Adventures in Knitting

One of my very favorite things about this time of year, when the holiday craziness is over, our favorite TV shows and movies are making their way into our evenings, and the weather is cold outside....knitting of course! Oooh, I've been getting lots of knitting done lately (relatively speaking), and have to show off some of my recently completed projects.

Baby booties lovingly knit and sent halfway around the world for Baby Westwood (now we know her as Evelyn Moana Westwood, born January 7, 2010 in New Zealand). They are the Saartje Booties, found here. I used some random Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino I had left over in my stash. SO CUTE and so much fun to make. I can't wait to knit these for all the new babies that will be born to friends in the coming year. Congratulations Wendy and Nick and give that baby some kisses from her Aunt Rachel!

I'm still diligently working on these socks, knit with Noro Kureyon sock yarn. I've about had it with this yarn, but the colors are divine when they knit up, so I'm persevering. They are the Jaywalker socks designed by Grumperina and are available as a free Ravelry download.

I've recently become distracted by this project: the Shifting Sands scarf, also designed by Grumperina, which I'm knitting using Berroco's Lustra yarn. LAAAAHV! The yarn splits somewhat and takes a little getting used to, but it is so gorgeous! As its name suggests, it has the slightest hint of shine and shimmer to it. The second picture here shows the color a bit better; it's a beautiful deep berry color that I'm loving.

Just last night I was so happy to gift this hat to my dear friend Marjorie for her birthday. It's the Who? hat, which is available as a free Ravelry download, and was a fast, easy project that was fun to knit and I love the outcome. Notice the owl eyes?

And probably my very favorite project I've completed in recent months are these Bella's mittens, for which I used Berroco Peruvia. They keep my hands so warm and make me very happy.

One Small Change: January 2010

There are a lot of blogs out there that I stumble across as I wander around the internet. Many of them are written by like-minded mamas who inspire me every day as I work to make lifestyle changes, make responsible decisions as a consumer, and raise my daughter in a conscious, natural way. I came across Suzy's blog over a year ago when we met through the Widespread Panic group on Ravelry, a social networking site for knitters. Susy lives in Colorado and goes to a lot of the same concerts and festivals that we do. Although we've talked about it a lot, we have yet to meet in person...but I'm always on the lookout for her and her knitting when I'm at Red Rocks or at the Planet Bluegrass Ranch.

Suzy owns a business called Hip Mountain Mama which sells wonderful environmentally friendly products for natural families. I was so pleased to be able to purchase some of my christmas presents from her this year.

In December I learned about a new challenge that Suzy is embarking on, and she's welcomed her blog readers to join her. The idea behind One Small Change, in Suzy's words:

"We are passionate about educating others about sustainability and passionate about building community. Our desire to create a community of individuals who want to make a positive change has led to the creation of our One Small Change project. We want to challenge each of you to make 1 change each month leading up to Earth Day (April 22, 2010). It can be small or it can be huge, but all we ask is that you decide on something you will do to make a positive green impact and follow through with it. If everyone makes 4 changes between January and April, this can have a huge effect."

Suzy now has 150 people signed up to take part in this challenge and has created a page where you can see what changes other families are making here.

I was really proud of us when I realized that many of the ideas Suzy offers for this challenge are already a part of our household: recycling, cloth diapering, making your own natural cleaning products, bringing your own bags to the store, using rags instead of paper towels to clean up messes, and using reusable lunch sacks...

However, there were several things on Suzy's list, and ideas that I gained from other bloggers who are taking part in this challenge, that inspired me to start making small changes as part of this challenge.

So, here goes...January 2010: One Small Change in the Peterson household

MORE CLOTH!

As I've blogged about before here, cloth diapering has been wonderful for us...we're so pleased with it. In light of that, I'm hoping to bring more cloth use into our household. Specifically, by using cloth napkins, cloth/reusable ziplocs, and cloth produce bags.

I'll write about our progress and February's change next month. Until then....what changes will you make in 2010?

Christmas 2009

Pretty dresses, new pajamas and a Sadie-sized

Widespread Panic t-shirt

Lots of hand-knit goodness

Delicious homebrewed GreenHill beer

Plenty of pickin'

A reason to set a beautiful table and the chance to host my first Christmas dinner

Great food and drink

My favorite thing about this time of year....family.