Goodwill Haul!!

I was shopping at Goodwill yesterday for basket for the schools silent auction in April.  I make a point to swing trough the craft section as long as I'm there.  Yesterday, I scored!

The yarn with a label is Noro Silk Garden sock,  Approx $20 a ball.

Ball #1 (rewound by me) seems to be a tight twist fingering weight.  Very similar to Cascade Heritage Paint

Ball #2 (rewound by me) seems to be a halo-ey fingering weight.  So it likely contains some mohair or alpaca.  (Mohair is common in sock yarn as it lends strength and pill resistance.)  Very similar to Mountain Colors Bearfoot.

Ball #3 (rewound by me) seems to be a DK weight hand dyed.  It appears to be 100% wool based on a burn test.

So no matter how I slice it - it was a huge score for the $6 I paid for it!!

Knit on!

A bit dusty...

Yeah - blogging took a back seat for awhile there.  Not sure if I'll be posting much, but I have had the urge the last few years, I just never acted on it.

So yesterday, in a fit of cleanliness, I cleaned up my crafting room.  It wasn't completely spur of the moment.  I needed a birthday card in December and realized I had pretty much completely used my stash of cards - or at least my stash of cards that I liked.  Which made me decide it was time to rededicate myself to having a stash of birthday/sympathy/blank cards lying around for use when needed.

And here are some of the results:

I'm using mostly old supplies - and it feels good to use some of those up!!

And this last one makes me particularly happy.  Since I haven't stamped in awhile, I thought that using a sketch would be a great place to start.  So here is my version of CAS(e) This Sketch #205:

And sorry for the generally crappy lighting/angles.  It's early and a very grey morning.  I'll try better next time!

And as for knitting - there has been a TON!  In 2016, I set a general goal to knit at least 12 pairs of socks - or one per month.  Well, I crushed that.  I finished my 20th pair on Dec. 30th!  And I'm off to a rocking start for 2017.  I'm not sure if I want to voice it, but I would love to knit 24 pairs this year - or 2 per month.  Possible, maybe?  And as proof, here is pair #2 for the year, knit for a workout buddy who loves funky socks:

 Basic 60 stitch sock, knit with Knitpicks Hawthorne (in the colorway Goose Hollow) on US 1.5 (2.5mm) needles.  I added a 6 stitch cable to make them a little more interesting to knit.  This is my new go-to pattern I guess, because my 3rd pair like this is on the needles (and it's only Jan 24th!!)

Let's see if blogging sticks...

Knit on!

NOT making resolutions

I rarely make a New Years Resolution.  I have made a list of goals for the year in the past, and I liked that.  So I'm going to try something similar this year, but with a twist.  My goal was to come up with 52 "mini" goals/tasks and tackle one each week, but I was only able to come up with 47 :(  I plan on printing this list, cutting each one out and placing them in a jar.  I will draw one goal/task to complete for the week.  There are a few things on this list that will be slightly dependent on weather/timing, so if those are drawn and can not be accomplished, I will redraw for that week.

Without any further ado, here is my list:
1. Walk the dogs each day for the week.
2. No soda for a week.
3. Take the kids to a new museum (one we have not been to before.)
4. Clean out the junk drawer.
5. Hand wash all of my hand-knit sweaters.
6. Drink 8 glasses of water each day for a week.
7. Bake something with the kids (they choose the recipe.)
8. Try a new recipe for diner.
9. Make an OB appointment (yuck - I'm dreading this one.)
10. Read (or at least start) a book on my list at the library.
11. No TV for a week.  (This will be hard - just none for me, the rest of the family can watch.)
12. Smile at everyone for a week.  (Or just smile more!)
13. No swearing for a week.
14. Clean the base boards.
15. Play  board game with the kids every day for a week.
16. Bake something "from scratch."
17. Donate blood (or at least make the appointment.)
18. Give the dogs a bath.
19. Back up my computer files.
20. Clean out the fridge.
21. Defrost the downstairs chest freezer. (This would be best done in the winter.)
22. Go through shoes and trash/donate the ones I don't/can't wear.
23. Sort through my yarn stash and make sure Ravelry stash is accurate.
24. Give my hair a deep conditioning treatment.
25. Make 10 kids birthday cards.
26. Make 10 thank you cards.
27. Go through bookshelves (upstairs and living room); dust and donate.
28. Clean out my closet.
29. Work on only one knitting project (should be a WIP) for a week.
30. Print out all pictures from 2012 - present.
31. Scrap 5 layouts!
32. Clean laundry room.
33. Try one new veggie side dish.
34. Sort through boxes in the basement.
35. Make hot breakfast every day for a week.
36. Trim the trees!
37. Clean craft area - get rid of unused supplies.
38. Make a new cookie recipe.
39. Learn a new word each day for a week.  (And try to use it at least one per day!)
40. No nail biting for a week!  Use clear nail polish!!
41. Do a fancy manicure/pedicure.  (This assumes my nails are not completely ragged.  If so - just a pedicure.)
42. Do a full foot soak and scrub 3 times in one week.
43. Write a letter - by hand.
44. Read an auto-biography. (May take more than a week.)
45. Read a biography. (May take more than a week.)
46. Read a parenting book.  (This will be done in Feb in conjunction with the PTO book read.)
47. Update all framed photos around the house.  Some baby ones can stay :)

Now, the real test will be to see if I can stick to this for 47 weeks!  (But since I only have 47, if we go on vacation, I will be allowed to take that week off.)

If your knitting gets you down...

make a baby sweater!

Honestly - they are so darn cute!  And a super quick knit.  This is the Little Coffee Bean (rav pattern link) knit with Berroco Vintage DK.  The pattern calls for a worsted weight yarn, but I found this DK on sale and I know I like working with it.  So I knit the largest size with smaller needles (Us 6 and 4) and ended up with something in the 3-6 month size range. 

This cardigan is off to live with hubby's cousin and her new baby. 

My Sock Drawer

So I knit.  A lot. 

One thing I always have on the needle is a pair of socks.  I thought I would be knitting a lot of socks this summer but it turns out I was wrong.  I finished just one pair so far.  I have another oon the needles, but it still needs 5-6 hours to finish.

Here is a peek at my sock drawer.  This is 31 pair of hand-knit socks.  I can't wait for fall and sock wearing weather!

Winding up summer

It pains me to admit that summer is nearing completion.  I only have one more week off before I go back to work!  The kiddos have 3 weeks and they are determined to make the most of them.

This weekend we are heading to the cabin with some friends.  The kids have been looking forward to this all summer.  Since the dads have to work on Friday, the moms take the kids on Friday morning and the dads join us very late on Friday night.  This works out very nicely because the kids love to stop at all the crazy touristy places.  The dads bring the dogs with them, so the moms and kids can stop as often as we like...and we do.

Some of our favorites:

1.  Great Lakes Candy - This is such a wonderful little store - candy of all kinds. They make most (if not all?) of their chocolate items.  I've been given a little tour of the back room and they have the massive copper kettles for making caramel.  So delicious.

2. Beaver Bay Agate Shop - Our kids just love this place.  They have lots of kitschy little carved stone animals and necklaces in the $3-$5 range.  Very kids friendly - and they have a nice little museum too, with a large collection of beautiful Thomsonite stones.

3.  Kitchi Gammi Park - This is a great park just north of Duluth.  We love to pack a picnic lunch and eat it on the shore of Lake Superior.  The kids could spend hours here jumping on the rocks and poking at stuff in tide pools.  Note to self - someone WILL get wet, bring towels.

After the cabin trip, Gregory has a few procedures scheduled.  Nothing requiring a hospital stay thankfully.  He's having an oral surgery/orthodontic procedure done. (Extractions of baby teeth and bonding of 2 permanent teeth.)  The second one is a plastic surgery procedure.  The doctor has been wanting to do this for a few years (like 4!) but we were waiting for Gregory to want it too.  He is having some scar tissue on his lip removed, the tip of his nose raised to improve his airway in one nostril, and a fatty lump removed from the back of his head.  (Not cleft related, but it's been growing in size the past year or so so it's time for it to go.)

And I've been knitting up a storm!  I'm trying to knit Christmas presents for all of my wonderful co-workers in the main school office.  Since I just do not have much knitting time once school starts, I figured I better get as much of this done before school starts as I can.  Of the 5 gifts I need, I have 2.5 done! 

And here is one I made for me.  A fun little project to use up as much left-over sock yarn as possible.  It did not use nearly as much yarn as I was hoping.  I think I could make about 5 more of these and still have yarn left over!  (It's about 5.5" wide and 70" long without the fringe.)  Pattern Link.

That's all for now - and I seem to be doing a tiny bit better updating this blog - go me!

On being forgetful...

Sunday is grocery shopping day for me.  I make a meal plan for the week, create a grocery list based off that, check for coupons and off I go.

Today, it went according to plan until I got to Target.  It was then that I discovered that I had forgotten my grocery list at home. Poop.  I hastily jotted down what I could remember, hoping I wasn't going to have to make another trip to the grocery store.

I did pretty well because when I got home and checked my original list, I only forgot 1 thing.  Go me!!