After a long hiatus...

I'm back after nearly 10 months of no blogging.  A lot has happened since my last post.  My friends and I went to Rhinebeck.  We got to meet Ysolda Teague, Steven West, Jess & Casey, Mary-Heather.  It was really neat and I'm looking forward to going back this year.  I even started/finished a Rhinebeck sweater in preperation! 

I've been test knitting patterns for Susan Claudino (NoKnitSherlock on Ravelry)  If you haven't seen any of her designs, you definitely should check them out.  They are super adorable and really quick knits! 

Hurricane Sandy came through and luckily she didn't hit our area too hard.  I had no electricity for a few days so I stayed at my mom's.  Trees were down all over the place and the roof of my apartment building had damage.  It was nothing compared to the devastation in New Jersey & New York.

The biggest update is...I no longer live in an apartment!  My brother & I are home owners!  He bought it and I am basically renting the house from him until eventually it's paid off and then it's mine.  He lives in Virginia, but has a bedroom in my house for the rare occasions that he will be staying here.  It's a Cape Cod style home, 3 bedrooms (there's a potential 4th bedroom in the attic.  It's been insulated, it just needs dry wall.), 1 bath.  Huge basement with a washer/dryer, pretty big back yard that will eventually have a patio and garden.  It's so peaceful here.  I'm still in the same town I've lived in most of my life, just a much safer part of town.  It's just down the street from my favorite grocery store, a Starbucks and a strip mall.  I'm so excited to start decorating, adding personal touches and making this house my home.

Yesterday, my BFF and I drove 3 hours to Howard County, Maryland for their Sheep & Wool festival.  The weather was gorgeous and the festival was packed!  We met up with some friends, walked around, shopped, ate.  I even got to meet a Raveler to had spoiled me in a swap last year!  We had so much fun!  I only bought 1 skein of yarn this year BUT I bought roving and a drop spindle!  I can't wait to test out my new spindle and make things out of my own yarn!!

I should be blogging on a more regular basis.  BFF and I have planned some day trips and I will be posting updates as I do things to my house.  Take care! <3

And the winner is...

"Festivals! Kutztown, Musikfest, WXPN, Philly Folk Fest...so much fun:) -Hedge"

Congratulations, Hedge!  I will get your prize to you shortly!

Fifty Shades and an FO

Last week, my friend Jen was telling me about this trilogy she was reading, "Fifty Shades of Grey".  I started reading it and haven't found much time to knit because these books have taken up all of my time.  I'm not one for romance novels or Erotica, but I am really enjoying this series.  I can totally relate to Anastasia.  I tend to pick the wrong guys and think I can change them.  It hasn't worked so far so it's a habit I am trying to fix.

Since I've been so busy reading, I am slowly knitting a baby sweater.  A girl from church just had a baby boy.  She opted to keep the sex of the baby a secret until the delivery so our little basket social committee will be throwing her a tiny baby shower at our next meeting in August.  I am knitting the Little Coffee Bean Cardigan, minus the stripes.  The yarn is Washable Ewe by Red Heart (gasp!).  Last weekend, my friend and I took a trip to JoAnn Fabrics to take advantage of their clearance yarn sale.  After the red tag and then 50% off of that, I got the 2 skeins needed for the sweater for like $3!  I also got 2 skeins of Heart & Sole for $3.  It may be Red Heart, but the sweater is knitting up softly.

I finally have pictures of my Color Affection.  After showing it to my mom and seeing how nice it looked on her, I decided it belonged to her.  I still plan on knitting another one, I just need to finish a couple of swap projects and this baby sweater before I can cast on the shawl.


Tomorrow is Independence Day here in the United States.  I have a picnic to go to and then we are all going to watch the fireworks.  I'm looking forward to a nice day with friends, knitting and good food.  This weekend, I will be going to another picnic in the woods.  I'm a little anxious since I'll be hanging out with a group of people that were all friends with my oldest brother.  I've been saying for years that I would make it out there for one of the parties, but never had the courage to follow through.  This time, I will make sure to brave it and go.  I know I'll have fun once I get there, it will just be awkward hanging out with a group of people that I haven't seen in 8 years.

I'm a winner! (now with a giveaway)

Earlier, I had mentioned that I was entered in Knit Culture's, Show Us Your Knits photo contest.  I entered my Ishbel and whoever had the most votes in each category won a $25 gift certificate.  The person who had the most votes overall, won the grand prize of a $150 gift certificate to the Knit Culture website.  Thanks to all of my friends, family and readers, I won the grand prize!  As promised, I am sharing the wealth.  All you have to do to enter, is leave a comment telling me your favorite thing about summer.  (Please leave either your email or Ravelry name so I am able to contact you) On July 15th, I will use a random number generator to select the winner.  The prize?  One skein of Malabrigo Rios in the Solis colorway.
  Good luck! 

New experiences, Pinterest & Color Affection

This weekend has been a busy, yet relaxing one.  Yesterday, I spent the day with friends where we made homemade salsa and organic strawberry-blueberry jam.  This was my first experience with canning/preserving and I had a lot of fun and am already searching for new recipes that I would like to try.  They both turned out amazing!  The salsa has a nice kick to it and the jam tastes so much better than the store bought stuff.  I had a little on top of my ice cream this evening and it was the perfect combination.

My friend gave me the leftover strawberries, so this morning I experimented with a technique I saw in Pinterest for drying strawberries in the oven.  I don't know if it's the humidity or the fact that the strawberries we had were extra juicy, but my experiment was a fail.  The recipe said to put it in the oven at 210 degrees for 3 hours.  After 3 hours, they were still pretty squishy and juicy.  I had to go grocery shopping, so I turned the oven off and resumed when I got home.  After 2 more hours in the oven, they were half burnt, the size of raisins but still squishy.  :(  I want to try it again on a day where it isn't so humid outside and see if that helps.

Along with all of that, I finished my Color Affection (photos to come when I have better lighting).  It was a very fast knit, and I really enjoyed knitting it.  However, the colors I chose don't flatter me so much and my top edging is a bit too tight.  I plan on making another one in more suitable colors.  When I start that one, I will follow the Yarn Harlot's mod where you K1, yo, K1 rather than just K2 so my edge gives a little.

It looks like I have another busy week coming up, between a local knitting group, dinner with my mom, dinner & reality tv with friends and baking again later this week.  The rest of my weekend will be spent with a nice glass of beer, a movie and working on a vanilla sock.
 

WWKIP Day

Today, 2 friends and I decided to celebrate WWKIP day, we would go to the IndieMade Craft Market.  It's this indie craft fair that is held twice a year, once in December and once in spring.  This was my first time going and I was super excited about it since the first 50 people inside get a free swag bag.  We got there 2 hours before they opened so we could claim our spots in line, sat around and knit/crocheted until it opened.  Once we got inside, there were so many amazing artists there and some DIY stations where you could learn different crafts, such as stamp carving, card making, pottery painting.  They even had a fastest knitter contest.

I painted a ceramic leaf pendant and can pick it up next week, after they fire it in the kiln.  I also attempted to stamp a tile coaster, stamped a shopping bag and carved a wee owl stamp.


We shopped around and I purchased a felt owl stuffie, some Little Red Riding Hood pins, some Harry Potter pins, bath fizzies, a tile coaster and wooden gift tag and a rad, zombie hand hair clip. 

Our swag bags were pretty sweet too.  We got jewelry, notebooks, coupons and lip balm, all inside a satin lingerie bag.

In the fastest knitter contest, I didn't win, but I did knit 120 stitches in 3 minutes, so I was pretty proud of myself.  The fastest knitter at that time was at 141 stitches, but there were still a few hours left of the show.

Over all, I was pretty impressed with the show and will definitely plan on going to the one in December.

How did you spend your WWKIP day?

New look, new format

I let myself slack with the blogging again and decided that the best way to motivate myself to blog more regularly, is to revamp the look.  I also figure that if I have more of an idea of the content I want to post, I can work on a schedule which will help me stop slacking off.

Some of the new content that will be featured will be:

And Sew Forth-where I talk about my adventures in learning how to sew
WIPs Wednesday-a day I can show off my WIP's
In the Kitchen-Where I try out different recipes, try to plan healthy meals and bake the occasional treat


I also plan on holding contests/giveaways at some point and am super excited about that!

Speaking of contests, Knit Culture is holding a contest over on Facebook and I entered my Ishbel shawl.  The contest ends on June 15th and so far I am in the lead, but not by much.  The grand prize winner gets a $150 gift certificate for their store and if I win the grand prize, I am definitely going to be sharing the wealth and giving away a skein of yarn on my blog.  If you would like to vote for me, you can find my entry here.  All you have to do is be a member of Facebook, click "Like" on the page and vote!