De-Cluttering Commenceth

I must obviously be a Crazy Aunt Purl follower. First the gloves and now the idea that I MUST de-clutter my house to find my sanity. I know I left it here somewhere but just can't find it.

Usually I try to do all of it at once, this time I realized that it would take away weekend knitting time if I did that so I limited my de-clutter activity to four hours each morning with time left for regular weekend chores: laundry and food prep; and knitting/movie watching.

That plan almost worked until I realized that I had spent six hours cleaning, de-cluttering and reducing my bedroom and walk-in closet. I did finally call it a day around 3 p.m. and took a well-deserved knit break. In that time I had created a much neater and cleaner space, plus had 5 bags for Goodwill donation.

I still have to do the clothing reduction but I think that can wait until fall when I change out my summer wearables for the winter stuff. I am really pleased with my efforts and will be going after my kitchen this coming weekend. That should be very interesting. I have things in there I have not seen since I moved in four years ago. If I don't use it, it is going out the door. Just because I have cupboard space does not mean have to fill it.

A big thank you to Laurie to reminding me I should be living more simply. And I hope everyone is finding ways to recycle, reuse, and reduce by donating anything that no longer fits their lifestyle~!

Knitting Multiple Fingers

First note: Who knew that knitting gloves would become a musical?

I had no idea that knitting fingers would cause me to break out into spontaneous singing. Just ask my mom, she was the recipient of my song creation when I called her last night during the bad storms we were having here and sang - I've knit fingers, I've knit fingers, to the Gershwin tune - I've Got Rhythm, where that came from I have no idea. It was lots of fun.

The yarn I am using for the test gloves shown is Yarn Bee Snowflake Wool Blend from Hobby Lobby. It is soft and washable, made from wool and acrylic, and is very interesting to look at. This colorway is called Bluebell.

I am using the Ken pattern I found for free on Ravelry. And knitting the gloves on size 7 US dpns also a new Yarn Bee product. The needles are striped and in acrylic. The yarn does not slip around which is handy for when you have 2 stitches on each one to get around the very tip of the finger.

The sudden inspiration to knit gloves came from reading Crazy Aunt Purl's blog about knitting gloves in LA in July out of Noro Kureyon. She was using Ann Budd's book - The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns and saying how easy it made it to attempt knitting that many fingers.

I loved the look of the glove and decided I had to find a pattern (don't own the book - yet) and go get some fun striping yarn - Noro. I have looked at Noro before and was put off by the feel of it. I have read lots of people saying that it has weak spots in it and lots of knots. So when I went into one of my favorite knit shops, Green Valley Weavers and Knitters, I went to their Noro bin and tried again to get past the feel. I could not, sorry but it just does not work for me.

So I asked if there was something that would make a good substitute, giving me the right weight and long striping. Two brands came up immediately, one is Mochi Plus from Crystal Palace Yarns. It has lovely long color repeats, is soft and machine washable if you wish, and looks hand spun giving it more character. That is what I bought.

The other option is Plymouth Boku, it has similar properties to Noro with the colorways, is 95% wool and 5% silk, is priced less and is more consistent in its manufacture while maintaining the handspun look. I will be trying some of that next.

I plan to finish the first glove tonight and have the MJ look at least until I get the other one done. I hope everyone has found something/someone that/who inspires them to try new things~!

Top Memories for 2008 (in pictures with commentary)

I have to give the nod to CrazyAuntPurl for the idea to sprinkle my 2008 memory blog with pics of favorite folks and furries.

So far, my top memory for this last day of the 2008 is that I do not have to wait up tonight for fireworks. I just saw the celebration in Auckland, New Zealand this AM while they were shooting off fireworks to mark their midnight. Ain't technology grand?!



In May, I had my first official knitting class with students. It was lots of fun.












In June, I was in Georgia to see the Evil Elf meet Loopy in a yarn store before my folks and I began the road trip home with their new-to-them van.


At Bancroft Park in Old Colorado City, I joined a great group of knitters for Knit in Public Day. I plan to be there again this year. The official date for 2009 is June 13th.








Pedro and I spent many summer afternoons with our favorite neighbors and friends.




And I knit, and knit while I watched the Summer Olympics. In the end, I medaled with seven completed projects, or FOs, over the course of two weeks.






And Loopy and I went off to Taos in October for the Wool Festival where we met up with CatwithCats for a fun-filled weekend of fiber and critters and a huge Ravelry meetup.




And through all the good weather, we had a constant visitor that came for nuts and for Pedro to have his own entertainment in the front window.






And I knit and knit.



And then we cooked and cooked.



And, afterwards, we rested.







And through it all, I had the constant companionship of my bestest bud, Pedro.

He and I wish for you all the best things for the New Year! We will be starting tomorrow to build our memory bank for 2009, won't you join us?