2sticksandastring

Wow! It has been 8 months since I last posted anything. I can't believe I let my blog get away from me. It has been really busy and I haven't knitted all summer. I did decide to pick up the sticks and knitted 4 dish towels in 1 sitting though. I'm not too happy with them...why is it that the variegated yarn looks so good on the shelf, but not when you're trying to knit a pattern? I've learned my lesson and will stick to the solid colors from here on out.

Now, it's your turn. Talk to me. What have you been up to?

I was cleaning out my email and came across this: http://ymib.com/daily-inspiration/family/articles/down-so...

Go check it out.

 Happy knitting!

As promised, some knitting projects...

This afghan grew between Beth and I. Both of us wanted to make an afghan and I'm not sure who suggested it but this is going to a single mom who is trying to move on and grow in her life. With the them of growth, Beth designed this great creation. Block by block we knit the Andinkra (sometimes Adinkra) signs and I sewed them together. Even though it took me since December, 2006 to get it together, here it is in all its finished glory: 

The Andinkra Afghan consists of the following squares:

Baobab tree (the brown one) - a symbol of endurance - especially with the hot conditions it thrives in in Africa

Twisting - b.k.a. nkyinkyim; a symbol of initiative, dynamism and versatility

Crocodile - b.k.a. denkyem; a symbol of adaptability . The crocodile lives in the water, yet breathes the air, demonstrating an ability to adapt to circumstances.

Paddles - b.k.a. tabono; a symbol represents strength and preseverence

When my daughter heard why we were knitting this, she started to work on a lanyard keychain to be included for the mom. 

The point of choosing these symbols was to encourage the mom toward growth and renewal. I think that we made great choices with the symbols as each one has its strengths - what is needed for a struggling mom and individual.

Knit with acrylic worsted weight yarn from Beth's stash, this afghan has 28 squares using the mosaic pattern of each symbol. I picked up and knitted the border in garter stitch by picking up one stitch at the beginning of each side. I cast on 4 more stitches and went all the way down the sides. Beth is such a great and inspirational knitter - this was her suggestion. Otherwise I would have picked up all 1000+ stitches and tried to knit it this way. Phew!

Here it is being modeled by one of my knitting students 

 I hope that she likes it!

 

 

 

Ahhhh!!!! That's what I said as I received a 3 hour all about me massage, facial, and sugar scrub session with aromatherapy at a local spa. My husband got this great gift for me and it was pure bliss. 

I half way snored through my facial because she was massaging my temples and sleep whispered "Come here." I did and laughed out loud when I awoke to the end of a snore.

So, now I'm back on the saddle, out on the road again and feeling rejuvenated and refreshed. I've cast off on some projects that were long overdue and begun others that make me feel good. I say that's what it's all about with my new outlook on life. I highly recommend everyone have one at least once a month - at least that's what I plan on doing. GRIN.

Stay tuned for knitting pictures. Are you getting ready for your local kip day?

Here recently I've been fairly bored around my house. I've tried knitting, exercise, and immersing myself in to my business and job, however, its not working for me. I think that I need a break - a serious break. A break from continuous cleaning, pulled at my skirts, dirty dishes, and an overall feeling of not being appreciated.

I was thinking of going off to teach english for a couple of months, but then others around me would suffer. Indeed they would because they cannot go.  A friend and I were talking about going to see Fantasia on Broadway in The Color Purple... 'til I started adding up that for me to take my daughter it would cost about $1600 for 2 days! Certainly not for the pockets of the working class. Also, if I won the lottery and could afford to go, the fact that I want to go by myself is more appealing. In the time I'm gone I don't want to be mother or wife, I just want to be Latoya.

The idea of boarding a plane and going away for a week to revitalize and rethink sounds appetizing. I'm dreaming up a massage or 3, along with mornings filled with yoga, knitting, pedicures; me awakening in the midst of a clean room on the best mattress with magazine-perfect comforters in yellow, taking a shower and truly feeling refreshed, and great conversation that makes me wanting more.

On the more adventurous side I'm thinking more like the Great American Race, but in my episode I go horseback riding on the beach and gallop for miles! In the afternoon I eat in an open air restaurant, then head back out for a night of salsa dancing. I'd wake up the next morning to some rock climbing, sailing, and paintball shooting. 

My ideas: Priceless. 

What do you suggest for this funk that I appear to be in?

I was so excited and loved every wet moment of it. I touched it and it was wet and dripping all over the floor. My eyes soaked it all in as the feel told me that I would have brought a new life forward.

 No, people, not that, but....

Basket Weaving!!!!!!!!!!

Here's are some pictures of my first basket.

 Its so sexy I posted more pictures:

                

 

   *****

I won a contest at Cozy's Place to see who could get the book, When Bad Things Happen to Good Knitters. The contest was to see who had a good reason as to why the book should be given to them. My reason is that I assist children in learning to knit - and the book is a good read and has helped me to explain some great things to the children I teach. As a bonus she added some Opal yarn! Yummy and all mine, for my feet. Thanks for choosing me, Del!

 The Opal decided it wanted to explore the basket a little closer.

Make sure to tune in to Coach K on Monday morning to hear me and my adventures since being on Trading Spouses on FOX.

Some brief news for you to stay tuned to...

Trading Spouses Star: Latoya Brown
April 16, 2007 11 am eastern time

Well, another real life celebrity will be gracing the Coach K! air waves. Latoya Brown was a guest on the show Trading Spouses and I cannot wait to hear about her experiences and lessons that she took away from the show. Latoya is an avid knitter and a homeschooling advocate. So this show, you cannot miss!

Coach K has a great format and I'm looking forward to speaking more about my experiences about the show and about life and homeschooling. Make sure you tune in! 

We have some new editions to our weekly routine of homeschooling/unschooling and we're excited. I must say that at first I was nervous, but now I'm okay... they are interested in knitting!

Here's Myan learning to cast on. He says he wants to knit a man. Hmmm...I'm sure some women would agree with doing that. Smirk. But, nonetheless, he is very interested and didn't want to stop. I'll have to find a "man" pattern for him to knit up once we get pass the knit stitch.

Still, I am very excited to be speaking about homeschooling/unschooling with Carrie from Natural Moms TalkRadio. Its a great show and she is super nice. This week you'll be able to hear my interview with her about homeschooling, unschooling, and my daughter, Shachaamah - and tidbits of our experience on FOX's Trading Spouses. Shachaamah's book about homeschooling is due to come out in the fall of this year and we talk briefly about that. Make sure to tune in and sign up for my newsletter to receive updates make sure to sign up for the newsletter over to your right. Just type in your email address.

Come back later for some knitting news. Currently I'm knitting another shrug for someone's girlfriend. He wanted it in black and yellow with skulls and crossbones and a heart alongside the sleeves. I'm loving the yarn, Bernat's Satin. How luxurious it feels flying off of my needles and through my fingers.

I'm knitting, are you?

If you'd have asked me questions about me in the future when I was 16 years old, I certainly wouldn't have told you that I'd be a stay at home mom, freecycler, composter, homeschooler, and an entrepreneur in Florida I'd have laughed at you.

But here I am happily knitting and learning to make bread in Florida with my husband - happily. 

Also, today I won a gift certificate to Amazon.com, from Keesha! Thanks, Keesha. It will be put to use. 

 I'm posing a shrug that I made. The t-shirt certainly doesn't do it as much justice as my sleeveless shirts, but its COLD here in Florida and I wasn't going there.

Specs:

Yarn: Lion Brand's Microspun.

Pattern: shrug pattern generator 

This took me 3 days to knit.

 More pics of the shrug...

Then, the green sweater that Beth helped me to sew together. The sweater that taught me to never knit in pieces. 

 Specs (For green Sweater): 

Yarn: Shine Sport (oh, so soft)

Pattern: one of the 1000s of library books that I check out. Sorry, can't remember.

This took me about 3 months to knit in pieces because I did the thing that all knitters dread and RAN OUT OF YARN. Yep. Plus, I didn't enjoy knitting in pieces to be sewn up. Does it count that the ends still arent' woven in? If so, then its still not done and its going on about 8 months or so. Smile.

Also, I decided to volunteer to make 2 cakes - one for the Girl Scouts (I'm forming a troop for my daughter) and one for the Sweetheart Dance at the Recreation Center around the corner. I decided to make the same kind for both events, but one was strawberry and the other was devil's chocolate.

 

 Then here's the bread that I made (along with a knitted dishtowel from the book, Mason Dixon-- just a little knitting)

I was blog hoppin' and came across Felicia's blog. She showed a picture of a rasta-hat that was nice and from Knitty Gritty. 

I wanted to make this hat because Shach's locks are getting longer and the nip of Florida winter is on us. I thought this would be cute for her and thought of the color arranging as I went along.

Here's a picture of Shachaamah in the hat that I made for her last week:

 Specs:

• Lion Brand's Wool Ease, red and tan
• Size 9 dpn's
• This took me 2 days to knit
• I didn't pay attention to gauge, just played it by eye. I ended up ripping it 2 times the first day because I thought I was increasing too much.
•                                                                                                               
• The pattern comes from a post at Craftster, of which someone stated that they just cast on 6 stitches, in the round and started increasing. 
• Reflections: Next time, with this same loose pattern I won't increase so many so quickly. Now that I've seen Shanitta's pattern from Knitty Gritty I'll knit this one too.

More pictures...

 

 

 

 

 

Knit ya later...