Knit and Purl

I have been interested in knitting or crocheting since I discovered crocheted wash cloths several years ago. I love them, and have wanted to be able to make my own, but never took the time to learn. My mom even bought me a knit a wash cloth kit about 5 years ago. I just opened the box about 2 months ago! It had some really pretty yarn, and very detail-less directions. I ended up Googling how to knit, and let me just say, I wasn't very successful. My self taught lesson lasted all of 30 minutes before I gave up. That pretty yarn hasn't been out of the box since.

Fast forward to today...I had my first official knitting lesson. Lin Barnett of Ewe Knits sat down with me for 2 hours tonight and taught me the knit stitch and purl stitch! I am so excited and proud of how well I did. Take a look...



Ha -ha!! Just kidding. This beauty came from Brooke's Column of Leaves Knitted Scarf Pattern.

Here's what I created...



It doesn't look like much, but it's a lot of happy little stitches all tied up together. I go back for my second lesson next week. I wonder what I'll learn next?

Let me begin by saying how excited I was to have three...THREE...comments!! When I say excited, I mean EXCITED!! I was beginning to get discouraged. I know my mom checks in from time to time, but she doesn't comment. Thank you, thank you to those who commented. I love it!

So onto my first day of using non-plastic water bottles. I didn't actually start on Feb. 1 or 2 because when I went to fill up my bottles before work, the Brita pitcher was less than half full. It takes it a while to filter so I didn't have time to wait. That taught me a good lesson though...I have to fill them up at night. What a revelation :) So last night I spent about 30-45 minutes filling bottles and waiting for the pitcher to fill. This morning I packed them in my cooler...with a little help from my favorite little girl.



I enjoyed my pretty bottles today, and I'm looking forward to using them from now on!

Sunday - One Small Change Challenge Review

This challenge has been a good experience. My family has learned to live without paper towels! I never thought it would be possible. We did slip up a couple of times, but for the most part we stuck to using cloth. I feel good about our part in helping reduce the use of paper products. I have also enjoyed shopping Etsy.com and eBay for paper alternatives. Who doesn't love a little shopping?
Here is a very small sample of my purchases. Most are in the wash right now :)

For February's challenge I plan to cut out plastic water bottles. I pack a cooler everyday to take to work so I can have easy access to cold drinking water. We had to give up our mini fridges earlier in the school year due to electrical problems in our building. I used to buy a jug of water every few days to keep in the fridge and pour from. So, now, I pack 4 water bottles to drink during the day. I do recycle the bottles, but I feel guilty even using them. We bought a Brita filter pitcher for our house last year for the sole purpose of not buying bottled water anymore. My husband reminds me of this when he has to buy my bottled "school" water. So yesterday I decided my challenge for February would be to use these beauties that I bought at TJ Maxx this weekend.

They will fit in my cooler, and help reduce my use of plastic bottled water. Hooray!

So I hope to go from this:

To this:

Thanks to my dear hubby for modeling this change for me :)

Let the challenge begin!!

Saturday Crafting Fun

Today AK and I decided to do a test run on her Valentine's Day craft for this year's Valentine's Day cards. We wanted to make crayon hearts. I found this adorable idea on the long thread blog, and decided to make necklaces out of them. Here's what we needed to get started.

The biggest struggle was peeling all of the crayons...whew...what a chore.

So I went online to find an easier way. Here's what we used. Thank you whoever created the box cutter. I love you.

The tutorial said to break the crayons into small pieces. I remember reading somewhere that you could shave the crayons for this type of project. We decided to experiment with both. I must say I am glad we didn't shave too many crayons because the broken crayons worked out much better!

Here's what it all looked like going into the oven...275 degrees for 7-10 minutes.

Meeeelllllttttiiiinnnnggggg....

Add straws during the cooling process.

The final results!

Now, all we have to do is go to the craft store and buy something to string each heart onto, and we'll be done with these! I wish they were a little thicker, but I think they turned out pretty cute. If I feel the urge to peel more crayons, I might try again and make them a bit thicker :)

Birds

Birds...I love them. I don't know what it is about those little feathered cuties, but they fascinate me. My house is decorated with birds. My classroom nickname is the "Brainy Birds". I have a huge collection of bird watching books. I wear them on my clothes and jewelry. I love to watch them in action, which is why.....

I cannot wait to start this year's
Great Backyard Bird Count!

I participated a few years ago, but kind of forgot about it after AK was born. Kind-of like I forgot about bird watching in general after she was born. I had a few other things to think about :) This winter I have really enjoyed watching the birds at my bird feeders again. I am hoping our resident wrens will be back soon to build their nest and raise their babies. They have come for the past two years. This past year they raised two sets of babies (at different times)! Anyway the GreatBackyard Bird Count begins in February. I will be there. Watching. Counting. Loving every minute of it!

Comments and Confessions

I realize that no one is reading my blog...are you? Anyway, if you are, I would love a comment here and there! I check daily for comments.

With that said, I confess...

I used a paper towel this morning. Ugh! I was running very late, and I had made a bagel for breakfast. I didn't want to put it in a plastic baggie and I was running around frantically searching for something to wrap it in. So I gave in and grabbed a paper towel. I need to find an alternative. Any suggestions?? This would be where all of my readers comment ;)

Crafting

Well, I tried my hand at crafting today. First AK and I made paper snowflakes. Now, I have never said I am creative, so bear with me. One of my goals this year is to learn a craft. Paper snowflakes is not it :) I would like to learn to knit and/or use a sewing machine. For now it's snowflakes.


My next crafting endeavor was a felt wreath. I've been working on making the felt for about a week now. Supposedly all you have to do is wash old 100% wool sweaters in hot water and dry them in the dryer. It didn't turn out quite the way I pictured it. Instead of felt, I got slightly fuzzy, shrunken wool sweaters. Anyway...I pushed on. Here is my process:





And VOILA!


I almost forgot our halftime entertainment...