It's Not Easy Going Green

I'm taking a little liberty with the words of the wise sage, Kermit the Frog. I've been taking small steps over the past few months to lessen my carbon footprint, as they say. As my light bulbs burn out, I've replaced them with CFL's, I bought a single-serving set of silverware and mug for work to use instead of paper cups and plastic spoons.

And when I get my iced coffee every morning I do not ask for a "hot cup". A what? For those of you who are not Dunkin' Donuts regulars I will explain this new and stupid trend. There are those out there who ask for a styrofoam cup for hot coffee to place their plastic iced-coffee cup into. Apparently actually touching a cold, damp cup is too much for some people to bear. Some DD's charge extra for the cup but it really is a rarity. And at one of the Dunks I frequent they automatically put your iced coffee in one. Besides being bad for the environment, they waste money for the business which in turn will be made up by me when they raise their prices(again!) So I make a concerted effort not to get these cups.

In Sarahland, if touching the iced coffee cup is too much for you then clearly you don't deserve the iced coffee. And if you do ask for a "hot cup" there will be appropriate Sarahland punishment, such as having to drink luke-warm Sanka with french vanilla non-dairy creamer. Yuk!

Whew! I'm stepping off my soapbox now and leaving my ranting for another day.

What all of this was leading up to was my lastest finished project the Everlasting Bagstopper.



I have a gazillion (I'm in accounting that's a real number) plastic bags in my apartment. So many at one point that the door to the closet they are kept in wouldn't close right. Another item I think breeds when no one is looking. I thought this would be a great project to use up some of the Lion Cotton in my stash and try to lessen my plastic bag intake.

The pattern is from the most recent Knitty. There are a whole bunch of string bags patterns out there but I liked this one since it has a solid bottom and is knit in the round. It was a very easy knit and I brought it along as I started going to my local Stitch n Bitch over the past 2 weeks. I will talk in more detail about that in another post but I feel bad talking about these great people for the first time in a post with one of my crazy-ass rants. Knowing me...it will turn out that they are all "hot cup"-getters and I'll be banned from all future meetings.

I did finish it up at SnB after getting help with grafting from the Daft Crafter. I even got to test it out that night since I walked part-way home with Craft Pirate and stopped a Whole Foods for an inaugural use. It worked well, stretches a lot and my cookies and cheese made it home safely. And at Whole Foods you get 5 cents off for bringing your own bag. Whoo-eee! At this rate I will save up enough after one year for an iced coffee - no hot cup.

Harry Winston Has Nothing On Me Necklace

So I finally broke my habit of making toys and actually made something grown-up. I took a half-day Friday and after eating a bit too much dim sum (oy!) I found myself in Harvard Square at Beadworks. And while I did say I wasn't buying any yarn for a little while I never said anything about beads!

I remembered this pattern "Harry Winston Has Nothing On Me" from Lily Chin's Knit and Crochet with Beads . And have a whole bag of random crochet cotton I bought from the local church's thrift store near my folks in Maine for a whopping 10 cents a ball. (This was during the few weeks where I thought I could crochet. Although some people say it's easier than knitting I just can't seem to get it right.)

Anyway, turns out the beads I bought looked great with this brown crochet cotton from the thrift shop stash. After accidentally spilling the beads all over the floor (whoops!) I was on my way. I really love the way it came out and it turns out I have a purple shirt almost the exact color of the beads. Can't wait to wear it and show it off!

How Nautie of Me!

My crazed stash-busting continues....this time with Knitty's Nautie. Because what grown woman doesn't need a knit nautiloid? He's a bit smaller because the pattern called for US 4's and I don't have those in DPN so I did it in 3's. I figure it is against the whole "no shopping until stash is worked down a bit" if I go out and buy needles.


What I have noticed is that all these random projects are done on DPN's and my knitting this way has improved quite a bit. Much less of the dreaded ladder that plagued my earlier DPN projects. I was looking at yet another knit toy that was knit on straight needs and was like "yuck- all that seaming!"

Even though I keep whipping out these small projects the random yarn stash still does not seem to be getting any less. Maybe acrylic blends breed when no one is looking. It could happen!