KUAS PATTERN SALE!

Let's celebrate "fall" with a lovely pattern sale!
Use the "KUASFALL" coupon code in my Ravelry store to get the following fall-themed patterns 15% off from now until September 30th!

Coiled Cables & Ribs cabin socks

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Autumn Rush hat & wrist-warmers

 

add to cart   UPCOMING October SALE: "Creature from the Black Lagoon Socks" will also have a 1-week 15% off sale to celebrate Halloween! Hurry then to add some creepy scales and fright to your Halloween costume!

Pumpkin Spice and Rustling Leaves...

It's that time again: a time for cooler weather, burning wood, rustling leaves of every color, pumpkin spice latte, muffins, pies and even pumpkin cream cheese (Einstein Bagels). And more pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins. Once again, it's time for my annual "ode to the soothing season" kick-off of Fall.

Went to Michael's and couldn't help myself. I HAD to get my hands dirty with a hot glue gun and a wreath. Do you ever get those feelings? This was my first actual wreath (and I say that because the last one was a Christmas wreath that had knitted glitter balls, so it doesn't really count). Not too shabby, huh? Of course my eyes catch ways to improve, but I'm pretty proud of my little creation. So much that I went back to Micheal's to get materials for the Halloween one.

Yesterday, the boys and I had an amazing stroller ride. Picture this: Cool Fall-like breezes, turned leaves rustling, yellow ones falling all around you, light and dark stormy clouds and thunder in the distance. Ah...for the soul! Fortunately, we made it inside in time. It rained less than 2 minutes later.

I've been extremely busy lately resurrecting some Fall-like patterns of mine to sell this week (hopefully). I'm done with two of the three, and I only have one little section left to edit. These patterns were tweaked a little bit to be clearer and to have the same "KUAS Pattern" feel. I've also been busy getting my KUAS shop ready for a Craft Fair at my church in November. It seems like a long time away, but I don't want to be ripping my hair out 1 or 2 weeks before to knit up some booties, make more stitch markers and slap on price tags and labels onto everything. I plan on selling some items from this blog, like the "Modular Vest," the "Princess Shawl," "double looped scarves," "Sweet As Candy" baby sweater, etc, that I don't think I'll be depressed to part with. I'd be happy freeing up some room and making some money in the process. A girl's gotta feed her addiction to craft some how. I'm even selling yarn from my Etsy shop (back in the day) and yarn never released, like Twilight themed yarn.

Come back soon to see the re-release of three patterns: "August Rush Cap & Gloves," "Coiled Cables & Ribs Socks," "Creature From the Black Lagoon Socks!" The first couple of days will have a sale on them. 

Quick Fix: fanlight cord

I don't know about you, but if you're like us, you might have a high ceiling fan with an itsy bitsy cord and haven't done anything beyond pulling up a chair every time you want to change a light or fan setting. Well, today was the day I remedied that, crafter style. And it couldn't have been more "instant gratification" or easier...it's just a crochet chain! 

This project is so quick, you can whip one (or two) up in under 5 minutes and change it out as many times as you'd like. The silver wire is so light that you can barely see the chain at all, so choose your beads wisely. I like mine, even though this was the beta version, but I really just grabbed the first beads I found in my craft closet because one of the twins runs to climb in the sink or on top of the oven as soon as I am out of sight. And lo and behold, he was about to turn the faucet on as I was coming down. (But hey, maybe I'll just keep them. They've got some spunk.)

If you are wondering if it's durable enough to pull on from that height, it is surprisingly durable with a 28 gauge for being so "airy" or delicate looking. The crocheted chain should not break. At least not for a good long while. You also need to make sure you secure the tail well enough around the original ball-chain the light came with. However, if you still have concerns, you can always up the gauge to the next size, and maybe that's a good idea for anyone starting this project, but be forewarned that it will be a little harder to chain stitch.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
-10 yards or less of silver beading wire, 28 or 30 gauge.
-Crochet hook, size US I9 (5.50mm). 
-Decorative beads for the bottom of the chain. Amount, size, color depends on your taste. I find it handy to choose two different colors or styles to differentiate easily between the "light" and "fan" cords.

 

Click on "menu" to download the pattern via Acrobat.com

PATTERN DIRECTIONS:
String on your bead(s)onto your wire. About 3 inches from the end of the wire, create a loop by folding the wire and twisting it tight a couple of times (it should resemble a slip-knot). Begin chaining, sliding your bead(s) down by your hook and locking it into place with a chain stitch, and continue chaining your fanlight cord very uniformly (so it falls as straight as possible) until the desired length, when your hand can just reach up and pull on the bead to turn the light/fan on comfortably. Cut the wire, leaving a tail of 2-3 inches, secure a knot in the end of your crocheted wire chain and then secure that same end to the last, or second to last ball on the ceiling fanlight's original metal ball-cord. After wrapping your tail around the original cord several times, snip off the remaining tail. As for the tail by the bead(s), wrap it around the bead and cut the remains off. Straighten out the cord as best as you can, and test it out!

I've added this project to Ravelry, so add it to your queue or WIP if you are in the same situation as I was about that darn short ball-chain. The pattern can be downloaded from there as well. Let me know how it worked for you! This leaves a lot of room for your own embellishments and ideas. You can even create one for your shorter pull-string table lights. :)

The Last Remnants of Summer

This is an ode to the final days of summer. Although there are plenty of things to do when the heat hits, it was much too hot this year to enjoy. I am embracing this Fall much more than usual (which is normally a lot anyways).


These are pictures of late Spring, when things were in first bloom. Little did they know that they would endure such heat, and that the only water they would receive until these past couple of weeks were from my water hose.

My cherry tomatoes are still producing, but my beefier tomatoes have been ugly, insect infested, and I really have only eaten a couple of its fruit this whole summer.

My "Lazy Susan's" are pretty much dead now, and the leaves are turning spotty brown.

 I'm going to research how to dry and store some of my herbs, and see what I can do about bringing them indoors during the cold season. It's going to be a bit of a challenge with little curious hands around me.

 So let's fast-forward to this past week. My husband and I went to Apple Holler, an apple orchard, for breakfast (not successful for eating, thanks to Jake's temper). The boys enjoyed running around and seeing the goats.

It took me many minutes to capture this little guy on camera. He refused to stop running around the bridge.

We also went to the Renaissance Faire on Labor Day with their grandma & grandpa. It was the last day that they were open and so it was crowded and hard to navigate around with an XL stroller. I don't regret the choice though, what with the gravel and exposed tree roots; this stroller can take a beating of a dirt bike. It was hot and miserable until the very end of our visit when it finally started to cloud over. Any guesses on who threw a fit because he was sitting "too long?"

Lady Jester.

Grandpa and Jake

Jake, Sam

Grandma & Sam

Jake and Daddy. Jake, I'm not going to give you the camera...

Finally, here is what's on the needles besides the "Sashay Shawl" from the last post. It's not much, but I have been trying to work at it little by little so that I don't have to whip up two Halloween BSJ's in one month. It's about halfway done.

Happy Fall knitting,
Anna

Sashay Shawl

Startitis.
Oh my weakness, oh my joy.

I feel like they should write poems of such a sweet torment.

In my town, our Michael's is next to Home Depot. I was thinking about building a 25 dollar greenhouse from a tutorial online, only to find that they don't sell ANY seeds after the beginning of Summer. You have to plan that far in advance for a fall/winter garden. Bummer. I was hoping to grow lettuce and such this year. After my disappointment, I headed next door to browse the latest fibers, when I came across Red Heart's Sashay novelty yarn. I couldn't resist the charms of an idiot's shawl, or also known as a "let's see how quick we can whip up a project" type of shawl. What can I say...I saw promise from inches of manufactured lace.

The yarn came with a free pattern for a ruffled scarf. I'm not one for ruffles and fru-fru around my neck, so I was determined to make be more innovative with this yarn. I played around with it at first, and couldn't thinking of anything that would not make the yarn ruffle. I searched Ravelry to see if anyone came up with a unique project using this yarn, and lo-and-behold, I found a spiral shawl, "The Kelp Forest Shawlette."

I attempted this pattern several times in vain, until I realized that she used yarn very similar, but was from a different company. That meant that the lacy holes were probably spread wider, thus throwing my shawl more into a tube than necessary. Sorry, but I don't really need a 150 year-old-like-droopy-nipple thing hanging down the middle of my back. During my attempts, I figured that EZ knew what she was doing when she did round increases in the "Pi Shawl," and I attempted to deruffle as best as I could by skipping more "wide band" holes after every so many stitches bound off (ei. after 26 sts done, then 52 sts done, etc). You'll have to read into the pattern to know exactly what I'm talking about. The designer only tells you to bind off in the same "wide band" hole for the whole spiral.

It still needs to be worked on and blocked before looking in tip-top shape. You can look up my WIP project notes on Ravelry (I'm "knittyknitter." Friend-Me if you haven't already) in the meantime if for some reason you're smitten or intrigued and just HAVE to knit this up like I did. Otherwise, tune in later to my "FO" post of this on my blog to get my complete handy notes of the shawl (if you're using Sashay yarn rather than the recommended yarn).

Peace,
Mrs. Hopelessly Non-Monogamous.

Traded.

Ok, you'll have to kick me. I didn't end up finishing the skein I was spinning. I got real close. Just yards away from the plying phase. But a tempting set of books caught my attention:

The latest in the Maggie Sefton knitting mystery series. It sucked like the others...fluff atack! Like I've said before, the first two were great, and then that's were the charm ended. 

 

 I've found a series that I absolutely love, and I can't get enough on my Kindle Fire-the Jolie Wilkins series that's all about paranormal romance! It has the perfect blend of paranormal, romance, charm, wit and humor! If you're into that sort of thing, you must try the first one..you'll be hooked. And if you have a kindle, this series will cost you only a few bucks each! The first one is FREE! (You can buy a set of 3 for half the price too.)

 This author has only been writing seriously for 2 years and is pumping out books like water. Maybe even faster. She has two series out that already have 4 or more books! Wow!

The first book in the Jolie Wilkins series by H.P Mallory--awesome!

Just as great as the first!

(Surgery) Foot update: I'm on brace #2.  Eugh. At least this one is easier to put on and can be crammed easier into my shoe. My ankle has been giving me some trouble lately too, so this will be good for me. We are working on reducing the swelling around my incision so I can finish up healing. I'm already on a strong anti-inflammatory medication. So, that makes the phases: splint--surgical boot--brace #1--brace #2... Hopefully we will be done with these phases with my next visit in a week and a half.