Project Afghan Day Fifteen

Yes, it has taken me two weeks to complete the first full row of my Warm Up America afghan, but I think it has turned out pretty good! It isn't perfectly straight or anything, but that's what gives it character, right? The first row, as you can see in the picture below is two slightly different shades of pink and a nice green. The yarn in this row all belonged to my Grandmother, so I think it's a special way of remembering her. Her name was Nelle Elizabeth, but everyone called her Betty and she was one of the most loving, generous people I have ever known.




While I have been working diligently on row #1, I have also been making good on using my list of charitable contributions. I have given to church as well as to community service projects that my church group is doing this week. I can't participate because I had already committed myself to teaching the two-year-old class at church this Wednesday.





That said, I give you row #1:

Row #2 is going to be a combination of brown and medium blue. Oh hey, I just noticed that my toe made it into the lower left corner of the picture. Ha ha ha!

Wedding Plans

Tonight, I ordered the materials for Aaron and me to make our wedding invitations! We scored a GREAT deal by using www.formal-invitations.com. We got materials to make 125 invitations for just $111. The materials are also earth-friendly, meaning that a significant percentage of the materials used to make the paper are recycled or post-consumer. We are also blessed because one of Aaron's sisters-in-law's mother does professional printing and wants to help us with the printing. I think they are going to look great! They are going to have a chocolate brown background with a white overlay with the words printed in a sage green. The envelopes for the invitations and the reply cards are going to be sage green as well. Now we just have to decide how we will word our invitations. Pictures to come!

Overthinking it?

I was in the shower yesterday and had the radio in my room jacked up really high so I could hear it over the water. I was listening the Dave FM when they started playing "Mercy," the new single by Duffy. Now, I really like this song. It's a lot of fun with a great blend of sounds, and Duffy really has a great voice. Please correct me if I am wrong, but does this song sound somewhat like something off of a porn soundtrack? (No, I have not watched porn, but a certain local college radio station has been known to play such tunes.) Maybe I have this connotation because the song was used in an episode of ER when two characters were going at it in one of the recovery rooms in the ER. Just an observation.

How cool is this!?!

I was reminded of this snazzy little knitter's standard while knitting the second section for my WUA afghan. I recalled seeing this on a shirt that Lorelai Gilmore wore on the knit-a-thon episode of Gilmore Girls, season seven. I am becoming increasingly fascinated by my new-found hobby. In the past I have knit a scarf for Aaron, my fiance, and a baby blanket for my new future niece, Kellyn. Granted none of these projects has really been anything spectacular, but I just love doing it! I am planning to increase my skill by practicing with new stitches and patterns. I also want to chat up Veronica at church and get her to teach me how to make socks. Sue (Aaron's mom), Janine (Aaron's older sister), and Debbie (Aaron's sister-in-law, Jennifer's, mother) have all offered to teach me how to crochet, and I am going to take them up on it! It's nice to have a hobby in addition to reading.

I hope to continue making afghans for WUA, and I also found another group that is an off-shoot of WUA called FriendshipShawl.com. Friendship shawls can be given to people you know and love for various reasons or to strangers or donated through WUA for nursing homes or other people in need. This group provides free patterns and tips and encourages people to share the stories about what happens to the shawls they make.

Here are the websites for these great groups I have found: www.warmupamerica.com and www.friendshipshawl.com

Project Afghan Day One

I have been feeling a bit aimless since finishing graduate school back in May. Other than serious hunting for what I term a "career job" and working my butt off at my part time job and occasionally having fun with Aaron I haven't been doing too much. I decided today that I should make myself useful instead of feeling somewhat sorry for myself about not having landed full time employment as a counselor yet. I came up with a list of ten ways that I can give back to the world around me while I am trying to find the path God would have me go down. Here it is:

1. Regular contributions to church

2. Donating to Agape

3. Donating to AIM

4. Participating in service projects at church

5. Knitting squares for Warm Up America

6. Buying and planting trees from The Arbor Day Foundation

7. Having trees planted in memory or celebration

8. Giving trees as gifts

9. Purchasing items for NCM

10. Anonymous donations to various charities

The good news is that most of these will cost very little if anything. That's important since I'm not making much and have to follow a very strict budget in order to save as much as I can in the next four months before Aaron and I get married. I plan to take part in at least one of these as often as I can, trying to do at least something once a week. My favorite of these so far is knitting squares to make afghans for The Warm Up America Foundation. I began work on what I am calling Project Afghan today. The pattern seems simple enough, but it will definitely take some time! I have to knit 49 - 7"X9" sections to be connected into one large afghan which will then be sent to The Foundation. I think if this goes well I may try and get some of my knitting friends to work with me on more afghans later on. I want to try and do this one on my own and see if I can execute the pattern up to par. I'm excited to have something to occupy some of my free time that is actually meaningful! Here is the first section!