This is the first donation baby hat of the year.  It feels like it took longer than is should have.  The internet has been working well so far so maybe I can get back on a better schedule.  Mostly I've been working on the heart bookmarks but they are a little boring.  I need to count how many I have so I can feel like I'm making progress.  I have fifteen at last count but I'm not sure I made more since then.  I think there are 21 kids in my sons class so I think I'll make 25 so he can give one to the teacher or other helpers that he wants to.  As soon as I get done with the bookmarks I'll finish my husband's hat.  Seeing it in the picture made me feel like there was progress, it gets a little boring just going round and round.  I still have the giant totoro and my fingerless gloves waiting in line.

My son was sick the day before so I kept him home yesterday.  He did not act sick in the least so I had him do school work and looked for nature/ science programs on TV.  I made a joke on Facebook about looking up "science" on Hulu and being directed to Dr. Who.  I got suggestions of science things to look up on Youtube and my sister-in-law sent me a cute little video of an octopus.  The octopus was the cutest thing ever, it looked like a little alien.  It was a dumbo octopus and the footage is from a Nautilus dive in September last year.  You can look it up on Youtube if you want to see it.  I wish I had a little stuffed animal of it and yes there is both a knit and crochet pattern for it. Sadly they cost money so I probably won't be making it.  The Nautilus is an interesting thing too if you want to look that up, I'm just not going to link everything.

I think that's about it.  The weather is a little warm for January and we aren't buried in snow like the east coast.  No complaints here.  I'll see you next time.

Here is the hat so far, it's a little longer than it was before.  I have been working on this a little but also the heart bookmarks and charity knitting.  I haven't been doing much crafting because the internet has been down a lot recently. (It was down for two whole days)  With the internet down I have been reading and I can't read and craft at the same time.  If the internet stays up I'll be able to watch things and knit or crochet at the same time.

The book I read was Thinking in Pictures by Temple Grandin.  He job was designing humane ways of dealing with cattle as slaughterhouses but she is probably the most famous person with autism.  It was interesting to see (hear?) her thoughts on life, growing up different, and how people are similar to cattle. It gave me some insight into my son (who is on the spectrum ) and gives me things to think about as he grows older.  I have some other books to read as well but that was the first one I read.

Other than that I haven't been doing anything else.  It's been uneventful which I think is a good thing. Hopefully if the internet keeps working I can post more often like I used to.  I'll see you next time.

My sister sent me a picture of the cupcake.  It's not the best picture but it's better than the one I have.  I know I skipped days but that was because was just working on the hat and all the pictures would be the same.  I did realize that it's almost Valentine's day and I was planning to make bookmarks for my son's class. I had him pick out a color of Red Heart and I made four last night.  They aren't that hard, way easier than the spiders at Halloween last year.  I am making things but I don't really feel like I'm making much progress.  

I haven't really been doing anything else.  I haven't even been getting as much crafting done as I would like.  I thinking I've been a little down because the days have been so gloomy.  It's not that cold but it's wet and gray. Maybe the sun will come out soon and I can get some energy.  I'll see you next time.    

So here is the hat so far.  It's supposed to look at least some like the hat Schwartz wore in the movie A Christmas Story.  I changed to colors to be more like the colors for the Detroit Lions foot ball team (which is my husband's favorite team).  It's going to be really long.  I gave up making baby mitts from the new pattern and will just make hats.  I guess I'm just boring.  I have a couple of things that I make and anything else doesn't seem to work out well.  I really need to get the other things mailed.

The kids have the day off for Martin Luther King Jr. day.  I gave them a lecture including how we still need to work on things. I really hope I can understand and make the world a better place as they grow up.  It probably sounds cheesy but I really feel like teaching kids is a large part of fixing things.  I guess that's all I have to say for today.  I'll see you next time.

These are the rice bowls and I think they are really cute.  They are children's style ones. The next time I order some I'll get some that look more "traditional."  I do want to get more but it will be a while.

For knitting I'm just working on the hat.  That is going to be a while as well.  I still have over sixty stitches on the needles and I need to decrease down to 6.  I got the yarn that some people were destashing so now I have tons of purple yarn.  I need to work on my charity knitting and see if I can finally get something without holes.  I have so many projects I need to get done.

I think that's it.  Nothing interesting.  The kids have tomorrow off and yes I plan to make them do homework.  I'll see you next time.

It's kind of hard to see the hearts but this is my favorite thing I have made recently.  I used the cart from the Hearts for You sock pattern.  I made five hearts then went back and forth for about ten rows to make the thumb hole so they are reversible. My daughter likes them and has been wearing them constantly.  If I ever make these again I think I would try to make an additional heart on the back of the hand.  Right now I've been working on my husband's hat and it's over seven inches.  When I get to twelve I decrease for the long point. I'm still not sure what I will do after that but I have a lot of ideas.  

I'm trying to think if anything interesting is going on here.  I did rescue some yarn out of other people's destash so I'll show that when it gets here.  The weather isn't too bad so I can't complain.  I still need to get things mailed but I'm having a hard time finding the right size box for my niece's present.  Just everyday problems I guess.  I'll see you next time.

Here is the little fox.  Can you see why it's not my favorite.  A "g" hook usually gives me a good fabric but this seems so full of holes.  I also putt it together a little wrong so I'm trying to decide if I should take it apart or make another one with a smaller hook.  I started a hat for my husband and I'm going to wind the yarn for some fingerless mitts for myself.  I also plan to work on the Totoro a little as well (as soon as I figure out where I left off).

I'm still watching After School Club.  I'm on episode 38 and it's the beginning of 2014.  I haven't really done anything else interesting.  It's not so bitterly cold so that's nice.  Oh, I got my first rice bowls.  I like them and they arrived wrapped in a ton of bubble wrap. They are definitely for kids (I looked the company up) but I have kids so that works out.  I may order some more in a couple of weeks.  I think that's it.  I'll see you next time.

I skipped a lot of days.  I was really busy with the children home because of the weather and some errands.  I did have time to write yesterday but I forgot, so you get a Sunday entry.  This is the last of the charity knitting I did for 2014.  I'm working on a different pattern now but it's not going so well right now.  I finished the fingerless  gloves for my daughter and I put the eyes on the little fox.  I'm really not happy with the little fox.  It just really doesn't look good to me. I usually do well with little creatures but this one is weird. It's not my best work so I'll be sending other things as well, sort of as an apology. Now that those projects are done I'm starting some new ones.  I stated a hat for my husband and I want to make some fingerless gloves for myself.  I still want to finish my husband's sweater from last year and maybe make a sweater for myself. I have too many projects in my head.  

I haven't really watched or listened to anything.  I've been staying caught up on Healer and Pinocchio. The thing I have been watching is a  cheesy show from Korea called After School Club.  It's in English and  is a show where kpop groups come on and talk to people from their international audience in real time. It's kind of fun and good background noise but my husband hates it. It's really not the best made show but it makes me laugh sometimes so that's good enough.  

I am having trouble with my "R" so if things are spelled wrong I'm sorry.  I'm trying to catch them but I'm sure I'll miss some.  I hope the weather is better next week.  Nothing else extra special going on here.  See you next time. 

This is the charity knitting from a week or so ago.  It's the leftovers from the Hawkeye hat. I'm in the process of making am all black set.  I haven't been doing much knitting or crocheting for almost a week  now.  I really need to get back to it.  Maybe that's why I don't feel well. I don't know how much I'll do in the next few days because I'll be busy.  The one thing I'm looking for patterns for are some longer fingerless gloves or mittens.  I had some store bought gloves but I don't know where they went.  I've been using my fingerless mitts since I'm usually just going from the house to the car but they are short.  I want something longer so that when my sleeves ride up my wrists aren't cold.  I found a few patterns I like so that will be added to the ever growing list.  I'm going to have to work on something or I'll have nothing to show next time I blog.

I haven't been watching or listening to much either.  I have watched a few videos by a woman who makes Korean food.  She makes everything seem so easy.  I do need a new knife of to get mine sharpened.  There is no way I can cut things like she does with the knife I have.  There is a also a pot (it may be a type of wok) that I want to get.  I do want to get healthier and I think Asian cooking might be the way to go.  I want to try things but my budget is such that I really can't exparment much. Dinner has to work right the first time.  If I do get around to making anything I'll let you know how it goes.

All this thinking about Asian cooking has made me decide I want to collect rice bowls.  I have wanted  rice bowls for a while. I was looking at them on Amazon and got the idea that maybe I could "rescue" some off of Etsy or Ebay.  Yes, I could get a matching set on Amazon or somewhere but I thought it would be fun to get a bunch of different ones like people do with tea cups.  I don't know if I will really do this but I did order two off of Etsy.   They look like they were made for kids and one has a monkey on so I really wanted to get it since my daughter really likes monkeys. I'll try and show you a picture when they come and let you know if I end up with a collection or now.

Outside of getting the car fixed while we were away (that was painfully expensive) I don't think anything else is going on here. The weather is unfun but not unexpeted for this time of year.  Have a good day.

The scarf, it was very hard to take a picture of since it was so long.  Throught the rest of the post I'll put in pictures of it in sections.  It turned out pretty well.  The pattern came with a shawl version as well and I was thinking if I did that in a worsted I could make panels to make a blanket.  It's not like I need any other projects.  I finished the cupcake but didn't get a picture of it.  I also put together the tea pot cozy but I didn't get a picture of that either. They both went to my sister so maybe I can get a picture from her.  Next on the list (outside of charity knitting) is: the eyes on the little fox.  my daughter's fingerless mitts, and a little more on the giant Totoro.

We went to my parents house for a late Christmas but on the way there we sopped at HMart.  It's basically your local Asian store but is has a lot of Korean products.  I felt rused by my husband and Mooky wasn't behaving so it wasn't as fun as it could have been.  Next time I will go with a list of ingredients for dishes I want to make.  I did pick up some hot pepper paste, some rice cakes (not the American kind) for making ddeokbokki, a different kind of ramen, some soju and my husband got some oyster kimchi. They also sold live fish and shrimp there but that is beyond my cooking level.  There is another location that I want to try and see if they have different things.  I have heard that some have a "teen" section that has kpop merchandise.  We won't be going back for a while but if we find anything interesting I'll let you know.

We went to my sister E's house to spend the night and it was a lot of fun.  She lives on one floor of a two flat that is about a hundred years old.  It was in bad shape and her (now) husband lived there while it was being fixed up as sort of a guard.  It looks great now.  It has all sorts of weird little spaces that make you wonder what the original purpose of it was.  She and her husband like to play board games and so we played some with them before bed. The next morning they fed up waffles and bacon then we went to my mom and dad's.  We saw one of my other sister's there and opened presents.  It was nice and relaxing to hang out and talk to different people.  We left around four so we could get to Mitsuwa for supper.

Mitsuwa was also a lot of fun.  A friend from college said he might meet us there and he did.  Not only that he brought some other friends, all of whom I hadn't seen in three years almost to the day.  We ate and talked a bit then shopped around the books store till it was close to closing time.  I had dolsot which is basically the same as bibimbap but it's served in a hot stone bowl.  It was very good. Amey was sad that the sushi was sold out and Mooky actually ate some vegitabels since they were the tempura kind.   We had to say good by to our friends but hopefully we can have this meet up again in a few months.  We did a little grocery shopping for snacks then headed home.

It was a great weekend but I didn't get any knitting done.  Now the trick is to get back into the regular routine.  Hopefully I won't be skipping many more days.  I'll see you next time.

And I'm back!  My husband ran some antivirus software so I should be o.k. now.  This is the picture I took on Christmas eve.  Now our year long project is over.  I wanted to make calender but I haven't had a chance yet.

I tried to take a picture of the scarf but it's so long I couldn't really find a good way to do that.  I'll try and get one of it on my dad.  In the pattern the picture they used it the stairs but the only ones I have access to is are covered with salt.  I finished the tea cozy (mostly) and it looks small.  You make it in two halves and I didn't join them, I'll do that when I see the tea pot in person.  I started a little tiny sample so I can teach my niece when I visit them this weekend.  I'm going to try to work on the cupcake pillow and see if I can get it done before we go but I don't think I'll make it.  The next projects (outside of finishing the tea cozy) are: the cupcake pillow, the eyes on the little fox, then get back to finishing the fingerless mitts for Amey.

I finished Modern Farmer when I wasn't on the computer.  I was really cute but I'm not sure it's going to be in my top three and Healer will take it's place.  I'm not saying that Modern Farmer got worse it's just I was a tiny bit disappointed with the end. The plot for Modern Farmer is about a washed up rock band who are leading their own live but the lead singer is still desperate to try to make an album.  He gets the bright idea to grow cabbage on the farm his grandma left him because the price is supposed to rise.  The band gets back together to farm but they know nothing and keep making many mistakes and the rest of the villagers don't like them. All of the guys come for different reasons and grow up and together over the course of the show.  There is a great mix of over the top slap stick humor and talking about serious issues.  The one thing some people my not like is there is a lot of potty humor (a lot).  People are pooping a peeing everywhere. I think it balances out though with the other subjects. It might put you off of eating almonds for a while though. The reason I was disappointed with the end (just a little) was the boys seemed to grow up so much over the show but at the end they are back to their bad behavior and not taking responsibility.  That's the way it feels to me anyway. One of the funniest thing (to me anyway) was that the lead actor was Lee Hong Ki who is the lead singer for the band FT Island.  There were a couple of times when they said things like "We'll be more famous than Lee Hong Ki" or "We're better than FT Island." Yeah it's a cheap laugh but I was amused anyway. Wile it may not be in my top three anymore it's definitely number four.  I would recommend it as long as the poop and pee jokes aren't too much for you.  

The only other thing going on here is we tried to make cookies and it was a big mess. They tasted o.k. but they were really crunchy and not what they are supposed to be. We'll try again some other time.  I'm planning to visit my parents this weekend so I don't think I will be able to blog (I'm not sure about tomorrow).  I'm sure I'll have lots of interesting things to say when I get back.  Have a happy and safe New Year.