Back In Business!!!

Last year a large portion of my local food for the food challenge came from a little vegetable stand just down the street and it was so convenient, but unfortunately he sold his lot and an American Family Fitness is going in. Since it is so conveniently close I am hoping to join once it opens, so I guess it is not a total bust, but I was so sad to see my veggie man go!!!

BUT...

Guess what I saw today as I drove by. HE'S BACK!!!!!!!! He is in a lot next door to his old one and I was so excited the I was Yoo Hooing in the car as we drove by. I can't believe it. I am so excited!!! Now I have my source of yummy local fruits and veggies for the go local challenge.

So far I have not done any local cooking because being 7 months pregnant has left me tired and lazy. I have just not been motivated to drive all the way down to the farmer's market on Saturday morning, but now that I can just drive a few miles I plan on getting involved. I am so happy because I was feeling really left out of all the fun!! Stay tuned for some local Virginia cooking!!!!!

Just In Time

Here is the finished baby blanket for my friend Holly. She is scheduled to have the baby on the 8th of June and tonight we are all going out to dinner to celebrate this new little baby. Luckily I finally got motivated and finished the blanket for her.

These are a couple of little hats that I have been working on. Of course I made girl hats and everyone I know is either having a boy or not finding out. I'm sure I will find someone who needs one of these hats! I have so many projects to do that I really need to get busy. I have to start my blanket for our baby, do TWO blankets for our neighbor and friend having twins, finish my gifts for my little game I am doing on the blog for Sara, Meg and Heather, and finish a wash cloth and shawl. I guess I better get busy!!!

Composting

I have wanted to start composting for awhile now, but hadn't ever gotten around to it, so I finally made a composting box and got a pile going. I found these easy to follow directions on the net. It was fun using the screwdriver to drill the wholes in the box. I'm sure my neighbors were cracking up to see me in the backyard going to town on the box with the power tools.

I had been saving scraps for awhile, but since I didn't have any dry material it turned into a big moldy and slimy mess so I threw away my first attempt and started again. I followed the directions and here is my lovely pile of compost. We didn't have any dry material so I picked up grass clippings from my neighbors yard. Once again I am sure that the neighbors must think I am crazy. I know that Jai does. When he first found my stash of scraps to throw in there he said, and I quote, "What the hell is this?" When I explained to him what it was he just rolled his eyes and called me a tree hugger. I took it as a compliment!!! We recycle everything, but I still wanted to find a way to reduce the amount of trash we were throwing away. Problem solved!

I will keep you posted on how my compost pile is doing because I know it is a real burning desire that you all have!!!

Progress

A friend of mine from work is having a baby this June and this pretty green blanket is for her new little one. She is tough enough not to find out the sex so I am making a neutral color that hopefully matches the bedding she has picked out. I really wanted to knit something for her, but since I don't have a ton of time I figured I better crochet since I am much faster at that.

I have made some progress on the shawl. It is slow going because it is just knitting row after row. I was hoping to have it finished for Easter since it is such a bright and springy color, but obviously that didn't happen!

Here are the wash clothes that I have knitted. I have realized that knitting isn't as hard as I thought it was. All the patterns explained how to make the stitches and if I'm not sure I just go to you tube and find a video to watch. I am excited to find a more challenging project. I think that I am going to knit a baby blanket for our new little girl on the way. Once I finish up some other projects I will be heading back to the store to pick out a pattern and some yarn.

My Gift To You

I had three takers on my gift giving game! I am excited to start making some fun stuff to send away to all of you. Don't worry Sara, just post whenever you get the chance.

A Gift For You

My friend Angie over at OUR CRAZY LIFE had this great post about creating. She is willing to make a gift just for me! The catch is that I have to re-post the gift giving game on my own blog and be willing to make something for the first five people who sign up. After thinking about it overnight (I had to make sure I could come up with something to make if anyone signed up) I decided to give it a try.

Here are the rules if you would like to join in on the fun.

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It'll be done this year. (hopefully before the new baby comes in August)
4- You have no clue what it's going to be.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who sign up. I would also like a post made about the gift that I send you. Good luck and thanks for playing.

If At First You Don't Succeed

I have been really lazy in the yarn department so I decided I needed to get off the computer, put the books down and pick up some yarn and retry a knitting project I tried a few years ago. I have been a crocheter for a very long time and it is really relaxing and easy, but knitting is not as easy for me. I have to have total silence so that I can focus on nothing but knitting. I understand the basics, but my biggest problem is fixing mistakes! When I took knitting lessons our teacher didn't teach us all of the basics, she just had us pick a project and then she helped us with that project. I wanted to try felting and it was fun, but the problem was that anytime I made a mistake the teacher would tell me not to worry about it because I would never be able to see it after the bag was felted. Hence my inability to fix mistakes.

So here is the project I started a few years ago (I am wondering why on earth I ever wanted to make a shawl) and made a huge mistake and when I couldn't figure out how to fix it I got pissed and pulled the whole thing out. That is why I have this gigantic ball of pink yarn, which by the way cost a pretty penny. I have felt guilty for awhile that it was just sitting in the drawer so I thought I would try again. This time I was only a few rows in before I messed it up. I went to Ben Franklin and asked someone how to fix the problem. She showed me how to work backwards to get rid of the problem. Of course I didn't stay at the store and do it and when I got home and finished I had the yarn from the ball weaved in at both ends of the needle. Why does this happen? If any fellow knitters could enlighten me I would really appreciate it.

I was tired of the big pink ball so I decided to try practicing on with a nice easy wash cloth. Well things have been going great until today. Somehow I managed to get 2 extra loops of yarn (not really stitches) on the needle. I know that without seeing it is hard to tell, but what do I do when this happens? Well anyways, I decided to pull the work off of the needle, pull out a few rows and try again and to my delight it worked!!!!

Hopefully I will have more knitting updates soon. My mom's group is working on having a knitting night so hopefully I will find someone here in town that can help me out. I may also look into taking more lessons.