A New Hampshire Knitter

It's September 10th. There are now 105 days until Christmas. Holy crap, only 105? Sure, 105 days seems forever away- after all, it's triple digits. But for a crafter, 105 days is nothing, It's under four months, and most crafters, even the "selfish" ones, feel the urge to make something for everyone for Christmas. Normally, I quelch the urge. My handmades go unappreciated, and unused. And I make things to be used. And appreciated. This year is different- I'm broke seven ways to Sunday- I can make my expense, but that's about it. So I'm crafting if I can. I still got a chuckle and an appreciation for this article though: The Ugly Truth.  Because even to the broke among us;  some people deserve coffee cups.

I'm not sure about the amount of coverage this story is getting nation-wide, or even world-wide, but here in New England, the story of Market Basket is dominating the news cycle. It has been since June 23rd, when Artie T, or "the good Arthur" was ousted as CEO of Market Basket. Why was he ousted? It wasn't for the reasons most CEOs are ousted. He was let go because of greed, pure and simple. He was let go because his cousin, Arthur S, is full of greed, hatred, and revenge. The warehouse workers and truckers were the first to stand up and fight for our way of business, and our way of life- because at Market Basket, we are a family, and we feel like our family is being destroyed not from within, but from outsiders. While I don't have much in the way of spare money, I do have yarn- and I do have (some) free time. That is why I am proposing this- I am knitting a stuffed giraffe, and placing it up for auction/bid/whatever. Proceeds go to the warehouse fund, whic

I hate binding quilts. Hate it. I know hate is a strong word, but that's how I feel about binding quilts by hand. It's tedious, and they end up loose and floppy. However, I didn't think I had a choice. However, I had a stack of quilts all done, ready to go. All they needed was the binding to be done. I had already attached the binding, it just needed to be sewn down. That's it. Well, like any crafter on a budget, I watched a couple youtube videos. And I found one that really worked. And, within hours, I had all three quilts bound, washed, dried, and posted onto Etsy . I was SHOCKED at how easy it was. Any quilters out there? It really is amazing.

I have a slight problem. I want to KNIT ALL THE SHAWLS, which isn't a problem, as I have a lot of yarn designated toward shawls. However, what makes it a problem is I also want to KNIT ALL THE SOCKS. (And yes, I have a lot of yarn designated for socks.) As it is, I've got a couple shawls on the needles. The Eden Shawl , which I wrote about earlier this week. That's officially on hold- I've only got a few inches left, I did, however, cave and buy a couple skeins from a Raveller in Canada. So, I'm waiting on that delivery. On pins and needles, of course. I really want to finish that one, and block it. I chose a very lovely color for that. Knitpicks Stroll Sport, in Baltic Heather.  I also haven't touched my Follow Your Arrow, which was a Ysolda Teague mystery knit a long, since clue 4 came out. It's just sitting there, in a huddled, lonely mess.  Same with Esjan , which my knitting group did as a knit a long... I did rece

I moved! I had wanted to post earlier, but life got in the way, as it usually does. I'm all in, mostly settled, and I think my favorite feature of my new condo is my "hobby room."  Here's the overall view- the view from the door. It's supposed to be the master bedroom, but really? How much room do I need to sleep? The "small" bedroom has plenty of room for my bed and my "office." Besides, I take up more room crafting than I do sleeping or studying. The yarn stash and the "hobby closet"- it's where I keep all of my smaller hobbies- my spinning wheel and fiber, my beads, puzzles, my camera, toy and bag making supplies. My sewing tables. The taller table has a cutting mat on it. The shelving unit  and totes hold stuff I'm saving for the craft fairs this winter. My bookshelves... for my books, regular and knitting and quilting, as well as a way of organizing WIPs. My futon. For overnight guests. At

For my birthday last December, two of my coworkers bought me the knit pattern a day calendar. Most of the patterns I discarded, not anything I found interesting. However, there was one shawl pattern that I fell in love with, and HEY! I had an (extremely close) equivalent yarn in stash, in the exact yardage required. YAY, right? (pattern called for KP Wool of the Andes Sport, I had KP Stroll Sport) Those of you who are friends with me on facebook know the rest of the story. Those of you who don't, however, here it is. The gauge on the pattern calls for 4.5 stitches per inch in stockinette, using size five needles. I cast on, knit for awhile and then measured (I have a tendency to not knit a swatch, I figure after a couple inches of knitting I can measure then. Besides, it's a well known fact that swatches lie.) It took awhile, but I finally got gauge- on size US8s. I didn't think too much of it- seeing how my original gauge on the size fives matched the recommended

I'm sure many of you have experienced the pinterest-fail- that diy project or idea that you find on pinterest that looks amazing, yet comes out so horribly wrong? Well, I heard about a microwaveable, single serve cake on pinterest, where all you do is mix angel food cake and another flavor cake, add some water, microwave, and voila! Single serve cake. Well, it seemed too good to be true. So I didn't try it. Until I heard about it at a Friday night knit night, I overheard some of the ladies talking about it. As I was deep in conversation with someone else, I didn't hear if it was a sucess, and I didn't think much of it again. Until today. I was grocery shopping and needed to get another bag of coffee. At the supermarket I shop at, the coffee aisle is shared with the baking aisle. I thought about it a moment, and decided to try it. Worst case senario, I was out the $3.60 for the cake mix. (Apparently, angel food cake is more expensive than regular cake. What's

It has been a LONG time since I last wrote here. A LONG long time. I've been busy, with school and work. I started a masters program, at Southern New Hampshire University, studying accounting. It's been mostly fun. However, life still goes on, despite all that. I'll be moving soon, so in order to clear some inventory (and, lets be honest, make a bit of money), I'm running a sale in my etsy shop , from now until March 1, 2014, everything is 15% off. Just use coupon code "moving." Happy knitting!