A Contest with Heart

I really enjoy reading Kkhymn's blog. She's having her first contest; a wonderful idea encouraging her readers to knit or crochet items for charity and then leave a comment as to what they've done.

I love her idea but didn't know how to act on it until today. While browsing the bookstore shelves I found some inspiration.

A whole book full of ideas, Knitting for Peace names specific charities that welcome donations and offers easy patterns to complete the mission. From helping people to shelter animals, close to home and abroad, this book gives specific information on a variety of organizations and their needs.

Also listed in the book are several online resources.

www.interweave.com/knit/charities.asp
Last updated September 2008, this site has an extensive list of organizations.

www.lionbrand.com/charityconnection.html
Provides a search option to help you select a charity, and a list of most frequently requested item patterns.

www.woolworks.org/charity.html
This site looks like it hasn't been updated in a while, but it does list specific organizations by state.

Now the dilemma. With so many wonderful organizations and super patterns, which one to choose?!

Double Delight

Two luminous white pearls, separated by silver discs, ending in a darling dangle. These earrings are one of my new designs for spring.

No Shrinking Violet

The 'Big Ivy Scarf' pattern knits up into one hefty scarf. It was the cover pattern for the Fall 2008 issue of Knitscene and I loved it the moment I saw it.

I've been wanting to knit something with stranded colorwork and this pattern was perfect, small sections of colorwork interspersed with an open meshwork pattern. I had so much fun knitting this I was actually a little sorry when I finished it.

I couldn't find the Asian Trends yarn specified in the pattern. So, I substituted Berroco's Ultra Alpaca. The main color is actually a brighter gold shade. I just couldn't get the colors to photograph well.

Hearts of Fire

I love, love top quality gemstones.
I also adore top quality hand made 'gems'. Chris makes one-of-a-kind fused and dichroic glass items including gorgeous heart pendants. I bought this one and I'm pondering what to do with it. I'm thinking something simple and fun. Any thoughts?


I also bought one of these. Beautiful and practical, this bottle stopper would be a great hostess gift. Note to self for the next holiday season.

Just for Fun

Lollipop Mitts

I knit these fingerless gloves without a pattern. Just for fun. Just to see if I could do it.
I have never knit anything without a pattern.

Those of you who routinely knit your own designs know knitting mitts without a pattern is no big deal. For me, this was a big step. I have wanted to be more fearless in my knitting. To loosen the white-knuckle grip I've had on published patterns. To free-fall into knitting from my my own creative thoughts.
Yikes, I hope I have some - creative thoughts!

Too Much

Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing, as in too many beads.
In designing brangles and bangles, I initially thread the beads onto a relatively straight piece of wire. I love using lots of beads in different sizes, shapes and colors. For me, this is the fun part of designing, but in order to get the right shape the wire must be curved.



And now the dilemma, the beads that looked so perfect and fit so nicely are too crowded, impeding the final shaping of the brangle.




Some beads need to be removed. This will create the space I need in order to curve the bracelet properly.

This is what I faced with this brangle. I don't know if you can see from the photos, but in the first photo the brangle has two more blue beads than the final photo.
I removed those two little blue ceramic beads so I could get a smooth oval shape; just perfect for gliding easily along the wrist.

Not- So-Sloppy Goodness

While watching part of Oprah's webcast last Monday, I heard Bob Greene mention he had a recipe for Sloppy Joes. I love Sloppy Joes and haven't had one in ages, so I looked up the recipe and here's the result.

Of course, not one to leave a good recipe alone, I made a few changes.

I don't like to use beef so I subbed Lightlife 'Gimme Lean' for the ground beef. I thought cooked lentils would give a better look and texture to the recipe; so I substituted canned lentils for the kidney beans and mashed them ever so lightly. I left out the red pepper but used all of the spices.
I don't measure spices when I cook, I guess-timate. This may be why I'm not sure I liked the flavor of the cloves. I love cloves in cookies but the flavor seemed a little out of place in the Sloppy Joes. It could be that I just used too much.

I love to use cocoa powder in my chili and thought it would be good in this recipe. I added about 2 to 3 tablespoons.

The bread is from Panera. It's their Whole Grain loaf. Lightly toasted, it worked great and the whole sandwich stayed together well. Thus, the 'Not-So-Sloppy' title.