Birthday Wishes, Spinning & Knitting

I can't believe my little man is 10.  Yesterday was Jeremy's birthday.  He's double didgits ~sniff sniff.~ When did he get so old.  We just did a very small celebration just Jeremy & I.  He's having a birthday party at the local pool on Saturday so he'll have fun there.  But last night was nice, we had chicken, rice & veggies for supper.  I bought small mini cupcakes & put a candle in it & sang Happy Birthday.  Jeremy isn't a big sweets eater so the little cupcakes were prefect.  Not to mention I'm getting a BIG cake for Saturday...lol.  He then opened his gift some TechDecks & an alarm clock something fun & something practical.  Then we were off to Cubs right after that.  I'm volunteering to be Cub leader this year & I have to confess at the moment I'm not overly enjoying it...lol, but I'm doing it for Jeremy as we have 20 kids in cubs & NEED 3 leaders.  I'm hoping as the season goes on the kids will get into a routine & settle down a little. 

 

 

I WISH I had better pics this morning, but I don't :(  I LOVE yummy, rich, beautiful pics, but I was in a rush so I just snapped.  Wish I was better with pics.  Anyways the the two purple dish cloths are for Chris' room mate.  I love knitted cotton dish cloths.  I find they work better & I just get satisfaction out of knitting them & then using them.  I have LOADS in my own personal stash.  My only complaint with them is that they don't hold their colour :( seeing as I'm always drawn to bright colours I do find they lose their colour a little to fast for me.  Other than that they are FANTASTIC.  Every morning I grab a clean dish cloth to use for the day & it's one that I MADE!  Makes me feel good.

 

That odd looking thing behind the dish cloths is my first experience of spinning my own fabric yarn.  It is slow going as I find my fingers get sore, but other than that it's so far pretty cool.  This is the first step after I get all the fabric spun I then have a second step which is plying. I can't wait to get to that step.  That will be interesting as I can then at that point be able to add interesting fibers I have some metallic thread & embroidery floss give it some depth & interest.  I'm going to try to do an hour a night spinning, but we'll see how sore my fingers get.

Wordless Wednesday ~ My Chris

Spelling With Baking Soda ~ Using All The Senses

When I saw this idea I thought it was absolutely brilliant.  This mom AT 1,2,3...Come Homeschool With Me who home schools had her daughter practice her spelling words in a cookie sheet with baking soda on it .  I thought WOW!!!  That would work for me.  I try to get Jeremy use as many of his senses as possible with spelling.  He spells it out, says the letters out loud & now can feel it.  He was sooooo excited when i showed him how he was going to review his spelling test words. Jeremy struggles with school.  He tries really hard & works hard both  at school & at home, but it's work for him.  This year with cut backs the Learning Assistance Center was closed down & this is where Jeremy did his Language Arts & Math last year.  So this year I have to be that much more hands on.  So anything that can make it more fun for him, engage him more where he can get more involved I'm all over.  I will for sure be checking back at 1,2,3...Come Homeschool With Me that's for sure.

So Exicited

So I've been thinking about Christmas gifts early this year.  Early for me anyways.  I know people that have all the Christmas shopping, or Christmas crafting done in the summer.  Anyways I had this great idea for part of Jeremy's gift a fantasy portrait of himself done.  I decided to use Nikkij here is her site Artist Nikkji.  I really like her style.  She does lots of protraits for Bellydancers....lol....however I'm sure Jeremy won't look like a Bellydancer.  He's going to be a Sorcerer with glowing magic red balls & hopefully a dragon in there too.  I can't wait to see the first sketches.  I think so far I've sent her close to 20 pictures...lol.

I Haven't Made My Bed In Three Days...

Guess what it's a good idea that you take a day off, two, three, or even more of making your bed too.  There are actual health benefits of NOT making your bed.  So after you get out of bed in the morning & then make it right away you are providing the perfect atmosphere for dust mites to thrive.  They love the warm environment.  However not making your bed & letting in lots of natural light will drastically reduce dust mites in your bed.   Give your bed & sheets a chance to breathe.  Let some air circulate not only will the sheets feel fresher almost as fresh as when you put on clean sheets, but you will also sleep better.  Not making the bed also helps those that suffer with allergies & asthma.  Both allergies & asthma are things that are close to me as both Chris, as well as my best friend Lisa suffer from both allergies & asthma.  Even though like me you were probably taught to make your bed, don't let the guilt get to you, you will actually be improving your health & your sleep at the same time.  Now don't get me wrong my bed is still neat.  What I've been doing is first pulling up the sheet & blanket then folding that back neatly to the very foot of the bed.  Jeremy will love this lol.  I'll just have him the do the same thing, neatly fold it back.

Well a small miracle happened yesterday.  Jeremy's Dad actually called to see him.  Jeremy was so excited.  I packed him up took him over to his Dad's.  I even checked with Mr. Special if he was going to have him a few nights.  He said it looked that way.  Okay so we talked about school, what jeremy should be doing for homework etc.  I then got a call a few mins ago that Mr. Special has to go up North for 'work.'  It breaks my heart.  Jeremy just wants to see his Dad more than once a month.  Mr. Special sees Jeremy like once a month at the most.  Then instead of phoning to talk to Jeremy he phones me & has me tell him.    I'm always the heavy.  I'm mad at Mr. Special & sad for Jeremy.  Well Mr. Special will have to deal with it himself this time.  I'm going to have Jeremy phone him so that he can tell Jeremy himself.  It's not fair to put everything on me.  Okay vent over....lol

Monday Morning

Monday morning writers block?  Monday morning blahs?  Monday morning I still have this darn cold lingering & PMS? grrrrr....lol.  Well I seem to have some sort of writers block this morning.  I wanted to write a post about the 'sticking it to the man' feeling I get about using baking soda instead of shampoo, but I just couldn't get it out the way I want.  I don't know maybe I was over thinking it.  It for sure is a post I'm going to work on as using baking soda as shampoo works really well on my hair...lol.

Thrift Store Finds

So yesterday at Value Village Jeremy & I had a blast.  They have sooo much Halloween stuff out both new & used.  Jeremy had fun look at all the costumes.  I was able to pick up a few things.



 

Well as you can tell I got jeans for Jeremy for $5 all I have to do is fix the elastic in the waist band easily done.  Plus I got 4 red fabric napkins & 4 blue fabric napkins .50 each.  Chris has made the point many times that I need napkins when we eat, and he's right however my desire to use less paper & more reusable items I was looking for fabric napkins.  Not sure about where you live, but up here they are not easy to come by.  Then it hit me ~dush~ Value Village.  I was right they had LOADS.  Both the red & blue ones were brand new never washed.  I could tell as the fabric still had it's sizing on it.  So I did laundry last night & the blue napkins came out wrinkled.  I could iron (yes Chris I even bought an iron & ironing board yesterday), but I want this to be Simply Crunchy so ironing them would go aganist the 'simple' part of it.  Doesn't bother me if they are wrinkled the'll still work the same.  The red ones hardly wrinkled at all.

Now this I thought was a true find.  Jeremy brought home a little plant from Day Camp over the summer & I thought it needed a nice pot.  So for $5 at Value Village I got this.  The picture doesn't pick up how deep the greens are it's beautiful.  So we re-potted this little plant when we came home.

 

I also got some Halloween slippers & some fabric.  My slippers didn't fit my big feet so I'll have to give those away.  The fabric has already been cut up & is becoming hexagons.  Pictures to follow.

Up Early With Coffee

Well here I am up early again this morning.  Woke up coughing ~sigh~ it's this darn cold I'm fighting.  But I'm up early with coffee...sooo yummy.  Yesterday the love of my life my boyfriend Chris flew away to Winnipeg with is Dad for close to two weeks.  They are going to spend the time at Victoria Beach which I've heard is lovely.  Chris' Dad is in his 70's & it's soooo nice they are spending this time together.  They are staying with old family friends & Chris' Dad is able to socialize which is something he doesn't do enough in Spruce Grove since his wife (Chris' Mom passed) a few years ago.  It's sad actually, because Rodger (Chris' Dad) is a fun vibrant man.  He has some mobility issues with bad knees, but other than doing stuff with his kids he doesn't get out much with friends.  Chris has told me he loved his wife so much, they were each others best friends & seeing how Rodger just stays some what secluded now I believe that.  I think doing stuff around Spruce Grove & Edmonton just to many fresh memories.  I hope they have a fun & safe trip.  I can't wait for Chris to come home.


Last night I did some knitting, and made some hexagons. I'm finding the making of the hexagons fun.  I will post pics later.  I'm just waiting for the right light.

Hands ~ Art Photo

 
Oh my goodness.  At times it can be challenging blogging with an older computer ~sigh,~ but after a little patience & trying different things I FINALLY got this pic loaded.  For some reason blogger wouldn't let me upload directly from my hard drive.  So I put it on Picasa & was able to upload it from there.  ANYWAYS that's my son's & my hands.  The day ended up being to sunny so I only got maybe two useable shots this being one of them.  I did it in sepia tones as I think it looked better than the black & white.

Please tell me what you think.  I'm happy with it.  I would like to do a series of three maybe.

Plans For Today

Today is going to be a GOOD day.  I'm making that choice right now. I believe that's important we need to make the decision the choice a day is going to be good or bad.  We don't just wait to see what happens then we are always just reacting.  If i made the choice that today is going to be a good day, before it really even starts am I not then being proactive?  Wow that's a little deep for before 7am....I just finished knitting a dishcloth on my second cup of coffee.  I love coffee...lol.  Well Jeremy (my son) & I will clean up around here, make up our menu for the week & then our grocery list.  I find menus so helpful when planning what to buy.  Jeremy & I are going to go for a walk up to our old cemetery.  I'm going to take my camera & do something I've been wanting to do for months a photo shoot of mine & Jeremy's hands, just our hands.  I'm going to do them in black & white I think.  Today should have just the right light. I'm thinking they would make good christmas gifts for my parents & siblings.  not to mention beautiful art for my place.  I also want to head up to Edmonton (an hour away) & go to Value Village.  We love it there.  Going to look for pants for Jeremy how is it little boys always wear through the knees of their pants?  I want to see if they have a microwave.  I also need a bookshelf thing for my living room, but that's a want not a need.  I'm also going to look for cloth napkins to keep up with my desire to use less paper & be more enviromently friendly.  Then I will check over the fabric, bedding & craft items to see if there is anything I could upcycle.  Gees I'll have to make a list of what I want to check our at Value Village as well.

Up Early

I LOVE getting up early.  I love that hour or so when the place is mine, and I can enjoy my coffee, read or maybe work on a project.  This morning I'm going to work on knitting a dish cloth.  I want to finish this so that I can give it along with another to my boyfriend's roommate.  Also I told a co-worker I'd knit her some as well. I rented Letters to Juliette last night, but didn't finish it I fell asleep.  So I'll watch it this morning.  I tried spinning last night, but my hand was sore.  So instead I started making hexagons.  For some reason I'm obsessed that each one won't be the exact same size...lol.  They are fun to make, but going to take awhile I'm thinking.

Well I think coffee is ready so off I go mmmm coffee.

I’m soooo not in the mood.

I’m fighting a cold & have been for the past couple of days.  So right now I feel yucky L so I’m on strike tonight I’m not going to cook SO THERE…lol  Going to either get take out or something easy at the Grocery Store.  Plus I’ll pick up some videos to watch for my son & I.  Then we are going to get home & do a picnic in the living room to eat & watch a movie should be a good evening.  Then when Jerbear is in bed I’ll probably do some spinning work on my fabric yarn & I think I’ll start on some paper piecing.  I have a pair of flannel PJs that have torn so I’ll start making little hexagons exciting times let me tell you.

Product Review Cloth Mamma Pads

I LOVE buying stuff from ETSY.  I love the fact that you can buy handmade unique items.  I can buy supplies to work on my own creations & there are even vendors that sell vintage items.  Last year I tried running a shop myself, but I just found with my full-time job, being a single mom I didn't have the time to devote to it.  But seeing as I believe in buying handmade items, supporting smaller business, supporting women's businesses I decided that I will write about ETSY & shops that catch my attention. 



This morning I'm going to review, a great product & shop that I've actually used & have just made another purchase from Moms Crafts 4 U. Yes I use cloth pads...lol.  I first started using cloth pads about a year ago.  I wouldn’t be without my cloth pads now.  Veronica at Moms Crafts 4 U is awesome to deal with.  She offers fantastic colour choices.  Plus she has a wide variety of lengths.  She’s happy to do a custom order for you, for example Veronica is currently making me three 10” pads with PLU & I got to pick the fabric I wanted.  I love colour & love things to be bright & so my pads reflect that…lol.  Veronica offers lots of options she carries light pads/liners, medium/average pads, heavy/post-partum pads & variety packs.  If you are someone just new to cloth pads Veronica also offers great Starter Kits.    That’s not all Veronica sells she has cute key chains that she calls ‘Keypers,’ wallets/totes/bags, & of course wet bags. 

I’m really looking forward to getting my new pads (yes I’m a geek…lol) these will have the water proof barrier PLU which I’ve found that I need. 

Okay I’m going to try to do a quick FAQ about reusable cloth pads.  Keep in mind a lot of these suggestions are just what I do.  There’s many ways of cleaning & handling cloth pads.

Why cloth pads?
~ Well first off cost they are cheaper than buying disposable items.  I believe they are environmentally friendly.  Then there are all the chemicals & dioxins that go into producing disposable items that I don’t need to put in or near my body.  Plus disposable pads would rub & give me almost friction type burns OUCH…lol.

But wait cloth pads aren’t sterile.
~ No they are not.  But I have news for you, neither are the disposable ones…lol.  The commercial ones are white only because of the amount of chemicals used to produce them.

But you are using more water to wash them.
~ Not more than used to produce disposable ones, actually much less.

How do they feel when you are wearing them?
~ They feel great.  They are VERY comfortable.  Much better than disposable pads.  There’s no rubbing & I don’t get any skin reactions from the cloth ones.

Are they hard to clean?
~ Nope!  I rinse mine in cold water & then will wash by hand while I’m in the shower & hang to dry.  I’ll keep doing that during my cycle & then at the end of my cycle I’ll wash all the ‘clean’ pads when I do my regular laundry.

What about stains?
~ The ones from Moms Crafts 4 U are soooooo easy to keep stain free.  I think that’s because she uses cotton fabric.  I find my pads with cotton fleece take a little more effort to keep stain free, but some oxyclean takes care of that.

Do you just use cloth pads?
~ No I also use the Instead Cup, but this weekend I’m going to buy a Diva Cup.  I need both a cup & the pads it’s just the type of cycle I have ~shrug.~

I’m sure there are other questions/concerns I’m missing so if anyone has any please ask & I’ll answer as best I can.

Row Boats ~ Art Photo

I love this picture that I took.  It's my plan to blow it up frame it & hang it in my living room.  This was taken behind the Moyie in Kaslo.  The Moyie is an old steam ship that used to be functional on the Kamloops Lake & residents of Kaslo have worked very hard restoring the ship itself.  I spent part of a sunny day with my boyfriend this summer taking lots of art pictures on the ship & behind it where I found these row boats.

Pictures Bath Mat & Fabric Yarn

Woo hoo I actually brought the right cord to download my pictures.  On my camera were also some pictures that I took over the summer.  My boyfriend is really into photography & we spent one day on an old steam ship the Moyie which used to run on the Kamloops Lake.  I tried my hand to take some art pics I'm really happy with SOME of them.  I'll post some of them later.

Here are the pics of my rag rug.  It's made out of a recycled bed sheet.  I like the look of it & I love how it feels under my feet.  I am aware there is a misake in the pattern ~shhhh~...lol.  This was my first time knitting a cable & first time knitting with fabric so I didn't feel comfortable unknitting that to fix it.  I do plan on making another of these mats so I'm sure that one will turn out better.

This is all the fabric I bought to turn into fabric yarn at some point.  I used two & last night I started on my fabric yarn.

Here are all the strips that I pulled apart in two piles.  

I'm alternating between the two when spinning.  The actually spinning is being done on a size #15 knitting needle & it takes a bit to get the hang of it...lol.  So once I get that all spun I will then have to ply it.  I'll use embroidery thread that I have on hand & add some more contrast colour at that time.  This is not a fast process, but very cool. 

Yummy Pics, Stay Tuned

I love yummy, rich, delicious pics on blogs.  Not pic heavy, but pics that add to the blog & subject so in saying that over my lunch break i went home & took great pics of my rag knitted bath mat get back to work & didn't have the right cord to upload the pics to my work computer ~sigh~ part of this is because my home computer is so old that the usb drive doesn't work any more, but in my mind it is still functional meaning i can turn it on ~sigh~ stay turned i'll have the pics up tomorrow.  I really should get a new computer, but i find it hard to justify the cost. 

I also took a nice pic of all the fabric pieces draped over a chair that i plan on turning into fabric yarn so i'll post that one tomorrow too.

Field of Dreams & Fabric Yarn

Here I am second day for this blog, and as of yet I don't think I have any readers...lol.  Oh well as in the movie Field of Dreams, 'If you build it they will come.'  So I'm being positive that if I write it 'they' will read it...lol.  So on I write.  I was looking at different ways to promote my blog & the idea of Blog Carnivals I'm going to look into this a little more later.

On the creative front like I said I finished my rag knitted bath mat that I still need to take pics of & post, but I'm happy with it.  Last night I worked on my son's scarf.  Except I've used all the yarn that I have for his scarf, so I need to buy some more next time I'm in Edmonton.

Tonight I'm going to try something which to me looks fun.  I'm going to make yarn from fabric scraps.  I bought a bunch of large Indian fabric scraps from Value Village last Friday.  I'm going to see how that works in turning that into fabric yarn.  I got the idea from Mademoiselle Chaos' blog here is the post with instructions Make Yarn From Fabric Scraps.  I plan on using unused embroidery floss that I have on hand to ply it with & then knit it on my #15 needles to knit almost like a knitted necklace. 

I'm a very artistic person & always have ideas roaming around in my head.  I love to paint with acrylics & do abstract paintings.  I also love to make things. 

Right now I'm really enjoying knitting.  I also am very interested in recycling items & upcycling.   So last week it was pointed out to me that the bath mat in my bathroom was looking dingy.  So I did wash it, but it didn't get it as clean as I would like.  So I turned to google to see what I could find.  Well I discovered this blog Cocoknits with a Rag Bath Mat tutorial knitting a bath mat out of recycled sheets.  I had to give this a try.  I had an old double sheet, which I tore into strips & then made into a ball of fabric yarn.  I knitted this pattern as written.  Mine didn't turn out as perfect as this one, but I'm still happy with it & will post a pic of it tomorrow.  I thought this was a great way to pair two things I enjoy knitting & recycling.  I'm going to make another for my kitchen as I have enough sheets kicking around.

Launch

This is a new venture for me.  I plan for this blog to be a mixture of living green, reducing one's 'footprint,' & living more simply.  I'll also include stuff that I enjoy like reading, art, crafts, sports etc.