The Master of Last Minute Gifts

Beware! Long rambliness ahead! You have been warned!

Maybe I'll make that my new title. If I've learned nothing else from this year of scarves (and believe me, I've learned a lot about knitting and crocheting and myself and my habits) It's how to meet a deadline and how to prioritize.

Very rarely does yarncraft ever have a deadline in the first place, but the most important one I can think of is giving a handmade gift. Sure there are plenty of times when you want to give a gift to someone you love for no reason at all except that you think they deserve one, but mostly I'm thinking about Christmas, Chanukah, birthdays, other holidays, and showers.

I used to be a champion at giving an "IOU" gift instead of the actual gift. I'd plan to make a baby blanket for a baby shower, get started and have a LOT of it done. Then when the deadline loomed, I'd lose steam and make a quick little amigurumi crocheted toy that only takes a single evening and gift it with a card saying "Something bigger is on the way but I didn't finish." Frankly, it's embarrassing. After this year, I don't foresee it happening again. Not only do I recognize how long a project will take, but I suspect that I'm faster than I was this time last year.

Yet, I also have learned to prioritize better. As much as I would like to sit and craft for an entire day when I have a day off from work and get a day or two ahead on my 365 Scarf Project, I do recognize that there are other things that need to be done. Interestingly, even though I have less time in which to do it, I seem to get more done since I've started this project. It's particularly noticeable in the last couple of months. It's like I've found a stride in which I can craft and get things done and have free time AND work and still be on top of things and not feel stressed.

What does this mean? I'm going to have the gifts that I plan done in time with no IOU necessary and I won't overlook all the more important things that have to be done to keep a household running smoothly. Basically it means I'm proud of myself. I'm generally pretty humble, but I'm right now feeling proud of myself and happy to admit it.

Good job Amanda. Go Me! Way to be a total grown up! ;D It's pretty awesome how having a goal that's seemingly unrelated to one's faults have a way of lining things up.

Versatile Blogger Award

I've been awarded! Stacey over at The Original Yarn Salad thought I deserved this for my scarf endeavor and I'm so very pleased and thankful! It's actually been almost a week since I was mentioned, but I'm only just now finding a little extra time between knitting, crocheting, and posting pictures to truly appreciate the gesture.

This award comes with a short set of rules to show your appreciation.
1. Thank and link back to the blogger that awarded you the badge. Linky is up there and right here. She's a lovely interesting and generous person. I recommend a follow if you haven't already.
2. Share 7 things about you. You'll find another list a little further down in this post.
3. Award 5 to 15 other bloggers. You'll find a third list even further below!
4. Contact them so they know they've been awarded and appreciated. :) Will do.

7 Facts about me

1. I play a multitude of instruments, but only one of them well. I'm quite good at Saxophone (the 4 major ones are all firmly under my belt). I'm at least high school level on string bass, keyboard percussion, and tuba. I stink fiercely at but still have hand a hand on guitar, trombone, and piano. And I don't think there's really any level you can measure for this, but I play handbells as a soloist at my hometown church. It's really quite entertaining to watch.

2. When I go to restaurants, I never order the same thing twice. Or if I do, it's because I forgot I already had it. I like variety and I like not to be predictable. If there's a server that knows me by name, they are unable to say "The usual today, Amanda?" because for me there's no such thing.

3. I own and ride a push scooter. Obviously I can't ride it every day. It's very inconvenient when it's raining or snowing, but in the spring and fall when the weather is just right, I'm on that thing all the time. Kevin has one too and when we're both off of work, we gallivant around and usually go to East Coast Custard for a baby cone.

4. My favorite strange food combinations always seem to involve peanut butter. e.g. Peanut butter and bologna makes a tasty sandwich. Peanut butter with soy and spaghetti = yum. Ironically, I don't like Reece's Peanut Butter Cups, but I love Reece's Pieces. Go figure.

5. I never do the dishes. Ever. That's Kevin's chore. I'll clean the house and do the laundry and cook the food and wash the windows and pay the bills, but I Don't. Do. Dishes. I suppose if we had a dishwasher I'd do them, but we don't so who knows?

6. Kevin and I have 4 pets, but they are all tiny. Two gerbils named Crushinator and Killbot. Two gray dwarf hamsters named Gimli and Ironman. They live in separate cages side by side and I don't think they know the other species exists.

7. I have 6 teeth fewer than most people and they still don't all fit in my mouth. After much peer pressure, I got braces at the ripe age of 22. My teeth were so squished together, the Orthodontist recommend having some of them removed. Yes, the 4 wisdom teeth obviously, but also the first molars directly behind my eye teeth. I had all 6 removed at once and the braces went in. My teeth got significantly straighter, but they still aren't perfect and I'm completely okkay with it. (Incidentally, the day after the surgery was my aunt's wedding. I brought my own can of chicken broth to eat and I looked like a hamster in all the pictures. Que Sera.)

5 Bloggers that deserve this award:
1. Ariane of Falling Stitches - She does What's Hot on Ravelry which never fails to lengthen my queue, interviews with yarnheads of note, pretty pictures and is an all around nice person.

2. Sinead of Knit Inc. - She's always showing off her Finished Objects and willing to talk about what's going on in her life. She reads way too many blogs and I love her all the more for it.

3. Melissa of SewSweetStitches - Just about the most adorable blog design you've ever seen. She and her daughter are pretty cute too ;). Melissa is always thinking and always sharing and often making me laugh out loud when she goes on an adventure.

4. Sasha of What? No Mints. - She's into science and sharing her own work as much as other people's. She's also often sharing interesting and fun activities that one might find themselves doing.

5. The Gryffindors! - I recently joined a ravelry group in which I was sorted into the House of Gryffindor and we're all competing to earn points by finishing yarn projects. This blog is actually written by a few people and all of them are wonderful. They care about their housemates and help find projects that fit into certain classes with specific requirements to earn the most points. I love them so much, I had to put them in this list!

I hope you find someone new to follow! :)

Meme!! Sometimes I'm an attention hog!

I lifted this getting-to-know-you style questionnaire from Fal00la over at Crafty Addiction. She's a fun gal on twitter and I enjoyed reading her answers and learning about her so much that I STOLE THE QUIZ! How very evil of me. But she lifted it from PuNk rAwK pUrL so I guess it's not as evil as I thought. Anyway: The ABC's About ME! A is for AGE: I was zero in 1982, I'm 28 in 2011, I'll be 50 in 2043, and I'll be 100 in 2083. Yikes! B is for Bed Size: Full. C is for Chore you Dislike: Dishes! Thank goodness I don't have to do them That's Kevin's chore. D is for Dogs: None, but Kevin and I do have a pair of gerbils named Crushinator and Killbot. E is for Essential start to the Day: Sleeping. I always wake up, use the bathroom and go back to bed for a little while. What a lazy bum I am. F is for Favorite Color: Purple. But I mean really who can pick just one? G is for Gold or Silver: Gold because it looks better with my skin. H is for Height: 5' 4" or 1.6 meters I is for Instruments you play: Saxophone, String Bass, Guitar, Piano (badly), Keyboard Percussion, Handbells, Auxillary Percussion, and some other stuff. I was super into music until I went to college. College made me hate it but I've mellowed out again now that I'm away from it. Bummer, huh? J is for Job title: Production Trainer but I won't tell you where because I signed a no internet agreement and I'd prefer to keep my job :) K is for Kids: Nope. Maybe one someday but that's my limit. L is for Living Place: Redacted for safety. It's a suburb of redacted which makes it a subsuburb of redacted. M is for Mom's Name: redacted  N is for Nicknames: Not really any. AC (my initials). Redacted the Killer on occasion. O is for Overnight Hospital Visits: Once with I had my tonsils removed in Junior High and I think when I was a baby and had the croupe but I obviously don't remember that. P is for Pet Peeves: Good Lord, do NOT get me started! I hate when you ask if someone wants something and they say "please" instead of "yes, please." I hate jaywalkers especially when there is a crosswalk not 10 yards away! I absolutely can't stand when I'm around skinny girls who talk about how fat they are. First of all, love the body you're in and second of all, that's not something you talk about around women twice your size. Since I work in a restaurant I have a host of annoying things that people do while eating, but I won't bug you about that. I don't want to sound like a negative person; it's just a result of working in customer service. People are kind of a bummer. Q is for Quote from a Movie: Bah. Again, you expect me to choose just one? All of "The Princess Bride." All of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." All of "To Wong Fu, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar." And for the one liner, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming." Finding Nemo. R is for Righty or Lefty: Righty, but I can knit both left and right handed! S is for Siblings: 1 brother 5 years my junior. He has a name, but more often than not I just call him "Little Brother" and in return he calls me "Big Sister." T is for Time you wake up: Varies, but usually I'm out of bed by 8:30 AM. U is for Underwear: Yes, I wear them. No I won't describe them :) V is for Veggie you Don't Like: I like spicy food but I don't like the flavor of jalepenos. It's fruits that are on my bad side. Rassberries, blueberries, cherries, peaches, starfruit, lemon, lime, grapefuit, canned pineapple (but fresh is good) and there's also a long list of fruits I've never tried. W is for What makes you Late: Getting clothes on at the last possible second, but I'm very good at it and it's rare for me to be late to anything important like work or a flight or something. X is for X-rays you've gotten: Dental and in 4th grade I broke a meta tarsal and needed a cast for a month. Y is for Yummy Food you Make: Anything involving an oven. I'm lazy so I like to fix it and let the oven do the work! Cookies, cakes, lasagna and meatloaf. I also like no cook snacks like rice crispie treats and peanut butter balls. And anything involving chorizo. Z is for Zoo Animal of Choice: Giraffe. They're graceful and ridiculous at the same time.

Color my World

8 Questions Game Part 5

5) What color are your walls?

Cream. We're apartment dwellers! Whadaya want from us? Unfortunately as tenants, we are unwilling to pay the extra charge for the privilege of wall painting so let's expand the question to include some symbolism and interpretation, shall we?

5a) What color is your life?

Kevin and I have had a color scheme right from the beginning. His favorite color is green. Any green at all. Kelly green, emerald, leaf, forest. Happily, you can make any green look good with any other green in the proper proportions. My favorite color is purple. Not all purples, mind you, but thick and rich royalty purple and crisp friendly lavender.

Add them up? What do you get?


Lilacs! Violets! Orchids!

You get a lovely garden. I like to think that it's a pretty decent metaphor for our living habits. We aren't the tidiest sorts (every garden needs dirt), but we don't let bad things get us down (a flower needs the rain to grow), and if you stand back you can enjoy the view (which we do!) Should I continue? Nah. You get the picture :)

Taking it Easy

8 Questions game Part 4

4) How do you relax?

What DON'T I do to relax? I think we shall break this down into 2 parts. Part 1 will include ways we relax by doing things. Part 2 shall be ways we relax by not doing things. I'll mention Kevin here and there, why not?

Part 1: Relax by Doing

Amanda: YARN! Knit it, crochet it, braid it, organize it, make a mess with it. YARN! Please feel free to have a look at some of my yarn creations in our Etsy shop.

I have also recently begun yarn bombing locally. Also called knit bombing, yarn storming and just plain old yarn graffiti, it is a new form of street art that was most likely begun in Texas by an individual but now a group called Knitta, Please. Knitted, crocheted, woven and embroidered pieces of fabric are sewn or tied into public areas. Trees wear sweaters, door handles receive cozies. Bike racks, street signs, hand rails, sculptures are all fair game. I am a solitary yarn bomber at the moment, and while I storm alone, my goals are thus:

• Enhance the mundane so that even areas that may be ignored can be seen as beautiful.
• Publicly display the beauty of pattern and texture.
• Encourage others to look carefully and seek interest all around.
• Offer street art which is neither offensive nor permanent so that people may see and smile.

I also enjoy macrame and origami. (Yarn bombs photos are added as I complete them to this set.)

Kevin: Kevin has taken up cross-stitching and he has really started taking on some ambitious projects. You can see some of his completed stitchery on his flickr page found here.

Kevin also has been writing and drawing a webcomic which he updates every other day. Idget has come a long way since he first started. While he does not at this point have any intention of making this a career, it's still a relaxing hobby and a fun read! I certainly have read the entire set (nearly a decade's worth!) a few times through! Around 2005 Kevin began coloring each and every comic and I really think most of his best work is more recent. One of my favorites:









Both of us: Together we have started a small garden. It's rather unsuccessful now, but with what we've learned this year, we'll surely be able to grow something or other next year. Until this, it's still nice to get outside once in a while.

We also enjoy cooking together. Someday maybe we'll be able to cook from veggies grown in our little garden!

Part 2, Relaxing by not doing

Relaxing the lazy but still entertaining way!

Video Games: We are big Nintendo fans and it's looking like we're going to stay that way for a long time. I love my WiiFit and Kevin is a Brawler. If you know Nintendo at all, this needs no explanation.

Movies: BAD movies are a kick. I recommend Rifftrax for those who are fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000. For those that haven't heard of either one allow me this explanation. Did you ever go to a bad movie and partway through you begin to snark at it? The acting is bad, the plot is iffy, the special effects are laughable and you just have to speak up. Let's have some comedians doing the commentary and you have Rifftrax. Making mediocre movies hilarious and even borderline good movies can be pretty darn funny!

Napping. It doesn't get more relaxing than that. I recommend it. Often.

Read to me!

8 questions game Part 3

3)What books are you reading right now?

What you have to know about Kevin and Amanda, we're bedtime story people. Kevin is the reader, and I am the listener.

Night after night, we go to bed at a very reasonable hour (which is obscenely early for most other people) and I bring my knitting, my crochet, or a mindless video game and Kevin lays on his stomach and begins reading out loud. Sometimes we get through a chapter per night. Sometimes more and sometimes less depending on the book.

We just finished Peter Pan and Wendy by J.M. Barrie. And before that we read 3 books by Roald Dahl: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, and The Witches.

Hanging out in the wings until we get to them? Treasure Island (oooo, it's leather bound and re published in 41). We have a couple of short story compilations which I hope we read from soon.

Question 2 - Grow up and Get a job

8 Questions Part 2

What do you want to be when you grow up?

This answer is incredibly boring, but I'm the kind of person that treasures security. I want to be a property owner. I'm still young, and I have lots of time to accomplish that goal, but for now? I'm impatient.

As a child I lived in a comfortable home with my parents and my younger brother and we had a modest back yard where we could play on our swings and help Mom plant her garden (sometimes slightly overgrown) and sit on the picnic table and blow bubbles while Dad mowed the lawn.

Some day I want that for myself.

8 Questions Game

I've been tagged! Spinndiva of Rambling Designs poses 8 simple questions which will help readers know more about me! I owe her one because I now have a real reason to get myself on this blog and typing! Thank you for the nudge!

And to really get the most out of it, I'm going to give each question its own post, why not?

1) What's your staple meal? (What do you cook most often when you aren't feeling adventurous?)

Kevin and I (Amanda) recently purchased America's Test Kitchen: Let's Get Cooking for the Nintendo DS. Ever since then, I'm not sure we still HAVE a staple meal! Step by step instructions and encouragement read in a soothing voice for classic American staples have made us more willing to put some extra time into our meals.

We used to default to a frozen pizza, but the pizza crust recipe is so easy and quicker than one would expect that we now are quite happy to make pizza from scratch!

Our favorite toppings? Mushrooms, pepperoni, deli turkey and cayenne pepper.
I like anchovies, but I know when I buy them they are for me and me alone.

Wondering what we eat when we aren't following video game instructions? Pasta. Easy, fast and fun to embellish. Our toppings of choice? Chorizo and corn.

For those that don't know, chorizo is a delicious sausage available both refrigerated or smoked and is flavored with Mexican spices such as cumin, cayenne, and many different peppers. I prefer refrigerated because it cooks so quickly and there's no need to chop it up. Be warned though, it is NOT a lean meat! If you're on a strict diet, be prepared to sacrifice dessert!

Spicy Chorizo Chili Mac (for 2)
6 oz Spaghetti (macaroni, rigatoni, and shells also work well)
8 oz refrigerated picante chorizo
1/2 of a small onion, diced (vidalia is my choice!)
1 15 oz can of sweet corn
6 oz shredded cheddar cheese
parsley for garnish opt.
cilantro for garnish opt.
salt for boiling water

Put salted water on to boil. Cook your choice of pasta according to package directions and drain. In a separate pan, place the uncased chorizo in a cold pan set to medium high heat. Brown the meat. Add the diced onion and saute with the chorizo for about 5 minutes. Add the drained can of corn to the pan just until heated through. Plate the spaghetti, pour the chorizo, onion and corn mixture on top. Top with cheese as well as parsley or cilantro. Enjoy and have water on hand to cool the burn!

My Name is Amanda

I recently joined Etsy because I love to craft, knit, and tons of other things and I just can't keep everything that I create! While there, I started involving myself in the forums and sometimes I'd post something that was a little long to be just a response so I figured it was time to start a blog and save these ideas where more people can benefit from them.

Find my shop here:
NerdyTogether

I'm also a member of the Cleveland Street Team
Cleveland Handmade

His name is Kevin and he crafts with me, but much more often than that, he updates his webcomic.
IDGet

Hope to see you often!