KUAS' Fall through the years

Happy Halloween! I'm a little bummed that I am literally rows away from finishing the Halloween BSJ (before adding buttons and extending the sleeves afterwards), but I'm hoping that because I only made one, it will still be large enough for next year, when I'll make another toddler BSJ for Halloween. I used larger needles and worsted weight yarn, and it seems to be in the 2T size. I've been soo busy cleaning for 5 days straight for the boys' 2nd birthday party last Sunday, that I didn't really have time to touch the darn thing. I've been knitting here and there still, but haven't really gotten my hands
deep into it to finish it, considering that they probably won't end up wearing it at all this season. We'll just pretend that this little unfortunate circumstance never happened...

To celebrate Halloween, let's have a look at all  of the Fall/Halloween themed photos from this blog throughout the years!

Coiled Cables & Ribs Socks, Fall 2007

"Hawkeye" Socks, 2008

Pumpkin Colorway, 2008

A Grey Tunic (never finished)-bathing in the Fall golden sunset, 2008

Harvest Bowls, 2008

Harvest Bowls, 2008

Autumn Rush Hat & Gloves, 2008

Doubled Looped Scarves, 2009

Creature from the Black Lagoon Socks, 2009

Current- The BSJ that I will unfortunately will not finish in time before the end of today. I am at the very end, the button holes...but I still have to extend the sleeves.

Smoky Mountains this Fall.

Smoky Mountains, 2012

Krolls' Farm, 2012

Krolls' Farm, 2012

Have fun and stay safe, to those of you who are trick-or-treating today!

a String of Notes

This is totally not knitting related, but it still has to do with art. Well, performing art.
I've been really getting into practicing more piano lately to improve my own skills. I've just discovered New Age Artist David Lanz (his most famous work is "Cristofori's Dream" on Pure Moods III), and his "Dark Horse" piano solo is addicting!
But anyway, I am a piano teacher three days a week, and I've been researching creative ways to teach because things have been getting stale, and students just aren't inspired to practice (which creates a problem). I was floored by how many blogs are dedicated to sharing with piano teachers lesson and game ideas, as well as an array of worksheets that you can print off. I can't even believe how much information is out there. I've been reading up about quarterly group piano parties that do games, learn a little music history, fill out composer worksheets, etc. It's making the wheels in my head turn at the possibilities of how to engage and inspire the students more in music besides the normal cookie-cutter-lesson.

It all started when I was came across Joy's Color In My Piano blog and saw the DIY Silent Keyboards made of wooden slats and black foam. Ingenious. I didn't even think to use my crafty skills on musical learning tools! These are great for note reading, intervals, 5-finger scales, etc.


That was when I decided to create my own blog to link all of those amazing sites to share with other teachers. Hey, maybe one day I will fill up a sidebar of links of knifty nifty ideas. If you're curious, it's called "A String of Notes."

Don't worry, this blog isn't going anywhere. I was amazed and blessed at all of the support of fellow readers and designers from my previous post. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for listening to me, understanding where I am coming from, and letting me know that you support me. Just like the piano blogs, we are a community of knitters who exchange ideas, patterns and knowledge. We love doing it, and can't help doing it, but especially love to be appreciated from time to time with comments and thanks. It lets us know that others are out there reading us, using our patterns, (hopefully) liking them, and have been helped, touched or inspired in some way.

I want to liven the mood up again after a sour taste from the last post, so here are some cute photos of the boys from today before I had to head off to my student's Fall Recital. The boys turn two in a week.

Jake. I just love the "septia" option for photos during bad lighting times.

This is why he's a monkey for Halloween. This should come as no surprise to those who know him.

Sam. He likes to roar, so he's a dragon this year. You should have seen the look on his face when he saw he had claws instead of fingers. Confused!

P.S, the Halloween BSJ is almost done.  That's the good news. The bad news is that after searching for months there are no Halloween themed colorways that I could find in my area (just Christmas), so there will only be one BSJ this year. *sigh* 

 I know, I know, I could have stripe black & orange.

Sour note.

I wasn't sure if I should just wait until people found out, or if I just voice it in this post before the onslaught of emails. Today I made a bold decision: I deleted 16 of the 24 free patterns offered at my blog & Ravelry shop. Although it seems rash, it's been a long dwelled upon choice that was initiated upon reading the last few emails. It was the straw that broke the camel's back.

The most clear-headed reason was that some of them were less popular than others; they are older, probably have a few errors in them, and being from 2007, I have a harder time remembering exactly what I did if an occasional question does pop up. Hey, I can barely remember what I ate yesterday (God, what does having kids do to you!). The writing is not as clear as I write today because they were the first patterns I published as a college-knitting-novice myself.

The stronger of the reasons are emotional. The heart can withstand so much. Let's face it... Knitting takes time. Much longer if you plan on turning it into a public pattern, thus having to write down every step along the way. Writing patterns, especially clear, concise and as error-free as possible takes hours. Many hours. Unless you've tried it, you might be surprised as to how much longer the whole process takes than just knitting it for one's own pleasure. I offer "customer service" on all of my patterns for all questions running through the blog comment page, Ravelry page and my own personal email address, and I really do my best at answering them as fast as I can as stay-at-home mom of twins & piano teacher. For the past 2-3 years now (probably more so this year because my free patterns are on Ravelry and other websites), I have gotten dozens and dozens of hurtful emails that have completely thrown me through a loop. Sometimes, I can't even believe my eyes when I read them. My pulse rushes and my blood almost boils at the boldly rude comments. I have written blog posts with the intention of venting in hopes that it would happen less in the future, but deleted them before publishing because I didn't want to seems as "petty." but I guess now's the time, because people are going to wonder why they no longer have access to 2/3 of the patterns.

I get dozens of downloads A DAY through just Ravelry alone, an I've only recalled several emails just to say "thanks" (And I let it known how much it means to me that they like it, and are thankful, and it made my day because I hardly ever hear it).

I've long forgotten most of the emails beyond 2011-2012, but in a nutshell here's a jist of the emails comments/questions (from only the freebies) that I receive ALL of the time, and why I can no longer offer them freely for my own sanity's sake:

-"Why didn't you answer my question fast enough, I would have thought that you would want to maintain some sort of professionalism in your blog!?!?" [My thoughts: I've been extremely busy lately and hey, this is not a business, this is a blog done on my spare time.]
-"It's your DUTY to us to answer in a timely fashion on any of your patterns."
-"Why aren't ALL of your free patterns PDF'e'd???? I feel like I am wasting all of my computer ink trying to print off your patterns." [My Answer: Copy & paste?]
-"I like your Beach Bum Skirt, but make the belt longer."
-"I don't crochet. Make the Dummy Clap crochet-free."
-[and when I do...] "I liked the crochet. Add it back to the pattern for us crocheters."
-"Your blog font is too designer-y.  Consider changing it so I can read your pattern."
-You don't list the size that I am. Please modify them to suite larger persons out there!!
-[In a size not listed in the pattern] "Give me the yarn & needle details on a size such as this"
-"I'm using this (not recommended sized) yarn and this (not recommended sized) needle and want this item half the size. Tell me how to do this."
-"What is this abbreviation???????????????????????????????????????????????"
-"I don't get this portion of the pattern. Please rewrite the entire pattern so I can understand it."

Gosh, there were more.. but my memory is so bad. A lot of them are about the "Dummy Clap Shawl" because it is linked to so many sites now, and I really wished I never posted that stupid thing because at one point I was getting a relentless onslaught of questions about the same exact thing when it got to the crochet edge. Multiple a day. When I retyped the entire thing, fixed it to be crochet free and made a tutorial video, I was getting the reverse comments that they didn't like the change...and I realized after the fact that in the newer version, I clipped off part of the instructions,...and we all know about my hard-drive crashing (it's still a sour subject), I'm unable to fix it easily and so I get comments looking for the errata that's posted on my blog and on Ravelry. [Just forget that was a run-on.]

Oh the venting. I know. There's just been too much time of this sitting in my veins and not doing anything about it. It's just that I can't even fathom why someone offering 2 dozen freebies should get soo much beef and treated so poorly as if the people using the patterns were charged. Where is the gratitude? I have to blink twice when I read some of them. I really took the time to write them up hoping someone would be like, "hey, that's useful...or hey, I really like to make that...and it's FREE. Neat!" Is it just me that feels this way??

Call me sensitive (and I do admit that I am, I can't help it), but it almost drove me to the point were I almost deleted this entire blog to be free of this several months ago.  I may tweak the deleted ones & their look later on in the year and just offer them up as stinking cheap deals ($1.99). My husband calls this sort of thing "bullshit tax." Horrible to say, but it was funny enough to make me laugh. God, I'm gonna pay for that one.

I am very grateful for the very nice people out there in blog-land who come to my knitting blog, read some of the posts, comment occasionally, use my patterns, and send me a quick text saying that they enjoyed it/them. It really does make my day. After a long day of telling my relentless 2 year old toddlers to not climb on the stove-top, or play with the oven buttons, open the dish-washer despite the safety lock and run around with steak knives or stand on the counter and fish through the glass cabinets, or just having them throw tantrums about next-to-nothing...it puts a smile on my face to read such kind words.

Thanks for letting me vent. You're the best. I should go get myself a glass of wine because I know I'm gonna regret this.

Sincerely,
Your (should be) Knitting Up a Storm lady.

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

add to cart

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.