*******************
THE CHALLENGE
*******************
I think I would make an ice pack cover for my dear little Bourney! See, he does all this fighting and probably gets a little sore sometimes. Slip the ice pack in a sleeve, so he doesn't get ice burn on that pretty face. Then I might also embroider a secret code into his underwear, so he never forgets his, or my, name.
I sometimes wake up early on Saturday mornings to go do laundry, because it's less crowded. Today I woke up at 7:30! Which is before they even open, so I sat and made jewelry for a while, which was nice. I just got these two new cleaning supplies from Mrs. Meyer*s Clean Day in the geranium scent.On the left is an everyday shower spritzer and on the right, Laundry detergent.
Oh my gosh! My clothes smell so amazing! I couldn't stop smelling them as I folded. It's such a lady scent... I can't wait to go take a shower and wrap myself in a clean, geranium scented towel! (Can you tell I practically live for the shower??)
And now, because I said I would do it for every post not already having to do with "Inspired" ...
*****************
THE CHALLENGE
*****************
The first thing I though of was a small, mesh bag with a drawstring. You could put your delicates it it to keep them from getting damaged or tangled. Or, I would put my favorite pairs of socks in there so I would be less likely to loose one. (I'm convinced it's the dryers, not human error!) I would crochet the bag out of cotton.
Another thing that would be fun would be to crochet some flowers out of wool and toss them in with the laundry. They would felt and then after every laundry day you would have a whole new garden!
My friend Anne, who just posted her first comment yesterday, has the cutest way of saying things. Whenever we're planning to get together she'll say, "ok, I just to have to put on an outfit..." so, in honor of you Anne, a new blog label: Outfits
Just your average wrap skirt
This was probably one of the most comfortable outfits I've ever worn, especially in 100 degree heat! Perhaps it worked because I was in an exceptionally good mood today... but sometimes a good outfit will do that to ya. I like the one layer tank with bra included (what a brilliant invention) and one layer of skirt. Because I tied the skirt just below my bust, it flared out nicely giving my mid section room to breathe. For some reason, in the heat especially, I get super annoyed by waist constrictions and I really don't like my mid section to show!! Tying the skirt this high also left more of my leg exposed, which sometimes has it's faults, but today felt so much cooler. It's amazing to me that I can feel ten degrees cooler just by wearing a tank top vs. a tee shirt. Having certain key areas uncovered, like the underarms, really makes a difference.
In the afternoon, the sun sends a golden ray across my little frame collection
This image was one of my favorites from a bunch picked up at a flea market in Maine. It's a little bit odd since no one, not even the dog in the lower right hand corner, is looking at the camera, yet so intriguing. I think it's sexy how the moms stockings are rolled down and I like seeing the flowered wall paper a glow with a mysterious light source. I of course also love that the chairs arms and back have covers. I'm guessing there was some lovely needle work shown off there. Did you know that those chair back covers were created to protect furniture from dudes hair grease? I heard that waaaaaaay back in early America (I'm trying to confirm this theory...) women started making covers for the backs of chairs to protect them from the mens dark hair grease. I'm thinking it's because the hair slicking material left a dark stain and not because the men had dirty hair... although according to todays standards they probably bathed a lot less. I think the arm covers came about as to make a "matching set" which could be explained as all the rage, but really was added so as not to alert the men to the problem.... Ha! I just made that last part up, although I believe the matching set part. It looks better to have three vs. one.
Well this lady and her stockings got me thinking... I want to make some lingerie. Especially some thigh high stockings for a garter belt and maybe even a garter belt itself. It's a challenge to create items that are truly wearable, but I'm up for it!!
Here's a page out of my lovely Jill Bliss Journal
The other day I got this book:
Which pretty much spells out exactly how to make lingerie items like an underwire bra, garter belt, camisoles and stockings! Yeah!!! I don't have to reinvent the wheel to figure it out myself. Maybe one of these days I'll get to take some time to sit and make something for me! First on my list...
I've been making these little ladies on my way to work in the morning. They are quite small, made from the woolen thread my mom got for me at a yard sale. I think I might put them on necklaces.
I had this idea a while back to justify posts that had little to do with "Inspired Knitting." Here it is: at the end of every post that is more a story of life, I come up with a project inspired by the situation. I'll draw pictures, discuss yarns, etc. and prove my belief that you can really be inspire by ANYTHING!!!
I think my first attempt is a pretty good topic. I picked it to go with my my previous post about my bathroom. Read it first, Ok?
My First CHALLENGE!
In my cleaning frenzy, I removed a grubby toilet seat cover. I'm not really sure how it got there because I'm not a huge fan of toilet seat covers in the first place and doubt I bought it. Anyway, I deal with it and have come to realize that despite being a kind of hideous bathroom accessory (not to mention dirty) it has one function that I appreciate: quieting the crash of the toilet seat cover as it is dropped shut.
My challenge was to design a toilet seat cover that I could make myself and like the looks of. First a general construction note:
Some ideas I like but thought others might like too.
I personally would pretty much stick to cotton. It's easy to clean, durable and would dry quickly. Other options were thin strips of ripped up towel, cashmere for a luxury tooshie and maybe a chenille. What I dislike about store bought toilet covers is that they are non natural fiber carpet, so any homemade version would be better to me! I even thought it would be cute to take the idea of a rag rug... braided strips of fabric sewn into a circle... and use that as a cover. Cute, right? 
But my final decision is this 
A plain cotton top with a lace frill that hangs over the edge. So pretty I think I might actually make it!
Ok guys. I know you already think I'm weird and stuff, but right now I'm super excited to go clean my bathroom! And then take a long shower, if I want, and not worry if the tub is going to overflow!
See, my tub has hag a clog forever! Me being all miss handy lady, I have tried to fix it a number of times and ways. This includes many a drain de-clogging substance, one of those powerful pressure cans and an auger (aka 'snake') which failed. I have a hard time calling the super unless absolutely necessary, but I finally did. Together we snaked out some of the most god awful clog and it still didn't work! Oh man, you should have seen that water! The previously murky white-with-soap-scum water turned absolutely black and Walter turns to me a says "Can we finish tomorrow?"
Tomorrow! Are you kidding me? I haven't had a good shower in weeks and everybody know s how I love my showers!! I've had to go super fast and time them out according to my roommate to make sure the tub wasn't too full and gross. Besides, what about all this black water??? And it's 100 degrees outside! We need to shower people!!- of course I didn't say all that. I said, sure and wasn't suprised when he called to postpone another today. And no, I didn't shower in the black water. I scooped it all out into the toilet, scrubbed like crazy and continued to bail out the tub after each shower until he came back this morning with a power snake!
Man did he get that sucker! He also fixed the knob that had been leaking for nearly a year... so now, I have a practically perfect bathroom and all I have to do is scrub it down!!
Now if Louis could only catch that mouse I hear squeaking..
Your buddy is so darn cute!
Woah. I had a little blast of a mush fest earlier. I remain hopeful, but just a wee bit annoyed at how much space the thought of finding someone seems to take up in my head. The post is a little embarrassing but I'm going to leave it because I'm sure I'm not alone in my thoughts.
I remember a church service once where the Pastor said something that really stuck with me. Now, I'm terrible at remembering the exact words... but it pointed out that God is not interested in us simply following. He wants us to take risks, because when we do, he's then able to make something of it. Otherwise there are just too many options...
This is not to say that we should be jumping off bridges or anything. It just makes me realize that my own struggle with life and faith is about wanting to find a magic key that opens the door to a completely easy life. Wanting to find the "it" that takes all the questions out. In reality, it's the questions and mistakes that make us interesting.
What I struggle with is when to take those risks and how. And whether my desire to sit back and rely on divine intervention stems from a true faith OR a wimped out attitude that wishes to take the easier route.
Originally I had envisioned this blog to be about projects and the inspirations behind them... Inspired Knitting... but I've found that many other things seep in to fill the cracks of my brain and either enhance my creative process or distract me from it. Who's to say the distractions aren't just as important though? Maybe by actually giving them some of our time, they might be satisfied and leave us a lone for a bit.
So Love. Is it an enhancer or a distracter? Well, both I suppose and like many, I've been thinking about it a lot lately. About what exactly? Pretty much all of it, but mostly worrying about missing the boat. Like, what if you met the love of your life and did nothing about it? Or what if you thought you had found that love but they didn't love you back. Or maybe they did, but then dumped you out of the blue, leaving you baffled. Or maybe the person is less than perfect and all you want to do is run for the hills, but you can't help it. Love is an active thing, we do have a choice in the matter, right? How do we get on the same page with each other? And also, why can't we be satisfied with all the love all around us (our family & friends), instead of running toward the most difficult?
It's driving me crazy people. I'll admit to being young and easily swindled by the grip of love... but fool I am not. So why do I feel like one just for talking about all this??
If you want to be married and have children, you have to imagine yourself being married and having children with someone. And if you've thought these things, even if it was WAY before you were really ready for them, it is difficult to break your attached to them. And IF, without even knowing it, you've become attached to such fantasies... how do you get rid of them?
How do you mourn a loss of something, that never even existed???
I should team up with Nicholas Sparks on this one and write a real tear jerker...
What if the love of your life doesn't know he was the love of your life?
OR
look out
What if you thinking someone was the love of your life, keeps you from seeing the true one right in front of you?
Either way I'm stunted and destined for spinsterhood.
Oh well, more time for knitting!
Today I picked up two packages filled with treasures...
My mom has a lovely habit (which I love) of picking up things for me at yard sales and flea markets: 
There's a vintage glass turkey baster, an old curling iron, a shoe polishing kit, a little box with cuff links in it and my favorite... a bunch of spools of woolen thread. There's just a few here, but more are on their way and I can't wait to make stuff with them! In fact I already have!!!
She's pretty good huh, that mom of mine. She's getting better and better at picking out not only the little dusty things I love, but materials that help me make my "stuff." Thanks MOM!!
One of the things I've started collecting are old picture frames. I don't like to spend too much money on them or have them be worth anything because I like the ones that have been around the block a few times better. My only other requirement is that they be smaller than a breadbox. Well, I've gotten bigger ones in the past for using in my craft booth, but mostly I like tiny. So, when I was home visiting I picked out a whole slew of them at the flea market and Mom sent those a long too. As I unpacked them, it erupted into a whole re-decorating frenzy. I created a new 'tiny things' collection above my bed, which is nice because it exhibits some great lace items I've been wanting to show off. 
Those stockings are amazing. Tiny tiny cotton knit sockins that only cost me $2! I feel kind of bad because whoever priced them must not have known what they had, but at least I'm giving them a happy home. Sometime people don't get old items like this. They think of the cost of a new pair of socks and that it would be crazy to ask say, $10 for an old, used pair.
This pair might not have been knit by hand, but I can tell they've been darned a number of times, which means they were well loved and important to someone. Unlike the socks we buy for $2 a dozen and throw out with little thought, right?
Last, but not least, I got a little yarn package from Blue Sky with the colors for my next project...Yippee! I love them!
So I just saw the latest Harry Potter tonight and it was pretty awesome. Sweaters totally rule at Hogwarts! Let's discuss the spiffy school uniform cardigan...
Probably a nice fine gauge wool with a thin stripe of their house color at the waist. I guess it's your standard preppy school uniform... I just like how each character wears his or hers differently. I especially love that Ron's collar is loose and his shirttails almost always hang out in perfect dishevelment, along with several other boys.
Nevil rocked his sweater vest:
Then as the kids started doing their rebel magic thing, I kept noticing this crazy collage of colored and patterned sweaters whirling around the screen. No matter how they would line up, they just looked cool together....
I wish it were sweater season already!!!!!!!!!
That's right. It's a knitted mushroom necklace. I must have been inspired by all my nintendo playing in Maine... because I've been thinking about mushrooms a lot lately.
This little guy is wool with mohair spots and underbelly. (Not really sure what the under part is called on a mushroom!)He's about 3/4" on an 18" chain. Um, yeah, people will comment and you'll be super cute. Putting 3 in my ETSY store now!
Yes I think about this. It seems to be an issue that causes a great divide in our society. Seriously. People, myself including, are so opinionated they will actually switch the roll to their way while at a guests house.
For the longest time I assumed my opinion (and compulsive need to switch the roll my way) came from a long line of mothers... my mom gave it to me, she probably got it from her mother, etc. Then I started to realize it was more than that for me, so I made a chart:
Ok. So I'm a FIRM believer that the toilet paper should roll under and here's why:
It works better. I've noticed that when the toilet paper is in the over position, it is too close to me to get the optimum pull. I have to adjust my body, use both hands in an awkward way, both of which take away efficiency points. Having the roll go under, on a pretty full roll, could give you up to three more inches of pull room...
Aesthetics... ok I realize that I can't just say it looks better (which I believe to be true) because that can't logically be argued. SO I pinpointed why I like the looks of under better. In the over position, the toilet paper dangles out into space, whereas in the under position, the paper dangles close to the wall (or the pole of a free standing holder). I think this is less of a disturbance to the overall look of the bathroom. The wall is already there... so having the paper hang next to it seems logical. Why create another vertical line into space by having the toilet paper hang out into it, even if it is only a matter of a few inches??
Mechanics The under pull is clockwise and the over pull is counter clockwise. I think I'm generally more comfortable with a clockwise motion... perhaps this is conditioned into us and really shouldn't matter. Regardless, the over pull roll AT you whereas the under pull rolls away from you, which feels less aggressive.
Now, I'm interested in people who think the other way is better and I want to know why.
So the other day, as part of my "work," I got to to model a cutie fredflare outfit on the CW11 morning news. Then a couple weeks ago a film crew from Eyewitness News came by and there are a couple shots of me doing my shipping thing. So funny!
Check out this fredflare blog post for the videos...
Ok, I have the best mom ever and today is her birthday so I thought I would share with the world some of my most favorite things about her:
She always played games with me in the car. This was of course really fun as a kid, but I now realize what a great tactic it is to keep kids occupied and not complaining!
We recently started playing Yahtzee on a regular basis- usually during meals- when I'm home for a visit.
She always buys me a raffle ticket at the fund raisers she goes to. If my ticket wins, she gives me the prize when most people would keep it.
I can do a crazy dance in front of her for at least two minutes before she looks up and acknowledges me. She totally does this on purpose!!
I don't think she's EVER complained about going shopping with me.
She is an amazing gift giver, wrapper, care package packer, stocking stuffer-er... incredibly generous and thoughtful, this one. I especially remember the one Christmas when the presents were numbered... yeah, she likes to organize... and I got my nintendo AND tickets to see NKOTB in concert.
I always had the coolest clothes. I remember shopping at Kids-r-Us in elementary school and feeling so rad. For Christmas I would always get amazing outfits with matching socks and hair things (think sparkles & feathers... Lucky!)
She loves:
She is always willing to help. I see her help with so many organizations that need to raise money or organize an event. She'll do even the smallest task and never expect any notice for it.
She's friendly and makes conversation with strangers everywhere we go. It's really cute.
She raised me to be creative and never bored.
Most of our conversations take place while one of us is in the bathroom.
One nickname or me: Poopsie, which is unrelated to the reason above.
She's my mom and no one elses!!!
I LOVE YOU TWO BUNCHES MOM!!!!!!!!!!!
Right now, I was supposed to be with friends here
wearing this
sipping this
But I'm not!
In usual Kim fashion I awoke early, went to the grocery store and made a bag full of treats for the event. Fittingly, the odds where apparently against me today- I waited FOREVER for the bus and then when one came, finally, I realized I didn't pack my wallet. I had to run back home and of course missed the bus. Since there's no way to get there from here, I walked. In the heat, carrying all my crap. By this time, I had totally missed the LIRR train I was planning to take, but figured there would be another one and I'd just meet my buddies there. Nope. Last train.
There I was in the Atlantic Long Island Railroad Station wearing my favorite Victorian petticoats, my new Sephora bright red lip stain, toting 20 chicken salad sandwiches and a lime custard cake. Yeah, I let loose a couple tears. It was such a let down.
So I thought if I bought a few dumb things at Target which was right there, it might pick me up. Yeah, I got some scissors that are my favorite color and a beautiful new journal with creamy pages and a lovely plaid cover:
It did make me feel better.
So did about six of those chicken salad sandwiches and an iced coffee.
Now I have my fingers crossed for an awesome movie on TV.
"Over Board! Please let it be Over Board!!"
Tonight I'm working on a new pattern for a little girls dress. I'm never quite sure about sizes, so today I went to Old Navy to get a bunch ofdresses to take measurements from.
Mine won't really look anything like these... I just thought the basic shape would be similar. Here's a swatch of my idea... but that's all I can show you!
Last night I made this for dinner. Steak, French fries and yummy salad. Then I watched two rented movies. Ahhhhhhhh
Here's what I did:
Fries
Usually people freak out over the thought of frying but I like to make my own fries and it's pretty easy. I use a wide skillet, so I don't have to use too much oil since I never know how to best dispose of it afterwards. I cut the potatoes with the skin on because it's yummy that way and make sure the fries relatively the same thickness and size. This is not just an anal, Martha Stewarty thing, it's essential in making sure they cook at the same rate. The oil has to get pretty hot, but once it's heated you might want to turn it down a bit so it doesn't smoke. This is highly unlikely if you use canola oil. For heavens sake, don't use olive oil! It has a much lower tolerance for heat and will burn if it gets too hot. I learned this somewhere, but notice it most when I try to make popcorn on the stove and all I have is olive oil. It pretty much always burns the popcorn. Anyway... toss the fries in and wait until they're golden on the edges. They get brown quite quickly after this, so be ready to remove them if you don't like dark fries! Work quickly, but carefully- you don't want to burn yourself. To get them out I use my pasta scoop. It's pretty amazing at grabbing the little guys and draining off a lot of the oil. (I'm the queen of using things for reasons other than what they were designed for) You should let them cool on a plate with a couple of paper towels underneath, just like you would bacon. Sprinkle on the salt. Then try to wait until everything's done to gobble them down- good luck with that!
Steak
Super easy!!!! Rub her with salt and stick her in a fry pan. Get both sides... to your liking. My steak happened to come with a peppered edge. I got it because it looked like a good cut, I didn't really want the peppered edge, but it turned out to be good! You could do that yourself, if you wanted.
Salad Dressing
I'll just do dressing because you can figure out on your own what you want in your salad, right? For dressings lately I've been doing a little bit of mustard, vinegar, salt/pepper, a dash of chili powder and finally olive oil. Put them all together and then shake or stir. The mustard acts as an emollient to keep everything together. I like the added spice of the chili pepper, especially with arugala in my salad! Spicy city! You can use lemon instead of vinegar, that's nice too. (Did you know that olive oil looses it's good-for-you qualities once cooked? It's really good to eat it in dressings or on bread then, isn't it?) Make sure your greens are dry so the dressing will stick to them. Salad spinners are good for that or you can do this little trick I learned from Martha- place your wet greens in a clean dry towel, draw edges together and then whip that sucker around!! I do it out the window...would Martha approve? I don't know, but I don't want my house covered in water!! It works really well!