Challenge yourself

Challenges abound in the cyberworld and on Ravelry, the knitting/crocheting/weaving online community, there are dozens to choose from. You can knit a pair of socks a week/month; a sweater a month; 10 shawls in 2010. You name it - someone has created a challenge to move you beyond your comfort zone. That is a good thing, as long as it doesn't make you crazy in the doing. Crafting, after all, is supposed to be a relaxing, re-creating activity.

That said, the 52 in 52 challenge intrigued me. Could I make at least 52 projects in 2010? One item a week? I suspect it's possible, because since joining Ravelry about two years ago I have posted 113 projects. So...it's doable. Onward and upward. So far I am four for three, but I'm going away next week. A skein of sock yarn will accompany me, though, so here's hoping for lots of beach knitting.

Charity hat #1 - Vanna's Choice Yarn in navy and (I think) pea green. Crocheted Cat and the Hat Rib Cuff Beanie (I'm finally getting the knack for the joins!)

My listening-while-knitting choice was "Letters of a Woman Homesteader". A fascinating, true story told through letters written to a friend, by a single mother who homesteads in Wyoming in the early 1900's. The irony was that most of my listening was done while cozied up in a comfortable chair, covered in warm fleece, as Elinore Pruitt Stewart sloughed through snow to feed the animals, canned a million jars of fruit, raised children on virtually nothing and enjoyed the whole thing to boot. I lived through it all, vicariously, and that's really how I want it to be. A pioneer woman, I'm not. Elinore is a down-to-earth, marvelously intuitive and transparent woman who you will come to love and admire.

Of hats and hardship

It’s fitting that my first finished project of the new year is a crocheted hat. In 2010 I want to get better at crochet, which I have just dabbled in during my lifetime. The only way to get better at something is to do it a lot, so my hats for the homeless will be done with hooks and not needles. Yarn: Noro Silver Thaw (wool, angora, nylon) Pattern: Cat and the Hat Rib Cuff Beanie

I had lots of time to read over the holidays and pulled out a book that has been languishing on the shelves for a few years. “Gap Creek” by Robert Morgan is an Oprah Book Club selection. Her choices aren’t always my choices, but I like to give them a try. This story of a young Appalachian country couple during their first few years of marriage carried me along from start to finish. Not all of it was pleasant reading – life was very hard, both because of the times and because of choices made. It made me thankful for my life situation and prayerful that my children will look to God for their choices and not necessarily to their hearts and emotions.

Pets anyone?

I have some new pets.

Now keep in mind that I’m not the traditional dog/cat kind of person. We have two outdoor cats – allergies keep them in their proper place outside the home. I'd have a cat in the house in a flash, but husband and some kids would be miserable.

We’ve had dogs over the years. According to the experts, having a dog can build character in your children. Ours always tend to die or get killed; the last one was a barker and went to the SPCA. So I’ve found that worms make the greatest pets. No fuss; no muss. They mind their own business and produce fertilizer to boot. How can you go wrong?

But just when I thought that worms headed the list as the go-to pet, along came kefir grains. My kefir grains came dehydrated through the mail. A quick 24 hour soak-in-water later they were plumped up and ready to do my bidding.

It took about a week of regular 24 hour milk changes, but now those grains are producing a luscious, creamy, tangy milk kefir. I don’t know that it’s that much different than the product that came from the store-bought starter. But using the grains is so cool! Each morning I strain the baby grains out of the kefir and add them to a mason jar of fresh milk. That jar sits on the counter till the next morning, when I do it over again.

Right now I’m making just enough to drink in one day with a little extra for guests J. (Yes, I’m the only one in the house that enjoys this healthy drink) Apparently the grains continue to grow, so just like my worms, at a certain point I should have grains to share. Any takers? J

Lots of knitting has been going on, but the only finished project is a crocheted dishcloth. Having made many knitted dishcloths over the last few years, I had a bag of leftover cotton yarn on hand. Experiment time. Most crocheted dishcloths are too stiff for my liking. So I tried a granny square one for a change and actually quite like the prototype. It looks nice, works well and dries quicker than the others. So I’ll make more of them. Doesn’t this one match my dishtowel well? Purely accidental.