Yarning II

I know there are some that just don't understand the love affair some of us have with yarn. For me I find it amazing that a bunch of rolled up yarn can turn into magnificent works of art...

The 48 Hour Afghan I completed this week. I love it.

I loved making this afghan. The stitches were quite easy...single crochet, double crochet and the Popcorn Stitch which is very simple if you can do the double crochet stitch. I was changing yarn often and never got bored with all the single crocheting. The texture of the gray and black yarns were pleasing to my touch. The rows with the grayish tweed yard went quickly because of the double crochet stitching. Now the white yarn itself was my least favorite textured yarn to work with on this project. It is a thinner weighted yarn that I don't care to work with, but I guess I wasn't paying close attention to that when I purchased it. With that being said, the rows of white still went quickly because of the Popcorn Stitch. It was just plain fun and gratifying to see those bumps popping up!

The biggest question that remains is where this afghan will find it's place in the house. I tend think it will be found in all the bedrooms from time to time and the couch....only time will time.

One Small Change November

THE EARTH MACHINE

I am finally going to do it! I should have been doing this for a long time now. With 3 teenage boys in the house, we create a lot of kitchen waste. We no longer need to throw those scraps in the landfill. We are starting to compost.

This is a picture of the kitchen bucket that came with the composter. There are pretty clear directions on the side of what can and cant go into the bucket. I go by the saying, "If it came out of the dirt, it can go back in." The one exception to this rule - in my eyes - are egg shells.

This is the liner we are using in our bucket. I found the instructions from our Canadian friends in Ottawa who have started curbside composting!! Awesome! I threw a banana in here so you all could kind of see the size of the liner.

I went to the web site for this composter. They suggested a 1 to 25 ratio. Holy Moly. That 25 part is A LOT of leaves and grass clippings. We do not collect our grass clippings. I never heard of this until I moved to Suburbia. We mowed our lawns and left the grass clippings on the lawn where I grew up. So I am going to try to stock pile some leaves now to help the "cooking" process over the winter and early spring.

If you have a Small Change for the month of November, please share with the rest of us.

Do You.....

FREECYCLE???

This was my take today.

Simple needed items. Why buy, when I can get for free? 2 of my boys need to walk to bus stop from our house. It is soccer season. It is Hurricane Season. We need something to protect us from the rain. Three items that did not go into a landfill sight somewhere.

When I saw this post, I quickly responded. IMHO, it was worth the gas for these items. Win for me, Win for the Freecycle Poster as well. :-)

Check out your local Freecycle site as well! You just dont know what will come up!

Yarning - "Goldie Locks" Syndrome????

I know... you are probably all wondering what you are looking at, right? These are 2 dish clothes I have made in the last couple of months...One is TOO BIG and the other is TOO SMALL... *shaking head*

"Too Small"

This one is made from Tunisian Stitch... very tight stitching...used an elongated crochet hook. Wanted to practice stitch and saw a pattern for a dish cloth on line and thought it was a good idea - at the time - to give it a shot. This is too small and too tightly stitched which lead to being too stiff to be of practical use in our kitchen. Great stitch for an afghan...will keep one mighty warm cooler weather!

"Too Big"

Now this one is just a wee bit tooo big for use in our kitchen - AKA... washing dishes. I didn't really follow a pattern for this. I just like the Basket Weave knitting stitch. It is a mindless pattern and looks nice - IMHO. So I just cast on 50 or so stitches and knit away. This is the perfect sized WASH cloth (use in bathroom) - but not so much for washing dishes. It is just a bit tooo big to scrub our drinking ware properly.


So where is the MEDIUM sized (the perfect sized) dish cloth? I haven't made it!...LOL.... I am hoping 3rd time around *rolling eyes* is the Charm! Wish me luck!!!!

One Small Change -- September

http://1smallchangeblog.blogspot.com/p/how-it-works.html

I think this is the most underused, but possibly the most important of the 3 R's - Recycle, Reduce, Reuse.

But, before I get to Reuse, I have to play the role of an American Consumerist. I must admit American consumersim is quite disgusting to me these days. We Americans are so wasteful and buy so many things we do not truly NEED. ugggg...



Does this look wasteful? To some I am sure it does. But to me this purchase will help out our household for years to come. I bought 2 cases of canning jars earlier this summer. Cause I was gonna do a lot of canning when certain fruits and veggies came into" season". Well, let's see just how THOSE plans have worked out... Strawberry season has come and gone and there is no Strawberry Jam or Butter in freezer, cupboard or fridge for my family to enjoy to this winter. Same with salsa, green beans, corn, peas and plums. (loser!)

However, I recently read a post on FB about the many uses of mason jars. I will begin to use and REUSE them more from here on out.

Store leftovers in fridge - so we can SEE what is in the fridge.
Use as drinking glasses. Everything tastes colder in glass...IMHO.
Take leftovers to work for lunch in them.
Use as vases.
(BA & ME close your eyes) Storage for trinkets.
Make and store homemade salad dressings in them.
They can be put in freezer. (store soup, preserves, Christmas Gifts, etc.)


I know I will find many more uses for them as well.
Now I can upcycle all my plastic ware (that we used to store leftovers in) to Teracycle... http://www.terracycle.net/

What's your One Small Change? Please be kind and share.

One Small Change -- June

Lettuce we have been harvesting the past few days from our Container Garden

My One Small Change for the month of May was to NOT to use disposable dishes, cups and plastic ware at work. I did very very well. I did have to go back to my desk a couple of times to get my silverware. A little inconvenient but nothing that I couldn't tolerate. =). All in all I have to give myself an "A" for the month. I even managed to rinse out my coffee cup each day :-).

One half of our Container Garden

Spinach, Broccoli and Tomatoes

For the month of June, my One Small Change will be to nurture my Container Garden. I planted only veggies we enjoy eating. Carrots are the only thing I did not attempt that we enjoy. I have been faithfully watering everyday...sometimes twice a day. People tell me Container Gardens need lots of water. I have already had to "weed" some of the containers as well. They were the "good" kind of weeds. *nodding*


The plants are looking good so far. I harvested lettuce for sandwiches already. It tasted so fresh...yummy. I did not "start" those lettuce seeds....they were given to me. Thanks, BA and David! I planted my own lettuce and spinach seeds this weekend and will plant more in 2 weeks and again 2 weeks later. Hopefully, we will have lettuce and spinach throughout the summer.

The other half of the Container Garden

Green Peppers, Leaf Lettuce, Romaine Lettuce, Spinach and Tomatoes

All these veggies were started from seed by myself or by my friend, with the exception of the tomato plants.

Once again, to some this may not be much of a "Challenge", - it is a small amount of produce to keep track of - but for me, it will be challenging to keep everything alive, weeded and harvested.


Do you have One Small Change you've been doing? Why not share?

Cat Away; Mice Will Play

For years now, I have been going away to my Mom's for a few days at a time, leaving Mr. G alone at the house. My neighbors always tell me he uses this time to do "Projects". He always has a plan and shares with them. One time it was a Perennial Garden, another was a GI Joe Camp Site, another was a quilt. You get the picture...I NEVER know what I am going to come home to find. I do know that whatever it is, it is always delicious!!! *nodding*

The picture shown above is what he did this time while I was gone. It is FANTASTIC!! raw material cost $62.00. The girls just LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!!! I do, too!

Thanks, Hun, for yet another amazing "Project" the entire family can enjoy! You The Best!