Martini, Shaken not Stirred.

Photography Challenge Day! (day 2 of our week long challenge)
Today challenges you to be creative with your photography, and get yourself in with the chance to win the photography prize. Taking interesting photographs in this instance isn't about flashy cameras or a great deal of technical know-how, it's about setting up a story or scene in a photograph and capturing something imaginative. Your photograph(s) should feature something related to your craft, so that might be either a knitted or crocheted item, yarn, or one of your craft tools. One example of setting a scene would be to photograph a girl in a knitted red cape walking through the woodlands with a basket of goodies, as in the Red Riding Hood tale, or you might photograph a knitted gnome hiding among the flowers in your garden. Photo editing is permitted for competition photos. Here are a few examples of my own photographs to illustrate an imaginative use of photography, but you can do much better than these...

Please vote HERE

3KCBWDAY2 (using this code in a google search will help you find those blogging today on this challenge topic)

The mystery surrounding who made the first Martini continues; but there are several accepted stories. A Martini is a cocktail, originally made with Gin and Vermouth according to Wikipedia. Through out history how it's made has changed based on financial considerations as well as geographic locations within the United States. Though, when and where may be up for grabs (the two coast fighting over whom gets the honors), there is no question that a Martini is in fact a U.S. invention.

Bitters were probably used before the more popular Vermouth took it's place. Small amounts of Dry Vermouth rolled around in the glass towards the countries of France and Italy and then dumped became popular. Both of those countries had large numbers of Vermouth Distilleries thus the direction of the rolling.

James Bond popularized The Vodka Martini when the quote, "shaken not stirred" in Goldfinger caught on. Vodka changed over the years to include flavors which the T.V. series, "Sex and the City" took advantage of. Personally, the sweet sissy Martini's aren't my style; but they are quite popular.

A Dirty Martini uses Vermouth and Vodka "shaken...not stirred" and served in a chilled Martini glass with gourmet olives, such as these filled with Blue Cheese (my personal favorite).

The Martini Cotton Washcloth even has olives (see the holes). This fun pattern is courtesy of my new found friend, The Martini Knitter. I plan to knit more of these and was pleased with the outcome. I tend to like larger washcloths, but apparently my knitting gauge is lose enough that her 5 inch cloth became almost an 8 inch cloth for me using size 6 knitting needles. I used Lily's Sugar'n Cream Tea Rose. Wondering if the pattern might show up a bit more in darker solid. Somewhere along the line I got off 1 stitch, but the only place I see it is the skewer that holds the olives. Didn't feel the need to rip it out to fix it. I like how there's a good space between the top of the glass and the cloths edge on top, and might add several rows to get the same effect on the bottom the next time I knit one; as I think the bottom of the glass gets a bit lost with the border. The border is made with seed stitch, not a stitch I enjoy doing, so might try substituting good ole garter stitch next time round. Thank you Sarah for your inspiration and for sharing your pattern. I used a 2.5 oz 120 yard skein and had 1.3 ounces left, so if you knit a bit tighter then I do; you could probably make 2 cloths from one skein.

Remember, it's "Five O'Clock SomeWhere", get your Martini on. You might enjoy this Martini Post to help get you in the mood.

With the seasons changing, it's time to think about getting out and about, and keeping the kiddo's who will soon be out of school engaged. Please check out my new blog (just started yesterday), Flat Stanley and Friends.

Colors Speak to Me

This is the first time I've participated in the special week long blog event dedicated to knitters and crocheters. Though it's the 3rd year the activity has been going strong here on internet. There are prompts, one for each day, a tag which you'll see below. The tag gives us a special method to find each other doing a google search. Pretty cool. Since this is a first for me, thought I'd give the prompt below:

Color Lovers
Color is one of our greatest expressions of ourselves when we choose to knit or crochet, so how do you choose what colors you buy and crochet or knit with. Have a look through your stash and see if there is a predominance of one color. Do the same with your finished projects - do they match? Do you love a rainbow of bright hues, or more subdued tones. How much attention do you pay to the original color that a garment is knit in when you see a pattern? Tell readers about your love or confusion over color.

3KCBWDAY1 (tag)

Colors speak to me, loudly I might add. I don't own a white blouse or a beige dress. Doesn't that statement speak volumes about how I like color! I have always been drawn to bright, bold, cheery colors and find white, and beige without personality at all, and very very boring. As a child my Mother told me I dreamed about colors, apparently out loud. I would talk in my sleep saying I wanted the red one, or the yellow one and things along that line.

The first item I crocheted was a bright mint green Dollie. It was crocheted using a bright red plastic crochet hook. My childhood best friend's Aunt taught me to crochet, no doubt because I was driving her nuts. She was as round as she was tall. In retrospect, I don't think she had good mobility, as I almost always saw her in a rocking chair. I was mesmerized watching her crochet. I'm sure that first project was lov-er-ly. That lov-er-ly Dollie that had no purpose was a gift to my Mother. Wonder whatever happened to it?

The first item I knit was with multi-colored crayon/Mexican looking yarn and became a little scarf. My Mother taught me to knit. See, even back then I was drawn to bold, bright and cheery colors.

And let's not forget the bright Pink (not pastel) Octopus I made with a Styrofoam ball and braided legs to decorate my bed.

I knit and crochet and carry my love of color to almost every thing I craft, even baby items are rarely made from light pastels, or worse yet personality lacking white and beige. If you look through these blog of items made, both for myself and those for charity you'll see a rainbow of colors.

When purchasing yarn, generally I see a color I like then decide what I might want to make. My stash is full of bright, colorful goodies waiting to be something bold and pretty.

This skein of yarn reminds me of that first scarf, though I believe my yarn back then was a bit brighter in color. That memory made me smile as I opened the box this donated yarn was in. It was donated through my charity blog, Bridge and Beyond that focuses on helping homeless.

Color......even when dictated by others (ie the squares which are donated)are turned into bright, cherry........bold. These are some of the afghans I've assembled from the donated squares through my above charity blog, Bridge and Beyond. Did someone say Color?












**most afghans pictured above can be clicked on, should you want more details it will take you to the blog post**

It's all about Blue

Blue Feather and Fan Knitted Scarf is growing. Not yet used the first cake of yarn. Will have to see how big/long it is when I finish using the first cake to decide whether or not to continue with the 2nd one. It might actually be large enough. Dress scarves I tend to like a bit shorter, might not want to double up around the neck since it's lighter weight and dressier?
A quick no think'em project. Straight garter stitch, continuing the blue theme. Knitting a nice wide scarf for Bridge and Beyond from donated yarn.
Blue-ish cotton (Lilly's) will be a washcloth. Pattern is a scallop...really haven't done more then cast on, work a few rows, frog, switched to different needles for row 1 again....Might have to purchase another pair of needles, different size, believe I need size 7 vs 8 in above picture.
And yes, my bike is a work in progress. This Blue Schwinn Breeze dates from 1968-1972, according to the Schwinn website. In fact, this particular blue bike was made in June of 1971, according to the chart I found using it's serial number. I've not had the bike that long, bought it when my DD was in grade school in a garage sale. We used to ride alot. In fact, I even packed the basket with my Welcome Wagon goodies and my rounds using this very bike. Yes, I am dating myself....I was a Welcome Wagon Lady for several years. The bikes been in the garage and or the shed. We pulled it out, I washed it and used chrome cleaner and it looks pretty darn good, considering. Peals are rusty, as it the chain area. Hubby says he'll get around to cleaning and oiling that part.......sometime. I wanted a more cushy seat and hand gripes so we purchased those new and they are installed.
Then I decided it would be fun to have a spedometer and ordered one of the cheaper ones on line through Amazon. Gotta love Amazon. This baby tells how far I went, how fast I was going, time of day and average speed etc. How fun. Gotta get in shape and so had just gotten back from a ride when I took this picture. Road to the grocery store 3.5 miles and hit 11.6 miles an hour, lol. The work in progress is me getting in shape, and hubby oiling it to make it work better. Stay tuned.

Work in progress Badges and links in left sidebar.

Bouncing my Beach Ball

Beach Ball is finished! Right now it's bouncing around in the washer and will soon be laid out and blocked. Here it measures about 49 inches, but will grow probably 1-2 inches during blocking.

I used the Winter White and the pink in multiple rows around the edge and was thrilled to find the right color of turquoise in my stash to add several rows of it to the border...finishing with a fluffy ruffle.

My check my designed stash to see what afghan to work on next. As always, this afghan will be donated to Homeless Families Foundation through Bridge and Beyond.

I've continued to work on my blue lacy (feather and fan) scarf also. Making wonderful headway with it, though may put it aside and switch to something else for awhile.

Hubby and I had a lovely Easter Brunch with my 2 brothers and their wives, and my Dad today. Hope you all had/have a wonderful Easter Sunday. Sun's out bright, and I would like to take a bike ride, but believe it's too windy for my legs to push against it.

Happy Stitching all, Year of Projects Posts in the tab across the top of the blog. The Badge and link available in the right sidebar. Please join us.

Sandy's Sunday Projects

Beach Ball isn't finished, but it's close. I had hoped to finish it yesterday; but took time out for yard work. Only one more seam needs to be crocheted before I start the border. Ratted around in my stash this am to see if I had turquoise yarn...yippee, found a partial skein that matches. Needed to see what I had before I could decide on the type of border. With any luck at all, I'll finish this today. Maybe even get it laundered so I can lay it out to block.

Please to say, I also made headway (about double I think) with my Blue Feather and Fan Scarf. This is the yarn, by the way that I had started several scarves with some time back. It was in fact on the list, then got removed and replaced with a green scarf I made for my darling daughter........so, quess I'll add Awesome Blue Scarf back on the YOP list.

Doubt much will get done this week on anything involving yarn. A very long work week awaits me. Happy stitching one and all. YOP updated list in the tab across the top of the blog, and badge and link for YOP linky party in the right sidebar.

Knitting and Crocheting Projects on Wednesday

Beach Ball in the works. I added a row of dc to all squares except the bright pinks, as those squares were larger. Then added a row of sc winter white to all squares. Currently my method for crocheting together in one continuous strip (vs crocheting 2 squares together, crocheting a strip, crocheting stripes together) is to tie the corners with left offer strips of yarn. The yarn ties can be removed as I crochet...giving me the ability to have the ghan in my lap or on a table to crochet continuously across the full width and length. Once joined, I'll decide how much and what type of a border is needed for this afghan. This like the previous one (A Day at the Beach), will be donated and be size and color appropriate for a little girl as a full afghan and or a female teen/adult as a lapghan. I'm needing to check my stash to see if I might have some of the shocking pink or aqua/turquoise to use in the border.
















This knitted Feather and Fan Scarf is actually for me! Obviously it will be for next year. I'll work on it only here and there, in-between other projects since there's no rush. It's a nice take and go project as it's currently small, and the pattern isn't too terrible to keep track of without complete concentration. It's a cast on of 22 on size 8's. I considered using 9's to make it a bit more lacy, wondering how different it might look if I had. But, I'm not going to frog and start over. Love the yarn, both the color and texture. This is Ultra Alpaca (Berroco) 215 yds 50% Alpaca and 50% Laine Wool. It's quite soft, and light weight. Was having some trouble with the k2tog'ers until someone suggested pulling down a bit on the stitches (as if to purl). That's been a good tip. I don't knit tightly, but apparently from what I read on RAV and a few blogs....the k2tog'ers tent to get tight when you a series of them together. Someone else suggest lace needles with better points would be helpful too..........as the moment, I'd rather not buy more knitting needles.

What are you working on this Work in Progress Wed? Badge and links in the left sidebar. Please join us.