Movin'

Ok folks, I'm moving tomorrow. I have no idea how long it's going to take to get internet, etc. so it may be quiet around here for a bit of time.

Wish me luck!

Milestones...

This is post number 300! Wow... and it certainly took me long enough.

I know I've been absent for... oh, a couple weeks now, but I have very good reasons for that. My life has changed dramatically in those two weeks. I have become completely obsessed with voluntary simplicity. I have borrowed just about every book the library has on the subject and have been obsessively reading through them (the best of which has been Affluenza, it's humorous and poignant all at the same time.) It's become obvious to me that environmental degradation stems from this rampant consumer lifestyle that is characteristic of Americans. The more I research this subject, the more I feel like I'm taking control of my life. I think it's stated best with the phrase 'the best things in life aren't things.'

On top of that, I've had another major life event... I've found an apartment. Up until this point in my life, I've always lived with family or roommates. I've always known that living on my own was something I had to do at least once in my life. As things generally go for me, the perfect apartment, in the perfect location practically fell into my lap. It is minutes from my mom, my brother, the food co-op and my all-time favorite mexican restaurant. I could bike anywhere I need to go except work (though, at this point, I don't have a bike.) It's closer to work so I won't have to drive as far. On top of all that... it's in my price range. I put a deposit on it and will be moving in in the next week or so.

When I was there putting down the deposit I took some pictures...This is a picture of the living room into the dining room (I never thought I'd be lucky enough to afford a dining room too!)

This is the bedroom where the windows all look out onto the street.

This is a picture of the study that's off of the bedroom. Guess what I'm using that for? Knitting/spinning room, anyone? I wonder to myself how I got this lucky. Right place at the right time I suppose.

So planning and packing for this move have been taking up my time a bit. I'm just so excited.

These last couple of weeks have had some gorgeous weather also. The monthly meeting of my knitting group two weekends ago was just about the most beautiful day.
One week later, even more trees were in bloom.

With so many things going on, it's no wonder I've had no time to blog...

Happy Spring everyone.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

I've been very inspired recently to become less of a consumer (this is all a part of my quest to be more environmentally conscious.) It's an interesting journey I've taken so far. Starting with the animals then moving to the environment and now it seems I've come to the root of the problem. Endlessly consuming stuff is really taking it's toll on our planet and those living on it (including humans.)

So, reduce, reuse, recycle it is! I've stopped using plastic bags, not only at the grocery store, but also other stores (which I have to admit, I haven't been to any in awhile.) I always bring my travel mug with me to the coffee shop. I've started using all natural cleaners for my apartment, ie. baking soda, vinegar, etc (I'm amazed at how well it works!) I use handkerchiefs instead of tissues.

I have been on a major kick of knitting dishcloths. Not only do I want to stop my use of paper towels, but I don't really want to buy sponges anymore. I was inspired the other day to reuse something you wouldn't normally think of....

Those old shower puffs. I had one just lying around.
What's a girl to do but cut it up into one long strip...
And knit it into a dishcloth....
As dishcloths go, they don't take very long to knit (though it can be a bit more time consuming wrangling the puff strip) so I finished it very quickly.I don't care what's stuck on my pans, this thing is sure to get it off!

I also started a ballband dishcloth. So far, so good...

All things baby...

This past Saturday was the baby shower for one of my college roommates. Besides the three hour car ride there and back, it was actually a lot of fun. I know baby showers can sometimes be tedious (especially when the mother-to-be opens a million and one presents and everyone has to ooo and aahh over them) but this one was really nice.

We only played one game in which I did terrible. I think I got the least answers correct out of everyone. I'm actually pretty happy about that and let me tell you why. The game was to name as many children from certain TV shows as you can (ie, the Brady Bunch, The Cosby Show, Family Ties, etc) and I could barely name any. I don't watch TV and even as a kid when these shows were on I obviously didn't pay too much attention to them!

We did have to sit through the present opening but luckily there weren't too many presents. Mine was the first to illicit the "aaaaaawwww" out of everyone!I think mine was the first handmade present she opened. There were a couple of other things that were handmade, mainly blankets that were sewn. I swear that baby is going to overheat with all the blankets that were made for it (I think somewhere in the vicinity of 5 or 6 blankets) The funny thing is they live in Virginia!

I think the thing I liked best about the shower was reconnecting with friends I haven't seen in awhile. After all, it's the connections with people that matter most, right?Me and the mommy-to-be

We have bread!

So after about a month and a half of thinking about baking some bread, I finally got around to doing it today. I used a really simple, easy recipe for whole wheat bread.

Let me put this into perspective here. I did try one other time to bake some bread, but my yeast was dead. I tried proofing it and nothing happened, no foaming, nothing but a bad yeasty smell. Poo. So I gave up for a little while.

I finally realized today that I have a day off and nothing planned, why not bake some bread? I got some new (alive) yeast and I started my first ever loaf of bread. I'm sure some people wouldn't appreciate hand kneading the bread, but I was so excited that the dough actually looked right that I was all about kneading it!

Then there was the rising. I can't believe how much bigger it gets! I knew it was suppose to, but actually seeing it was another thing entirely.

So I'm gonna skip right to the part where I took it out of the oven.It looks gorgeous right? The picture doesn't, however, show the fact that it weighs about 20 pounds! It's just about the densest bread I've ever come across. Sure, it tastes fine, but this one reminds me of the movie "About a Boy" where the kid throws this loaf of bread in a duck pond and kills a duck. Yeah, it's that heavy!

I'm thinking I'm going to modify the recipe next time. Maybe mix the whole wheat flour with some lighter flour. Who knows, I know with bread, the possibilities are endless and it takes a certain amount of practice right?

Niagara Falls

I actually don't have any knitting projects to show at the moment. I started a baby hat (which looks more like a hat that could easily fit my head) but I think I have to re-knit it and the deadline is looming. I have a week. No big deal right? Well, there's work thrown in there, not to mention the cotton/acrylic that I picked out makes my arms hurt if I knit on it too long. I'll get it done though.

A week ago, my friends and I went to Niagara Falls for the day, just as a lets-get-off-our-butts-and-have-a-road-trip sort of thing. It was a gorgeous day, and by gorgeous I mean the sun was out and we hadn't seen it in a long, long time. It was still cold, but the sun totally made up for that.

I've never seen Niagara Falls in the winter. It's actually really beautiful.The mist coming up made this thin, icy layer over everything... including us after awhile! We really didn't wear very appropriate clothes for being "rained" on. So we took a few pictures and headed out.Here's the boy and I (totally blinded by that thing known as the sun.)

We all decided to be complete tourists and went over to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch....Where we sat by Elton John's Pharaoh suit and Madonna's tasseled bustier. They really set the mood!

On our way home we stopped by RockVentures in Rochester. It's the largest rock climbing gym in the Northeast, and let me just say, I've totally missed rock climbing!Though a gym is nothing like real rock, it's still a lot of fun.

I was so exhausted by the end of the day, but it was worth it. Winter seems to get us stuck it a rut of always wanting to stay in and avoid the cold (at least it does for me) but it's good to get out there and enjoy it!

More FO's

Guess what folks? I have another couple of finished projects to show you. There's the socks for the boy for his birthday, all finished (and when I say finished, I mean the knitted part is done, I never seem to sew in the ends until right before I gift them.)I'm glad I finished these early because, it turns out I now have a baby shower to go to at the end of the month that I'd like to knit something for. Apparently I've entered the part of my life where my friends from college start having babies. Funny how life sneaks up on you like that!

Just this morning I finished up the yoga mat bag. It's perfect timing too since I have my yoga class this afternoon.This pattern was really fun. There were some design features that I really liked. For instance, the I-cord bind off on the bottom of the bag...It makes such a clean edge for the bottom. There's also the folded edge at the top which is pretty...It's funny, but I'm really excited to go to yoga tonight just so I can use my bag!