Happy New Year Everyone!!

Happy New Year Everyone!!

It's now 2014, January 2nd to be precise and my boys are going back to school today.  I miss them! We actually had some fun together during this Christmas holiday break.

But now I have been thinking and doing some reading online this morning, apparently most people who make resolutions don't keep them.  I know that to be true of myself, though mine is from procrastination.  I'm very good at procrasinating!  ;)

Anyhow, I was thinking that I won't make resolutions, but there are some things I would like to learn how to do, or to do better.

These include:

• learn how to knit better -- need to figure out how to keep my edges smooth and even.
• Make a sweater, or several -- but at least one.
• practice crocheting socks, I want a pair of handmade socks.
•  Continue practicing to make thing with Tunisian Crochet, learn more stitches.
• And those other 2 or 3 things that I only seem to think about in the middle of the night, such as get my Etsy shop back up and going! 
• Maybe make some slippers too -- I found a cute pattern called Birchbark slippers (through www.crochetpatterncentral.com, Tunisian crochet).

Also I have things I need to work on in regards to my family,

• Be gentler and more loving with ALL of my children, not just my baby -- its always been easier for me to be nicer to the babies than to the older children.  And with first son going through puberty, well its becoming more difficult some days to be gentle and loving with him. However since I love all my children, I need to work more on this.
• Read my scriptures more on my own, and
• Keep up on my personal prayers, AND
• Try to attend the Temple at least once a month -- it will be hard with my baby and my 3 year old, but I'm still going to try to do it.
• I also need to plan if not weekly, then at least 2, dates a month with my husband.  Something more than movie & dinner each time, or some variations on it. 

Oh hey, I get my lovely red leg cast off next Tuesday, January 7th at TOSH in SLC.  Then I get my "walking" cast on and will likely start doing physical therapy around then too.  I will work up to full weight on my foot, 25% a week at a time, but it's progress.  I will also be able to bathe with both feet in the tub!!!  I am really looking forward to that one!! Until then, we have some super cold weather coming up, I think I'd better make myself a toe sock for my cast.

Muffins and knitting and such

Forgot to post about how it all has gone.

About the Banana Blueberry Lemon/lime yogurt muffins.  Well they tasted nasty at first fresh from the oven, but when 1 to 2 days old, they tasted wonderful!!!  I guess there really is some truth to letting your quick breads rest overnight before eating!

And the knitting... well I have 2 cotton dishcloths in the works, I did have another but it was almost 13 inches wide and that's just way too big for a dishcloth, so I ripped it out... that was actually kinds satisfying.  Then I got more practice of casting on.  My biggest dishcloth is probably no more than 2 inches long, but it comes along quite quickly when I'm not dropping then picking up said dropped stitches.  And I think that for now, I'm going to stick to knitting dishcloths because they are quick and easy projects, plus I just don't think I can handle anything bigger right now.

Good night y'all!  I think I will skip the bookmarks until tomorrow morning, I keep dozing off.  Plus the wind is blowing hard enough that the lights keep flickering so I think I will just take my chances with the potential for power loss.

Ugh, I can't handle it

Too much teal, I gotta go change the color to something else less bright, maybe the nice soft green they've got.  Otherwise I like the new layout of my blog.

BTW, thanks to everyone who's following me.  It means a lot, really, especially as there are months sometimes in between my blog posts, then I blog 4 times in one day (like today).   Please forgive me any typos that I have missed, I try to catch them all, but do miss a few.  I just can't seem to spell "the" and "just" right on the first try unless I'm really concentrating on my typing, other words get messed up too though especially at night when I'm tired.

Now I'm gonna go watch that lady's tutorial again just to make sure I got the casting on part right, then I'm going to commence knitting.  I have to admit to some excitement!  ;)  Have a good night, y'all!

=) Gayle

Trying to teach myself how to knit... again

The thing is, I still remember hwo to knit & purl, but the big hang-up for me is that I jsut can't seem to recall how to cast on.  Well I've been hunting around YouTube in hopes of finding someone who's posted a vid showing the same way of casting on that I learned as a child in Shelly Watson's 4-H class (at least I think her name was Watson, do you remember Amelia?).  Anyhow, I'm fairly sure that this vid is the same way I learned all those years ago (coming up on 30 years ago), well apparently this link goes to a group of vids (videos/movies).  I'm not talking about the casting on method the lady calls the e-loop, which while it's easy,  hear that it's not very stable.  Oh no, I'm talking about the long tail method (or so I've seen/heard several people refer to it).  Here's another link, this lady explains it quite well especially as the other lady left a very important detail out, as in which hand holds the tail & which hand holds the working yarn, oh yeah super important stuff that! 

Anyhow, once I get the hang of casting on, then I'll practice knitting & purling, maybe for a cotton dishcloth.  By then I would think that I could remember what I'm doing long enough to have it emblazoned into my short-term memory & be able to do more with it than just a simple dishcloth.

In the meantime, I'll also keep on crocheting, something that I love that it doesn't take 2 needles to do.  After I find my knitting needles, well then I'll give some of these tute's (tutorials) a try, then I'll post again about my results.

For now, I'm off to make Blueberry muffins w/ yogurt and maybe that last sad-looking banana & some ground flax seed as well -- YUM!!!  Oh mustn't forget to put nuts or sunflower seeds in too... to me, baked goods are just so much better with the addition of nuts & seeds!!!

Have a great day y'all!