9.27.2011

...Searching for Online Yarn Shops...

The other day I was asked what I collect. That is a really hard question for me to answer! So I started thinking about my hobbies and at this point, knitting is really my only hobby. So, to answer her question, I said "yarn".

Before A was born, I was usually at a hobby store or my LYS looking at and sometimes purchasing yarn. Now a trip to these places is only 45 minutes away, however, since having a baby, these trips have gone down greatly (I must add I am totally okay with that b\c I love my baby!). And thus I have been looking for online stores that have good quality yarns, decent prices and are easy to work with. It's just more convenient to place an order online if I know what I am looking for than it is to plan an entire trip with A!

One site I have been looking at ordering from is www.Sandra Singh.com. I found her site through Ravelry and bookmarked it to check into at a later date. As Christmas is approaching, I need to start purchasing yarn for the gifts I am aiming to make. Her site is easy to navigate through, which is a huge plus to me. She features a good variety of yarn, both familiar and unfamiliar to me. I like seeing brands that my LYS does not carry! She also offers many patterns, knitting books\magazines AND she has a promotional offer called Customer Creations. If you knit with the items you purchased from her site, she will add a $5 coupon to your next purchase! And if you know me at all, you KNOW I love COUPONS!

I have an order placed for some Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Indigo for my mom's commuter mitts. If you check out her site now, all Malabrigo is on SALE! And you KNOW how much I love SALES!

If you are like me and need to shop more online for your hobby of yarn, I VERY MUCH suggest checking out her site.

...One A Day...Tuesday Tallies

Not too much to report but wanted to thank everyone for their thoughts\advice on A's Afghan. I think I am going to do a test swatch with the smaller needles and see if I like that better before I rip out what I have done so far.

I had to rip out A's vest...

It was WAY too big for the size I am aiming for. No One A Day progress in the last week and a half. Hoping for a better week!

Week 13

This has been a GOOD week!! Ah, FINALLY!!

Without further adieu, I bring to you Remember the Magic Scarf #1, Modeled by its recipient!
I gave in and gave it to her early. I had to. It is starting to get chilly here and it was just time. I am taking this week off from these scarves but expect to start the second one next week!

Here is the Hawkeye Scarf (thankfully the model stuck around to show off this scarf).
I hope its recipient likes it! It is October 3rd and I have met TWO goals already!
October YOP Goals:

*Send Hawkeye Scarf (I have been known to keep pkgs on my table for weeks...)
*Finish HP scarf BY October 2nd

*Start A's Jingle Bell's Hat
*Try to keep at One A Day

I have not started the Jingle Bell Hat yet, I need to dedicate this week to a couple gift items.
My One A Day has been going okay. I started A's Vest over and have good progress on that. And finally have needles test swatch his afghan. Come back tomorrow for Tuesday Tallies!!

In other news, if you do not mind reading a bit longer, I am in trouble. Look what I learned how to do:


...My sides are a little wonky, not the best at figuring out which stitch to use at the ends...

I realllly like crocheting. I attended a class last week and learned SC and DC and am hoping to get back this week again. I already have projects in mind...this could be bad. I want to make A some hats and possibly start a lapghan. And then the teacher busted out a crochet hook that lights up! WHAT?! Oh dear.

9.25.2011

Year of Projects--Weeks 11 & 12\September Recap

Week 11 Update: I missed this one...oops...and by the time I got to writing about it, it was Friday. Decided it probably was not worth it as all I had done is work on the HP scarf.

Onto Week 12!

I have found out that I reeeaaallllyyy do not like having more than one project OTN at once. Well, wait. I really like the "idea" but I cannot do it. I cannot bring myself to work on anything else until this first HP scarf is done. Then again, it has been an excellent project for TV time and car rides, which is when I do most of my knitting. I have had A's Afghan and Vest in my travel project bag a couple times in the last two weeks and I always pull out that scarf. Of course that could be because I frogged the vest and need to do a test swatch with smaller needles for his afghan before working on it again.

ANYWAYS! I told myself (and my DH told me) not to post this update until HP Scarf #1 is DONE! Well, it isn't quite done...but I have this type of anxiety about missing TWO weeks worth of posts. Here it is so far...it needs one more repeat for sure, possibly 2.

Remember this beauty? The Hawkeye Scarf. I started and completed it before A was born. All I had to do with bind off the beginning of the scarf and block. It has taken 4 months for me to pick it back up and complete those final steps.

Don't mind the junk in the picture, our guest bedroom tends to be the room where things get dumped. It looks a little wonky in the middle but that is due to the towels overlapping each other. This was the first time I actually threw a project in the washer and then blocked. The stitches looks stretched out after washing...is this normal?? As soon as it's dry, it will be shipped off to its recipient!

And September's Recap:
Christmas 2011 (due dates for projects in italics)

*Yarn Swap Gift--August 1st
*Hawkeye Scarf--September 1st

*Owlie Sack for Baby Smith--November 1st
*Special Occasion Scarf for Grandma Faye--December 25th (WIP)
*Owlie Sack for Baby Ruyter--December 1st
*
Jingle Bells Hat for Aiden--December 1st
*
4 Secret Christmas Scarves--December 25th (only NEED to make 3) (WIP)
*1 Secret Christmas Scarf--December 25th
*Kindle Pocket--December 25th

*
Mittens for Mom--December 25th
*Hats--December 25th
(For: Kyle, Joshua, Jason, Daniel)
*Hanging Dishtowel for Z--December 25th
*
Leg Warmers--4 sets for my nieces...not entirely sure about this, but my husband thinks it would be neat, so I am adding it.


Top 6 Blog-A-Long Picks
*
Aiden's Afghan (WIP)
*Fingerless Mitts for Me
*Pillowcase for Bedroom
*Socks
*Ballband Dishcloth
*Leg Warmers--inspired and motivated by a fellow blogger and Blog A Long member,

The In Case I Finish List
*Sweater for Me
*learn how to knit entrelac
*Coffee Koozie
*Breast Cancer Dishcloth
*Baby Sweater\Vest (WIP)
*Windmill Bag
*Baby Feet Dishcloth

**since last update, I've completed nothing. Not a darn thing. Sad Day. Rather, sad month.**

5/33 completed.

Another reader makes monthly goals for herself...I am thinking about giving that a shot, so here goes!

October (WHAT?? OCTOBER?) YOP Goals:
*Send Hawkeye Scarf (I have been known to keep pkgs on my table for weeks...)
*Finish HP scarf BY October 2nd.
*Start A's Jingle Bell's Hat
*Try to keep at One A Day

Short list for this month as I have a few birthday gifts to work at as well. HERE GOES!

Big thanks to everyone's comments and support from YOP!!

9.23.2011

$50 Friday!

I really need to be better at posting about this!
Here are last week's deals! My mom has another drug store near her that is not in my area which usually has really sweet deals! I give her a Visa giftcard to put towards the deals I find online every week and she picks them up for me. So each time I go to her place I have a little bag waiting for me. Here is what I picked up last week:
This photo should also have a milky way. This drug store has a machine that spits out "free" coupons all the time!! The carefree, bandaids and milkyway were all free! Not sure of what my total was before q's...

Total after Q's: $1.49
That's like running uptown to grab a candy bar from the gas station!

I only managed to get to Walgreens last week, here is how I did!
Total Before Q's: $32.30
Total After Q's: $12.80
Total Savings: $19.50

The tea and chex mix were great deals as they are favorite snacks in our house! and I love those scent and sprays! They were $7.99 and I had a q for $4.00. So I paid 3.99 out of pocket but then got $3 in Register Rewards to use towards my next purchase! It was like getting it for .99!! After q's and using the register reward, I was able to get all the cans of tea and chex mix for .33! Not going to complain!!

Onto this week: it has been interesting! I finally went ACTUAL grocery shopping yesterday (we've been out of town or had guests). I made a quick Walmart trip for some random things and proceeded onto my grocery store. Well, a rather full diaper caused me to run out of wipes, covered part of the car floor and was bad enough to warrant a trip back home! Mind you, that is 17 miles away! After all was well, A and I went back to the grocery store. I didn't get a picture but this trip included chicken breasts, bone in ckn breasts (going to cube the ckn and make stock), ground beef, lettuce, bananas, cantaloupe, milk, ice cream, soups, LOTS of spaghetti sauce (i think we are set for the winter!) and other things I cannot remember.

Total before Q's: $67.23
Total After Q's: $54.15
Total After Subtracting Purchases made for My Mom: $50.15
Total Savings: $17.09 (taking $4 from Mom into acct)

I still want to hit up Walgreens and Target, perhaps tomorrow!
Thanks for checking in! And if you are interested in learning more about saving $$ on your next grocery bill check out www.krazycouponlady.com or shoot me an email!

9.13.2011

...One A Day...

Time for a Tuesday Tally One A Day Update!!

Since I only do a row a day, progress is obviously slow. :o) I am having a tough time deciding if I want to continue this pattern for A's Afghan:

Close up of the squares:
I don't mind the fingering weight yarn or the fact that it will take forever. My issue is this:
Can you see how loose it is? Well, it seems loose to me. Hubby says it looks okay and to keep going. Does it look as bad as I think it does? So I pose a question to you fellow readers, do I continue doing what I am doing? Do I switch to a SIZE 2 needles? Do I find a completely different pattern? HELP!

In other news, I made good progress on A's vest:
But I fear it is going to be too wide. I went up to worsted weight, up needle size and CO 10 more stitches. I chatted with a fellow knitter who followed the same course for her 6 month old and it ended up fitting her 3 year old. I'll probably slip a lifeline through, pull it off the needles and see how wide it is. Will likely rip it out and start again.

Have you joined the One A Day group? You MUST!

9.12.2011

Late $50 Friday!

A few of you have been asking about my $50 Friday posts and where they went. Summer has been so busy that I have not been doing a lot of couponing! But I am hoping to start back up again and score some awesome deals!

Here are a few deals I found last week at a couple different places. Cheap batteries, hair stuff and pasta to name a few! Best Deal? Those HUGE bottles of shampoo and conditioner for .25 a piece!
I didn't go "normal" grocery shopping as we had company over this weekend and I shopped for that.

Total Before Coupons: $52.98
Total After Coupons: $16.23
Total Savings: $36.75

There were some great diaper deals last week too AND I had coupons to make them even better!
Total Before Coupons: $147.12 (this should actually be more as the diapers I bought were at sale price, not regular price like they would normally be if shopping for them weekly).
Total After Coupons: $94.58
Total Savings: $52.54
Approximately .13 cents a diaper!!!

Did you use coupons this week? What was your best deal?

9.11.2011

Year of Projects--Week 10

Wow this week FLEW by! I had good intentions of going back through everyone's posts from the week and making comments...and then today I realized it was time to update again! Sorry for not getting to commenting on all your wonderful progress!

...Short and Sweet Update...

If you remember, I said in last week's YOP post that I would fully dedicate myself to the first HP scarf I am working on. I've decided I really like knitting scarves in the round...

Managed to make some more progress on it but I so wish it was done! We had friends over this weekend and I worked on it while we played games (and it wasn't my turn). LOL! Planning on working on it more this week. I have also been working on A's Afghan and Vest (also YOP items)...check Tuesday's post for an update!

9.05.2011

I got a blog award? What?!

After a busy weekend, I checked my Rav inbox and had a message from Christine saying there was a surprise on her blog, It's A Knitting Thing! So...I go check it out. And she had been gifted The Liebster Award. So cool!
This award originated in Germany and translates to beloved, dearest, love. The idea is to pass it on to five other blogs that you enjoy that have less than 200 followers...and she picked me as one of the five! WHAT?? I was so surprised! It was very thoughtful. Many thanks to Christine! Go check out her blog here.

Now I have the pleasure of sharing it with 5 blogs that I enjoy reading and hope you will too:

1. Elphia Designs--she designs the CUTEST purses!
2. Knitting @ Lunch--i somehow stumbled across her blog and she inspired me to become a better knitter.
3. Mama Journeys--she also knits but blogs about other topics as well. Very helpful information and a JOY to read!
4. Slightly Sprightly--a fellow crafter, and might I add, talented! watch this one!
5. Everywhere Knits--a relatively new blog i somehow stumbled upon. Cute blog and fun to read!

There are MANY other blogs that I really enjoy reading in addition to these. Check them all out under the 'Blogs I Read' tab on my blog!

9.03.2011

...One A Day...

Ah, I love this One A Day stuff. I am able to get in some knitting everyday but am not letting it become the focus of my day. It has been a lot of fun seeing what other people are working on and how far they have come.
Here is A's Afghan...

The color looks black but it's a very deep dark blue. It's not much to look at right now...but I am 7 rows in! I am only doing a row a day (unless I find a few more minutes, I'll do another) but it feels like it goes pretty quickly. Not far enough to tell if I like the pattern and how the yarn works up but hopefully by the end of the week I will decide.

Now for a funny story: I try to take my pictures on our white radiator cover. I slid A's afghan down and put his vest in its spot. Took the picture and then picked up the afghan. "Oh No!" I exclaimed! And my DH replies, "What happened? You lose a stitch?" I laughed so hard! He sounded so empathetic and just knowing that he understands how angry it makes me to lose a stitch, it was just cute. But thankfully, no stitches lost. It had gotten dust on it. (insert embarrassed face). Probably had to be there to fully appreciate the humor behind it...

And I decided to give the Pebbles a whirl as I think it will knit up faster than Pembroke. :o)

Yeah...not too far...I'm playing around with needle size and amt of stitches as I want it to be 6 months+. Hope to have a good idea on this by next week. Here's to another week of One A Day! Check out Gingerbread Girl's blog for more Tuesday Tallies!

Year of Projects--Week 9

I love September. I love school supplies, seeing the leaves start to change colors, the coming of cooler weather, I just LOVE September. Here is to hoping September is MUCH more productive than August where knitting is concerned.

What kept me from accomplishing more on my YOP list was signing up for swaps...I am swearing them off this month. Not a single one.

The first swap was a couple dishcloths. I completed my first Ballband, which was also a YOP item, and pushed off making the second one. Finally, I told myself no more YOP until that baby is finished! Who doesn't love the traditional Grandmother's Dishcloth that you can complete in an afternoon?


The second swap was a bit trickier for me. We just had to make something, didn't matter what. I was so tempted to make a scarf, but decided to try making fingerless mitts. I finished the first one...and hated it. Made some needle adjustments and pushed on to make the second one. MUCH better. So rrrrrripped the first one out and completed with the newer adjustments.



I am unsure as to how I feel about them...they are better than what they were originally. If I had the next size smaller needles, I would have gone that route. But I was already past the deadline. I hope she likes them...I sent the rest of the skein along and told her I was not offended if she wanted to rip them out and redo them. :0)

Shateen, quit rambling about your stupid swap addiction and talk about your darn YOP already!

Trying to think about what I am doing that is actually from my YOP...oh the first of at least 3 HP scarves! I have only added a few rows since last week, no need to post a pic. I dedicate this next week to this scarf. I am going to bust this sucker out!

I joined Gingerbread Girl's One A Day group and have dedicated A's Afghan (yes it is from my YOP list!!!) and A's vest (sort of from my list, I have baby sweater down, this will count) to it. That will be a separate post for tomorrow.

I am looking at my complete list of knitting and I have no idea how I will accomplish all that Christmas knitting, especially with ALL these babies! I have a few things that I can take off as the potential recipients probably wouldn't care if they got something knitmade or not...will my brother really throw a fit if he doesn't get his first knit hat from me? Doubt it.

Here's to a productive September!!