Idea Jar

I had an IEP meeting for my son yesterday. One of his big problems is coming up with a "small moment" for writing time. He struggles with it each week. I thought that we should have an "idea jar" for him to use. The idea is to add a "small moment" topic to the jar when we think of them. Then when he gets stuck, he just chooses an idea out of the jar and off he goes. (That's the idea anyway, I just hope it works out.)

So I figured I couldn't just have a plain jar, so I decorated up an old Mason jar. Here it is!
I think it came out pretty cute. Now we'll just have to wait and see if it works.

A Layout and a General Rant

First the layout. The Scraproom challenges us every month to "Get More Pages Done", which basically means to create a layout or project using each of our 4 kits before the end of the month. There's prizes and everything :) So I already have my GMPD completed - I can't even believe it! I got the box on Monday and they are done!! So here is my favorite from the month:

This LO was created using the American Crafts Everyday line. I broke out my paints for the title and everything.

And now for the rant. I've lived in Minnesota my whole life (except for the stint in New Zealand - but I digress.) I don't complain about winter much because, well, it's Minnesota - what do I expect?? But it's March, not early March, but a full fledged Mid-March. I drove by a bank today and our temperature was 2. Seriously - that's not even counting the wind chill which is pretty darn wicked. Enough already - I get it. This is Minnesota and it can get damn cold here. But I am SICK OF IT!!! *end rant*

Hope you all are warmer than me today.

Misc. Ramblings...

Lots to post today, so I'll get right to it. First off - a card. I made this one for the SCS color Challenge - Chocolate Chip, Pink Passion, and Kiwi Kiss. I used Choc Chip, Pixie Pink, and Old Olive. The colors were perfect for the Basic Grey Urban Prairie paper - I liked it so much that I bought extra papers (and buttons) at Archivers to add to my TSR kit!!


Next up - the socks I'm working on. My friend Kate from my knit night designed these socks - and they are gorgeous! I started them out in a gray Knit Picks yarn but I didn't like them. So I frogged that and re-started in some of my re-cycled sock yarn. This time I dyed the yarn with blue to get a lovely shade of periwinkle. And the second time around - this pattern is much easier. I still have some questions about the heel flap - so I need to get that far before knit night on Thursday!!
And one more knitting item. I made a goal to knit 2 pair of hats/mittens for my friend Amy every month. So far I've made one hat and three pairs of mittens. I've got another pair on the needles right now. I should be able to get them done for knit night. Here is a picture of the hat/mitten combo I made in January:


The mitten pattern is free for personal/charity use. Here it is - it's a nice one. I like that there is no left/right mitten - they are both the same. That way if one gets lost it's not a big deal. I'll just knit another one! The hat is just a basic hat pattern that I made up as I went along. It looks pretty good too!

So after so long without being able to post pictures - I sure seem to be making up for it!!

Knit on!

Doodlefactory Blog Candy

Starvingartiststamps is releasing a new set of Easter stamps. They are too cute. Check them out:


And make sure you leave a comment on their blog for a chance to win!

Good luck everyone!!

Here are the promised pictures!!

I promise not to overload my blog with pictures today - but expect lots of posts from me this week!

I have mostly been working on socks the past 2 months. I hand washed three pairs yesterday, and here they are drying on my kitchen counter:

Left to right: Basic socks using some recycled 100% wool from a thrift store sweater (over dyed with kool-aide)
Charade socks using Tree house Melody 100% wool
Spring Forward using Knit Picks Imagination in Looking Glass

I'm now reaching the point where I need to start working on some projects for other people.......my nephew Nate's birthday hat, mittens for my mom for her birthday, shawl/scarf for my MIL for Mothers day, etc.

I've started the hat for Nate. I'm making the Swell hat. According to lots of people on Ravelry, this hat needs some modifications to get gauge so it will fit an adult. Since I knew I would have to go up a few needle sizes, I decided to hold the yarn two stranded. It will make a warmer hat too - always a good thing! I'm using some Paton's wool from my stash - the main color is black and the waves will be cream. Perfect for a 14 year old, right? (And I think the size will be pretty good since my 6 year old is able to wear it with it still on the needle!)

And I cleaned my scrapping/stamping area. You'll start seeing a lot more of my paper crafting things. But as a mini-look. Here are a few of the Target mailboxes I decorated for the kids teachers for Valentines Day. I was very pleased with how they turned out and the teachers seemed to like them as well! (And I used up a TON of scraps from my Scrap Room kits!)

Ahhhhh.....it feels good to be able to load pictures onto my blog again!!

Til later, knit on!

Pictures may be back...

...soon!! My beloved hubby updated our computer last night. I just need to find my camera cord....D'oh!! "Prepare to be amazed!!" (Said in my best Meet the Robinsons voice!)

.....back soon!!

Not craft related.....

but I read this on Jill's blog and wanted to play along! I find it a bit ironic that a few of my favorite books listed on my sidebar are on this list! (A few of the bolded italicized books are hold overs from Jills list. Apparently Blogger just couldn't handle the copy/paste.)

Key
1) Bold the books you have already read
2) Italicize the books you intend to read
3) Notes in parentheses next to note-worthy titles.

1) Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

2) The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

3) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (And I loved The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde - a fabulous book!!)

4) Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling

5) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (didn't everyone have to read this in eigth grade??)

6) The Bible (lets not go there.)

7) Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte - I just don't get the appeal of this one. I didn't like it much.

8 ) Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell

9) His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

10) Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

11) Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

12) Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

13) Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

14) Complete Works of Shakespeare (nope - and no plans to start!!)

15) Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

16) The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

17) Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks

18 ) Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger

19) The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

20) Middlemarch by George Eliot - I've read about 1/2 of this one. I just could never manage to get through it!!

21) Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell

22) The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

23) Bleak House by Charles Dickens

24) War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

25) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

26) Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

27) Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28 ) Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

29) Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

30) The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

31) Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

32) David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

33) Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis

34) Emma by Jane Austen

35) Persuasion by Jane Austen

36) The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by CS Lewis

37) The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

38 ) Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis De Bernieres

39) Memories of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

40) Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne

41) Animal Farm by George Orwell

42) The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

43) One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez (just finished this one and LOVED it.)

44) A Prayer for Owen Meaney by John Irving (Hands down one of the BEST BOOKS EVER)

45) The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (another one I've started several times but have never finished.)

46) Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery

47) Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

48 ) The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood One of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors!!

49) Lord of the Flies by William Golding

50) Atonement by Ian McEwan (read this for my book club, but didn't love it.)

51) Life of Pi by Yann Martel

52) Dune by Frank Herbert (nope - and I'm not going to.....ever.)

53) Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons

54) Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

55) A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

56) The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57) A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

58 ) Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

59) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon

60) Love In The Time Of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61) Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

62) Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

63) The Secret History by Donna Tartt

64) The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

65) Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

66) On The Road by Jack Kerouac

67) Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy

68 ) Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding

69) Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

70) Moby Dick by Herman Melville

71) Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

72) Dracula by Bram Stoker

73) The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

74) Notes From A Small Island by Bill Bryson - not this on in particular since I've not read it, but Bill bryson is a brilliant writer!

75) Ulysses by James Joyce

76) The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

77) Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome

78 ) Germinal by Emile Zola

79) Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

80) Possession by AS Byatt

81) A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

82) Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

83) The Color Purple by Alice Walker

84) The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

85) Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

86) A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

87) Charlotte's Web by EB White

88 ) The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom

89) Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90) The Faraway Tree Collection by Enid Blyton

91) Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (had to read this in college.)

92) The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery

93) The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

94) Watership Down by Richard Adams

95) A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

96) A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute

97) The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas (Loved this - and all Dumas books.)

98 ) Hamlet by William Shakespeare

99) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl (Seriously - a great read. Dahl books are much more appreciated by an adult audience. I recommend Matilda!)

100) Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

And just as an explaination - I worked downtown Minneapolis for about 5 years in the 90's and rode the bus to work. I had about an hour each day to read during this trip. I had a period when I determined that I should read all the books that people are "supposed to read." Many of those books are on this list - and a bunch that should be!