Reduce Recycle Reuse

One week late this post is (What, am I Yoda or something?!), but that's how it flies here sometimes!
Reduce: Little by little I've used yarn from my modest stash of leftovers. Mostly, I make things for the kids since there's not usually enough yarn in each colorway to make myself something. See below for my latest stash reduction project. BTW, the only stash yarn I have that isn't leftover yarn are 3 skeins of CotLin, each in a different colorway. I hope to make a market bag or two with those. Those 3 skeins represent the only time I've bought yarn with absolutely no pattern in mind. I never buy yarn without having committed to a pattern. That's why my stash consists of only leftovers. Maybe if I knit more socks, which always require a known amount of yarn, I'd blindly buy sock yarn. But, there's no way that I'll ever randomly buy sweater yarn without a pattern. Ok, maybe if I won the lottery! (But, I don't play the lottery.)
Recycle: I'm very familiar with this concept when it comes to knitting. Frogging FOs to make something new seems to be a regular occurrence with me. Sometimes I'm even patient enough to re-make the same pattern if I haven't pulled out all my hair. The latest recycled project is my current WIP, Wright, made with Comfy yarn. I frogged last year's garter stitch tank and soaked the yarn to remove the kinks. This summer, I'll also be frogging a failed attempt at a Cotton-Ease maternity top to make Bella Paquita.
Reuse: For me this means either giving away knitted FOs that are too small, or it can mean taking buttons from an old project to use on a new one. Ian's blue cardigan that has Peter Rabbit buttons is finally getting too small. I'll be using those to make him a new cardigan in the future.




















Pattern: Improvised. I started with the Itchy Fingers Longies pattern as a guide, heavily altering it since Marie doesn't wear diapers and therefore doesn't require all the built-in extra ease. Basically, the parts of the pattern I actually used were the gusset instructions and how to space the short rows on the bum. I made the waistband CO number much smaller and did increases below the waistband. The rise is exactly as measured. For the skirt, I picked up stitches at the base of the waistband and knit downward. The ruffle could be better, but I was running out of yarn and also didn't want to make the skirt too long. It flips up too much. But, she's happy, so that's all that matters! One more thing: I added a 3-round "trough" for the drawstring with holes in the middle round.
Yarn: TLC Essentials Multi, Naptime, 1 skein. Bernat Softee Baby, white, 1.5 skeins (not sure about this number, really).
Needles: US 8 circulars

Other News
Can't wait to see the Top 5 sing tonight on Idol! Adam and Kris will do fine. Speaking of Kris, I'm surprised that Simon Cowell thinks that Danny is better than Kris. I disagree. Maybe Danny has a solid fanbase and that's why Simon said that. Danny was an early favorite of mine, but he hasn't wowed me recently like Kris has. Simon also mentioned Adam as being the only original contestant; consistently, yes, but he's not the only one! What about Kris?! Actually, Allison has revamped a few songs, too, to fit her style. Only Danny and Matt are karaoke IMO. For me, it's a toss up between Allison and Danny for third place. They have an equal amount of weaknesses. I haven't liked Allison's last two song choices. So I hope she chooses well tonight. Danny better not oversing and be boring. He always sings just well enough to fly under the radar, but not well enough to impress me as being on the same level as Adam and Kris.

My interest and time spent on Babbel is still going strong. My interest in livemocha has waned because I don't have a microphone to record the spoken exercises. Lessons can't be completed until the spoken parts are done. To try to bypass this, I've submitted blank recordings. This completes the lesson. However, it's kind of annoying that those "recordings" show up for other users to rate/grade. I of course keep getting comments of "no audio." What keeps me coming back to livemocha, though, is that it has tutorials. Babbel also has tutorials, but there are only two of them for Italian. So, mainly you're doing vocabulary and chatting with others.

Well, I better get started on dinner. We're having chicken fajitas. I was a good girl and bought whole wheat tortillas (as well as whole wheat thin spaghetti, whole wheat sandwich buns, and buckwheat pancake mix). I cheated with the chicken and bought the pre-packaged, fajita-seasoned chicken strips. The other ingredients: green bell pepper, onion, cilantro, taco cheese, sauce, tomatoes, sour cream, and shredded lettuce (for Jared, not me).