DIY Finger Knitting a Chunky Tee Shirt Yarn Necklace Tutorial from Thanks, I Made It here. Erin has a really good tutorial on finger knitting and I’ve posted other DIYs and tutorials here: truebluemeandyou.tumblr.com/tagged/finger-knitting
One of the most fashionable knitted necklaces I have seen. I like that this pattern doesn’t try to be delicate. Need to try with my next worn out shirt.
Up until a couple of weeks ago I found it impossible to keep my apartment clean. With such a small space (550 sqft) you would think it would be easy. Between work, social events, church and trying to find a moment to stay sane our apartment was always a wreak.
Part of my New Years Resolutions was to keep our apartment cleaner, for my sanity. Just as I was getting overwhelmed when I found this article on ApartmentTherapy.com (click on image for article).
“How to Clean Your House in 20 Minutes in 30 Days” explains how to clean your place in as little as 20 minutes a day. It seems so obvious. Below is my list, a little different from the list in the article… because I don’t have stairs or any “extra rooms”. I reworked the list for my apartment I moved all the floor cleaning to one day because it doesn’t even take me 20 minutes to sweep, mop, and vacuum. I dust the whole apartment in one day rather than dusting each room as I’m surface cleaning. I hope this helps you with your cleaning! It certainly has helped me.
1. Surface clean living room and kitchen
2. Clean bathroom (sink, toilet, tub)
3. Surface clean bedroom (including bookshelves)
4. Dust all surfaces and clean mirror
5. Surface clean living room and kitchen
6. Clean bathroom
7. Clean all interior windows
8. Sweep, mop, & vacuum all floors
9. Surface clean bedroom
10. Deep clean living room (inside desk, corners, wash blankets)
11. Clean bathroom
12. Clean out closets (clothes, “dump” box)
13. Clean out purses and tidy balcony
14. Deep clean bedroom (organize drawers, dust fan, clear front of bookcases and top/inside of dresser)
15. Surface clean living room and kitchen
16. Deep clean bathroom (organize cabinets, clean trash can, wipe surfaces, change out towels)
17. Clean all door knobs, remotes, high traffic surfaces
18. Clean out the refrigerator, organize pantry
19. Clean out car, Dust
20. Surface clean living room and kitchen
21. Surface clean bathroom
22. Surface clean bedroom
23. Swiffer and vacuum all floors
24. Clean linen closet, straighten towels, sheets
25. Surface clean living room and kitchen
26. Deep clean kitchen (wipe appliances and walls, wash trash cans, wipe down & straighten cabinets)
27. Surface clean bathrooms
28. Surfaces clean bedrooms
29. Clean one item you’ve been meaning to get to
30. Sweep and vacuum all floors in the house
How To Compost In Your Apartment
Our Illustrated Guide For Beginners
More info here
I came across this website that tells you the real expiration dates for food. Expiration dates on food bought in the grocery store can be deceiving. Often the dates are set for weeks prior to actual expiration for dry goods to reduce legal risk. And food with a shorter shelf life, like dairy and meat, are labeled for the grocery stores, not for the consumer. So, milk with an expiration date of 10/15 is often good until 10/22, a whole week later.
Still Tasty also describes what signs to look for for true expiration.
Much of the food waste in homes is due to food expiring before it is consumed. Knowing when food is actually expired can help your home reduce it’s food waste.
(Source: sustainableamerica.org)
I love Double Pointed Needles. For some reason I feel like it is less monotonous to knit a gazillion rows of stockinette on dpn than circular.
Recently I purchased some 4” dpn for a baby leg warmer project (they are SUPER cute). I almost through them out the window when I first got them because the point of the next needle was always rubbing against my palm. It took some working to figure out how to hold them properly so that I wasn’t rubbing my skin raw.
If you are working on projects that have a really small circumference you might find that 7 or 8 inch needles are too long. I get really annoyed when the other 2 or 3 needles that I’m not working on are flopping around senselessly. I arrange them so that they kind of all stay on the same plane as I’m working.
If you are working on larger projects 5” dpn would be really frustrating. I have dropped so many stitches on these 4” dpn because the project has just a few too many stitches on one needle. I like to have at least one inch on each side of the stitches when they knitting is relaxed.
Personally, I think that any circular needle less than 16” is silly. It’s really hard to work with needles shorter than 4” and anything smaller than a 16” circular means that you likely more than half of your circumference is straight.
I use 5” DPNs, could that be why I hate using them?
So a friend took me to the Eat, Sleep, Knit yarn shop this weekend. I am totally in love. Most of their business is online, they have a great online shop and cheap shipping. Reasons to love:
1) Yarn
They have beautiful hand-painted yarn. The variety is fantastic. Some of their stock is a little pricy, but I’m also not going there for cheap yarn. Most of their brands are GA local and dyed in small batches.
2) Promotions
This place has the best promotions.
They have an ongoing “Yarnathon” where you win prizes by reaching a number of levels. The levels are determined by the total length of the yarn you have purchased from them. The first level is one mile of yarn, where you get the “Marathon Welcome Package”. Other prizes include gift certificates, gift bags, magazine subscriptions, and free shipping.
With every order you get a “lottery” ticket to Eat.Sleep.Knit. The lottery ticket is a match 3 to win scratch off card with prizes like: one free skein of Malabrigio, $5 off, 50% off, etc.
3) Shipping
Free shipping on purchases over $75 and $3 shipping for everything else. Or if you live close you can order online and pick it up in the store. But with shipping so cheap, you might save on gas by just having it shipped.
I hope you’ll check them out.
I made frittatas last week in an attempt to change up our breakfast menu. The turned out really good. Super tasty. I made a little one because there are only two of us, but this would be easy to scale up.
Ingredients:
Directions:
This is my next knitting project. I am so excited. I’ve wanted to do a cardigan for myself since I made one for my mom for Christmas last year.
This pattern calls for a yak-bamboo blend, which while I’m sure is beautiful, is crazy expensive for how much you need. I will be using OnLine Linie 5 Corafino in pearl, a kind of off white tan color.
I feel your pain. Fortunately there are lots of plants that love containers. You’d be surprised what you can grow on a balcony, even a shady one. Below is a short list of stuff for shady balconies. I prefer edibles, it makes me feel more productive, but I will be adding some blooms/ornamentals this year.
Herbs:
Chives
Rosemary
Thyme
Basil
Mint
Bee Balm
Aloe (and most other succulents)
Edibles:
Leaf Lettuce (like rommaine and bibb)
Greens (like spinach, kale, and swiss charr)
Carrot (some varieties)
Strawberries
Broccoli
Beans
Beets
Garlic
Peas
Radishes
Brussel Sprouts
Good luck!!
It’s really hard to start a garden
This is the first year I will be packing away goodies for the whole year. I’m starting with my basil. I had a ton of it last year at the end of the season. The plan had been to make pesto, but the wind picked up that week and broke and blew off most of the plant.
The National Center for Home Food Preservation has this excellent article on drying herbs. I plan on using the oven method and storing in a glass shaker.
