House & Home – Sew Becky Jo

March 18, 2020

Homeschooling Tips for COVID-19

Today I got an email from a public school teacher asking for advice. Homeschooling is new to many, and I feel our teachers are really going through some trial by fire here.

Being that I’ve homeschooled, here are MY tips for success. As always, your mileage may vary, but I see a need, and I want to help. This is my wheelhouse.

First, throw out the idea of the quiet private cubby of school concentration desk. That’s some throwback Quaker stuff. It makes school seem really punitive and children are social creatures. If you put a child in a cubby, they will squirm and wiggle right out of it. Put them all around the kitchen table or sprinkle them in the living room. Put them where you are, where they are. Earbuds are recommended.

My kids get online by 8:30 am, breakfast done, teeth brushed, water bottles filled and next to them. Just like with work, this gives them time to orientate themselves to the day, check any messages, turn in anything forgotten, and get in the mode before the 10 am check-in time of Portland schools.

Around 10 am, there’s snack set out for grazing. Nuts, grapes, etc. We have realized we are going to be in close-quarters, quarantined together, so are not practicing social distancing within our family. It’s just not possible. More on that later.

By noon we break for a brief, half hour lunch.

Afternoon, older kids likely still have scheduled classes. They do that until done, then do a physical activity before free time.

Elementary school child does her class assignment of a “Diary of a Whimpy Kid” style journal, then physical activity before free time.

Physical activity options in our house:

1. 1. Go for walk or bike ride. Many of your local bike shops are still open by appointment. Get a tune up or a bike. A bike is the perfect length for social distancing and a great grocery store runner. Here’s my favorite shop in PDX.
  2. Hullabaloo. If you can find one not $124 like this one on Amazon, it is the ultimate sanity saver. I’ve had mine for over 10 years and it’s still going strong. I have friends who’ve made up new spots from fabric in their stash!
  3. Switch Ring Fit Adventure, Just Dance on Xbox – any number of physical game console options.
  4. Put on tunes and have a dance party.
  5. Cosmic Yoga on YouTube. Almost a half million subscribers for a good reason.

Free-time options – Screen-free and Not:

1. 1. Have group drawing/art while listening to an Audible book. I recommend the Little House series as it’s perfect for now, great for all ages and genders.
  2. Libby is also a great option for audio books and links with most libraries. Many counties are now allowing people to sign up for a card online to get digital books and audio books. Here’s Multnomah County’s sign up page.
  3. Science Kit: This usually involves vinegar, baking soda, and food coloring on a tray. Or making slime, etc.
  4. Planting a garden is science AND math. I’m a firm believe LIFE is ALGEBRA. You’re always solving for X. For example: How many seeds fit in a line when spaced 5 inches apart?
  5. Plant a seed in a cup to bring back to class after quarantine! Make it a class project.
  6. Get out the food dehydrator. Make fruit leather & dehydrate nuts. It’s both good quarantine sense and science. There’s all kinds of information about there about why you should soak your nuts, then dehydrate them (phytic acid y’all) and it makes for a great science study. Same with fruit leather – how long do the grapes last vs. how long does grape fruit leather last? (for grown ups, check out Brad’s It’s Alive if you really want to geek out with me.)
  7. Planet Earth. Need I say more?
  8. We love LOVE BrainPOP Jr. If your school hasn’t opened up the app completely for online learning, MAKE IT HAPPEN. There’s even a section on Coronavirus on BrainPOP now.
  9. Bill Gates just posted a tweet for Khan Academy being bolstered up for your use. That man never ceases to amaze. Khan Academy, if you don’t know, is the most used online resource by public schools. Your math teachers LOVE it.
  10. Make a sourdough starter. I love the entire King Arthur website. It’s a practically no-fail place to start.
  11. Use Ms. Jue’s Diary of a Whimpy kid idea and journal/art through it all. Bonus points for using those gel pens you have drying out, that stash of washi tape you’re “saving” and all those stickers and glitter.
  12. Teach to sew/crochet/knit – math, art, AND functional life skills. Look up the history of encoding messages in knitting. Look up the history of human strife & racial inequality in quilts, and current art and human strife in quilts. (I refuse to call these “politics;” that denotes a choice to make it this way.)

Right, so this seems to lean heavily on STEM/STEAM but I believe they’re all intertwined. There’s no math without music and vice versa. Gradients and vectors are math and art. Ratios of oil paint, drying time of watercolors… it all intersects in my mind. A kid baking cookies is learning math and science. Working out a garden plan with the kids figuring out the size of the planting box is both art and engineering. What is the cubic feet of soil for X sized planting box? This is applied learning. This is how we learn to apply worksheets to life. You got this. And you got me. AMA.

Love to you all.

We bake our sourdough weekly. Make a sourdough starter!

August 6, 2019August 6, 2019

Cat Lady Art

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve done any house sewing and home revamping. A few years ago I started moving the living room color scheme from beachy whites with blues, to sunset reds, purples, and oranges…but then life got in the way as it does. It’s something I want to finish before end of year.

When I found these panels in the remnant bin at Bolt, I about died. This is from a 2017 Moda Fabrics collection called Catnip by Stacie who owns Gingiber. You can see her original post and colorways here. These are not easy to find anymore, let alone in the dark colorway! They take me back to the Rachel Perry lip gloss art of my childhood. They’ve got a late 70s/early 80s art nouveau vibe I am so very in love with. (If you love these as much as I do, there are some tea towels with this design here on Stacie’s site.)

The first thing I did was order canvases to put these on. These are the canvases I got:

As is the nature of panels and things on bolts, they’re never perfectly printed on grain. It’s just something you learn to work around after buying a few panels or border print fabrics. There was no perfect sized canvas for the cats…especially when the plump cat was factored in, so I went with larger-than-panel size at 16×20 inches. This worked out, because it allowed me to then border the panels with coordinating fabrics for my living room.

I sewed a strip of fabric on the top and bottom, then used a tiny spritz of 505 adhesive to position them on the canvas, before I flipped the canvas over to staple them down.

That’s the actual spray I use, and yes, I know, at $25, that’s really expensive! However, I use it so rarely that one can has lasted me over 5 years. I literally use it in bra making to just keep fiddly pieces still, and at times like this.

I popped some painters tape over the back to keep the staples from scratching the wall too.

Here they all are, close up. We named each one after cats in our lives. This is Frack.

This is Lucy.

This is The Spud.

And this is our beloved Big Boy, Frick.

I’m quite happy with them. Here they all are up in their spot.

It turned out to be quite the nice “palate cleanser” after a crazy couple months of Frocktails and socializing. I think I got the remnant for around $15? $20? I don’t recall as it was well before Frocktails… and the canvases were about $22, the other fabric was in my stash, so about $40for a refresh? Not bad, eh?

Speaking of… I have a few of the Frocktails craft stations embroidery hoops left. I think I’ll finish them up and put them around the living room too.

These are by Aimee Ray, and they’re really cute. Aimee is known for those Doodle Stitching books. I print them on water soluble paper, then the paper sticks just enough to the fabric for you to embroider through it. When you’re done, you wet it and block it as you normally would, and in that process, the paper melts away.

I also revamped my couch cushions and drapes… I may need to do a whole living room reveal….if I ever finish! hahaha. Do you use your sewing for around the home?

(you may have noticed there’s a few aff links. It’s my first time trying them out, so we’ll see how it goes. <3 I really did use these exact items and am happy with them.)

July 21, 2018July 21, 2018

Amazon Echo Look Review

I’ve had an Amazon Echo Look for about 3 weeks now. My husband is an early adopter of tech items, both in personal interest and for his work, so often I get to benefit from that as well. He has watched me take photos of my makes for quite a few years now with various set-ups over the years with everything from a crop-body Sony DSLR to whatever current smartphone I am using (usually his previous year’s model. I get the best hand-me-downs with him testing out the bugs first.)

When the Amazon opened up sales for the new Echo Look, my dearest thought of me and how to make taking photos easier. I’m not going to lie. I was very excited.

Now that I’ve had it for a few weeks and have played with it, I’ll share my early thoughts on it.

I really, really hope it takes off. I hope everyone who posts in #MMMay or their #OOTD or whatever else buys one…and then goes to Amazon and asks for updates. The ease of the app and set up is perfect. As much as I love it and the convenience of it, it needs some work and I’ve fallen in love with too many things that were launched too early and were killed because of lack of support. I’m looking at you, Microsoft phones, Xbox Fitness App, Beats music app, etc.

Last weekend, I went into the Amazon store (local brick & mortar), and asked an employee if they could discuss the Echo Look with me. They kindly told me they didn’t even have one in the store and didn’t know anything about it. They gave me the 800 number for customer service and said they usually know more.

Two days ago I called the 800 number.

First I talked to TK, who tried to tell me that Amazon wasn’t available at this time (um, I’m in the same time-zone.) That was funny, and not in a good way. TK told me that they only trouble-shoot problems and that they can’t forward my call to the design team (which I did not ask for, I asked for someone on his team that knew about app/device updates and about using the Echo Look.) TK forwarded me to “George” – I will note that George started out with an American Southern accent which he quickly lost as he went back to his native language accent. I’m not sure what the point of that was….? I think after he realized I wasn’t some n00b complaining about not being able to get her Fire stick to work, he dropped the fake southern accent. George actually tried to first talk me into returning the device. George didn’t know anything either, and eventually told me to write a review online under the product.

The Catch-22 is amazing. The store knows nothing and points consumers to the phone people. The phone people are irritable, they do not like that I’m asking device & app update questions, they don’t know anything, and point consumers to return the product or write a review here.

Ok, now to my problems and requests for solutions. This is all taken directly from my review left on Amazon, because, yes, I really do want to keep using the device, and I really do hope it takes off. The only difference is here I’ve posted photos so you know what I mean. Amazon doesn’t need my photos – a quick look at photos in Instagram will show I’m not the only one…or I AM the only one not pulling the photos into another app first to edit.

1. Pre, what, 2000, I was that person that got red-eye when not even looking at the camera. Technology and cameras have advanced so that isn’t an issue…or I pull out the DSLR and use an external flash – but even then, my DSLR is new enough it doesn’t really have those issues. The Echo Look’s 4 LEDs are SO bright, I look like a Replicant from Blade Runner. No exaggeration. It’s like you went back in time with technology. Not even looking at the camera, I still get retina refraction like crazy. I tried putting scotch tape over the LEDs to soften the impact which reduces the Replicant look by 50% but then the app doesn’t like that and tells me something is wrong and till not apply any of the filters or the blurry vignette feature (Pop.) You have to fix this. I’m NOT alone. Going through Instagram for EchoLook photos is like Replicant Tinder. You’ve got to do a hardware OS update and fix that, and/or allow the app to reduce flash brightness.

pre-run camera test – red eye while looking away AND with a hat

2. Let’s talk about Pop or the weird blurry vignette slider that isn’t really a slider. Yes, it is helpful, but please update app so that slider is really a slider. Right now it is A. Nothing. B. You’re floating in a blurry cloud C. You’re actually swimming in amniotic fluid.

3. The fashion compare options. HAHAHA. Oh. Please. The algorithm is set to 1950. Seriously, try it. Put on, say, nice linen overalls with a wide leg, paired with a mid-volume silk shirt – totally on trend, and put it next to an outfit that looks like it was bought from Chicos (think princess seamed button up shirt in novelty print, and a defined waist-pant, and it picks the Chicos outfit every time.) Fit & Flare isn’t the only design aesthetic, thanks. Please update app to have style preferences. Think Stitch Fix or the Nordstrom version of Stitch Fix…it’s for men, so my husband uses it, not me, but they’re VERY good. You’re in the same town as Blake, just go over and ask him how they set up the Nordstrom version of Stitch Fix, ‘kay??

(Sure, maybe I didn’t need to be soooo punchy, but I was a liiiittle irritated at this point. Pinched-in waist and the term “more flattering” or “outfit shape looks better” when it really means ‘this outfit makes you look skinnier and OF COURSE that is what you care about’ is so F*CKING OLD. Just STOP.)

Um, these are the same colors… right? blue and white…or blue and white?

4. You may need a more diverse group working on this product. I’ll let you figure out that one, but I’ll give you a hint. If you gear something towards women, with ONLY women in ALL of the product demos, then maybe there should be more women, particularly women in fashion/design, involved in the process. Also…you may want to diversify your product demos… lovely range of women with POCs…all the same size and age range. And just women. Call me, I’ll help you.
5. I shouldn’t have to pull this all into PhotoShop. This should be plug-in-play directly to Instagram. You’re losing SO much with all of these issues. Your Echo Look account isn’t even used – I’ve got a stinking suspicion you’re already planning on dropping this product. I can’t find ANY reviews other than the PR release you GAVE out. I seriously don’t care what 40+ year old hetero white men not in fashion/design have to say about this product, nor what they forced their single female staffer to do with it. There’s NOTHING. Which tells me there’s suppression, and possibly such a great loss already you’re looking to bag out completely and are ready to erase it. I’d prefer you supported it instead. It wasn’t a bad idea. I prefer it to having to set up my DSLR or propping my iPhone on my tripod…but my iPhone takes way better photos and has a portrait option that rivals my DSLR. That and no replicant.

So…that’s my little soapbox for the Echo Look. I will tell you, we are huge fans of tech and I do love Amazon’s products. I really do believe there can be better living with tech. I believe the Look can help – better shopping choices means less fast fashion waste. My criticism is in hope Amazon does NOT take this as a loss. I’m not returning it because I WANT it to be better; I have hope more people will adopt it and Amazon will roll out updates.

Until then, your more human than human friend.

May 27, 2018May 26, 2018

MMMay 18: Home Edition Part 3: Cleaning Wipes

My biggest, non-green, eco-disaster, bad habit?

Yeah. Kids are disgusting, germy, messy, smeary, hectic, crazy, last-minute-everything, walking germ-bag-garbage-disposals.

Wipes sound pretty damn good when I put it that way, huh?

SOOOO, in our final Home Edition Pledge Challenge of MMMay 18, let’s wrap up my new cleaning habits. Well…as mentioned in Part 1, I’ve been testing this particular segment for a few months. I’m not going to suggest something to you I just threw together. I’ll leave that to Pinterest.

Let’s back up.

I bought this Libman Refillable Mop Thingy 2+ years ago, and it’s the best thing ever. I can wash the mop-pad, I can refill the tank with diluted Dr. Bronner’s, the spray mechanism is still going strong, and, BEST OF ALL, the youngest likes to mop with it!!!! I bought an extra mop pad at purchase thinking it would give me time before I need to make a replacement – but honestly, neither is showing any wear. WINNING! This got me thinking….

I should probably figure out something about my bad wipes habit.

Enter: The Decommissioned Washcloths & Towels. As I knit new washcloths, I decommission old towels and washcloths:

I cut the decommissioned rags, at minimum, in half, so they don’t accidentally get put back into face-washing-pile rotation (kids, ahem.) Mostly, I cut them down to size small enough to pull through a wipes container lid.

My recipe has taken 6 months to perfect. This is a combination of other recipes I’ve tested, found what I liked, and discarded what didn’t work for me. If there is an exact duplicate out there, I apologize – I’m not a mommy-home-blogger-pinterest person. I just came up with this for my family and am sharing for your family. Feel free to share, but please credit me. This helps me see if I need to make alterations if people come back to me and comment.

Becky’s House Wipes Recipe:

Be sure to clearly mark your containers for safety. Try Sharpie – this will ensure a spelling mistake.
1 Gallon of Water
1.5 tsp Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds
1/4 cup Isopropyl Alcohol
30+ drops or more of your favorite smelly essential oil, if desired.

Mix. 1 Cup of mixture per wipe container & ~7 wipes. Your yardage may vary.

Notes: Alcohol is for mold/mildew prevention, and it’s a super great gummy-stuff destroyer. No, tea tree oil by itself won’t prevent your wipes from mildewing in the container, and even the alcohol won’t stop it forever. Only make enough wipes that you will go through in a week. At the one week point, I find things getting funky. And not in a good, James Brown way.

I fold up my wipes. I used to cram them in, but pulling them back out was not fun. So…folding & stacking it is. I only make 2 wipe containers at a time. If I go through them faster than a week, great, I can refill. If not – in the wash they go. As I use them, I throw them in the wash, then back out into a rag-holding bucket until time for refill or for use with spray bottle.

There will be leftover cleaner, obvs.

1 Gallon mixture fills:

1/2 gallon container
1 spray bottle
1 mop reservoir
2 wipes containers.

See how neat and tidy that is? See how I cropped out the ENTIRE REST OF MY HOUSE? lol.

If there was a Wipes Anon, I can say I’ve been Wipes Purchasing Free for almost 6 months. This completes my #3 part of my #MMMay18 challenge of thinking outside the wardrobe and adding household me-mades to my life.

Let me know if you use this recipe and what you think/any tweaks you make! Also, do you have any ideas for next year? I want to have plenty of time to test them.

May 26, 2018May 26, 2018

MMMay 18: Home Edition 2: Wash Cloths

Yesterday, I gave you my Home Edition 1, and my soap making adventures. Today, is Part 2, with my knitting adventures.

My knitting is….well, not good. I’m at the point where I need to sit down, carefully go through a longer, more complicated pattern, and I just can’t commit myself to that kind of learning process when there are so many other things to do. I WANT to make socks but first I need to LEARN to make socks. It’s that slowing down part that makes me stop. I know once I have it down, I can churn them out, but I don’t have it down.

However. I attend quite a few soccer/volleyball/swimming/other sport events. Sometimes I get volunteered to be score keeper at volleyball, but for the most part, I take the time to enjoy some solitude, albeit in public. It’s not that I don’t like being chatty at events, it’s just that I’m not going to initiate it, especially if I feel I need to recharge. Often I’ll choose the recharge.

This match, above, there’s LITERALLY a mom next to me knitting and she’s got full on cables and shit going on. Yeah.

I’m not fast. I’ve gotten faster since moving to circular needles, but I’m not fast.

My #MMMay18 share here is that I’m slowly replacing washcloths (SLOWLY) as they wear out (FASTER THAN I CAN KNIT.) My husband teases me, “you know you can just buy those…” SEE. Even under that ridiculousness, I persevere and have not purchased washcloths in 5+ years.

I purchased 2 stacks of cheap white wash cloths 5 or 6 years ago at Costco. As they get dingy and peroxide no longer whitens them, I’ve dyed them various colors. As they get “rougher” still, I’ve removed them from circulation (tomorrow’s post.) And those little balls of cotton yarn that are always in FUN colors and so cheap?!?! They satisfy that little retail therapy bit, AND I can make something trendy, cute, and, eventually, knitted.

My idea was to make washcloths and pair with soap as gifts. 3 years ago. HAHAHA. Not likely.

However, this pace works for the rate at which we are wearing out our washcloths, it’s sustainable for me and our household, and I recommend giving it a go. Who cares if you’re scrubbing faces & feet with something imperfect? It is awesome to scrub your face with something you made.

Last post on this tomorrow is what I do with those retired washcloths, and a guilty confession.

May 25, 2018May 26, 2018

MMMay 18 : Home Edition 1: Soap

Hey! How’s it going? I’m really digging #MMMay18 on Instagram. I don’t think I’ve missed a day yet. Woohoo!

However, I did pledge to add Me-Made-Home challenges to my MMMay18 this year, so here we go.

Most of these things I’ve been doing for awhile now, so you can rest assured each of these have been thoroughly tested by me and my large, extended family. I’m starting to really dislike the I MADE A THING, I’M POSTING IT, IT’S AMAZING AND YOU WILL LOVE IT FOREVER TOO way of doing things…because a month or 2 down the road…it’s not necessarily still true. I like to put a few miles on things before I say it’s the greatest thing ever. Your yardage may vary. (get it, yardage…cuz I sew…HAHAHAHA)

SOAP
This post will concentrate on soap. I’ve been making soap for about 2.5 years now. Long enough to be comfortable with it, and know what I like, and what doesn’t work for me, but not long enough to be an expert at all. I’ve owned some soap making books over the years, but it was purchasing Pure Soapmaking by Anne Marie Faiola that my deep-dive into saponification really took off. I love the entire Bramble Berry store site and the sister-blog Soap Queen. All the information so freely given, and if you’re not sure, the chat box is actually functional and helpful (what?!?! can you believe it?!?!) There are plug-in calculation form on the site, there are free (SO MANY FREE) recipes, free business and license/labeling information – I mean. Damn. I wish every company was like Anne-Marie’s companies. She’s definitely up there in my Top 10 Most Inspiring People…if that existed outside of my head. OMG, and Mountain Rose Herbs here in Oregon. That place is FREAKIN incredible, and their recipes are amazing. Like – you can’t get better quality and information if you want to go full ‘nola or even partial ‘nola.

Enough awkward gushing. I’ve shared some of my various soap/lotion/lip balm making in Instagram, but not yet here, as this has been mostly sewing, but in the name of MMMay18, let’s do it.

I’ve preferred shaving with a nice, slick olive oil bar for about 20 years now, so it’s no surprise my #1 favorite soap to make is an olive oil soap. The Castile-Salt Brine Soap in the Pure Soapmaking book is my favorite. Not only is it simple, but it really doesn’t require as many speciality items as more involved recipes can require, so it’s a good place to start, and it makes a quality bar. The recipe does call for extra strength essential oils, and yes, they are spendy, but totally worth it. I can’t link to it here because it’s a book-only recipe, but the book really isn’t that much and is totes worth it.

Speaking of spendy, how much is this venture? Well, I’m glad you asked. December 2016, I made a spreadsheet to track PPO (price per ounce) for lotions and soaps cuz when I geek-out, I GEEK-OUT. Your pricing may vary, but this is a good estimated place to start.

I eventually added a laser thermometer, and a few molds, plus my mom picks up cute silicone molds for me too, like the owl.

Over the years, as makers do, I’ve ventured into quite a few related categories: Lip balms, lotions, bath truffles, bees wax molded into thread-conditioning-sized blocks, etc. If you can make cupcakes, you can make everything in this photo collage.

I’m not all 100% ‘nola, but it is nice to learn about what is in soaps and lotions. During my explorations, I’ve learned about those preservatives in product ingredient lists, why they’re necessary, and what I can/cannot omit. I’ve also learned many are pretty harmless, but if you don’t know what you’re doing, you CAN create some chemical reactions that result in carcinogenic mixtures.

I’ve learned that if I want to omit preservatives in lotions, I’m going to want to refrigerate it. Lotion is basically mayonnaise. I’ve also learned cleaning out silicone lotion bottles for re-use is a GIANT PAIN IN THE ASS, so I’m going to have to revisit that one. Mason jars with pumps? I don’t know.

I’ve learned too much baking soda in homemade deodorant is REALLY abrasive and causes rubbed-raw-pits and my husband lies and tells me I don’t stink. I freakin’ love that man.

I’ve learned too much micah or colorant in lip balm can also be abrasive.

I’ve learned charcoal and clays are not good for daily soap…if at all in soap, at least not for my family, and it makes my BFF aesthetician recoil as if a vampire in the sun if I even mention charcoal…that should tell you something about that trend.

I’ve learned shea butter in soap is really nice on babies. And so is just straight coconut or shea oil – don’t go through the fuss of lotion if you don’t want/have to.

OK, tomorrow I’ll explore how badly I suck at knitting, but why I have not given up on it quite yet in #MMMay18, Home Edition Part 2: Knitashtrophy. Knitaggeddon? Knitpocolypse? Knitnado?

July 31, 2015August 27, 2018

Learning to Knit With a Knit Along

Look at that. LOOK! My first swatch ever.

Here it is on dark wood:

I made an actual gauge swatch thingy and it’s mostly accurate to what I need it to be!

See, I can sew and quilt…but I can’t knit. Obviously I CAN knit, but it’s not comfortable. I don’t have the muscle-memory for it, it doesn’t come naturally, and I refuse to take that as an answer.

So, I joined the Very Shannon Summer Sweater Knit Along 2015 (#SSKAL) to force myself to get this knitting thing down. I find if I need to learn something, I need to force myself to have a deadline and dive in head first.

For a pattern, I’m taking a Craftsy class called My First Sweater, cuz, well, this is my first sweater.

I already know I prefer bamboo/wood needles, but I’m not really getting how to swap out yarn types or any of that, so I’m using the Lion’s Brand Wool-Ease which is really acrylic with some wool added. I’d like to switch to better yarn at some point in my knitting, but for my first time, I’m going to follow the directions. Novel idea!

Check it out. I only had to entirely rip it out once. 😀 I’m very excited. It’s very slow going. Very Shannon announced the SSKAL, and I started right away, before the sign up page was even live. I think I might make it. It took me 6 hours to get the swatch and this little bit of knitting. SLOW GOING. I had the hardest time figuring out that the stitch I do, as in pearl or knit, is the one that will come out facing me. Ribbing made me learn I needed to know that! Ha. All these things you go through as a n00b!!

Because I’m so excited about my inch of ribbing, here’s another shot:

and a close up with some of it stretched so you can see…well, really, this is all for me…

I am so damn proud of that. Can you tell?

I had some of these purple silicone knitting needle thingies, but lost most of them.

While I was waiting for more to arrive, I found using a clothes pin works great – better in fact for my newbie-self. So, I’m going to see how that goes. The clothes pin holds that last stitch in place too, so jostling of the project isn’t so much a factor.

I’ve read somewhere that I’m not supposed to be taking the yarn directly from the skein like this as I knit, is that right? I’m supposed to take all 6 skeins or whatever and make them into balls? What’s the deal with that? Why? How? And, possibly for this project…not gonna happen. But I still want to know why and how.

Also, I need to find some cheat sheet on like-for-like yarns. If I’m reading a pattern for my Wool-Ease sweater, and want to swap out yarns – what do I do? There are some freakin’ rad yarn stores in Portland, and I’d much rather get something without acrylic in it. I guess I could go TO a store and ask, but it’s not always easy to get away for hours, and/or hang in a yarn store with kids. I’m a research online person, then get into/out of store quickly.