Thursday, December 31, 2009

Multimedia message

Scrap scarf....so far so good...

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Stuff I've made so far...

So my "super quick" scrap scarf is still in progress (not much progress but eh, whatever) so I figured I'd post some pictures of the stuff I've made since my re-dedication to knitting. 


This is Baxter the family gaurd dog (haha) in his sweater (that ended up being too big...but thats ok cause he doesn't know the difference).







\

This is my youngest daughter modeling the hat I made for my girlfriend. The hat ended up matching the dog's sweater but I swear I didn't do that on purpose. lol






This scarf took me FOR FREAKIN EVER to make, and I ended up running out of yarn so it is more like a small stole now. lol
My oldest daughter modeling said scarf and the previous hat.








This headband/ear warmer and scarf combo I made for my
Mom to wear when riding her horses in the cold weather.







I'm pretty proud of these ugly socks. My first project on double pointed needles...and they actually came out looking like socks!









I made this hat for my girlfriend...but it ended up being too small so my daughter wears it instead.








This hat was my first hat on circulars... turned out pretty good!











Cute little quilted blanket I made for my three year old...she drags this thing around with her everywhere.






This is a Ring Sling I made for my old co-worker to carry her chihuahua around. lol








I made this purse for my daughter and she thought it would make a good dog-purse. lol

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

More than just a knitter...

I am also a Couponer. (Is that even a word? oh well it is now. lol)

Let me tell you a little about me and my coupons.

A couple years ago my daughters Aunt and their cousin were very into the whole coupon shopping thing. They would come home from a shopping expedition with a car full of groceries and having only paid a fraction of what they should have. I was always very impressed...but never had the time or energy that I thought was necessary to accomplish that kind of savings.

Then this year when the bottom fell out of the economy I decided that now would be a good time to invest the time and energy and I started getting into coupons.

The process isn't as difficult as I thought. On Wednesdays the grocery ads come out, and on Sundays the coupons come out. Every Wednesday when the ads come out I sit down with my ads and a notebook and go through the ads writing down what is on sale at what store, then I go through my coupons and match up what I have with the sales. If it's a really good deal, then I get as many of that item as I can even if I don't "need" it so that I don't have to pay a higher price for it later on when I do need it.

The trick to the coupon thing is the number of Sunday Papers that you get. I get three sunday papers, which means three of every coupon that comes out on sunday. Sometimes if the coupons are really good, or if I know that one of the items on sale matches with a coupon in that sundays paper, then I'll pick up a few extra papers so that I can get more than just three of the item on sale for the sale price.

I keep all of my coupons in a Binder, organized by type of coupon.When I get behind on putting my coupons in the binder they go in ziploc bags that I keep in the binder until I have time to put them in their little slots.

I also am a member at a few different Coupon Mom websites like A Full Cup and CouponSense.

These websites are helpful because the REALLY fanatical coupon moms will post all of the good sales that they find that might not have been in the ads, or the coupon deals that can be found online or in special coupon inserts in other papers.

There are also TONS of websites where you can print free coupons and lots of blogs and other resources to track sales and good deals.


It's all about the bottom line for me. If I can come home with a trunk full of groceries for $20 then all the time I put into it was worth it.

In the picture:
Two gallons of milk, three boxes of cake mix, three cans of frosting, two cookie doughs, two rolls of biscuits, three boxes of Betty Crocker potatoes, six hamburger helpers, two packs of cookies, two gatorades, two bags of chex mix, bag of Lays chips, french onion dip, coffee, coffee creamer, lunch meat and eggs....Less than $20 total.

Monday, December 28, 2009

Multimedia message


So far so good... I started and ripped it apart 12 different times...tried 4 different needle sizes ( I decided on size 8) but here is an hours worth of scrap scarf...

Monday.... I think I'll make a scrap scarf...


Yesterday I went through my stash of yarn that I've collected over the last couple of years. I found at the bottom of the bag, a plastic bag with a oddly shaped scarf I started four years ago and then messed up and stashed away to be dismantled.

I dismantled it and put it back away...

I think that today I will re-make the scarf. I haven't decided on a pattern yet... I probably will just plain old knit stitch it.

It's a thin chenille yarn and eyelash "fun fur" knitted together... stay tuned for updates.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

What it's all about

This isn't my first rodeo.

I've had and retired a few other blogs because I just don't have that much to say that anyone else would really want to read. I am obsessed with blogs though. I spend almost as much time reading other knitters blogs as I spend knitting. As I was sitting here today, browsing knitting blogs, I decided to make my own.

This blog is mostly about knitting. There will be some couponing, and some general life mixed in occasionally, and I'm sure some stuff about my kids, my cats and my dog.... but mostly knitting.

I've been knitting for years but just recently rededicated myself to the craft. Lately I've been cranking out hats and scarves and most recently my first pair of socks (also my first project knitted on Double Pointed Needles).

My goal for this year is to FINISH every project that I start, and to knit EVERY DAY. I can't promise that I'll blog every day about my daily knitting...but I'm going to at least give it a shot.