crafty christmas: cable knit scarf

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i was knitting the cabled infinity scarf i showed you yesterday over thanksgiving break while we were in ames. my mom saw it and was all like, “i want one!” at this point in my life, i do whatever my mom wants me to. and i didn’t have a gift idea for my mom yet so it worked out well.

after we got back to iowa city, i went to the yarn shop and looked around for white yarn. there was nothing good. i found this absolutely beautiful mirasol yarn that was a merino, alpaca and silk blend. as i worked with it, it would change from light gray to bluish silver to silvery gray. i fell in love with it and bought four skeins.

i used the same basic pattern, but cabled 6 stitches instead of 8.

you’ll need:
us size 15 needles
thicker yarn for size 13-15 needles
bigger cabling needle
tapestry needle for weaving in ends

pattern

beginning:
cast on 24 stitches
r1 [back]: slip first stitch*, p6, k2, p6, k2, p6, p*
[*on every row, you’ll always slip the first stitch and purl the last one]
r2 [front]: slip first stitch, k6, p2, k6, p2, k6, p
r3: slip first stitch, p6, k2, p6, k2, p6, p
r4: slip first stitch, cf6, p2, cf6, p2, cf6, p

main pattern:
r5 [back]: slip first stitch*, p6, k2, p6, k2, p6, p*
[*on every row, you’ll always slip the first stitch and purl the last one]
r6 [front]: slip first stitch, k6, p2, k6, p2, k6, p
r7: slip first stitch, p6, k2, p6, k2, p6, p
r8: slip first stitch, k6, p2, k6, p2, k6, p
r9: slip first stitch, p6, k2, p6, k2, p6, p
r10: slip first stitch, k6, p2, k6, p2, k6, p
r11: slip first stitch, p6, k2, p6, k2, p6, p
r12: slip first stitch, cf6, p2, cf6, p2, cf6, p

repeat the main pattern until you’ve reached your desired length. when you’re getting ready to cast off, stop after row 8, and then cast off.

happy knitting!

crafty christmas: cabled infinity scarf

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inspired by this pattern, i decided to knit this for my mother-in-law. i saw this beautiful green yarn in my favorite little yarn shop and knew it was the perfect color. it was yarn for size 8 needles, so i held two strands together and knitted on size 15 needles. i basically changed the original pattern completely, simplifying it and making it more of an infinity scarf than a cowl.

this is one of my first attempts at writing out a knitting pattern, so please let me know if you have any questions!

you’ll need:
us size 15 needles
thicker yarn for size 13-15 needles [or you can hold two strands together like i did]
bigger cabling needle
tapestry needle for weaving in ends and kitchener stitch

cabled infinity scarf pattern

beginning:
cast on 30 stitches
r1 [back]: slip first stitch*, p8, k2, p8, k2, p8, p*
[*on every row, you’ll always slip the first stitch and purl the last one]
r2 [front]: slip first stitch, k8, p2, k8, p2, k8, p
r3: slip first stitch, p8, k2, p8, k2, p8, p
r4: slip first stitch, cf8, p2, cf8, p2, cf8, p

main pattern:
r5 [back]: slip first stitch*, p8, k2, p8, k2, p8, p*
[*on every row, you’ll always slip the first stitch and purl the last one]
r6 [front]: slip first stitch, k8, p2, k8, p2, k8, p
r7: slip first stitch, p8, k2, p8, k2, p8, p
r8: slip first stitch, k8, p2, k8, p2, k8, p
r9: slip first stitch, p8, k2, p8, k2, p8, p
r10: slip first stitch, k8, p2, k8, p2, k8, p
r11: slip first stitch, p8, k2, p8, k2, p8, p
r12: slip first stitch, cf8, p2, cf8, p2, cf8, p

repeat the main pattern until you’ve reached your desired length. when you’re getting ready to cast off, stop after row 8, and then cast off.

use the kitchener stitch [there are great tutorials on youtube, here’s one that i’ve used] to graft your work into an infinity scarf and give to someone you love, or keep your beautiful scarf for yourself!

happy knitting!

crafty christmas: reduce paper waste and reuse paper bags

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i usually do a little shopping the day after christmas and get all the wrapping paper i’m going to need for the next year. but after having the same couple rolls of wrapping paper for three years, i realized my wrapping paper needs weren’t as great as i thought. so i thought about it, and decided to use up the last bit of my wrapping paper and then stick to the three r’s principle.

the stronger force behind this post though is that i live in iowa city now and the entire city will judge me if i don’t reduce, reuse and recycle. just call me a people pleaser.

i think i should thank pinterest as another contributor to this idea, because i saw so many classy pins of kraft paper wrapped presents.

combining the powers of the three r’s and pinterest, i believe that i made the ideas i saw even better by making this little project free and eco-friendly. [on a braggy side-note: my friend kaylee and i were just talking how we are the best at making ideas we find on pinterest even better]

i started asking for paper bags instead of plastic at the grocery store [who has too many plastic bags? i do!] in early november. i folded the bottom up and stored them flat. when i started wrapping presents i simply cut the paper bags like this:

are you wondering about the print that is usually on the outside of grocery bags? well, i’ve never seen one with print on the inside! flip that sucker over and you’ve got yourself some free kraft paper.

i doodled the names with a sharpie and used my gray industrial thread again. the cute bags in the first photo are also reused from home-ec workshop where i get my yarn.

speaking of yarn, stay tuned for pictures and patterns of my christmas knitting projects!

happy krafting! [pun absolutely intended]

crafty christmas: show off your christmas cards

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i know i’m not the first person ever to do this, but it is darn cute so i thought i’d share.

do you have a bunch of christmas cards sitting in a pile? i did until a few days ago. we got back from seattle and opened the majority of said cards, and i put them in a pile with the rest of the mail.

i LOVE getting christmas letters and cards. when i was a young girl i would sit and read every single christmas letter that my parents got. i didn’t know half the people, but i read them anyway. i actually think my first sure sign of adulthood was when i received my first christmas letter addressed to me at my own house.

and while i cherish these letters, they still end up sitting in a pile for a long time. and as my fridge is rather crowded, i can’t put them there either.

SO, staple gun in hand, and armed with gagillion feet of gray industrial thread, i fashioned for myself a “picturesline” [as opposed to a clothesline] in my kitchen. i used the same clothespins that i hang my clothes with in the summer, so this little project was completely free, just the way i like it.

plus, this project gives me:

a lovely way to show off my friends
a classy look
a little bit more happiness and love in my kitchen

i’m satisfied!

december financial update

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you’ve heard it before, the holidays are expensive. between gifts, postage, traveling, cards, eating out, and the like, one can really break the bank.

i’ve prided myself on being over-prepared financially and mentally for the holidays months in advance, but even i failed to stick to our budget this year. i’m a little disappointing in myself, but i refuse to beat myself up about it. because we’ve been extremely blessed and we’re doing just fine.

in the midst of overspending, we ended up borrowing a small amount from our savings.

2012 financial goals:

  1. fill all of our essential dump funds as fast as possible. these dump funds include:
    • auto insurance
    • home insurance
    • auto tax
    • home tax
    • pest control
    • eye exams
    • eye glasses
  2. pay off our student loan
  3. fill all of our non-essential dump funds. these dump funds include:
    • christmas
    • clothing
    • vacation
    • birthdays
  4. save and pay cash for a second car
  5. fully fund our emergency fund (6 months of expenses)
percentage-wise, we’re 6.26% completed with our 2012 goals. 

i think i can be excited about being 6.26% ahead of schedule, so i’m going to be!

happy saving!

twentyeleven

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while i usually don’t reach all of my goals, i love setting them. i love seeing what i can accomplish and challenging myself. it’s really fun for me. and mostly, i love crossing thing off of lists.

some essentially immeasurable goals
be more hilarious. i personally think i went above and beyond on this one
[by writing intentionally humorous blogs mostly]

be more adventurous.
[by traveling spontaneously at least once this year]

be more creative.
[by having ‘craft time’ once a week] while i didn’t always blog about it, i was way more crafty than i have ever been.

be more ambitious. i think i was definitely more ambitious this year, but i didn’t start a novel quite yet
[by starting the rough sketch of my novel idea]

be more shrewd.
[by having products and a business plan for an etsy shop by the end of the year]

some more measurable goals
complete one craft-project a week

blog 3 times a week [156 blogs in 2011] this one makes 200!

send birthday cards to everyone in my [immediate] family i think i forgot my brother-in-law, but i came close!

have a party of people over once a month

complete a bible read-thru plan [still haven’t accomplished this one in my lifetime]

read 20+ books

make dessert twice a month

make adorable christmas stockings

learn photoshop

drink more water [as opposed to the barely none that i drink now]

well, in many ways you could say i’m a failure. there are a lot of things i didn’t do on this list. but i still feel successful. i think i grew and accomplished a lot in 2011. here are some other accomplishments from 2011 that i can be proud of:

we saved and paid cash for a little under half of bryan’s tuition this year!

i learned some new things, like how to make felted soap bars, how to pipe, and how to crochet.

we cleaned out our crap and made over $225 by selling some of it!

and, possibly the most significant accomplishment of 2011: i now own the taylor swift speak now cd.

peace out 2011.

trailer park life

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you know you live in a trailer park when…

your neighbor [who also lives in a trailer, obviously] says: “i’m assuming your bathroom is in the same place ours is?”

felted soap bars

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what the crap is a felted soap bar?
why did this crazy girl make her soap brown?
does the brown one look more like poop or hair that you’ve just pulled out of the shower drain?
what is the purpose of a felted soap bar?

all good questions, my friends.

a bunch of my favorite people in iowa city got together on wednesday night to craft! my friend kaylee orchestrated this fun, sudsy little project for us. so onto your questions:

a felted soap bar is simply a bar of soap which is covered in felt.
felt is simply wool that has undergone a significant amount of friction

so to make these felted soap bar, we covered delicious smelling soap in wool, slipped it carefully into a stocking [or knee-high as i like to call them] and scrubbed our little hearts out. we were all covered in suds and our hands felt a little dry, but we had these beautiful creations to show for it!

i happen to really like brown, okay? i know it kind-of looks like hairy nastiness, but the heart is cute right?

in the end, we all have a felted soap bar that we can use as a loofa and a bar of soap all at the same time!