Metamorphosis and Air Miles

Voting Here for your Favorite Challenge Post
pst...see how easy I made it for you
Something A Bit Different (this is also a FOF post, see badges and links in left sidebar)

It's back, and this time it has the most amazing of prizes (look for the prize for 'most creative post'). This was a massive success last year, and for many it was the highlight of the Blog Week, so this year you are challenged, again, to find a new way of blogging.
This is an experimental blogging day to try and push your creativity in blogging to the same level that you perhaps push your creativity in the items you create.There are no rules of a topic to blog about but this post should look at a different way to present content on your blog. This can take one of many forms, but here a few suggestions:

• Wordless, photographic post

• Video blog post

• Podcast

• Cartoon/sketch of an idea

• Write about a subject from a different perspective (for example, you could write about a day in the life of a knitted sock from the point of view of the sock).

• Interpretive modern dance (why does someone always suggest this?)

• A poem or piece of rhyming verse

• Stop motion animation

The grand prize for Knitting and Crochet blog week, as donated by JenACKnitwear and Fyberspates will be given to the most creative blog post after a nomination and voting round, and due to the immensity of the prize it is really worth putting bit of time and effort into this. At the very least you will get an amazing blog post out of it.

3KCBWDAY5 (use this code in a google search to find others in day 5 challenge)

Allow me to introduce myself. As I travel, a metamorphosis takes place. You see when I started my life somewhere in a laboratory, I was but chemicals. I traveled to New York to the Lion Brand Yarn Shop and became a 6 oz skein, 185 yards of fiber. My label read 98% acrylic and 2% polyester.

My infancy stage was spent traveling through the US mail was from Joyce's house in New Mexico to Sandy's house in Ohio. That was a long necessary journey before my next stage could begin. Paired with size 10 knitting needles I traveled from Ohio to Florida on Southwest Airlines where more metamorphosis took place, stitch by stitch, and row by row. Growing with each mile more changes taking place. My return flight from Florida to Ohio was the final stage of my traveling metamorphosis. Being Dog tired, I can now rest, as I'll be wrapped around someone's neck to warm them at a homeless shelter.
The yarn was donated by Joyce, I made the scarf(just folded it to make it look like a dog above for fun), it will be donated through Bridge and Beyond.

Day 1 Challenge Post 3KCBWDAY1
Day 2 Challenge Post 3KCBWDAY2
Day 3 Challenge Post (wild card) 3KCBWDAY3 3KCBWWC
Day 4 Challenge Post 3KCBWDAY4

Summer, Spring, Winter or Fall is the Time

A Knitter or Crocheter For All Seasons?
As spring is in the air in the northern hemisphere and those in the southern hemisphere start setting their sights for the arrival of winter, a lot of crocheters and knitters find that their crafting changes along with their wardrobe. Have a look through your finished projects and explain the seasonality of your craft to your readers. Do you make warm woollens the whole year through in preparation for the colder months, or do you live somewhere that never feels the chill and so invest your time in beautiful homewares and delicate lace items. How does your local seasonal weather affect your craft?

3KCBWDAY4 (use this code in a google search and find other blogs for day 4 challenge)

The short answer is it doesn't. Living in Ohio, we have far more cold weather then warm weather. Much of the spring and fall, while pretty can be cold, wet, windy, and light weight items generally aren't going to get the job done. Add to that, my charity knitting and crocheting for the homeless and that they really need warmth. After all, many are living outdoors, or at the very least spending a good deal of time out in the elements. They may not need mittens, hats, scarves and the like in the middle of the summer; but I continue to work on those items as do those who help me so we're prepared when the winter turns ugly again. It can do that over night...pouf.

I do try to not make one piece afghans in the heat of the summer so I don't have something hot and heavy on my lap. I nudge hubby about turning on the air conditioning if the temps are hot enough the yarn is sticking to my hands and not easily sliding off the hook or knitting needles.

It does perhaps influence the colors I work with a bit. For example these 2 afghans to be will not be worked on til it's seasonally appropriate.
Day 1 Challenge Post
Day 2 Challenge Post
Day 3 Challenge Post (wild card)

Traveling in my Time Machine

Your Knitting Or Crochet Hero
Blog about someone in the fibre crafts who truly inspires you. There are not too many guidelines for this, it's really about introducing your readers to someone who they might not know who is an inspiration to you. It might be a family member or friend, a specific designer or writer, indie dyer or another blogger. If you are writing about a knitting designer and you have knitted some of their designs, don't forget to show them off. Remember to get permission from the owner if you wish to use another person's pictures.

3KCBWDAY3 (using this tag in a Google search will take you to others blogging on this topic)

This topic bothered me. I couldn't put the words hero, knitting, and or crocheting together. Why? Here's the definition I found on Google.
noun, plural he·roes; for 5 also he·ros.

1. a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds or noble qualities.

2. a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal: He was a local hero when he saved the drowning child.

3. the principal male character in a story, play, film, etc.

4. Classical Mythology .

a)a being of godlike prowess and beneficence who often came to be honored as a divinity.

B.(in the Homeric period) a warrior-chieftain of special strength, courage, or ability.

c.(in later antiquity) an immortal being; demigod.

With that in mind, it just didn't seem appropriate. I often feel that way when I hear a sports announcer say that about a football player. A hero in addition to above is fireman, policeman, or someone in the military that puts themselves in harms way to protect others. It seems to me calling others hero's diminishes the power of the word for those who truly are.

And so I'm throwing in my wild card.
Craft Your Perfect Day
Plan your fantasy day with your craft, It might just take up one hour of your day or be the entire focus of the day, but tell your readers where you'd love to craft, whether you'd craft alone or with friends, knitting or crocheting something simple or spending a day learning new skills.

3KCBWWC (using this tag in a Google search will take you to others throwing out their wild card)

I'd like to travel backward in a time machine. I'd like to travel back to the fifties to Marion Ohio and visit the lady who had the crochet shop in her cellar next to Meister's Drug Store. She hand hand made items for sale, dolls, capes, crocheted hangers, afghans, little infant sweater and hat sets and more. She had yarn for sale and a few crochet hooks. I loved visiting this little store. The woman was awesome and very sweet. Thinking back, I can remember riding my bike to the drug store that was right next door. Then I'd buy a gum ball or something equally as small; knock on her back door and she'd let me come in and look. She never seemed bothered by the fact I wasn't and or couldn't buy; but she let me look until my hearts content. I'm sure I interrupted her doing dishes or cleaning, as she often had on an apron over her house dress. I'd love to let her know I remember her, even though I don't know her name. I'd love to share with her my love of the craft and items I've made. I think she might enjoy knowing, the sweating little girl that bothered her grew up and uses her crafting skills to help others. (f you're new to my blog you may not know to what I'm referring. I have a charity blog, Bridge and Beyond). I'd like to spend some time crocheting with her. What a perfect craft day that would be.

After chatting and crafting with above nameless lady, I'd hop back in my time machine and visit BooBoo, my friends aunt who taught me how to crochet. I blogged about my bee-u-ti-ful mint green dollie here. I'd also like to ask BooBoo, what her real name was. lol We kids called her BooBoo and I never knew what her real name was. No one is still alive that knew that I can ask.

Once more in my time machine I hit warp speed in order to get home in time for cocktails to share my special day with hubby.

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.