I cabeled!

First off, let me tell you a little about myself to set the scene. I love just about any craft and I've tried tons. I have a ton more on my "to try someday" list, but generally I'm a dabbler. That means that I don't really spend a lot of time on any one thing so I'm good at a fair number but not great at much of anything. In a lot of crafts I would say I'm above a beginner, but not by much; like knitting.
I know how to knit, I can knit and purl with no problem and I even know some of the terminology but I've never knit a sweater, I've never made full sized socks (did some mini ones once for Christmas) and I've never done anything fancy. (Unless you count the simple lace scarf I made a couple of weeks ago but I wouldn't!)

That being said, I love to try new things and I love to have something to do with my hands while I watch TV (it keeps me from snacking and I've lost 20 lbs doing crafting instead of eating!) so last week I picked up Creative Knitting's new Accessorize with Style. It has lots of easy looking patterns for some cute stuff so I thought I'd give it a try.

As I was reading through the magazine I noticed they had two patterns for scarves (I love to make scarves!) with cables and the patterns were labeled "easy". What?!?!? Cables can be easy? Surely not! I love cables but I've never even thought of making something with cables because they're hard....aren't they?

So I read the pattern and ...well it looked easy. I could even visualize myself doing it.  Last night I tried it out with some yarn I spun last year and sure enough; all these years of being scared of cables was silly, they're really not that hard! So far I've got a whooping 2 cross overs done and I'm sure to make some mistakes but I have to say; I'm liking knitting cables.

[little update - before I got a chance to finish this post, get a picture taken and get it posted I discovered ....I'm addicted to cables! See?]

(I kind of made up my own pattern to play with so my scarf will not look like the one in the magazine but I give full credit to Creative Knitting for getting me over my fear of cables!)

Ta!

Pomp-a-Doodle is addictive!

Monday evening this past week I bought a ball of Pomp-a-doodle yarn. It's like pompoms on a string and you can make some really cute stuff from it, like a scarf.
Tuesday I took the ball to work to play around with it at lunch.
Thursday I brought a new scarf home (and my daughter promptly stole it!) so Friday I headed back out and bought some more!
And I can't seem to stop!!!!! LOL
5 and counting.

Cool huh?

What makes a good day.

Today was one of those days - the ones where you get to the end and you say "ahhhhh, today was a  good day" with a contented sigh.
It wasn't exciting or special or anything like that, it was just soul comforting good. Ahhhhh

It started out with being able to sleep in. I got up and had a bite to eat and then S and I walked the dog. It thought about raining on us and didn't so that was good.
Then we drove out to my favorite Indian fabric store to look for material for the kimono. Now, that wouldn't always be hard but they girls have decided they both want to be able to wear it and that means they have to agree on the colour or find 2 colours that will work well together (I could have made the kimono lined/reversible.) *That* is not always easy. But today it was! Ah, good! They decided on one fabric for the kimono and 2 for the obi's so they could each have one. As usual I got a great deal. I love that store! The problem is never finding material, it's walking out still being able to buy the months groceries! LOL
Here's the fabrics we bought. Yum!

After shopping it was time to come home and start the under-kimono (aka the test pattern). I got the base of it done before I had to stop and make dinner. My measurements look like they're going to work beautifully.

I made soup! Okay, not exciting for most people but I have actually never made a home made soup in my life. I am not the most comfortable cook. I do okay, but it's not really my forte. Just after Christmas though we were in the bookstore and I found an *easy* chicken cookbook on sale. We eat a lot of chicken and I'm always looking for something new to try...if it's not too hard. I bought and have already found a few recipes I want to try. A few are for soup!
So for dinner tonight I decided to try the Chicken and Potato Soup with Bacon. Well WOW! It was easy to cook (just like the book promised) even for me and *everyone* liked it! There are some adjustments to be made (less potatoes and maybe some mushrooms or corn would be nice) but it's definatley worth repeating! And next time I need to make more so that way I might actually have some leftovers for lunches for work.There's enough left for maybe a cup of soup with lunch! I think that's a good sign though.

Gran Torino was the next installment to my great day. I found it at the library on Tuesday and set it up to watch while I did some Pomp-a-doodle knitting. I love Clint Eastwood! The movie is great too, although it made me miss my Dad. He was another grumpy ol' man. LOL
During it I got another scarf finished (that's 3 since Tuesday!) and  a 4th started. I love this stuff. I am going to be soooo ahead come Christmas.

Another rainless walk with the dog and S to finish up the day and soon I'll be off to a warm and comfy night's sleep.

Ahhhhhhhh What more could one girl ask for?