Fun with Knitting (and Quilting)

Is Greener Cleaner?

I often wonder with all this talk of going green and companies offering "greener" cleaning formulas what's the hype? DO they clean as well? because generally they cost more...WELL I want to be greener and save some green! So thanks to Pinterest (are you a member yet? if not you should go join!) not only do I have a new addiction, but I have found a bunch of greener and cheaper alternatives to all those sparkly bottles you see in the store...but yeah they sound good but do they work?

First up Shower and Tub cleaner! I was skeptical at first... OK this stuff is amazing!!! It works better than any commercial stuff I've tried...and believe me I've tried tons of them! I used green Dawn, just because that was what I had on hand!  Just mix this up...spray your shower walls down  let it set a bit wipe it down! It really gets rid of the soap scum and hard water marks! EASILY!  I love it!

So now after some Rave reviews I've caved and made my own laundry detergent from Being Creative. I've been contemplating trying this for some time... It was super easy to mix up! (ALL the ingredients could be found at my local Walmart, though I already had the giant bin of OxiClean) I just used a plastic storage bin to mix up all the ingredients, and being lazy I used my food processor to grate the Fels-Naptha. (totaly looks like shredded cheese!) Which totally freaked out Amos but he quickly recovered and came back into the kitchen. I put some of the mix into a cute little container to keep in the laundry room. Filled up a 6lb empty Oxiclean bucket and I need to get myself another little container to keep the rest in (the bin it's in now isn't air tight-ish....) I'm figuring this will last us for close to a year! (since there's only 2 of us in the household) Seeing as I was spending $15 or so a month on detergent $20 for the year is a pretty grand deal! (I'm figuring my per load cost at about 11 cents per load homemade as opposed to around 80 cents a load for the commercial stuff!)

Next to try maybe dishwasher detergent? and Homemade 409 spray...OH and the fabric softener! I may be obsessed!

More needle organization and Amos

So my pockets I ordered came in and then I started organizing.. ...It should be much easier to find my needles now but I'm not sure I love this system. It's actually going to take up more room than my old messy basket....hmmmm It's not quite done yet but it's almost there. I'm still working on figuring out organizing my sock needles.

And Amos just loves to look out the back window and watch the dogs behind us playing in the snow!

And he's decided he likes his coat ....he will prance around in it when it's cold...he thinks he's pretty cool when he goes on his walk in it! Then after his walk, it's time for a nap!

Toby says hey don't forget about me! I'm cute too!

New Year Time to Reorganize

Well Christmas is over and I didn't do a whole lot of Knitting...I made a pair of socks for my dad , some jewerly for the gals at work and my mom ,  a hat for my brother, and 2 hats for my niece(I'm not allowed to post her picture-and I don't have any other pictures I cand find), as well as some last minute crocheted scrubbies ...now it's time to get back to the selfish knitting but before I can do that I need to Reorganize my needle stash!

I started today with my DPNS before they were a big pile in no specific order. (OK these are my circs- but I didn't take a before picture of my DPNs but they pretty much looked the same)

I don't use DPNS alot but when I need them it's always a pain to try to find the needles I need! So I first sorted out all my needles.

Then I printed out labels for all the sizes on my P-touch

Next I labeled a bunch of Binder Pouches I got at WalMart with the labels and put the needles in them.  I'm planning on going out today to get a 4" binder to put these in.

Up next organizing my circs.....

Tag-Along

So bought this pattern back in the spring and decided to whip one up yesterday. It's called the Tag Along Tote It was pretty easy... I was a bit confused by the zipper insertion but once I did it and JUST TRUSTED the directions it came out pretty good. (I probably should have changed my serger thread) I can see a few changes I'll make for the next go around. I'd like it to be a tad bigger, just an inch or 2. I have some left over Michael Miller fabric I may use. It's a great little tote for when you are out and about and don't want to lug around a large purse!

I've been doing more sewing than knitting lately...the heat just makes me want to stay in my cool sewing room and stitch...Abby is tired of the heat..This is how she feels about it!  
 Yuck! I want to lay out in the yard!

Darn it!

OOPs I accidently deleted my post with my cute little wedge bag...How'd I do that...I was trying to delete a draft of another post then I guess I clicked the wrong think...darn darn darn..

So here's a quick not nearly as clever little post

I decided I wanted a cute wedge bag like I've seen the Knit Girllls using...I know I could buy one but I wanted to make up my own with my own fabric choices, so I Googled around a bit and found this tutorial for a bag that would fit the bill....Then I adjusted the size to be what I wanted did a bit of sewing and come up with this (In my opinion) darling bag!

It measures about 14" long by 7" high with a base about 3" wide. I've already bought supplies to make another....

Then I also made some cute stitch markers...To go with my latest kniting project, Goodale and my amazing new Signature Needles



Not nearly as clever as my first post...but I hope you enjoy the pictures none the less....

Sew Obsessed

As you can tell from the title I've been a bit obsessed with sewing lately!

I finally put my old sewing machine and serger up on e-bay, sold them and replaced my 10 year old serger with a new one. Nothing fancy but it does what I need it to to do. I'd already replaced my sewing machine last year with a Brother Inovis QC1000 which I love. I'd dumped the embroidery because well I didn't use it much anymore, my computer crashed that had my designs and to upgrade the computer meant upgrading the embroidery software-which is ridiculously expensive....

All of this has renewed my sewing mojo and I've made like 5 skirts. They are all the same pattern New Look 6470.

It's hard t take a picture of yourself wearing a skirt...

2 sundresses (well they are the super simple "swimsuit cover-up" types)

and have plans for a few more plus some summer dresses. I really want to make myself a maxi dress with straps wide enough to cover my bra straps!

And I'm on a bag kick!! I've so far made 2 of the Mini Bow Tucks pattern. I adore this pattern! It is SO well written and easy to follow. If you've been thinking about trying a purse pattern-this would be the one!

With at least 3-4 more in the works.

Then I made up 2 of these cute little RunAround Bags. They're great for travel. I plan to make a few more of these as well.

Lets not forget my stint with the Grids and Grommets bags...I've made 4 (the first is unfinished because I can't get the grommets in) a big , small , and a medium one. It's a cute pattern but don't feel it's the best written. It can be a bit confusing...I found some tips somewhere on sewing it and they helped alot with my 2nd-4th bags!

And yes there has been knitting but that's a story for another day!

A little tip for your Saturday

So don't you just hate it when you are working with a knitting book or some other book that is soft cover and keeps flopping shut on you and you lose your page, or worse break the binding on it?

Well here's my tip for the day...get them spiral bound! For a few bucks you can go to Kinkos, or better still (or should I say cheaper) OfficeMax or any place like that..they will do it for you! It's so nice! Makes leaving a page out and open for you while you work a short row heel or even for when I try to copy a pattern for myself(I like to write all over them but not in my books). I am slowly getting my most used knitting  books done! It's great...Now that I'm thinking of it...I should get some of my cookbooks done too!

Here's my 3 latest editions:  
Nice neat and so much easier to deal with!  
 I will say that getting these three books done cost me $14 at Office Max. I had 2 done awhile back at Kinko's and paid about that much for two so OM seems a bit more economical...I'll be going there from now on!

Enjoy!

Monkeys!

So I have nieces that range in age from 3 1/2 to 30... So naturally when you have nieces who are married, they may have a baby! And indeed this is the case...My niece Kathy and her husband Jason are having their first baby...and with a baby comes a baby quilt! They chose not to find out if they are having a boy or a girl so they are going with a "neutral" theme- Sage greens and browns, and while their set is those colors it has bunnies on it. So it didn't have to match-but I wanted to stick with the colors. So Ken and I went shopping and he picked out this adorable monkey fabric...and I went off of that fabric. I must say I'm really happy with how the quilt turned out! I think that Kathy liked it as well!

It's the Yellow Brick Road pattern. It's really a fun random but not pattern. I think I may have to make another slightly bigger one for me!

Cookies Anyone?

So again sorry for my lack of posting..much Christmas crafting has been going on...I've made cowls, flamingos, and many santa hat ornaments...as well as baking....

Now as I was reading blogs I came across 2 adorable projects on Yarn Pirate's website and knew I had to make these for my niece. What fun little projects!

First up are some delicious felt chocolate chip cookies! And then we have the yummy sugar cookies, with lovely sprinkles! Of course you need a cookie sheet that will fit into one small play oven. When you are doing all this baking you need to wear an apron as not to get your clothes dirty! Actually the apron is for actual baking wear because my SIL and niece bake often, and well I thought she's need a cute little person sized apron for just such occasions!!! I do hope they are well recieved! (I even bought some matching fabric to make another apron for my SIL though it will not be done for Christmas gift giving I don't think!)

I just want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Flamingo Fun

So I saw this adorable pattern first on the Never not Knitting Blog, then headed right over to the Spud Says (the Blog)'s site and dowloaded it...then went quickly to JoAnn's to purchase some lovely pink acrylic yarn and a week later I have these guys ....they are adorable..they are for Christmas gifts.. So cute so fun. BTW I used a raquet ball instead of the ball recommended, I couldn't find them locally and well I was to impatient to make these little guys to order them on-line. I hope the recipients enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them!