead of making wine from fruit. I enjoyed pretty much everything I tasted! One of my favorites was Ghost Berry - a white cranberry wine.

Dog is intrigued... or wants a treat

If you are in the area, it's worth checking out. I'm wanting to try the wine and yoga night myself. What could go wrong with that?!?!

Podcast Spotlight: Stuff You Missed In History Class

This podcast has so much good content I get slightly overwhelmed sometimes.

Stuff you missed in History class is part of the Stuff Network and it covers the gamut of, literally, things not taught in history class. I had a seriously good history teacher (Mr. Wallace at Pendleton Heights, thank you!) and I'm learning things in this podcast that I haven't heard before.

The most current episodes are a mini-series on Chinese history - starting with Chairman Mao's plan to revolutionize agriculture in China. I just got done listening to a two-parter about The Great Locomotive Chase during the Civil War as well as learning about The Heathen School (failure) and the Tulsa race riot. All stuff I've never heard of before.

The episodes are usually kept about 30 minutes in length which is good, but understand that the history will be a bit abbreviated. Which is a good excuse to go read up on the subjects that interest you (and they provide book links and resources!).

Keep learnin'!

Yarn Clubber

I joined a yarn club last year, just one, to get a taste and see if it would be something that I like to do. Turns out... this could be an expensive hobby. Eeps.

Tempted Yarns had a Pin Up Beauties yarn club last year, and while I can't remember how I heard about it, I signed up immediately. Stacy let us do a payment plan, which also helped the temptation. Her yarn was beautiful and the little goodies that came with it were equally great. I'm still part of the Ravelry group and would still buy her yarn.

This year, I was pretty excited to be picked to be in the Sunnydale Yarn Club. I frickin' LOVE Buffy and I think I would have been upset not to get in to this one. This one is by Dizzy Blonde Studios and I heard about it on the Knotty Girls Knit Cast. So this time around is the 2nd patrol aka the second season. The blog (linked above) isn't completely caught up but take a look at the first yarn shipment they show. It's based on the Halloween episode where everyone changes into their costumes. I have no idea what to do with the yarn yet, because I think I don't want to hide it in a pair of shoes. Must search Ravelry!

I also joined the Golden Skein yarn club which is overseas. Kinda crazy, I know. But I heard about it on a UK podcast (which I can't for the life of me remember - if I do, I'll edit and post!). I joined The Slimmer's Club. Less expensive (but with a payment installment deal too) and I get 1 skein at a time. Basically the indie dyer's get photos for inspiration and they dye up yarn to go with the photo. The yarn arrives in a golden envelope. Quite beautiful!

Click to embiggen

I'm pretty happy with these 2 clubs for this year. I almost, almost joined Voolenvine's Art Nouveau club but held back.

At this point, even I have to admit, I need a yarn diet. So, I am now on one. *sigh*