christine-murphy dot net

A lot to catch up on over here…

I STILL haven’t started with my knitting DVD yet. So busy with assorted other things. I’m thinking maybe this weekend. Or, maybe I will take my supplies, the DVD, and my portable DVD player up to Manchester tomorrow, because I know we’ll have a little down time before and after the Fisher Cats game. We’ll be staying there overnight, at the Hilton Garden Inn, right next to the ballpark. Sometimes, I can’t sleep, so being able to watch and work with the DVD might be welcome. I’m glad I have the portable DVD player, it works on its own, no having to hook up HDMI cables or anything between the player and the TV.

It doesn’t take too much room in my bag, so why not?

I owe you a ton of food and book reviews, and they’re a-coming.  But after our little trip.  Right now, I’m trying to get what needs to be done, done, before we take off tomorrow.  I have some work online to do, laundry, and a bunch of other small things.

It’ll be nice to get out of here for at least a little while.  We’re looking forward to the Opening Night game for the Fisher Cats, and staying in the hotel overnight is a nice treat.

See ya on the flip side!

Success at last?

So I have been having trouble buying the needed yarn for the Nici McNally knitting DVD that I got earlier this week. I had not a clue how to read a yarn label to get the right gauge. But Dyane helped me out, and I went back to the store today, and bought some Lion Brand Suede yarn. In red. I was thinking of getting red and navy blue, so I could make a Red Sox colored scarf, but let’s not push it with more than one color right now. The red scarf will go with my heavy Sox jacket just fine.

Now I have all I need to start working with the lessons in that DVD. I’ll be tracking my progress here, with pictures. So stay tuned.

Then I have the crocheting DVD as well. Don’t know yet if that calls for any specific sized yarns or hooks…if I can just practice with what I have, that would be cool. But if not, well, I’ll just have to shop for that stuff another day.

I’ll be spending enough time trying to master the yarn, as well as keeping up with scrapbooking and all. I don’t think I’ll be taking up any other crafts, such as making designer jewelry, any time soon!

So I ordered some stuph today…

…from Amazon. Since they have free shipping on orders over $25, I made sure I ordered that much. I never have trouble finding stuph I want there.

I ordered the knitting DVD that I talked about earlier. I really think something like this is what I need to help me learn this once and for all.

I already had this Christina Cooks book in my shopping cart. I’ve been watching her TV show ever since we got the digital TV converter boxes, and I find I like it a lot. She’s completely vegetarian, in fact, she’s vegan, which means that she doesn’t use ANY animal products at all, not even cheese or eggs. But still, the recipes she does look very tasty, and seriously, would it kill us to do without meat and other animal products in our diet at least some of the time? I don’t think I could commit to a vegan or even a lacto-ovo veggie diet, but having a few meals like this a week might be good for us. And it’s easy to find the ingredients around here. I think I would enjoy cooking her way, at least a couple times a week.

I still had to add a whopping 12 cents to my order in order to reach $25 and qualify for free shipping. So, since I’m on a mission to learn to both knit and crochet, I found a crochet DVD that looked really good. Both this and the knitting one got lots of great Amazon user reviews, they’re cheap enough, so I don’t think I can go wrong here. I can’t wait to get it all!

Since I’m on a mission to do stuph to improve my health, and well-being in general…I think I mentioned that I’ve been working out every day on my new stepper machine…I am wondering if I should check out one of the several massage therapy schools in the area, and see if they offer discount rates. I mean, beauty schools offer haircuts and such by students at low rates, maybe I can go and get a nice cheap massage, as well. I know I could certainly use one!

Stay tuned for my progress on the knitting and crocheting thing, and for reviews of the DVDs that I get.

Three lousy stitches

Yesterday, I talked about trying to learn how to knit and crochet.  I mentioned that I had bought a couple of books at the bargain bookstore, but had yet to crack them open.

Anyhoo, I was watching that knitting show on CreateTV, the one with Kassie DePaiva, called Knit & Crochet Today.  Today they were making socks, and they made it look so easy.  It made me want to dig out those needles and yarn that I bought a hundred years ago, and attempt knitting yet again.

This time, I consulted Knitting For Dummies…I’m certainly a dummy when it comes to knitting and crocheting, and it does have pictures.  It took me forever just to get the damned slip knot thing down.  After that, I was able to do exactly THREE cast-on stitches.  That’s it…THREE LOUSY STITCHES.  After that, I just couldn’t get it to work.  I haven’t a clue why.

This is very frustrating.  Normally, I don’t have problems teaching myself to do things from books.  Years ago, when I actually used to wear dresses, I sewed many of my own, without a single sewing lesson.  I had just bought a few basic sewing books, started out with some easy store-bought patterns, and I managed to make some pretty nice stuff.  I never got into any really advance sewing, though, because the machine I had at the time was stolen from me by a long-ago boyfriend, may he rot in hell.

I have a new sewing machine now, but I haven’t used it yet.  Maybe I should re-learn sewing, instead of killing myself with this knitting stuff.  It’s certainly easier, at least it was for me back when I was doing it.

Another frustration I had this morning when trying to knit was the cats.  Allegra and junior were nearby, and they kept trying to grab at the yarn.  Well, they ARE cats, and don’t cats like to play with yarn?  Anyhoo, if I do try again, I’ll have to find a cat-free place in which to do so.  That is, if I can FIND any cat-free place around here.

The other day, I almost bought a knitting book that came with an instructional DVD, at Barnes & Noble.  But I was too cheap to spend the $25 on it, I was afraid it would be yet another failure.  But I was just looking on Amazon for instructional knitting DVDs, and I think that this one looks pretty good.  It got lots of great user reviews, it’s only $12, hard to go wrong.  Maybe I need video instruction, it might be easier than trying to use a book.

The only other option might be to find a yarn store that offers classes, but then there’s the issue with transportation, as in, I don’t have any.  I don’t know of any yarn stores on public transit, and I don’t have access to the car during the week.

I think I might be better off with a DVD and privacy.  With my kind of luck, I might get stuck with a knitting teacher who is impatient with beginners, and that would be annoying.

So I guess I will order that DVD, and see how that goes.

Knitting and crocheting…beyond my reach?

I don’t know why it is, but the crafts of knitting and crocheting have always seemed to be beyond my reach. It’s almost like chemistry class back in high school, where I could not wrap my brain around the periodic table, even if someone held a gun to my head. Just another one of those things that I will NEVER understand…and thank goodness I don’t need to in order to live my daily life.

But I have always wanted to learn to knit and crochet. My mother knew how to crochet, and she tried to teach me. But she was left-handed, and I’m a righty, and I couldn’t get the hang of it because of that.

Since then, I’ve tried to learn both knitting and crocheting, with no good results. A couple of years ago, there was an article in Martha Stewart Living magazine that had what looked like easy, step-by-step beginning knitting instructions, complete with pictures. Excited, I went to Michaels and bought knitting needles and some inexpensive yarn to practice on.

No dice. I Just Didn’t Get It. And damn, I tried, I really did.

I tried crochet again, too. I had this crochet hook that I bought because I’d read someplace that it was a good way to get the dough kneading blade out of bread made in a bread machine. Yes, it does work for that. But I decided to try to learn to actually crochet with the thing, and I bought an inexpensive instruction book, once again, at Michaels.

No dice. I Still Did Not Get It. So I gave up for a bit.

Once, when I was at the sadly defunct discount bookstore at the Kittery Outlets, I bought copies of Knitting For Dummies and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Knitting and Crocheting Illustrated. As in, complete with pictures. And then I brought them home and they sat, collecting dust.

Until I got digital TV, and started watching a lot of the PBS Create channel. They have this knitting and crocheting show that is hosted by Kassie DePaiva. She’s a soap opera actress, she plays Blair on One Life To Live. I haven’t watched that show in years, but I still know who she is. I hadn’t known that she’s an experienced knitter and crocheter. Perhaps she does it to pass the time on the set, between times when she’s needed. That’s one of the nice things about these crafts, they are very portable.

Anyway, I have been watching this, and it’s made me dig out the idiot and dummy books, and I’m going to attempt this yet again. Maybe this time, it will take. Or maybe it won’t. But still, how nice would it be to be able to just lounge on a recliner, watch TV (preferably Kassie’s show on Create!), and knit or crochet something.

I just don’t see why I CAN’T do this. Knitting is VERY big these days, millions of people, some of who are bigger dummies than I am, can do it. Why, Oh, Why, Can’t I?