Knitting March 2009

Not much knitting has happened since the last post. Our new "knitting group" is still in the beginning stages. A few e-mails have gone back and forth, but no definite date, time or place has been decided on. But it's a start.

I've been knitting small things. I did finish the spiral socks in camoflauge yarn. We call them "sleep socks" at home. I have "orders" for more. Note to self: boy was camo yarn hard to follow the spiral pattern on. Suggestion: thread a darning needle with contrasting yarn and move the thread up at your pattern starting point as you go. That's what I'm doing on my next pair, instead of trying to eyeball it.

In addition to the camo socks I knit two pairs of booties that I gave away. On pair in that lime green yarn I had left over from a blanket I made. Boy, has that leftover yarn come in handy-not only did I make a pair of sleep socks with it I used it to make a simple pair of garter stitch booties. It is washable and a funky enough color to give a basic bootie an updated feel. I have plenty left. I'll report in on what else gets knit up in some funky lime green yarn. Tip: try using some unusual colors for your baby knits, orange, lime green and red are just some.

There are several really cute and simple free bootie patterns on the Lion Brand Yarn web site. I made their t-strap bootie in red and it came out really cute and girlie. Visit http://www.lionbrand.com/ and look for their pattern tab. You might have to register to start getting their e-news letter and access their patterns. But it's worth it.

My cable bag is a bust-the yarn is too dark to "see" the cables as I go-and also I'm NOT that accomplished of a knitter. And the yarn cries out to be knit in a seed stitch-so I' m fiddling with that. I can see why there can be so many UFOs-unfinished projects-it's easy to get excited about a new yarn and then fizzle out when some other exciting new project comes along.

I have a knitting bag, but I also have a crochet bag. I also have a project bag (I'm using the clear plastic zipper bag comforter sets come in) that holds small balls of yarn and a bunch of black yarn given to me by my husband's cousin. What do you do with a bunch of inexpensive black yarn and a bag of yarn leftovers? You crochet granny squares! Yep, I'm back at it. I crocheted up about 40 of those little darlin's a few years ago before I pooped out. Well, the granny square project is back on again! Okay-I have too many oars in the water-so I won't tell you about my applique class yesterday and my shade garden project-two totally unrelated things to knitting.

Can I say crochet on a knitting blog?

Writing March 2009

Hi all,

Remember I said I might not be a dedicated blogger. March is almost over and I'm just now getting around to my March posting. Not only have I managed to mess up my blogger address, I can't seem to fix it-that's probably because I don't know what I'm doing. I have hope (a little) but not much because the "help centers" designed to answer all our questions-are basically no help. I need an e-mail address to send my dilemma to. So, don't GOOGLE me-because I ain't there-and yes, I said ain't.

Anyhoo, that was my frustrated rant for the day. Actually I am writing to talk about writer's block. If you are stuck, not a word flows from head to fingertips, then try jump starting your "serious" writing by updating your blog or sending e-mails to family and friends. This gets the creative juices going! Trust me, it works.

Article writing advice

If you sit frozen in front of a blank computer screen, stumped for your first words. Don't fret. Don't have a title? Type: Hey, I don't have a title for this. It will come to you later. Don't know where to begin? Just start! You're the only one looking at your work-no one else needs to know about all the corrections and paragraph rearranging. In writing articles, I just jump right in. 9 out of 10 times my beginning paragraphs are either deleted or moved somewhere else in the piece. Don't worry about writing "in order" just write and rearrange as needed. When writing an article allow yourself enough time to let the piece rest a couple of days. Then look at it again with "fresh" eyes. You'll be (pleasantly) surprised after a little rearranging and tweeking you have a finished piece.

Don't get discouraged if after all your hard work your editor "rearranges" and adds/ deletes to your piece. That's their job-they edit for space and content! I always re-read my submitted article in published form to make note of any changes to form and content. This makes me a better writer.

Now I have to go work on an article for 008 Magazine, and when that's complete I have interviews and research for an Acadiana Lifestyle assignment on the upcoming Airfest in New Iberia.

Check out the April issue of Acadiana Moms for my The Way I See It column titled: The Reading Gene

Happy Writing!