Pokemon Fever

Pokemon Black & White was recently released (March 6th 2011) and I admit, I let myself get swept up in the new gamer craze. After almost three weeks of having my brother and all his friends constantly having their faces pressed against their DS(i) consoles, I found myself longing to play, too. I was pleasantly surprised to receive a new DSi and Pokemon Black this past weekend for my birthday. My brother's friend Mark was over today, and after spending some time playing together, he asked me if I could knit him a cozy for his DS. After an exhaustive search for a suitable (and creative) pattern, we decided that I would just make a plain case, and knit a pokeball charm to attach to the zipper.

Unfortunately, there was no knit pokeball pattern to be found. It was up to me to design one. I found this simple ball pattern, and took an extra step and created my own color chart to create a ball in the likeness of a pokeball. I've decided to be nice and post the color chart I've created so other crafty pokelovers can enjoy it!

Follow color chart row for row with the pattern. Don’t worry, the hardest part of the chart is worked over rows 11-18, so you won’t have to worry about increasing or decreasing while changing yarn colors

Pokeball Color Chart

I will be casting on the cozy this weekend and I PROMISE to post the finish product as soon as it's done!

**updated 4/14/11**
Knitting in this in the round with dpn's makes it come out MUCH nicer! Just join in the round replace rows with rounds and P with K, and boom! Instead of binding off purlwise, draw your yarn through the remaining stitches, pull closed, and weave in your end!  It's done faster since there is no need to sew it up after! Just don't forget to stuff it!

Roadblock

I have an ever growing stash of leftover yarn. After each project I complete, I have quite a bit of left over yarn. I hate to admit it, but I think my mom passed some of her hoarding habit down to me. Even if it is just a small bit of yarn, I can't bring myself to dispose of it.

I recently vowed to not purchase any new yarn until my stash runs dry, but its proving to be more difficult than I thought it would be. I tried knitting amigurumi (I made the hubby the cutest little turtle), but they don't take  much yarn, so I'd have to knit a whole army of those guys before I ran out. So I set out for bigger projects.

I picked up an elephant pattern for my mom. Yes, my fifty something mom, requested I knit her an elephant. If you knew her, you'd understand. I thought that I had just enough left over yarn to complete it, but, as luck would have it, I ran out of yarn just before I started the ears. So I have an ear-less elephant. I decided to put that down until I come across some yarn that would make acceptable ears.

For my next project, I chose a scarf. Simple, and a quick knit because I would be using chunky yarn. Chunky yarn knits up easy, and fast. Halfway through my scarf, I ran out of yarn. A little frustrated, I ripped the whole thing and scoured Ravelry for a pattern that would accommodate the type of yarn I wanted to use and its yardage. I found a cool hat and cast on. Just as I was finishing up the very top of it, I ran out of yarn. By this point I wanted to throw down my yarn and scream, "Come on!" I ripped the hat.

 So here I am, with a box full of yarn, taunting me. Maybe I'll just start making washcloths and potholders. Anyone need a potholder? I'll personalize it with your initials.

A penny for my thoughts (but I'd prefer a dollar for my scarves)

Being a domestick diva (yes, I meant to spell it that way!) is so crazy sometimes, and I really wish it paid for all the time I put into it. If you calculated, I should be making a decent living for all the work I do. I'm a chef, baker, cleaning lady, chauffeur, nanny, nurse, loan shark, tutor, photographer... am I missing anything? On top of that, I "work" an at home business, knit, and take time to remain social with what few friends I have left. While I do try to stretch our dollars out the best I can, I always feel that I can financially contribute more to the family. My husband and I go back and forth about me finding a part-time job, but it always comes down to childcare. Any money I could make would all go straight to childcare, so really, what's the point in getting job if I'd never see a paycheck? I enjoy working my at home business, but I'm not willing to put in the hours OUTSIDE of my home to really make enough to make me feel like I'm helping to support the family. So what do I do now?

Since I began knitting, I have received numerous requests for knitted pieces in exchange for money, but I was nervous about selling something I made from a pattern designed by someone else. Last week, I discovered a conversation on Ravelry about this exact issue. One Raveler said something that made sense. If I made brownies for a bake sale, would I feel guilty using someone elses recipe? No. Its the same sense with knitting. I'm asking for payment for my time and effort, not for the idea of the pattern. So now that my guilt has been lifted, I am open to being paid for what I put into making something for someone.

Which brings me my previous topic. My mom has been telling me for months she would start me off with all the supplies I would need to run my own business, so I decided to take her up on the offer. I have decided to go slow and  dedicate a period of time to exclusively knit things, then put them up for sale. Over time, I'm hoping to receive special requests from people and I will be happy to make them! I have had a few people express concern that my hobby will turn into work, but honestly, I don't mind. I held very few jobs that I didn't enjoy doing, mostly because I enjoy making money. I'd rather get paid to do something that I LOVE, AND still be able to stay at home with my crazy family and domestic duties. I probably won't get rich, but coupled with the money I'm already bringing in, I should be able to feel content that I am contributing enough.

Custom Fit

After seven years of being a mom, my body has changed a lot. So have my tastes in fashion (thank God, if I still dressed like I did when I was twenty I'd make people laugh). Unfortunately, my body doesn't always fit my tastes.

Over the last six months, I became increasingly aware that my clothes weren't looking that great on me anymore. Coincidentally, I began knitting six months ago. I have pored over pattern after pattern on Ravelry, looking for tops I could knit for myself. I came up with nothing, because everything I wanted to make, wouldn't look that great on me. More fitted tops accentuate my pooch and love handles (when did those get there?!?!?!), and a looser top just makes me look like I'm wearing a tent. Right around Christmas I fell in love with Camden. My first thought was, "This body can't pull off that sweater".  I really liked it though, so I added it to my favorite patterns list.

Just after New Years, I was getting out of the shower in our hotel room, and couldn't help but glance at my body (Why do hotels have wall to wall mirrors? Some of us don't like looking at our bodies that much!) And I just felt sad for myself. My husband deserves a sexier wife, my kids deserve a mom that is in enough shape to dance around crazy with them, and my clothes deserve a body that they can look good on.

After a couple of weeks of moping around, I came across Camden again, and I decided I was going to make that sweater damnit, and I was going to look good in it! I am estimating it will take me a few months to complete this project, just enough time for me to get back in shape! I'm very excited to complete both goals and can't wait to post the picture of me in my new sweater!

Pieces of Me

It has been a stressful but joyous holiday season. With all the shopping, cooking, present giving, and family visits done and over with, I finally have time to sit and write. Shortly after the new year began, my husband and I packed up our kids into the car and headed to Vegas, where my mother-in-law and her hubby were vacationing. I was forewarned of cold weather, so I made sure to pack hats, gloves, and scarves for everyone. I was secretly happy for the cold, because that meant I had an excuse to make my 15-month-old wear his brand new knit beanie (I was inspired to make it from this blog: Coffeebra).

Before this trip, I had NO idea how much my projects meant to me. I have made a few things for others, and I always felt a little pang whenever I would send the finished product off to its new owner. I quickly got over it by starting a new project. It took a baby who hates wearing hats to teach me how important my knitting really is for me.

Twice during our trip, I thought we had lost his beanie. I need to start off with saying that my daughter lost hers right away. I really didn't care, it was something we got at Wal-Mart for $1. Just two hours later, I thought my son had dropped his while we were out shopping. I FREAKED out, frantically tearing up our hotel room in search of it. I have to say that I have a wonderful husband, he was right there next to me helping me look. I was relieved to find it on the floor of our car when we left the hotel later that evening. My second scare happened when we returned to our car after going out for dinner that night. I was so happy when we found it again in the car, it was like being reunited with a lost child. As we were driving back to our hotel, I realized how much knitting really meant to me, why I felt that pang whenever I would give away something I spent time making. No matter the size of my projects, I grow to love them with every stitch I make. All the frustrations I suffer when I make mistakes are long forgotten when I hold up the finished product.

For some people, its their cooking, others photography, the list goes on. We all have that one thing we love to do that we pour our heart and soul into. For me, it really is knitting. So as I go on and on about my infatuation with this craft, you can sit there and look at me like I'm crazy all you want. That's fine with me, I just won't be knitting anything for you anytime soon.

Growing Up is Hard to Do

I've only been knitting for five months, but I feel like I have been doing this for years. My knitting skills are much more advanced than they were even 3 months ago. I try to view every new project as an opportunity to learn. No other project as helped me grow as a knitter as much as my current one. Let me start off by saying that when I first found this project the pattern said it was "designed for the discriminating knitter". Which I took as, "This is not your average blanket so be ready to put some work into it." Since I learned early on to practice new patterns in my gauge square (avoiding mistakes in the actual projects), I was up for the challenge.

It seemed easy enough for me. the pattern consists of cabling and lace. I've done cabling no problem, it was the lace that terrified me a bit. So I decided to practice it before I started. After about 4 tries, I felt I had learned to do the lace portion of the pattern just fine. I decided to go ahead and cast on. About 16 rows into the pattern, I stopped and realized I had messed up. A lot. So I cried in frustration for about thirty seconds, and frogged it. I started over again, and caught myself making the same mistakes, but this time I realized it much sooner and took a deep breath and unknitted back to the point of my mistake. Pretty soon, I was getting the hang of it. Then I suddenly realized how I would keep making the same mistakes. By this point my head was pretty clear and I decided to try to come up with a better solution rather than give myself a few seconds of deep breathing before tinking back. My biggest problem is that I would keep forgetting yarn overs.

Let me stop for a second to explain WHY this is such a big deal. When it comes to a row with yarn overs I make about thirty. Missing just ONE would be very noticable. The only thing is, its hard to notice you missed one until you get to the next row.

Fortunately for me, I discovered that I could easily pick up some yarn from the previous row and mock a yarn over, and it really doesn't look that different! I stood up and did a booty dance. Okay not literally, my family would laugh at me, but in my head I was doing it. 

I'd like to say that it was smooth sailing, but sadly, it wasn't. No one is perfect, especially not me. As much as I try to pay attention and count everything, I still mess up. Sometimes I forget to change up my pattern, other times I accidentally drop a bunch of stitches. The only difference is that now I know how to fix my mistakes with grace and you can't even tell. I wouldn't call myself a stitch "Doctor" just yet, but I have definitely progressed to stitch "Nurse."

Looking Through Rose Colored Glasses

I was just logged into Ravelry looking at my completed projects, and I came to the realization that I REALLY like pink. With a exception of the brown shrug I made for my first project, everything has some sort of pink worked into it. Apparently, I have yet to discover other parts of the color spectrum! So I think that I will ban pink from future projects for awhile, maybe until my birthday in March.

I don't exactly remember where I read it, but I read a blog where this girl would buy sweaters or other knit items that were on sale in stores, and unravel it to use the yarn for another project! Genius! Why didn't I think of this?! I am contemplating sneaking into my mom's closet and stealing some of her ugliest sweaters (none are pink!) to take apart and use for my own projects... maybe I can make her something less ugly, haha. Talk about being green and recycling!