When good projects go wrong, day 2.

I'm pretty sure I used a size 8 needle for this blanket...  And the new yarn is also from stash, but I'm 150% this is acrylic.  Like, bad acrylic.  Like, bought but never used acrylic.

Last night, I used a size 4 circular needle to pick up the bottom stitches (because, unlike most people, I don't bind off my sections when doing a log cabin, I just keep the stitches live till I come back around with the next color... so I had live stitches already, it was a plus for this part of the project, not so nice when I had to catch each one as I cut out the felt.).



After making sure I was starting at the right side, I knit across.  The last stitch in each row was knit together with the "live" stitch on the side so I won't have to seam up the sides when I am done. You can see in the above picture that the right side is not very nice looking.  I didn't notice that my knit 2 together on the wrong side was creating that weird bumpy thing until I was mostly done.  I am so not ripping it out and knitting it again.  The left side looks lovely, so it's just going to stay.  Maybe after washing it will look better?



The next step will be to pick up the stitches across the bottom of the next section.  I plan on doing a 3 needle bind off on the back side.  I hope it works!

50 books in 1 year: 2012 (really late update!)

(I composed this post in October... sheduled it to post automatically at 8:00 two days later... and I guess it didn't)

I finailly did it!  Actually, I went over!

Goal:50
Total:53
January:
1 Farmer Boy - Laura Ingalls Wilder
2 Little Men - Louisa May Alcott

February
3 Jo’s Boys - Louisa May Alcott
4 Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austin
5 A Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula Le Guin
6 Northanger Abbey - Jane Austin
7 Tales from Planet Earth - Arthur C. Clark

March
 8 City of Masks - Mary Hoffman
9 Messenger - Lois Lowry
10 A Larger Universe - Gillaspy, James
11 The Black Pearl - Scott O’Dell
12 A Spell for Chameleon - Piers Anthony

April
13 City of Stars - Mary Hoffman
14 Game of Thrones - George R. R. Martin
15 Island of the Blue Dolphin - Scott O’Dell
16 Mr. Popper’s Penguins - Richard Atwater

May
17 Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain
18 The Borrowers - Mary Norton
19 The Borrowers Afield - Mary Norton
20 City of Flowers - Mary Hoffman
21 The Borrowers Afloat - Mary Norton
22 The Borrowers Aloft - Mary Norton
23 Before I Fall - Lauren Oliver
24 The Borrowers Avenged - Mary Norton
25 City of Secrets - Mary Hoffman

June
26 City of Ships - Mary Hoffman
27 Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
28 The Plague of Doves - Louise Erdrich

July
29 A Clash of Kings - George R. R. Martin
30 Earth - David Brin

August
31 The Source of Magic - Piers Anthony
32 Storm Glass - Maria V. Snyder
33 Gossamer - Lois Lowry

September
34 I am the Messenger - Markus Zusak
35 Otherness - David Brin
36 Confessions Of An Ugly Stepsister - Gregory Maguire
37 Mirror Mirror - Gregory Maguire
38 Lincoln’s Dreams - Connie Willis

October
39 A Storm of Swords- George R.R. Martin
40 Sea Glass - Maria M. Snyder
41 Spy Glass - Maria M. Snyder
42 Pippi Goes on Board - Astrid Lindgren  (out loud with Sabrina)
43 Troubadour - Mary Hoffman
44 Swipe - Evan Angler
45 City of Swords - Mary Hoffman
46 The Golden Compass - Philip Pullman

November
47 The Face on the Milk Carton - Caroline B. Cooney
48 The Willoughbys - Lois Lowry
49 A Feast for Crows- George R.R. Martin

December
50 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
51 Whatever Happened to Janie? - Caroline B. Cooney
52 The Voice On The Radio - Caroline B. Cooney
53 What Janie Found - Caroline B. Cooney

Year in review:  I read a lot of young adult books, but I also read a lot of books for the first time this year.  Usually 75% of what I read is books I've already read before.  I'd like to blame the library.  I keep finding more and more books to read.  And I'd like to blame my coworker who gives me "must reads" all the time.  I'm extremely happy to finally have met my goal last year.

In the future: Well, that's right now and a post for another day.

When good projects go wrong...

Or, fixing a mistake

A long time ago, I knit Sabrina a baby blanket.  Not just any blanket; an Oregon Ducks log cabin!  So awesome!



Or not so awesome...  I used scraps from my stash.  I thought they were all acrylic.  I really did.  Months later, or even a year later, I noticed some pulling in of one section.  Uh-oh!  Wool.  100% wool. 

Fast forward another 4 years.



I've been thinking about this blanket every time I see it.  It's been washed.  And washed.  And washed.  Every time, I think about cutting the felted section out, picking the stitches up, and re knitting that section.  Really?  I didn't do it. 

Until last night.  Richard was folding clothes and came across the blanket.  The deformed blanket that my daughter loves.  He says, "Can't you fix it?"  and I immediately accepted the challenge.  I picked out a new green, found a darning needle, some extra yarn in a light color and some very sharp scissors. 



2 hours later:



It was late.  I was tired.  I may have snipped a stitch I shouldn't have, so I'll have to fix that as well.  Tonight, I'm going to try to re-knit it.

Sweet Steampunk 16 Party

The first time Keylie made an apperance on my blog, she looked like this:

(she's the bigger one!)

I can't believe she's 16!

For her birthday, my SIL Erin and I threw her a steampunk party!  Thank goodness for Pinterest!  I knew of steampunk (thank you anime and Back to the Future 3), but I had never gotten into it.  We were totally overwhelmed at first.

This was one of my projects:

For the full effect:

I got the ides from several different places, but mainly ruffled streamers from Cupcakes & Cutlery.

Between the two of us we come up with some pretty awesome stuff!  Our Aunt T and cousin Katie seriously helped us pull it all together in the hours leading up to the party.

Here's some more pictures:

I made her a surprise birthday cake, she was trying to be all cutesy... until she saw the inside!

 

 

Close up with my cake pops in the background:

To be continued...

(there is just too many things I want to mention)

ps. I was hoping to be able to pin from the pictures here, but I guess I need to figure that out better.  I got it so I can pin from flickr, but they won't pin while on the blog... (still working on it...)

a post In where I catch up

Let's be honest here.  It's been over a year since my last post.  Well over a year.  Does anybody even read blogs anymore?

I'm finding myself wanting/needing to share some things.  So here I am.  I debated starting all over, new blog, new focus, new everything.  Well, I can't decide on a name.  My most creative idea was "aimee's wonderful crazy" and the one I was going to go with was "a-chan knits & stuff".  Not real original.  Dropping the knit for my name?  Hmmm, that's still my main craft these days.  But I've been doing so much more!  From baking to wreaths to party planning and sewing, oh my!

I suppose we can get reacquainted now.  Sabrina is 5 and just started kindergarten.  I don't know how that happened.  But she adores school. 



Elias is turning 2 on Halloween!  My baby is not a baby anymore!



Coming soon (if I don't forget...):

Keylie's sweet steampunk 16 party
Some knitting projects
My birthday camping trip to Crater Lake that I forced my family to take with me.
50 books in 1 year updates (last year's complete list and this year's read so far list)
Some of my wreath projects

Stay tuned!