June 2, 2009
Cultivating joy, a mid year check-up
Late May Garden
Originally uploaded by kerner
Around New Year's, I wrote a post about how I was not going to make resolutions this year. Instead, I was going to pick a theme for the year and try to live it out to the fullest. My theme is also my Style Statement, Cultivating Joy.
I also chose this snippet of Kerouac that encapsulated the theme: "to be in a state of beatitude, like st. francis, trying to love all life, trying to be utterly sincere with everyone, practicing endurance, kindness, cultivating joy of heart."
So, now that we're well into the year, how am I doing? I made a list of small steps that I thought would go along with the theme for the year.
Read more fiction. I discovered the local used book store and I am having great fun selling old books for store credit and discovering what they have on the shelves that day. Very rarely is there a new book I just "have to have," and I've been a real slacker in the reading department for about 5 years, so there are lots of older books that are still new to me. I have learned by lesson though - if you see a book and you want it, don't assume it will be there when you come back!
Take better care of my veggie garden and our native plant gardens. I'd say I'm doing pretty well at this if I do say so myself. My peas and lettuce, which I'm growing for the first time, are doing great. I need to weed the flower gardens and put new mulch down, but hey, I'm still a work in progress, right?
Spend more time studying the Bible and in prayer. I always have room for improvement in this area, but I have joined a weekly study with some other people by age at church, so that helps keep me on track, at least on a weekly basis. We're getting ready to take a hiatus for the summer though, so I need to find a daily devotional or something to read. I don't do very well just winging it on my own.
Knit more gifts for others; less for myself. I've been doing pretty well with crafting for others at least as much as myself. I even made an embellished tee for my sister to wear this summer after she's no longer "great" with child.
I have a couple more Russian dolls left to cut out of the fabric, so I will reward those of you who managed to read this far into this ridiculously navel-gazing post. If you would like a tank top with a Russian doll on it, leave me a comment saying so, and what shirt size you wear at Old Navy (S, M, L, XL etc.) First three commenters get shirts!
Third Time's a Charm
Originally uploaded by kerner
Posted by zarah at 5:09 AM | Comments (7)
May 29, 2009
CRAFT-Along: May
Kokka Russian Dolls 2
Originally uploaded by kerner
Okay, give me your honest opinion... are we veering dangerously close to embellished-sweatshirt-land here? (And no snarky comments about my awkward self-portrait skillz!)
This is my Embellished Tee entry for May's CRAFT:Along. I love the idea, and it literally took about 7 minutes to complete, but I'm not sure if it looks as good in person as it did in my head. I might go buy a couple shirts at Old Navy and give this another try.
Posted by zarah at 4:40 PM | Comments (3)
May 11, 2009
Dress for a new niece
Dress for a new baby girl
Originally uploaded by kerner
Well, despite the short notice I think this project turned out really well! I used up about a skein and a half of superwash sock yarn that was hanging around as a pair of socks that I didn't really like, and turned it into a cute and (hopefully) comfy baby dress. I even made 5-stitch bobbles and sewed them on for buttons along the shoulder. Hopefully I'll get some action shots once the gift package (with bloomers, too!) arrives at its destination.
Happy Birth Day, Baby Lauren!
Project Details:
Pattern: Little Sister's Dress by Tora Froeth Design (free Ravelry download)
Yarn: Happy Feet by Plymouth Yarn, 1.5 skeins
Needle Size: Size 2
Pattern Modifications: used bobbles instead of buttons... can't babies choke on buttons?
Time to knit: 2 weeks
Final impressions: A pretty good baby knit, although I still don't really like knitting baby stuff. It just seems like they grow out of it too quickly.
Posted by zarah at 7:40 PM | Comments (3)
May 3, 2009
Clown Pants
Clown Pants
Originally uploaded by kerner
I will try to do a full run-down of my weekend triathlon extravaganza tomorrow, but in the meantime I'll distract you with some cute baby clothes that I finished a few days ago. The pants are the bloomers out of Weekend Sewing and the top is just a plain white onesie with a heart (cut with pinking shears) sewn on. I didn't realize when I started this project how clown-y the poofy polka-dotted pants would be. I'm hoping they will also be worn with the red knitted dress I'm furiously working on.
A note about Weekend Sewing - absolutely gorgeous book, but am I the only one that has been driven mad with the way the patterns are laid out? All the patterns in the book are printed on two oversized sheets of heavy paper, and the patterns say to use a tracing wheel and tracing paper to copy the patterns onto the fabric. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, or I bought the wrong paper or wheel, but they didn't work for me AT ALL. I ended tracing the pattern onto a piece of tissue paper from my gift wrap stash, then using it like a normal paper pattern.
Okay, enough ranting. This is the first pattern I've made from this book, and it was really easy. I'd say you could make these bloomers in less than 2 hours (assuming you skipped the multiple trips to the craft store for tracing paper, etc.)
I've got a rockin' headache tonight (I'm assuming dehydration from my race) so I think I'm going to drink some water and hit the sack. Hope you all had a great weekend!
Posted by zarah at 8:56 PM | Comments (0)
March 26, 2009
CRAFT-Alonging again so soon?
Crooked coaster with morning joe
Originally uploaded by kerner
I am breaking personal records left and right around here. After following Kelli & Finny's sew-alongs for over 2 years, I finally jump in with both feet and do 2 projects in the same month! Frikkin amazing. This project, Crooked Coasters, looked so simple that I couldn't not do it. Plus, it's a great way to use up leftover scraps of fabrics. All I had to buy for this project was thread (so we won't discuss why it took 2 trips to Jo-Ann's before I could finish...).
The other thing I love about these fabric coasters is (hopefully) my dog won't be able to destroy them quite as easily as the cork coasters we currently have in the living room. I think almost all of them have teeth marks at this point.
Crooked coasters
Originally uploaded by kerner
Here is a picture of all 6 coasters - I used a fairly large-scale print for the front, and I really like how each one is different, but they all coordinate.
Posted by zarah at 4:46 PM | Comments (0)
March 5, 2009
Sock #2
IMG_3590
Originally uploaded by kerner
Aren't they cute together?
Posted by zarah at 7:18 AM | Comments (7)
March 3, 2009
Sock #1
IMG_3585
Originally uploaded by kerner
When I was a kid (okay... even now) my dad always referred to my sister and I as "Thing 1 and Thing 2." (you know, from Dr Seuss?) I rarely knit the same thing twice, but I am making an except for these Christmas stockings. Neither my husband or I have stockings for our own house - both our moms keep our childhood stockings for when we visit - so I've been intending to knit up some since I started knitting almost 5 years ago.
Here is the first one. (details raveled.) Matt's is blocking in the laundry room right now. (The second one went MUCH faster after I figured out the argyle and stranded sections.) So here's the big question. The owner of my LYS encouraged me to buy extra matching yarn for a "little one" in the future. (No Mom, I am not pregnant!) Should I knit it now, or hold off until said blessed event actually occurs?
Posted by zarah at 8:22 PM | Comments (3)
February 17, 2009
FO: U-Neck Vest
IMG_3553
Originally uploaded by kerner
Whenever I find multiple balls of nice yarn on the sale rack at my LYS, I start dreaming of all the little projects I could make with them - vests, nice big scarves, baby gifts, etc. I rarely actually follow through on these wild schemes, but! there is an exception to every rule. A quick little knit in the round vest pattern doesn't hurt my chances, either. I will probably wear this over a dress shirt more often than a t-shirt, but I wanted to take an FO picture and it really doesn't look too bad, either.
Knitting specs are on ravelry.
Did I mention hooray for random days off as a city employee? I never had President's Day off until I got the job I have now. (That's how I managed to sneak into the yarn shop for a photo op during daylight hours.)
Posted by zarah at 7:17 PM | Comments (3)