Knitting

My Sky Blanket

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In 2012 I stumbled across a super cool knitting project, and instantly fell in love with the concept.  Simply put, you knit a row a day of a scarf using the colors of the sky that day.  Yarn is held double stranded, so you pick the two colors most prevalent (like light blue and white for a blue, cloudy sky or two strands of dark blue for a clear, dark blue sky) and knit back and forth, carrying the extra yarn up one side.  At the end of the year, you have a beautiful scarf that illustrates what the sky looked like for the whole year.  You can see the whole project, with instructions here:  Sky Scarf

I really, really wanted to make a sky scarf, but I never really found a pattern that I wanted to knit, so it eventually slipped from my mind.  At the end of last year I was browsing some knitting blogs and found where someone had a stroke of genius and used the Sky Scarf idea, but instead made it as a blanket.  I loved this idea even more, because who doesn’t love a gorgeous granny square blanket?!?!  I ran to the store and found my yarn, bought a little notebook to keep track of the sky colors every day.  (I am realistic people!  I knew I wouldn’t knit a square and sew it to the blanket every single day for a year).  We won’t talk about how far behind I am, but at least we are keeping up with the journal.

You can find the complete instructions here if you would like to make your own:  How to Knit a Sky Blanket

I am just doing the knitted garter stitch squares like she has in her instructions, but if you check out the Sky Blanket Group on Ravelry, there are people crocheting it and using other patterns for their squares, which look beautiful as well.  (For you knitters, I’m left-handed.  My needles aren’t placed there wrong.  🙂 )

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My handy dandy notebook.  😉  The kids are helping me keep up with this.  They love coloring in the little squares every day.  During the school year we kept it in the car and they took turns filling them in for me on the way to school.  Summer has proved a little more challenging, but we are doing a pretty good job remembering.  My Super Awesome Husband keeps insisting that no one will point out a wrong square if I forget and have to make one up.  *eye roll*  What does he know….

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The project chart came from a generous knitter on Ravelry.  I am using the notebook to record the daily sky, and the chart to keep track of the squares I have sewn to the blanket.  Do me a favor and don’t look too closely at my progress, would ya?  I’ve gotten another whole row sewn to the blanket since I took these photos.  I’m catching up!!  🙂

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My little squares.  They really take no time at all to knit.  I am just TERRIBLE at sewing, so that is where I am falling behind.  I probably should have figured out how to do it without having to sew.  Hindsight.  Sigh.

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I love the colors!  It’s going to be sooooo pretty!!

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To make things easier on myself, since some days the sky changes and goes through all of the colors, I have been trying to just do our first glance at the morning sky.  This can still cause disagreements on the way to school when the kids see more than two colors.  I know you’ll never believe that three kids can argue over something so simple.  (Hear my sarcasm)?  🙂  I just give myself the deciding vote and stick to the two most dominant colors, or what I think it will look like for most of the day.  My five year old still doesn’t get why I just can’t make a square with all of the colors.  🙂

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I’ll try to post updates from time to time so you can see how it’s going.  Just don’t expect a finished project on New Year’s Eve!  🙂

How I got my husband to look at me like I’m nuts…today

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My Super Awesome Husband looks at me like I’m nuts several times a week.  Okay, okay.  If I’m being completely honest, it’s probably more like several times a day with a few good eye rolls behind my back thrown in for good measure.  What raises him to Super Awesomeness is that he is totally supportive (despite the eye rolls) and such a good sport through my crazy ideas, even if most of them often lead to crazy amounts of physical labor on his part.

I’ll admit, there are times I think of something to mention or do, just to make him shake his head and roll his eyes.  It’s fun.  Ha Ha!  Today I made him look at me like I’m nuts by making felted wool dryer balls.  “You’re making what?” asks Super Awesome Husband.  “Dryer balls”  I tell him.  “And what are dryer balls?”  he asks with that look on his face that I love.  😀  Ah, life is good!

So today’s project is part of my mission this year to remove chemical filled products from my home.  Luckily for the Super Awesome Husband it requires 0 labor on his part.  🙂  Dryer sheets are full of chemicals and cost money.  Dryer balls are super simple to make, help your clothes dry faster, reduce static and make your clothes less wrinkly and smell nice without all of the chemicals.  All you need to make them is some 100% wool yarn that states hand wash and lay flat to dry on the label.  If you use machine washable yarn it won’t felt, and you need it to felt.  You also need one leg of pantyhose and a blunt needle to sew in your end.

Take your yarn and wrap it into a ball the size of a tennis ball.  Take your blunt ended needle and sew in the end really, really well.  If it’s not done well enough, your ball will unwind and you’ll end up with a felted mess.  If you are really creative or good at forgetting what you can and can not do well,  you can stitch a pretty design on your ball.  I mentioned this to my daughter and she, of course, thought it would be a great idea to have a flower on the one she made.  Let’s just say, every time I sew I remember why I don’t sew.  Next time something might involve sewing, my mom will be called.  Don’t go making fun of my flower!  I mean it!

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Are you done laughing yet?  I totally should have let my daughter do it herself.  🙂

Load all of your balls in to one leg of a pair of pantyhose that you cut off, and tie a knot in between each one.  Try to keep your male children away from them.  It’s an irresistible, fierce, ninja weapon at this point.

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Throw your balls into the washer and wash on hot with as much agitation as your washer offers.  Dry them on high as well.  If you don’t use super dark colors for your dryer balls and have super light colored towels or sheets you can save water and electricity by washing and drying them with your sheets and/or towels.  You will need to do this 2-3 times to get the balls nicely felted.

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Now to use them you just toss 4-6 balls (depending upon how big of a load you washed) into your dryer with your wet laundry and dry.  The wool will absorb some of the water and help you laundry dry faster.  It will also keep the humidity high while releasing it, which will help with wrinkles.  Dryer balls keep the static down and, it you add a drop of your favorite essential oil to each ball, will freshen your laundry and make it smell fantastic!

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I have fallen in love with Young Living Essential Oils, so if you’ve been wanting to try some as well, shoot me an email and I’d be happy to send you information and a sample!  You can use the contact page of the blog or email directly to [email protected]

I want to send a virtual high five to anyone who has made it through this post without giggling at all of the sentences with “your balls” in them.  You are a much better, more mature person than I, and I commend you!!  To those who have been giggling like a middle schooler, you get a high five too, because, well, we all have our issues.  😉

DISCLOSURE:  This post may contain affiliate links, and I may receive compensation for sharing products and information on this site.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.  See this page for full site Disclosure. 

 

Knitting, it’s not a hobby | A Perfect Knitted Dishcloth

knitted dishcloth

I have a little cartoon on my Pinterest page that says “It’s not a hobby it’s a post apocalyptic life skill.”  My husband and I L.O.V.E “The Walking Dead” (which I still can’t believe, even after watching all this time since I am NOT really a zombie kinda girl), so that gave me a chuckle.  If this justifies the amount of time I spend knitting, then that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!  🙂  I wish I had more free time to knit, but as a mom of three, my knitting time is snatched in bits and pieces at soccer practices, waiting for doctor’s appointments and sometimes for an hour or so watching tv at night when the kids have gone to bed.  I always tell people it’s so relaxing and therapeutic for me.  There’s something about the rhythm that calms and quiets my mind.  LOOOOOOOOVE it!

I’ve been knitting for about 6 or so years now.  My skills have improved greatly over the years, so that now I’m not too shabby and actually give what I make as gifts.  See!!  Not just a hobby!!!!  🙂  I get asked all the time how I started knitting.  I think most people expect a heartwarming story about how my grandmother taught me at her knee, or something like that.  Truth? Knitting for Dummies.  For real.  I had tried crochet when my first two were born so that I could make them little baby blankets, and while I did produce a blanket for them each, I was NOT good and really hated it.  Sooooo, while expecting #3 I walked past a copy of Knitting for Dummies at a store and grabbed it thinking maybe this knitting thing would save me from the torture of crocheting another blanket.  I tried it and LOVED it.  If you’ve always wanted to try and didn’t know where to start, that’s my secret!  🙂

In paperback:

On Kindle:

If you’ve always wanted to learn, I highly recommend that book.  You can also find tons of instructional videos on YouTube, or if you need more hands on instruction, you can’t beat a class at your local yarn shop.  I am going to share my current projects here from time to time.  I hope that those of you who are knitters will enjoy the posts and perhaps find a great new pattern to try.  If you are not yet a knitter, then I hope to entice some of you to try with pictures of pretty yarn and fun looking projects.

My other knitting secret weapon?  Ravelry.  Knitting any pattern is a commitment.  You have to buy your yarn and invest your time into it.  I hate wasting money and I hate wasting my time even more.  Ravelry is super awesome because so many patterns are offered for free or at low cost.  It’s always great for me to be able to buy a single pattern instead of buying a whole book just for one or two.  Plus, you get to look at tons of pictures other knitters have posted of their results and read their notes, which is always helpful when I am trying to choose a good pattern.  I am not affiliated with them in any way, other than being a member.  If you are cool enough to read this blog, I want to make sure that you know about some of the best things I’ve found along the way if you don’t already.

Grandma’s Favorite Dishcloth

Free pattern.  Skill level is easy peasy lemon squeezy (as my little dude loves to say).  This is a quick knit and would be great as one of your first projects if you are just starting or one of those easy take-along projects for more seasoned knitters.  Big bonus is that they are really sturdy and work really well!  I’ve been using one for a couple of months now and it’s still working great and hanging together.  Knit a little stack and they make a great gift too!

Skills needed:

Cast on

Bind off

Garter stitch

yarn over  (Yarn over instructions can be found at the bottom of this increase page)

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My daughter loves rainbows.  I think she came by it naturally.  🙂

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This was my first experience with knitting dishcloths, but it won’t be my last.

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Next time we talk knitting I have a very special, year long project to share with you.  I was so excited to start it this year and am far behind and trying to catch up before I share.

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DISCLOSURE:  This post may contain affiliate links, and I may receive compensation for sharing products and information on this site.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.  See this page for full site Disclosure.