Thursday, April 19, 2007

The shake down...

What were we thinking?

Sorry for the infrequent posting. Non-crafty life has a bit crazy of late.

Emily is running around like a crazy woman this week for Hope Closet. Hope Closet is a very cool organization that provides free prom dresses to area high school students. This is the week when they open the "store" for the students to come in and find their perfect dress. You can view some news coverage for the event here.

Sarah had the crazy notion that she should be a runner. I've signed on for my first ever Derby Festival miniMarathon for Saturday, April 28th. I have no business running .1 miles, let alone 13.1, but some how or another, I'll get myself through it.


So, what does it mean?

(1) Training and whining about training has taken up a lot of Sarah's crafting time. Sorting through prom dresses and accessories has monopolized Em's. We'll be back to our regularly scheduled posting soon.

(2) I'm shaking down our blog readers for charitable donations. Well, kinda.
While a lot of people do raise money for charity during the miniMarathon and other races, I'm not doing anything so formal. But, I'm tired and sore and 13.1 miles is really far and frankly, I'm pretty dang impressed with myself. I hope you are impressed with me too.

If you are, next time you write a check to your favorite charity, you should add a dollar or two for me.

If you don't already have a favorite charity, I'll offer the following suggestions:

For the craftily inclined, Hope Closet could use earrings, necklaces, handbags, wraps and other formal-wear accessories for Prom 2008. If you are good with a sewing machine or are looking to de-stash some rhinestones, they could use 'em. Send an email to craftfetish (at) yahoo (dot) com and we can get you the details.

For a not-so-crafty option, my friend Rachelle is also running the miniMarathon and is raising money through Team In Training to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Rachelle was more or less a non-runner when she first got involved with Team In Training. Since then, she has completed several marathons and half marathons and has given me all kinds of help and support as I tried to get my butt in shape for this thing.

This is actually Rachelle and I at the finish of the "Reindeer Romp" back in December. (Okay the photo is horrible, but I thought I was going to die and it was really friggin' cold)

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Even though her normal pace is considerably faster than mine, she hung back and ran (practically in place) the whole thing with me. Then, because she rules, she subtly stepped behind me at the finish line so that I could come in 645th place and she'd be 646th (or whatever it was). She's good people.

So if you are looking for a place to make a financial contribution, this is Rachelle's Team In Training donation page.


Okay, end of shake down.

See that wasn't so bad. No hard selling here. We'll be back with more craftiness soon - just as soon as we get a nap. Wish us luck!

Friday, April 13, 2007

On further consideration...

I'm just not that thrilled with my bear, or more accurately my finishing skills. It doesn't look anything like the picture. (the one in the picture is so cute too!)







Look closer - I don't know how they did their edges, but it sure is different from how I did mine. (I tried 3 different strategies - and not a one looks like the picture)





Anyway, I didn't feel good about giving this as a baby gift. So, it looks like I am back to the drawing board for the boatload of babies coming this summer.

On the bright side, I did find another willing recipient for my bear. She seems quite pleased with it and didn't mind the wonky seams one bit.





Another checkmark on the "Madeline is spoiled rotten" list.

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Monday, April 09, 2007

It's a Bear! uh, kinda

I finished the stuffed bear I was working on from Erika Knight's Simple Knits for Cherished Babies.




I used white Bernat Baby Softee yarn since I had a bunch leftover from my abandoned baby blanket and US Size 3 needles. All in all, I'm not completely thrilled with it, but it more or less looks like a bear, so I'm saying mission accomplished.





Very quick and fun to knit, but clearly I need to work on my finishing skills.

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Monday, April 02, 2007

Defeated

Nearly a year ago, my first post on this blog was whining about knitting. Specifically, knitting this baby blanket:


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Yeah, that's as far as I ever made it. About 4 inches.

I quit. P2Tog, KBL you have defeated me. I think that is the abbreviation anyway - it was purling two stitches together and then knitting into the back loops of the same two stitches, but it has been so long since I've actually made any progress on this thing I can't honestly remember.


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I really liked the way the stitch worked up. It had a nice texture and some interest to it but not such giant lacy holes that little baby fingers would get stuck or pull it out. I think this would have been a cool blanket. Unfortunately it was zero fun to knit. So I quit.

Pulled the needles out and started using the yarn on a new project. It feels quite liberating really.

This is where the new project currently stands:


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Yikes. That's gonna be a lot of seams and finishing.

If you can't tell from that pile of chaos, this is the cashmere teddy bear pattern from Erika Knight's Simple Knits for Cherished Babies - only not so much in cashmere. (Doesn't it look like a bear?) The knitting part went very quickly - we'll see how long the finishing takes me.

I figure if I am done in under a year, I'll still come out ahead of the yarn's previous incarnation as a baby blanket.

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