I Want to Knit All Day

This morning I almost didn't get off at my stop to go to work.  I am knitting a cowl inspired by the stitch of this cup cozy and I just wanted to continue knitting all the way to the end of the line. I was just in a great knitting mood, my needles were just clicking away easily.  I will get some pictures of the cowl in progress for you to see what it looks like; it should be just lovely.

 

Do you have days like that when creating just goes so well you could continue for hours without stopping?  I know I could have done this today.

Fun Bowling Tournament

Saturday night I participated in a best box bowling tournament. A team consists of two players and they play 2 boxes at a time; the better score of the two players is used to calculate the points. Four games are played and the one with the most pins win.

It's the fourth year that I participate in it; I ended up winning it the first time.

This year the competition was extremely good.  Teams played a minimum of 10 perfect games!  Two of them were played on the same lanes I was playing.  Normally it's both teammates that help each other out but one of them was by a single player.  His teammate just sat and encouraged him through the entire game.  It was great to see him play. They ended up playing another perfect game together.

The winning team played 4 perfect games!  Now that is extremely amazing!  The coordinator of the tournament had never seen this happen in over 25 years of tournament.  He also hadn't seen so many perfect games played by so many teams.

As usual there were murmurs of how the teams weren't matched up properly and so on.  But come on! Who would ever think a team could play perfectly for four games in a row?  That's 48 strikes! I have played a few perfect games and they are not that easy to play.  I have also seen top players play together and not even play a perfect game.

I really don't understand how people cannot see the exploit for what it is. Simply amazing!

Those Little Gifts That are Hard to Think Of

Your child's teacher, a friendly coworker, your yoga instructor; all people you'd like to give a little something for the holidays.  And you have run out of ideas.  I thought going through some Etsy shops that offer vegan products might give us some wonderful ideas.


Lisa of Johnsonfamilyzoo has the cutest eco friendly reusable sandwich bags available in her shop.  Just imagine bringing a sandwich to work in one of these bags or a snack!  They will be the envy of their coworkers.

2 Sided OWLS and STRIPES Reusable Snack and Sandwich Bag SET

Rachel from soapwallakitchen makes these wonderful, luxurious vegan organic soaps.  This doesn't mean the people on your list don't smell good; you just want them to feel pampered.

Organic Lavender and French Clay Facial and Body Soap Bar

Renée from pinkbubble creates these beautiful keychains.  It's a great way to make sure nobody loses their keys anymore.  And if you have a soccer mom on your list even better!

Soccer keychain

Jen from SickOnSin makes these wonderful pins.  With the incredible choice available I'm sure you can find a few that will make someone on your list happy.

Do you have a few coffee lovers on your list?  I can't help myself but I must mention my very own dear coffee cup cozies.  It also helps that right now they are on promotion BUY 3 and GET THE 4TH FREE!  They are a great way to carry the morning cup of java without burning your hands.

Yellow Coffee Cup Cozy with Acorn Leaf

I hope this very small list helps a little in your gift shopping.  If you need more gift ideas just go to Etsy and enter veganetsy in the search bar and lots of vegan items will come up; all by amazing creative vegans!

Working with knitting charts

For the One Cup Cozy a Day project I have been knitting with different stitch pattern books. Most books have written instructions and/or charts but one book in particular only uses charts to show how the pattern is knit. 

To be able to follow I started using a sticky note and sticking it just below the row I am working on. I also wrote the explanation for one of the symbols since the glossary is at the front of the book and I wasn't in the mood to look back every time.

You can see on the picture I also write down the row I have just knitted. That's because a certain cat loves to plop down on my book, moving the sticky note from its row placement. Lola, you know who I'm talking about.

I usually prefer to work with chart patterns when I have the choice. Do you prefer working with written instructions or charts? Do you have a different way of keeping track of your rows? 

Some Good Men Are Out There

The first man I want to talk to you about is my boyfriend.  Although he isn't vegan he has changed his cooking methods so I can eat supper without having to start from scratch when I get there. It would mean eating around 19:30 since I finish late.  So, I love getting to his place after work and having supper ready hot on the table.  He was a heavy user of margarine and now uses olive oil instead.  If I happen to mention some food is vegan, the next thing I know he's bought some when he went grocery shopping. 

This week we've had to make due with prepared food since he recently hurt his middle finger making it hard for him to write and horror of all horrors chop vegetables! 

Here is where the other good man comes into the picture. He's the owner of the neighborhood Asian market and my boyfriend went shopping for some vegetables the other night.  He was talking with him about his predicament and the owner actually chopped his vegetables for him. He chopped the bell peppers, the mushrooms, the carrots and the onion so we could eat a nice home cooked meal.  I was pleasantly surprised and will be sure to thank him the next time I see him.

Supper was delicious that night, a Chinese noodle dish with lots of vegetables and soy sauce; just the way I love it.

Have you ever benefited from someone's kindness or have you been the giver of such kindness? 

My love for a pom-pom maker

I finally received my Clover pom-pom maker and I am in love!  Pom-poms are so easy to make with this.  Of course when I told my mother she said something along the line, "In my days we just used cardboard to make our pom-poms."  I tried cardboard; the yarn just kept falling out of the hole and I just wanted to hurl the whole thing across the room.  I want to make a good amount of pom-poms and I want it to be easy.

You can see below the Clover pom-pom maker (makes 3 3/8 inch pom-pom) and beside it is another device I found but the pom-poms were too small around 3 inches only.  It also came with a 2 1/2 inches maker and I even bought the 4 1/2 inches one as well.  I couldn't find these in any store around town and am glad I found them at Herrschners.  Of course, I bought some yarn at the same time.

This is what a pom-pom looks like with the Clover maker and they also look great on my Cables and Seed Stitch Hat with Pom Pom.

Some loving for the knitting

I just realized this morning  I will actually be knitting 366 cup cozies for the One Cup Cozy a Day project.  The year 2012 happens to be a leap year.  The joke's on me.


The daily paper KnitPurlGurl Daily has the One Cup Cozy a Day project as one of their top stories : http://paper.li/knitpurlgurl/1300323010#.  It's a great easy way to stay up to date with what's happening in the knitting world. Thank you.


Lidia from Vegan Bloggers Unite has written a wonderful review about Knits By Nat : http://veganbloggersunite.wordpress.com/2011/09/28/blog-review-knits-by-nat/. Thank you so much Lidia.