handspun scarf finished

The yarn I spun a while ago is now a scarf, finally! I've been meaning to post this pic a while back, when I actually did finish it, but better late than never. I'll be adding fringe to it eventually.

a sweater makes headlines

Just follow this link to the story ... it's not a knitting thing but it's a sweater thing so it's kind of a knitting thing. :)

from handspun to scarf

A few months ago I finished spinning this ball of yarn and I finally cast on a seed stitch scarf with it.

The weather's starting to cool off, and I'm realizing I need some more wintery clothes! Not that I don't already have a zillion scarves, hats, and mittens, but one can never have too many.

This will be my very first project that I've knit with a handspun ball of yarn, and even better, a ball of yarn I've spun myself! Pictures to come soon!

bacon & chocolate... mmmmm ;)

It has truthfully never occured to me to mix bacon and chocolate together, but I happen to stumble upon a few chocolate fudge recipes that actually have bacon in them... and I went from "Ew, that's gross" to "Wait a sec, that just might work!"

I got some merkins milk chocolate wafers, mixed it with half a square of bittesweet baker's chocolate, melted it and dunked these strips of bacon (this happen to be regular, unsalted bacon) and... it tastes awesome.

I've no idea how healthy it is, probaby not very. But it's wicked. I dare you to try it, especially if you're weirded out by the idea.

knitted wrapping paper find! woot!

I love that I found this wrapping paper at Michael's the other day - I've been searching for something like this for ages. There was paper in fair isle as well, but I'm such a fan of cabled fabric that I decided to stick with these!

Now I can't wait for the holidays to come around so I can put these to good use!

mini knitting movie video

I absolutely love this video... give it a watch if you haven't seen it yet! It's an animated knitting video which has been around for a while, but it's absolutely adorable and kinda funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6ZjMWLqJvM

I can't seem to figure out how to upload video into blog posts... but just follow the link!

yum... hand-dyed indigo yarn

~ before ~

I've been itching to find indigo yarn for a while now, but everything that I came across seemed a bit too 'purple' to me... so I tried my hand at dying my own. All I had access to was some leftover knit picks wool of andes bulky in 'bare', and a bunch of food colouring. So, earlier this week I put it all to good use:

~ after ~



~ during ~

The actual colour of the yarn is closer to indigo than what it shows in the picture, and I love how it turned out. Now I just have to figure out a good pattern to use it all up in! I'lll probably make a cabled scarf of some kind - can't go wrong with scarves, and can't have too many of them either!

kids with unique names

I've been in the ravelry posting forums and etsy chat frequently, and I've noticed lately a lot of people venting about names being given to children; specifically complaining about 'original' and 'unique' names, and how strange they are.

Well, get over it.

I love unique names. In fact, the more unique the better. The idea that kids are going to wind up developing a complex because of their name, is rediculous. If a child is given confidence, it won't make a lick of difference what their name happens to be.

Frequently kids are taught to be unique, to be individuals, and to not fall into peer pressures and follow a crowd. Why does that not apply to their names as well? Why do they have to be one of five Brian's or Shawn's or Kelly's that's in their class?

Quite frankly, I felt bad for kids in my younger classes who had to be refered to as Beth A. and Beth B., or Adam H. and Adam K., because it was tough enough to tell them apart because they were stuck with the same name. Even when I was 17 and spent the summer working up north, there were 4 girls with the same name, who wound up having to go by different names, which was confusing at first for them. Simply because they were stuck with such common names.

Now, truthfully, there's nothing wrong with a common name either. But please, adults, whether you're parents or not, quit bitching about a kid given a name that's not the 'norm'. If that kid is going to develop a complex about their name, it's not because they brought it onto themselves, it's because of people like you weirding them out because they're a bit more unique.

Pick your battles. A kid's name is not that big of a deal. I actually applaud any parent who gives their child any sense of individuality.