Sew, I Knit 1, Purl 2...

Welcome to the 21st Century!

So, here I go...blogging!! If anyone comes upon this lowly blog, my apologies. It is a work in progress. As I learn more about this thing called blogging, hopefully it will improve. I know nothing about having a spiffy personalized banner or how to add photos or any of that cool stuff. So, you pro's out there - bear with me!! I know we all prefer pictures with our written content, and I know that many of you will see this very neanderthal blog with no pictures and WAY too many words and just pass me by. That's ok, I wouldn't blame you - hopefully you'll come back someday soon and find I've learned a thing or 3!!

For those of you still reading, here is a brief introduction. I'm a married, mother of 4 sons - 2 of which are twins. They are all young adults out on their own. 2 are married and 1 has a 6 year old daughter. The 2 married sons live in the same smallish central California town as me and the other 2 live in Arizona. 1 twin in each state, as it were.

I'm a Christian and involved in my church family. If hearing God, Jesus Christ or The Holy Spirit bothers you, then that's your problem! No apologies here. I'm not going to preach or anything like that but hey - it's MY blog and if I want to mention God sometimes, I will!

As my blogname states, I sew and I knit - mostly. I'm a self-taught crafter. Well, except for crochet - I did learn that from an aunt as a preteen. I taught myself knitting in high school, knit a couple of sweaters and then gave up the needles for the hook. I gave up the hook many years ago for cross stitch, which was given up for machine embroidery and quilting on my very fancy Swiss sewing machine my wonderful hubby who shall from hence forward be known as He Who Flies Radio Controlled Airplanes or HWFRCA. (Ok, so I'm not too original - but that does tell you something about him!) I picked up my needles again about 2-3 years ago and knit many of the obligatory scarves one does when one learns/relearns to knit - well, I did! I caught the knitting bug and since then, the sewing part comes in spurts. If I could sew with my machine on my lap in my comfy chair & a half w/ottoman while watching TV, then I think I would get lots more sewing done!! I guess that is one of the reasons why I love knitting so much is that it is a portable craft. You can knit a sock with very little to have to tote around with you.

In an effort to have some sort of knitting or sewing content, today I opened my 2 large plastic storage bins of yarn to catalog my VERY blog-worthy sock yarn stash. I photographed it, made a very crude, numbered drawing of it and catalogued it on a spreadsheet. When I learn to download photos, etc., I will post pictures. Until then, use your imagination! What I discovered is, that I have enough sock yarn to knit at least 29 pairs of socks!! That doesn't include the 4 or 5 WIPs (oh, please don't get me started on WIPs in general!!). I just finished pair number 4, in Socks That Rock, Fairgrounds colorway from the STR Rockin' Sock Club 2006. I'm a late joiner and that is the first pair in the club for me. They turned out pretty good although, I'm not so good on the dreaded Kitchener stitch. I just have the buttons to sew on the cuff (that is, once I trek back to Hancock's to get another card of buttons - only got a card of 3 and I need 4 - DUH!). I love handpainted sock yarns and so far these are the ones I have collected (including WIPs - not in any particular order) - Vesper, STR, Claudia Hand Painted, Lorna's Laces, Koigu, Brooklyn Handspun, Yarn Botanika, Yarntini & Scout's Handpainted Swag.

Socks aren't the only thing I knit - but I'll save that for another post. I know by now I've lost even the most diligent of blog readers out there. Therein lies the rub - methinks I do type too much!! I'm pretty quiet verbally - but get me on the computer and I could go on and on and on...well, you got the picture!

Hope you'll come back and visit me again soon! And hopefully, there will at least be pictures!

Thanks for stopping by!
Marsha