Magic Yarn Ball Swap

Susan, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!! I received my package today (Thursday), but was just able to post. I got a very nice package, and while winding my yarn my dogs legs got caught (LOL). I opened to find two balls of yarn called Palette one of alpaca and acrylic in cream and one of 100% wool in a mutli colors rangind from tans and browns to cream and greys, and two WAY cute tiny candles. Underneath I found a sea of blue acrylic yarn. Below the sea of blue I found two more balls of Palette in the multi. When I finally finished winding the blue yarn I found:
sour fries
red hots
sour patch kids
a canadian flag sticker
fuzzy peach (candy)
3 glue sticks
a sponge paint brush
twizzler nibs
a strawberry tart (its like a candle but you melt it with another candle underneath in a special burner)
a glycerin soap pop (thank god it was labled or I would have ended up washing my mouth out with soap LOL)
a curious george pencil
2 little riesens (candy)
4 mini tootsie rolls
and a box of 10 twisted whiskers note cards
the pattern she included was one I have done before and loved and have been wanting to do again, this time for myself Romantic Ruffles

baby's first birthdays....

I realized somthing yesterday while attending my nephews first birthday. All adults think it's funny and cute to let a baby make a mess out of their cake on their first birthday, but then if they make a mess after that we scold them. What are we teaching them by allowing them to make a mess one day, but scolding them any day after that? I was that only adult not helping him make a mess, infact my fiance thought I needed some icing on my forehead.

My own pattern

I wrote my own pattern yesterday. I wrote a pattern for a knitted fireman's hose toy that could also be made into a door draft guard. It came to me while looking at a pattern for a felted firemans hat that I want to make for my nephew. I thought it would make putting out fires a little more fun.

Swap on a Budget

My package went out today and I got my too! Allison sent me milk chocolate strawberry yoghurt, a magic string bag, Tahki Yarns Bali, SWTC amaizing, a metal yarn gauge (i needed one!), anddark chocolate Pastilles. Thank you!

Stash Sock Yarn Swap

Kim sent me a great package! I got a strawberry scent port, which I love! Buggy DPN protectors, Mayan Chocolate coffee, dark chocolate espresso bar, and beautiful RubySapphire Yarns handpainted yarn in the color Ashley. Thank you Kim!

Treasure Swap

I received my package from knitstic yesterday! She knew me so well, I don’t know how she did it. The funniest thing is we both sent dye your own yarn. I had so “help” opening my package from my one “son” Chester as seen in the pictures. I got a bag, hand-dyed blue yarn, dye your own yarn from Lebanou- it’s a Oxford/Shropshire Blend of wosted wool, beautiful teal wool mitts, a book on dyeing your own yarn, and a chest of treasures. I got angora yarn, my “son” wanted, a coaster with a hank of yarn on it, a flip book of index cards, stickers of cats, some tea, and a beautiful stitch marker.

Packages

Within 2 days I received 3 swap packages and sent 2 out. I am currently in 6 ongoing swaps and received from the Treasure Swap, The Budget Swap, and the Stash Sock yarn swap. I sent out Budegt Swap, and Books and More Swap today, and my Treasure swap, and Stash Sock yarn swap packages have already been received. I still and working on my Saucy Swap, Magic Yarn Ball swap and Favorite Music swap. Will be posting what I received and pictures later today or tomorrow.

Dye Day

I was so excited about Saturday that I didn't sleep at all Friday night. After being up for more than 24 hrs, my mom and I jump in the car and head up to Maple Glen Pa to another Ravelr's home where we would be meeting a dyer on Ravelry.com who would be teaching us to dye yarn. We were the first to arrive, of course after Jas, who would be teaching us to dye. We waited paitiently for everyone else to arrive, and then for the yarn to be handed out, and instruction given.

We finally were handed out the yarn, given the beautiful dyes and the instructions - have fun. I started squirting colors and splashing water where I wanted to lighten, and squishing the yarn to get it to soak up all the dyes. When I was finally happy with the colors, I rang out most of the excess water, and wrapped the yarn up in plastic wrap and put it in the sun until it was pput in to be cooked. While my first skein was cooking I started on the second and then, helped mix colors for another woman who was dying.

I snacked and knitted a little until my first skein came out of the water. It came out beautiful! We had to swish it in clean water and then swing out the excess water. When the second skein was done I did the same thing.

I absolutely love both of my skeins and my mother loves her three skeins. I will be posting pictures.

Socks...

I love knitting socks, but 1's, 2's and 3's just take too long to get to your finishd project. By the time you finally get to your heel you are sick of your sock and just put it aside. That's why when there was a toe-up class at my LYS I took it. The class used size 4 circs and worsted weight yarn, and they finished quickly.

I made a pair for myself, my mom, and my fiancé. My fiancé has already put a hole in the top of his foot with his sharp toenails he refused to cut. He has asked me for another pair for Christmas and plan on knitting them with reinforncement thread to help keep him from putting holes in them, and he has to keep his nails clipped, or he gets no more hand-knitted socks.

I am always looking for new toe-up sock patterns, especially with fancy ankles. I found someone who wrote a pamphlet on Designing Your Own Toe-Up Socks which you can get off the Stitch Stud blog. Wendy Knits also has an entire book on toe-up socks coming out in April 2009. I will not give up my search and will let you all know what I find.

House to yourself...

There is something about having the home to yourself, even for a few hours. You can do what you want, eat what you want, and watch what you want, without anyone giving you any shit.

This weekend my fiance went to spend some time with his father. I watched 3 movies that he probably woudln't be interested in watching last night that I rented from the DVD XPRESS machine from my local grocery store. I rented 2 more for tonight, and watched 2 from my own collection I have been dying to watch, but he just doesn't seem to want to.

Swaps

I did a swap in May/June and loved it so much I signed up for 3-5 more, two that are going on now. I absolutely LOVE swaps, you get to know another person and make a new friend. The 2 people I am swapping with so nice, and I am so loving making my packages for them. I can't wait to finish making these packages and sending them off, and seeing what I get. I will defiently be posting what I receive on here, and maybe what I sent out once I know they got it.

Time...

There is never enough time is one day to do all the things you want to do. Doesn't that tick anyone else? You find yourself staying up later and later, just to get things done and then you finally relieze that you are so tired that you can't spell worth a darn, and that means time to go to bed. I am half asleep myself, so I shall continue tomorrow when I can remember what I wanted to say.

Peace of mind...

Peace of mind is always a good thing to have when you have children, or pets (that think they are your children and you feel the same way). I can say that before I switched over to green products I would never have NOT called poison control when one of my animals accidently got into a cleaning product. Twice now since I switched over to green chemical-free products my children got into my new products and I can honestly say I didn't call poison control, I called the company that made the products, but only the first time. I knew if I called poison control I would have to read the back of the label to them, and they probably still wouldn't be able to tell me if it was safe.

So when my cats knocked over my spot remover I didn't call poison control, I called the company. I told them I wasn't sure if my cats had licked any up, but I wanted to make sure it was safe if they had. They told me that they would be fine, to just give them more water just incase.

My fiance spilled some raspberry syrup, and after wiping it up he used a all-purpose cleaner to make sure the floor wouldn't get sticky. A few hours later I caught my dog licking the spot, but I wasn't worried, I just put down extra water, just incase.

I only called poison control when I dropped a Colace on the floor and my dog ate it. They said he would be fine, just have looser stools and to give him something to eat and drink.

I love the fact that I know that the products I use in my home are safe to use around my pets(children), my nephew, and my future children. I also love that I can actually clean (if I want to), especially my shower without coughing and choking or an asthma-like attack (I don't have asthma I just stop breathing like an asthmatic when I am exposed to regular harsh cleaners). I even bought my nephew safe training toothpaste and I try to convince his mom to switch to the childrens shampoo and body wash from the company I buy from because I know they don't put anything harmful in their products and normal baby and childrens shampoo and body wash contains formaldihide(GROSS!).

I am so glad I switched. If you want to switch too, go to my website, or e-mail me your name and phone number with the subject line "peace of mind".
bobasheebaby@yahoo.com
http://elissa.freedomunitedteam.com

Going green can save you money...

It's true, buying the right green products can save you money. I shop from a great 23 year old green company, that promises to never ever use any chemicals. They have a great laundry products that you only need to use one ounce of to clean an entire load of laundry, no matter if it is a big, dirty load, it cleans it with one ounce in one wash. Most of their everyday household cleaning products are concentrated so you pay the same price for their 4 bottles of cleaner as you would of the regular cleaners one bottle. See, going green can save you money.

If you want help getting these products into your home, email me with your name and phone number with the subject "green products" or go to my website and request information.
bobasheebaby@yahoo.com
http://elissa.freedomunitedteam.com/

Knitting for baby

There is something oddly calming and happy about knitting something for a baby, even if there isn't one coming yet. Maybe that is why I am completely obsessed with knitting for babies at the moment, whether it is for my nephew or to put away for future babies. I just can't seem to get enough of the baby patterns. I love making anything for baby, booties, hats, sweaters, bibs, blankets, and stuffed animals felted or not. If it's for baby I probably love it. Right now I have an obsession with making baby jumpers.







The great thing about knitting for baby is you know there will always be a baby or child to fit the item. That is great forme since i hate to gauge and swatch, a bad habit I am going to have to break if I ever want to make myself a sweater.





Knitting for a dog or cat seems to be just about as calming as knitting for a baby.

Chemical free make-up!

I'm sure a lot of us have already heard about make-up being unsafe on the news. I'm sure I'm not the only one who wonders if any make-up is safe, well I can tell you there is one company who promises that there make-up is. It it from famous fashion designer Nicole Miller, and she is partnered up with a 23 year old green company who gives and 100% guarantee that they will never put chemicals in any of their products. The company also has chemical free bath products for men, women, and children, even babies.

For more information email me with subject line "green make-up", your name and phone number or go to my site and request information.
bobasheebaby@yahoo.com
www.elissa.freedomunitedteam.com

knitting for charity

When my dad died December 16, 2006 I thought it was the end of the world. I had no clue what to do. I was only 21 and my dad was so young. I felt like I hadn't had enough time with him, and I wished I had never been mean to him. I didn't think I would ever get through it, and I never thought the pain would stop. I thought absolutely nothing could help me.

I talked to my mom and a friend who had lost their father, but it didn't make me feel any better. Then January came. I went into my local yarn shop (LYS), Finely a knitting party, and she was doing a charity. Knitted baby hats for sick kids at CHOP. I thought "why not", took her several different patterns, and some yarn, and went home. I sat down and started to knit, slowly at first and then faster and faster as I thought about losing my dad and how much it hurt to lose him.

I knit one hat, then two, then three, then four. By the end of the fourth hat I had ran out of time to knit anymore for the CHOP charity. I handed them in, but wanted to do more to help, so I went into my stash and knit four more to put away for the next year. They never made it to the next year, I started to give them to people at the knitting shop I knew were having a baby or a grand baby. (As it turned out, the January charity changed from CHOP hats to slippers for interim house so at least the hats went to a baby who could wear it.)April came, and again I put down my projects and picked up a pattern and yarn from the LYS, this time for dishcloths for nursing homes, I made three for the nursing home and 3 or four for my nephew who was yet to be born. September came, and it was pumpkin hat time, I only had time to make one for CHOP in the middle of all my Christmas knitting which I had started in June, and might I say I knit quite a lot for Christmas last year.

As I knit these items for charity, my nephew, and other family members, I noticed I wasn't crying quiet as much. I was still very sad and it still hurt that I lost him, but everything seemed easier. I realized I was knitting through, the hurt, the sadness, and even the anger. Almost a year and a half later, the pain and sadness is still there, but I have learned how to live and knit with it. In fact I have learned to knit through all pain, might it be a hurt shoulder, or being in the hospital, the knitting seems to help. I actually can't stand when I can't be knitting, especially because my stomach hurts so much from who knows what that I can't even concentrate on something as simple as knit one row, purl one row.

I plan to keep knitting for my family, and for charity. I am always trying to find a great AIDS charity to knit for, since I know and knew people with the disease and I wanted to help them in anyway possible, even if it was something as simple as a knitted hat, scarf, or mittens, just to give them something that would remind them that someone out there cared about them, even though they don't know them, and hopefully put a smile on there face. Knitting is definitely a cure for just about everything.

The first four hats I made for CHOP.

Sleeveless top

I love my nephew dealry, but this is probably the last sweater I will make him, atleast in the right size. He is 10 months old and growing like and weed. He keeps growing taller and is already wearing 24 months. I will probably only ever make him stuffed animals, hats, scarves, mittens, and maybe a Wonderful Wallaby-but everything to grow into, of course.

Right now I am making him a sleeveless top or tank top for his birthday in July, in the biggest size. I just hope he doesnt outgrow it before I give it to him, or even worse, before I finish it. It is a great pattern and fun to knit. I already finished the back and am about half done the front. Only the button bands, pocket, and sewing it together to go.

I learned a great trick that I am going to do, to ensure he doesn't pull off the buttons, I am going to knit them in as if they are beads- only works on shank buttons of course. Just have to pick out the perfect buttons. It's between white elephants, or light blue, black or yellow smiley faces.

I just realized that he will outgrow it in one week, so I put this sweater on-hold.