Win some Fiber!

WOW 2 posts in 2 days... there must be something in the air!


I just thought I'd come over here and share this great giveaway. It's a random giveaway of 2 oz of hand combed cormo. That fiber is SOFT and pretty! 
So go check out the blog. enter to win!
(I've now subscribed to it in my reader)

Win a Bag!

There's a contest going on. You can win this upcycled box bag, made by me! Check out the details here.
My sister and I started a podcast for our HPKCHC group on ravelry, and to get more people interacting with our podcast we're having a contest. So go check out the podcast and the contest!

What's up?

So i've been kinda out of sorts with my knitting. I'm not sure what is going one whether it's the heat or what. I have been reading a lot so that could be it. My daughter picked up Midnight for Charlie Bone from the library and I wanted to read the book before she got to it.  It was very interesting and an enjoyable read. She's now on the 2nd of the series and I'm on the 3rd. 
I've also been listening my way through the LOTR series. Starting with the hobbit. I picked up the unabridged book from amazon a few weeks ago and wanted to "read" all the way through the series. Sooooo good! I'm on the Return of the King right now. While I've been listening I've been sewing. I tried my hand at some box bags and I think I've finally got it!  I also got the hang of some triangle bags. I first started making one or two for a swap. I participated in a swap a couple of months ago and also signed up to be an angel should someone need it. Well there was need. Since this swap was a Weasley Swap we could only spend about $10 total and had to use some things we found in our house. well I've got 2 totes and 1 dresser full of fabric so I thought this bag would fit the bill. I also added some wonderful other little things for her. I can't wait till she gets it. I'm always nervous about swaps.  
I made another bag for the swap I'm participating in now too. But I'm not going to show a photo of it  in case my partner checks out this blog.
I also added some to my etsy shop. I have a few more in the works as well. I ran out of interfacing so I had to run and get some today. So I'll be updating my shop in the next few days with even more triangle bags. I think i'm totally obsessed with them now.  The quilting of them like the one above takes forever though so I thought i'd try some with just interfacing and I think I like those ones just as much! 
Other things going on... lets see.. Oh my sister and I started a podcast for fellow HPKCHCers and all. Here's our show and the notes. Please give it a listen but be kind b/c it's our first go. 

Iced Coffee Allena's way...

Rarely do you see me with out the wondrous brew we call coffee! and in the summer it's iced for me. I've had a few people ask me how I make my iced coffee. I thought I would give you a photo tute to copy if you wish.
 This summer I bought a few of these Cup / Tumbler with Straw  (I love how the straw has a little stopper at the bottom) Actually I bought one and had to go back and get a 2nd b/c I found I was using it like every day. I may have to get 1 more... why not have all the colors there are?
Anyways on with the tute!

Firstly Gather your Supplies:

 

I use espresso b/c when you're making iced coffee you want the strong stuff. So I use my Mr. Coffee Espresso/Cappuccino Maker of course mine is an older version. I also have Milk, flavored creamer, espresso ground, my cup and if you don't do the creamer you can have flavored syrup. I use simple syrup for extra sweetness. 

Ok.. so I put the grounds in the filter and add the water and while it brews I get my cup ready. 

Filled with ice, then I pour a bit of simple syrup over the ice. like 1tsp-1tbls it's up to you and your taste buds, but remember you'll be adding a flavored creamer so don't go overboard. 

The espresso is brewing I love how it foams. To get the perfect cup it should foam like that! You can tell if it comes out like honey if it's going to be good or not. 

When it's done brewing you pour it over the ice. Don't stir yet! add your creamer and enjoy how it swirls down through the coffee and ice making pretty patterns in your cup. I use only about 2 Tlbs at the most of the creamer, remember we used simple syrup (or flavored syrup)

After that top it off with your milk. Now you can stir and enjoy! 

How I made my simple syrup:

I took 1 cup of water and 2 cups of sugar and on the stove boiled it until the sugar was dissolved then I poured it into an empty syrup bottle capped and it's ready to use for coffee or tea.

I love ModPodge!

We found this on YouTube and the girls are so excited about it. we're going to have to make a trip to Michaels to find some wooden disks and blocks to make the checkers and puzzle!

Special Summer Classes

This summer, I won't be having the Wednesday night classes but I will have 3 special classes on Saturdays throughout  the summer. The classes will be repeated in June, July and August. So hopefully one of the days will suit your schedule. Monday classes will still continue as normal. You can sign up for a class by calling Forget Me Not or stopping by the store.

For these special classes I'm asking that you please sign up and pay 2 weeks before. There will be a  3 person minimum for class.

1: Dye your own yarn 10AM-1PM $40 – bring pen and paper for notes.  Other materials included  in class price. We will be learning how to dye our own sock yarn using koolaid. We will also talk about other types of dyes and methods of dying. June 11th, July 16th, Aug 6th

2: Broomstick Lace 10AM-12PM $20- Materials Needed: Basic knowledge of crochet.US size 19  (15mm)Knitting Needle, Size E (3.5mm) crochet Hook. 100 grams of Sock Yarn. (hand dyed works wonderfully with this pattern) We will be  making a skinny scarf and learning how to do the stitch.  June 18th , July 23rd, Aug 13th

3: Beginning Spinning 10AM-1PM $50-Bring pen and paper for notes. Other materials included in class price. Learn how to use a drop spindle and how to make your own yarn. June 25th,  July 30th, Aug 20th

I hope to see you all there!

Spring is coming!

I'm not going to continue to apologize for my lack of posting anymore. I'm just going to post.

Just recently my friend Rachel turned me on to Paperbackswap.com and I'm LOVING it. Basically you take all your books that you have lying around and type in your ISBN numbers and then you trade books through the mail it's  totally awesome! I've gotten rid of quite a few books that I'm not going to be reading anymore and I've got some really great ones. like the 2nd in the coffeehouse seriesThrough the Grinder (Coffeehouse Mysteries, No. 2) I'm also collecting the Sookie Stackhouse series.There's a few others I found and read and then re-traded likeKnit One, Kill Two it was really good. So go check out paperbackswap if you like reading (I should be getting paid for this!) Be sure to mention me if you do sign up b/c I will get a credit for referring you.

So around here it's been getting warmish. The other day I went outside with the bead to snap some photos and search for spring.(we did this as part of school) We found a few pretty flowers blooming. there are some tulips coming up but they haven't opened up yet. I'll be checking back later this week to see if they have bloomed. 


I have been knitting like crazy and I should be getting back to it. I have deadlines to meet. so with that I'll go but I will be back.

It's Feb already!?!

Wow it's February already and true to form I'm coming on here to post. It seems like I can only make it 1 time a month these days. So i'm going to try and distract you with photos.... (i hope it works)

my latest  is a nice worsted weight 6 ply. I really love how it turned out. 
I think it will stripe nicely when I knit with it. 
I also finished a green 3 ply that's a fingering weight. I'm not sure what I'll knit with it yet but I really love how it turned out. Here's a close up of it.  

I've also been knitting. Mainly I've been working on the stockings I was commissioned to make. I'm down to the last two. I'm so close to finishing them it's not even funny. I just hope the lady who ordered them isn't annoyed it's taking so long. 

I've also been sewing. I made some more WIP bags for my store. I loved the one cherry bag so much I kept it for myself. I already transferred my socks and clipped it to my purse for travels. This weekend is the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet show and I'm so excited to be going. It's going to be a ton of fun. 
Well I should go... until next month (or sooner)

Snow!

There's been quite a bit of snow around here lately. Last week we took a day off from school and went out sledding. We had so much fun. I snapped a few photos and we really enjoyed ourselves. We're supposed to be getting more snow tonight so I see more sledding in our future. I see knitting in my future. (But I would see that regardless!) 

Speaking of Knitting,  I've been knitting stockings to match a set for someone. They're going well. I feel bad though, that I haven't finished all of them yet. They are pretty big though so it's a lot of knitting. I'm working on the 4th one right now. I'm also working on spinning some yarn and a few other small things for myself. 
I'm getting excited for the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Show in Feb. I sent our registration and we already have a confirmation for the hotel. Soooo exciting!
Other news my computer got a makeover and I've been having to put all my music back into Itunes the past couple of days. It's rather annoying. But I'll get over it.
Well anyways that's about it, I'll try to think of more interesting things to update you with in the future.  Time to make dinner.

New Year!

It's a new year and I have a new goal. To update this blog more often. to start off, i thought i'd share a slideshow of last year in photos.

Update!

Right before Thanksgiving I had a shop update. I know i'm really really REALLY late in getting this posted here. 
Sorry about that. Since turkey day things have been super crazy around here. I'm not sure about you but doesn't it seem like this year is just flying by? 
I have been really busy knitting and crocheting things for Christmas and other things. I think my fave project by far are these crochet hooks. Aren't they fun? I made some for my DH and then some for myself. I just recently used mine and LOVE it. I'm going to have to start doing more of these. they're so comfortable in my hand and really helps with the smaller hooks. With the extra I made some buttons. Not sure where I'll use them but they're pretty. The ones I made for my DH are more manly.   He says he likes them and has been using them while he's making his hats for everyone. I'm so proud of him. He's really going to town with the crocheting. If you want to see what he's made here's a link to his own set over at flickr. I also had him set up an account on Ravelry to share his crochet projects with other people. 
It's totally awesome! 

SALE!

It's Cyber Monday and StarKnits is on sale. My etsy store I mean. Everything is 10% off.  So if you've been waiting to buy a tote, WIP bag, or some bling check it out!

Christmas Giveaways

5 Minutes for Mom is having a Christmas Giveaway. Not only are they sharing fun stuff for us to win, but they're also helping other families out with Under the Tree. It's a program to provide families in need, with presents this year, for Christmas. The companies who are donating prizes the giveaways, are also providing presents for those families. So why not try to win a prize, nominate a needy family and have some fun?

Bill Oddie - "The Knitting Song"

This is a great song, fun to listen to. Enjoy!!! I just had to share.

Halloween

So lets talk about Halloween. Last year we skipped it b/c I have issues with how commercial everything is anymore. But this year I let the girls pick out some cheap costumes. (read they needed to come up with their own costumes from what they had) 

So the Bub found some fairy wings at the dollar tree and decided to become a fairy. Luckily I just finished the pants I was knitting her and they match rather nicely. The pants were a test knit and I really love the pattern. (go check it out) Then I figured for her costume to be complete she'd need a mask. Not to mention I've always wanted to go to a Halloween party where you wear masks and people have to guess who you are. So I made her a butterfly mask. (since she's a butterfly fairy) I had to make up the pattern as there wasn't much to go off of on ravelry. Not a big deal, it was really fun to make. So her costume is complete. 

The bead on the other hand, her costume was easy. She found a shield and breastplate at the dollar tree and already had a sword. She wanted to be a how to train your dragon viking. To complete her outfit she needed a viking helmet.

I was able to find a pattern for it but had to adjust it a bit to fit her. She loves it and wore it for like 3 days straight. So her outfit was complete, just in time for our trip to the Zoo. 

We went on the Zoo Boo event so the girls got to dress up and "trick or treat" through the zoo. It was fun, but really crazy busy with people. Luckily we bought a family membership and we'll be returning on a not so crazy zoo day. My fave part is the aquarium and walking UNDER the sharks and polar bears. 
Now we just need to find a trick-or-treat time around here that fits with our schedule. 
Later Gaters

I love grover!!!

It's all craziness I tell you!!!!

I guess with the start of school and all, I have been so crazy busy lately. So an update is in order.
The coolest thing we've done lately, (in my opinion) was we went to our backyard and picked some apples and I made some apple butter. If you follow that link you'll find the recipe I used. The girls had a lot of fun picking the apples as you can see. We used a ladder and everything. (as the bead explained to my DH when we were done) I am really overjoyed at the idea of getting apples from the tree out back. Don't ask me why it just makes me all kinds of happy. (yes I'm a dork)

The next coolest thing I've been doing is sewing. I found some great t-shirt surgery tutorials and I tried one of them on a tie-dyed t-shirt. I think it turned out really interesting. It's definitely something I'm going to have to try again. Basically you take a large t-shirt or one with a stain or hole or even one that's too small for you and get out your scissors and cut and sew it into something you actually want to wear. I took that plain old man's XL t-shirt and turned it into a girly and sparkly v-neck (something definitely showing off the girls better) Here's another link to some tutes for you (if that type of sewing interests you)

I also spun up some angora for a friend, crocheted some squares for a comfort blanket, Knit some death socks and worked on a test knit. (that I'm still working on but almost finished)

Oh and I also made this crazy cute Owl key chain or zipper pull that I'm going to/HAVE to write up a quick pattern for. (or so I'm told)
And did I tell you that the girls got a new pet? It's a hamster. 
I think that's about it for an update... as usual you're most likely to find me over at ravelry, in the HPKCHC group. 
I've got another blog post running through my head so I'll be back sooner than later!

Do you listen to podcasts?

I love listening to podcasts. (in fact i'm obsessed with it) it's great for walking, spinning, knitting, and just all around fun! One of the podcast I listen to is Getting Loopy, it's all about crochet fun. Well every week she has a contest to enter and you can win a prize. Guess what!?! a couple of weeks ago I won! and last week I got the yarn I won in the mail. Its pretty isn't it? I'm not sure what to make it with. Any ideas?

Another podcast I listen to is Knitmore girls. I love it. well they had a head to toe contest. for designing preemie hats. I made one up and submitted it, and it was picked for a prize. I haven't received it yet but I'm sure I will soon. It's sooo exciting! So do you listen to any podcasts? lmk which ones b/c I'm interested.

One of my Summer Projects

Thanks to the Ravelry Group DIY tools, I found this tute. Of course I had to try it, I got my DH to do the cutting for me. (b/c I can just see myself sawing something I need off). I'd measured and marked everything for him to cut. Then I needed to find someone with a drill press. Luckily my BIL had one and he allowed me to bring myself and the kiddos over while He and my DH drilled the holes for me. So I had all the parts sawed, and I sanded them till they were smooth. The hardest/longest part was sawing the heads off the nails with the dremmel. After that was done the nails were epoxied in place and I glued the two pieces of wood together and attached a handle. It was from an old grilling tool that I hadn't used in a long time so I re-purposed the handle. I only put a handle on one of the

combs b/c I figured I'd be using the other one attached to the table. Then I tried them out. The weren't awesome but worked completely well. I loved it. I'm slowly working on the unprocessed wool a friend gave me. Look at my little nests! So much fun. I'm off to process more wool. Now if only someone would send me a sheep or an alpaca or both!

What to Knit with these wonderful skeins?

A couple of weeks ago I went on a dying binge. I was actually dying some yarn for my etsy store. With the left over dye I thought I would dye some roving. I broke some up into 4oz sections and dyed away. It was a lot of fun. Of course I couldn't let the roving sit that long with out spinning it. 

So first I took the Peacock roving and got to work. I named it Peacock b/c it reminds me of the colors of a peacock feather. I decided to try my hand at spinning a cabled yarn. Which is taking the singles plying them together and then plying those together. (4 ply total) Here's a close up of the yarn.
  I'm unsure of what kind of wool this is. because my sister got it at a garage sale. But it works out fine for me to play with. 

The second 4oz of wool I dyed with the Twilight book cover in mind. I use only 2 colors, black and red. They blended really well and it just turned out LOVELY! I am really amazed at how wonderful the roving turned out.

Spinning this yarn was a lot of fun. The colors changing as I was spinning was exciting to see. I've got to to try dying with only 2 colors again. This yarn I just plied a 2 ply yarn. It's so lovely i'm just staring at it. Here's a closer photo of this yarn. of course there's more photos in my handspun set over at flickr. I really enjoyed how the grey parts and the pink parts plied together and look almost purple.  And I have one more 4oz roving left, from this dying binge, to spin up. This one is named Flaming Forrest. and I can't wait to spin it up.