And As I Knit ...

And as I knit each stitch for you,

I knit in prayers of happiness and joy
I knit in wishes of a life of lots of laughter
I knit in hopes of goodness and lots of smiles
I knit in hugs and love for the moments you need them, despite hoping you never will
I knit in thoughts that you will have a well-knit community around you.
This is what I knit for you.

As I knit, my anxiety slips off like a stitch being dropped
As I knit, the sadness I carry lightens
As I knit, worries about my health disappear
As I knit, I feel like I've found my place in the world
As I knit, I am filled with joy and happiness as I picture you with the finished product
This is what I knit for me.

I knit for you
I knit for me

As the yarn is joined together, for a moment, so are we
Just for a moment. 

As I knit each stitch for you

2015 Goals Review

I started 2015 with some pretty big goals, even if there were only 8 of them. Several of them were large and on-going.

I'll tell you know that I didn't finish them all. I accomplished some. Got close on some of them. And missed the mark on others.

BUT. But despite that, I did put forth a good faith effort. I did work hard. And as I look back, I did accomplish a lot! Since it's good to see the big picture, I thought I would round up what I did manage to accomplish this year here!

1. Make a granny square every weekday of 2015: This one was completed. I made two blankets for our house and one for a friend. I made a lot of granny squares and used up a lot of yarn! And I like the two blankets that are gracing our couches a lot!

2. Read 40 books, with 30 of them being from the Rory Gilmore Reading List: I blew this one out of the water. I read 56 books. A few were children's books, but it was over 18,000 pages that I read (or listened to). I did read 29 off the Rory Gilmore List. Even though it's not the 30 I wanted to read, I'm calling it finished anyway. I could split hairs, but I'm not going to. Because 29 is close enough!

Needlepoint on Jan 11

3. Organize three years worth of digital pictures: I was short 4 months of this goal. However, I went through thousands and thousands and thousands of pictures. I will carry this same goal through to the new year, but I'm going to modify it a bit. Instead of 36 months of pictures, my goal will be 36 folders. Some months have an extra folder for vacations/sporting pictures/etc. Those folders have as many pictures in them as a regular month, and many have even more! If I count folders, I did 37 this past year, so hence I'm calling this one done as well.

4. Organize scrap-booking items/keepsakes: I jumped in and tackled this in January last year so it was done, finished and out of the way for the rest of the year. It's nice to have something to cross off right away!

Needlepoint on Dec 31

5. Finish a train embroidery project: While I worked on this a lot this year, probably about 100 hours of needlepoint, it is not finished. And it still has a lot of work to go. So while this isn't finished, and maybe isn't even half-way finished, I'm happy of what I accomplished. And am quite driven to finish it in 2016!

6. Make money from my knitting: Technically I did. I made and sold one blanket. This isn't quite what I had in mind a year ago, selling things on a regular basis is not on my radar for the time being.

Blanket I made to order!

7. Blog twice a week: I had 92 posts in 2015. With 30 of them being in November. I fell short of this pretty consistently. And while the average overall, is kind of close (1.7 posts per week), I'm calling this not accomplished. And we'll try again next year!

8. Comment on other blogs more: While I did comment more than I had been, I did not comment enough either. But it's good to keep doing this, so in 2016, we'll see this goal again too, but with more direction. Comment more is pretty wide open ... if I left just one comment more than 2014, technically I've done it, right? But not what I had in mind. So hopefully less vagueness in 2016 will get me there!

In the next day or two, I will post 2016 goals. A lot will be the same, or similar. That might not be very exciting, but many of these projects are smaller chunks of larger goals, so I'm okay with repeating several goals for the next 2 or 3 or maybe 10 years (yes, one big goal will take me 10 years to accomplish!). I don't mind having long, long term goals. But I do need to break them down into smaller chunks, hence, each year's goal!

Did you set goals in 2015? How did you do with yours? Share in the comments!

A knitting journey

 I've got quite a few finished projects laying around my house, patiently waiting to be shipped to their forever home.

I've got a few more projects in process, patiently waiting to be finished, washed, dried, and sent to their forever home.

This probably isn't a surprise to anyone reading these words.

I love to knit. I've loved to knit for a while.

I talk about yarn and needles and patterns more often than the people around me probably want to hear about those things.

There is yarn all over my house. I try to keep it limited to a few specific places, but sometimes, projects require me to spread things out.

I have bins of yarn waiting to be knit. A box of needles. Some of it I bought. Some of it was given to me. Some of it was handed down to me.

I love knitting.

I love all things to do with knitting.

The other day, someone asked me how my passion for knitting started. Okay, she really asked me how my obsession with knitting started, but passion sounds so much nicer to me!

I started knitting in 2003. Just over ten years ago.

Our friends had just announced they were newly pregnant and for whatever reason, I had it stuck in my head that I NEEDED to knit them booties for their baby. That was it though. I set out to knit some booties and then move on to the next thing in my life.

So I went on-line and looked for a pattern.

Yes, you could search the internet for patterns back then, but there weren't as many as there are today. I wasn't really sure, but a friend, sent me a link to a pattern she had used and loved. The pictures looked cute. So I decided that's what I would make.

Then I searched for how to knit. Again, there were some sites. Many were just written directions - no pictures, no videos.

I went to the library and checked out some books.

I went to the local craft store and bought yarn and needles.

With lots of enthusiasm, I sat down and knit one day.

It looked like crap.
No, really it did.

My oldest daughter was 3 at the time. I got so frustrated with the knitting, that I put it down and walked away. When my husband came home he picked it up and asked me what our 3 year had tried to make.


Yep. He thought the 3 year old made it.

But I tried again.

And I tried again.

And I tried again.

And one of those times, plus a bit of help from an aunt (who was able to show me in person how to knit) it did finally click.

I made the booties - three pairs. I made a nice-sized baby blanket.

I was smitten with knitting. And wanted to keep going.

To learn new stitches and to play around with things, I knit a lot of blankets for my three-year-old's dolls. They were quick, easy, and she loved having them all!

I also knit a lot of scarves. Again, quick, easy, and a good way to test patterns out and stitches out.

And somehow it all just kept clicking. And clicking. I branched out and tried out a variety of patterns - hats, socks, blankets, etc.

After the frustration of just starting passed, I was in love with knitting. Pretty early on it felt like something that was made for me to do!

I even briefly taught knitting classes at the local craft store! I'd do it again in a heartbeat if I could make it work with our schedule.

Which leads to where we are today.

I still love knitting.

I would still happily spend all my time knitting if I could.

My husband knows I'm feeling really bad when we hit a point where I don't even want to knit.

I've mentioned before how knitting got me through some pretty tough days as well. Days during chemo when I could barely move, but somehow was able to pick up needles and knit. Knitting came to chemo with me, even on the days when I was too tired and sore to actually knit.

My doctors know I love knitting. One doctor (who is a knitter herself) will occasionally "prescribe" knitting time to me!

When I started knitting 12 years ago, I never pictured how important knitting would be in my life. I never imagined that knitting would become a part of me. I probably would have laughed if you told me then that I'd be the knitting lady to so many people.

But honestly? I love it.

I love it when people send me knitting memes on-line. I love it when people share news stories about knitting or knit things. I love it when people tag me in photos with lots of yarn.

Who knew back then? I didn't know.

But maybe the universe did. Maybe the universe planted the seed in my head. And somehow I was smart enough to run with it and go.

Whatever happened, I'm glad I found knitting. I'm glad I didn't think I was too young to do it. Or that I didn't think it was a hobby from a bygone era.

I love knitting!

What we're watching

 *As a reminder, I am part of the Netflix Stream Team. I am being compensated for sharing about Netflix with you. However, as always, all thoughts and opinions are my own!

So March has been a kind of crazy month around here.

I thought for fun, I'd let you know what everyone around these parts is watching on Netflix!

My husband: He's been going through all the X-Files episodes. He's never watched it and always wanted to. He often uses time during his lunch hour to watch a bit of netflix (here's where I insert my thank goodness he can stream it on his phone at work, while we stream something different here!). Because, unlike me, he doesn't sit down and marathon watch the episodes, it's taking him some time. But hopefully he can finish before the rumored new short season hits the tv this summer!

My 15 year old: She is quite into anime these days. Well, anime and scary movies. So her list consists of as many Saw movies she can get her hands on, Night of the Living Dead, and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Certainly, these are not movies and shows that are up my alley, but she enjoys them. And so do her friends. Sometimes my husband will sit and watch some of the older scary movies with her, but generally I opt out of this.

My 12 year old: She is currently watching the new season of Mako Mermaids on Netflix. She also watched the original movie Annie! This is partially inspired by going to the 15 year old's musical at school, which was Annie. She kind of likes the musical better because it was live - and can you beat live? The movie is pretty good as well. She likes that it has more detail. But lookout, because coming soon will her her very own review of Mako Mermaids! So I won't say anything else about that for now!

The 9 year old: He's been watching Pokemon. Again. I think he's watched this series several times over now. But he loves Pokemon, so we roll with it! Plus, when his friends come over they play their own live-action Pokemon and it is very entertaining for this mom to watch! Plus, I figure if a few episodes of Pokemon leads to several boys running around my yard, having a good time, then that's worth it. Of course, it only recently became warm enough to actually run around outside, but I'm trying to stay positive and focus on the nice weather days and not the still cold and snowy and rainy and icy days.

As for me, well, as promised I watched all of House of Cards. In one weekend. I know, it's crazy, but I did it! And it was so worth it. No spoilers - because that would be mean, but when I tell you the ending left my jaw on the floor, I'm not exaggerating. I have no idea where they will take the show next, but believe it will be as good as ever. Of course, I'll be waiting a long time to see. I had some guesses at the start of the season, but during the course of the season, all my guesses were proven wrong. So I'm not going to try to guess anymore!

I also watched all of The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Hi. Lar. Ious. That's all I can say. We had had a long stressful week around here, I had not spent much time at home, then had bad news. My sister was over and so we stayed up much, much too late and watched the show. It was exactly the comic relief that I needed! So, so incredibly funny. And referencing The Baby-Sitter's Club? How can you go wrong! It's a great show if you need a laugh. I can't wait to see how they continue this show as well. It's fabulous.

After getting through all of that (why yes, yes I did watch a lot of Netflix this month. This month was different in that I had time in hospital waiting rooms, and sleepless nights of worry, and many days where I was unable to leave the house for a variety of reasons, which turns out to be very good times to knit and watch Netflix!).

Anyway, after all of that I started to watch The West Wing. I've never watched it before, and I figured it would be a good opposite to House of Cards - or so friends told me. So I've been slowly working my way through that show and I swear I'm in love with President Bartlet. Not because of the politics, which are interesting, but just because of the character overall. Sam, Josh, C.J., Donna, Charlie, all the cast - so well cast and so well played. The show has made me cry several times, but it makes me laugh more.

Also, I've decided that I want to work in the West Wing. But maybe not the real one, just the one on set. Or maybe the real one, just for a week. Wouldn't that be something? I bet it looks nothing like the show and yet, a lot like the show all at once.

As an aside, given the craziness that March has been, can I just say, how much I love Netflix? For real. I do. This month I slept in a hospital, in a respite care center, and then had sleepless nights at home. And at all three locations I could just take a break from it all and turn on Netflix. It's a good distraction that is available on my phone, my computer, my television, and my tablet. There are times where for whatever reason it means you have a lot of time to sit and need to be distracted. And Netflix is great for that. I leaned heavily on it during chemo, during some of my sickest moments after all that, and now as I help take care of people who need the help. I don't mean to sound all gushy, but there are just times where focusing on a book isn't going to happen, where silence isn't welcomed, and being able to fire up Netflix and watch some new and old favorite shows is exactly what this woman needs!

Knit Gifts

I love nothing more than to knit people gifts, so when I was given a chance to review More Last-Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson, I jumped at the chance!

The book has been out for awhile, but I hadn't yet had a chance to look it over. I've read Last-Minute Knitted Gifts (also by Hoverson) and knit from it, so I figured it was a good chance I'd like the More book as well, and I was right!

 I loved so many of the projects in this book that I really think I could make most of them. Of course, I think they'd make great gifts or they'd just be nice to keep around this house as well! The projects range from knitting for baby, to children, to adults, to things to put around your house.

The projects are arranged by how much time they will take to make. The first section is less-than-2-hour gifts. Then the 2-to-4-hour gifts. Each section goes up by two hours until the last section, which is more-than-8-hour gifts.

I skimmed through the patterns and found them to be well written with clear directions. Just to be sure though, I decided to whip up one of the smaller projects - a lovely book mark.

I received this green yarn in a swap years ago, but it's just this little bit and I never knew what to make with it. When I saw the linen bookmark in the book, I just knew that my little hank of green yarn had been waiting for this pattern.

The bookmark was easy to make, the directions were simple and clear. And it took me about an hour to knit it. Since it came from the less-than-2-hours section, this was perfect. As I was snapping pictures, my daughter came up and was admiring it, and so in the spirit of the book, I decided to gift her the bookmark!  
 
The pictures that accompany the project directions not only show you what you are making, but are simply gorgeous.

At the end of the book, Hoverson includes some creative ways to wrap your gifts. I thought this was a fun addition to the book and one way it stands apart from most knitting books I've read.

I think this book would be a welcome addition to any knitter's library. I can definitely see myself making many of the patterns in this book.

*Note: I was given access to an e-copy of this book via NetGalley
with the expectation that I would review the book. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own!

2015 Goals

In years past I've set resolutions.

I've picked words to guide my year.

Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

Because sometimes I'm more motivated and sometimes I'm not. And sometimes things happen that change plans.

And yet, this year, I'm ready to go again. So I've set a few goals for the year. We'll see how it goes. I want these goals to be fun, help me grow, etc. So if they become a burden, then I shall re-evaluate.

1. Make a granny square every weekday of 2015 - yes, I said every weekday. The weekend will be a break or a time to catch up should I need it.

2. Read 40 books, with 30 of them being from the Rory Gilmore Reading List

3. Organize three years worth of digital pictures - bonus if I can get through more, but I'll be happy with just three years. Basically this means I delete the bad ones, tag faces, tag locations and leave any stories behind the picture if it needs to be

4. Organize scrapbooking items/keepsakes - I have boxes of scrapbooking things and of keepsakes. I need to get things organized and in proper boxes. I also need to weed through things and probably get rid of things. When we moved, this part of looking through things was just too daunting, so all of these boxes were just stacked and moved. It's time to delve in. Since there is no move this upcoming year and a lot of other things were done before the move, I should be able to focus on this.

5. Finish a train embroidery project - I've been working on this for too long. It's time to finish! Of course, once it's finished, I have other projects waiting in the wings ready to be worked on too. But, for now, I'll focus on this one and call it a day.

6. Make money from my knitting - I don't know how this will work or if it will. But I'd love to bring in an income, even a tiny one. And I love to knit so it seems like a good fit? We'll see.

7. On the blogging side of things, it's to blog twice a week. I feel like that should be doable, though I don't always average that. Though I want to make sure I'm not blogging nothing just to get a post up.

8. Also related to blogging, I need to be a better commenter on other blogs. I love getting comments. I assume others do as well. So I shall try to spread the love better and make sure I'm not just writing here, but reading other blogs as well.

8 goals. It may not seem like much, but there it is! I'm ready to go and tackle things. I've got quite a few plans in place to get things done. I've got the month of January done in my bullet journal and most of February done as well. Many of these goals are in the book already - nothing will get done in month one, but I should make some good progress in January. And hopefully in December I can come back to this list and say yep, finished that; yep, finished that; oh, cross that one off too!

What about you? Have you set any goals or resolutions or picked a word (or a few) to help guide your 2015? Share! 

Happy (not) Ugly Sweater Day!

It's here! It's here!

Today is December 12 - it's Make the World Better with a Sweater day and I'm ready.

I finished knitting my sweater at the start of this week (which sounds like I was cutting it close, but I thought for sure I'd be working on until I put it on today, so I'm happy!). And I'm rocking it out today.

Without further ado, I present to you my sweater:

I had so much fun making this sweater and I feel really good about helping out Save the Children. They really are doing some wonderful things right now and I feel good about supporting them!

Sadly, my 12 year old did not finish her scarf. She did start it and is working on it (and has discovered that she LOVES to crochet) but her heart was in the right place, so I told her not to worry!

And I know it might be a bit early, but I may or may not already be thinking about what sweater to make next year!

But now it's your turn! If you would like to help, you can donate $5 to Save the Children simply by texting SWEATER to 20222. Also, feel free to take a selfie in your sweater (ugly or not, holiday or not, made by you or not) and tag yourself with #sweater and #elfie

Don't have a sweater, that's okay! You can download a paper sweater here and still participate!

Have some fun, help a good cause, spread a little holiday cheer - sounds like a good plan to me! Hope you are all having a great Friday!

Sweater details:

Pattern: Soltice Dias de Betty
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease
Needle: US 5
Slight modifications in regards to increases/decreases because my gauge was larger than the pattern called for. I also knit it down one side to help offset the gauge difference as well
Would I knit it again? Yes, but the should area is a bit small, so I would probably make the back smaller by a few stitches at the top! 

Sweater Update!

Well, I've been working hard at knitting a lot recently - I've finished one shawl, got another shawl on the needles, planning any holiday knitting, but of course, I've been working away on my sweater!

Yep, it's my sweater for Save the Children's Wear a Sweater and Make the World Better Campaign that I told you about in November!

sneak peek of the front

#Sweater day is December 12 (which also happens to be the National Ugly Sweater Day) is
coming up soon! In less than two weeks and I'm bound and determined to get this sweater done so I can wear it! 





It's a fun sweater to knit - I'm using different yarn and having to make some alterations to the pattern to accommodate it, but nothing too big!

The color is lovely! And I can't wait to wear it! I can't lie, I'm a little nervous I'll finish it and then it won't fit ... I don't often knit sweaters for myself for this reason. I tend to make more that don't fit than do fit, but so far, this one looks like it will be okay! Phew! 

What about you? Are working on making any sweaters or thinking of hosting an Ugly Sweater contest to celebrate the 12?

casting on the back

Let me know!

Random Things

Yesterday I promised I'd share about ChiTag today, except then I got hit with a massive headache, so instead, I'll give a series of random things from November so far.

1. I tried to make homemade yogurt this month. I ended up making room temperature milk. I will try again though. I swear.

2. I did make the best batch of chicken broth I've ever made last week. I guess it balances out the yogurt!

3. I'm so far behind on knitting projects that I am not sure I'll ever catch up, but I'm knitting my fingers off as often as I can.

4. I'm bummed I'm behind because I'd like to actually catch up and get to the point where I can sell my knitting. Maybe not a lot, but a couple things a month wouldn't be so bad.

5. I'm motivated to sell knitting because I'm currently saving for a new camera. I've been saving since the start of this year. I was hoping to be able to buy in time for Christmas, but at the rate I've been able to save, it might be more like Easter before I get it.

6. Last week I learned my cholesterol was high. So I had to get a fasting lipid test to see a breakdown of numbers. Still no results back yet. Boo.

7. I still haven't made the dress I talked about making here. Maybe this weekend?

8. I started playing this game called 2 Dots. Have you played it? Do you like it? I mostly like it, until I get stuck on a level for too long!

9. I've been dreaming lately of going to New York. A lot. It's completely and totally out of the cards, but if my dream could come true: I would go to New York with two suitcases - one full, one empty. I would see the sites: Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Empire State, World Trade Center Memorial, etc. I would see one Broadway show, maybe a second. And I would visit Mood and buy enough fabric to fill most of the empty suitcase but actually fill the rest with yarn from some shop or another. Again, it won't happen. But I can dream, can't I?

10. I've been unable to really get into books lately. I started a few but just can't get into them (including Gone Girl and The Goldfinch). I hope that soon I can find a book to really sink my teeth into.

And one more hat!

Yep, one more hat to share.

I made this for a friend, to order. She will be gifting this to a special baby in her life so I wanted to make just perfect!

It took a few tries to get the sizing just right - the pattern was written for 3-6 or 6-9 months and I needed a newborn hat. But I figured it out thanks to some awesome websites with measurements for different sizes and some tinkering with different needle sizes!

And oh, did it turn out.

I'm not going to lie. I wish I could have a baby right now just to put this hat and booty set on. Alas, I won't be kidnapping an newborns. I have them wrapped up and ready to ship out.

But oh, aren't they adorable?

The details ....
Pattern used:  Baby Beanie and Booties Pattern
Needle size: Size 6 (hat) and 4 (booties)
Yarn: Lion Brand Heartland Olympic

Hats: The Sequel

I also made a batch of hats for another friend.

She too needed the hats because of the side effects of cancer.

[Side note: cancer sucks]

She requested autumn colors, and maybe an orange that doesn't look like a pumpkin.

She also asked for one hat. So I knit her one. Then another. And another. Because I didn't want one hat to get lonely while being shipped!

Special Knitting

A few weeks ago I read a terribly sad story on facebook. About a new baby, Olivia, who was coming into this world, but because of genetic issues -  trisomy 18 - discovered in testing, this baby will not be with us long.

And my heart crumbled into a lot of pieces. I thought of her family - nuclear and extended. And I thought of her mom, someone I went to high school with. And have remained connected through facebook.

I have never been in this position and I won't even try to pretend I understand or imagine what those closest are thinking or feeling.

So, I did what I know how to do. I started knitting. I knit and knit. Because I knew that time wasn't on my side, so I knit and knit.

I took that blanket everywhere with me. And put my heart and soul and as many good thoughts as I could into that blanket. Because whether this blanket is used for a few hours, or longer, Olivia, I felt deserved nothing less than any other baby.

And so a blanket was knit.

As an afterthought I whipped up a medium sized preemie hat. Because again, I felt strongly in my heart that this precious baby needed a hat.

I sent the blanket and hat off. And just felt so much that I wish I could do so much more.

When I knit things for people, I do it with a lot of care. Unless, a specific pattern is requested, I will easily spend 3, 4, 5 hours finding just the right pattern. And I walk around the yarn store looking for just the right yarn. It is important to me that I try to make things just right.

Yet, in the case of rough times, or bad news - knitting feels so lacking. It doesn't feel like enough.

But it's what I can do. So I do it the best I can.

The blanket arrived to my friend Heather yesterday. And the thank you note I received left me in tears. I think if I ever doubt that knitting is not enough, I'm going to go back and reread that.

Because when I knit, it doesn't magically fix things, or heal people, or repair broken hearts. But it does mean something, and that counts.

That is what I will hold onto. My gift in life may be the ability to knit. And while it's not curing cancer, or getting people on Mars, or making sure no child goes hungry anywhere, maybe just bringing comfort to people, or putting a smile on their face, well that is enough. On this day. In this moment. It is enough.

This is a lesson for all of us. We all have different gifts and talents. Use yours, whatever they may be, even if it doesn't feel like enough. You just never know who you will touch. 

If you have some prayers or good thoughts to spare for Heather, Nathan, and Olivia, I'm sure they would appreciate them. You can also watch Heather and Nathan (two very talented musicians) discuss this a little bit in this video. Thank you.

What's that? A hat?

I've been knitting a lot of hats lately!

The first batch went to a friend who recently moved from Chicago to Michigan. Due to treatment for her metastatic breast cancer, she has lost her hair.

So I whipped up some hats for her! She requested dark colors/black. So I made a black/light blue, two grays, one navy, and two black hats.

Anyway, without fanfare ... here are the hats!