“Is that lady in the box in there because she lost all her energy?”

Oh, and is this the creepiest thing you’ve ever seen or what?  It’s some kind of bizzarre severed hand clip thing that was next to the guest book at the funeral home.

so, he calls his dominant (right) hand his “hard hand” and his left hand his “soft hand.” too cute.

size e crochet hook (3.5mm)
100% cotton yarn, such as sugar & cream
approximately 55 grams of plastic barrel beads (also called pony beads)
blunt tapestry needle

round 1: leaving a long tail for sewing later, use magic ring method to sc 6 into ring & tighten.

round 2: 2 sc in each sc, setting a slip ring marker (or a safety pin) on first stitch. (12 st)

from here on out, set marker on the 1st stitch of every round. this is worked in a spiral, so rounds aren’t joined)

round 3: *sc in next sc, 2 sc in next sc* repeat to end of round (18 st)

round 4: *sc in next 2 sc, 2 sc in next sc* repeat to end of round (24 st)

round 5: *sc in next 3 sc, 2 sc in next sc* repeat to end of round (30st)

rounds 6-11: sc in each sc around

round 12:*dec over next 2 st, sc in next 3 st* repeat to end of round (24 st)

round 13: *dec over next 2 st, sc in next 2 st* repeat to end of round (18 st)

round 14: *dec over next 2 st, sc in next st* repeat to end of round (12 st)

this is when you fill the hackey sack with beads. you want the total weight to be 60 grams, so weigh the empty hackey sack along with the beads.

round 15: (it’s a little squirelly doing this last round with it full of beads) *dec over next 2 st* around (6 st)

finish off, & cut yarn to leave a long tail.

sew both openings closed with long tails of yarn, be sure to knot it up really tight.

pull tails all the way through hackey sack & snip off from the other side (so you have a 1.5″-ish tail stuck inside the middle)

you’re done! the more you use it, the better it gets.

Anyway, down a pound this week, and am now in the ‘overweight’ BMI category instead of ‘obese.’

for those who would be interested in having my mitten pattern, here it is!  they fit really well & work up so quick.  they fit the lady folk.

for two mittens you will need:

150 yards of worsted superwash wool (or see end of pattern for another option)
set of 5 size 7 dpn’s (i love my shorty 5″ ones for these)
darning needle

c/o 32, 10 on needle #1, 12 on needle #2, 10 on needle #3

k2p2 rib in the round for 3.5″

k 3 rounds

k 15 st onto needle #1

kfb next 2 st

slip remaining stitches on needle #2 to needle #3 (you will have just 4 st on needle #2)

k across needle #3

* k 2 rounds

k ALL kfb on first & last st on needle #2*

repeat from * to * until there are 12 st on needle #2

k 1 round

put all 12 st on needle #2 onto a scrap yarn holder.  these are the thumb stitches & will be picked up later.

arrange remaining stitches to have 10 st on each of 3 needles.  be sure beg of round stays in position 1 on needle #1.

k around for 5.5 to 6″, a good reference point is to knit until you are about 2 rows above your pinky (or pinky nail if you have long fingernails)

arrange stitches onto 4 needles, with 8st on needles #1 & #3 & 7 st on needles #2 & #4.  be sure beg of round stays in position 1 on needle #1.

* needle #1: k1, ssk, k across rest of needle
needle #2: k to last 3 st, k2tog, k1
needle #3: same as needle #1
needle #4: same as needle #2

k 1 round*

repeat between *’s until you have a TOTAL of 22 stitches remaining

repeat the decrease rounds 2 more times, but don’t do an all k round between them.  this helps to make the tip more rounded & less pointy:
needle #1: k1, ssk, k across rest of needle
needle #2: k to last 3 st, k2tog, k1
needle #3: same as needle #1
needle #4: same as needle #2

k 1 round, use darning needle to pick up all rem stitches & cinch off.

thumb:

pick up 12 thumb stitches that are on scrap yarn holder, & leave long tail at the beginning for a bit of sewing later.  12″ or so is more than plenty.

k around (just ignore the hole at the base of the thumb, will be fixed later) until your thumb (or thumbnail) is completely covered, then do an extra round for good measure.

ssk, k2 on each needle, use darning needle to pick up all rem stitches & cinch off.

use tail of yarn at base of thumb to sew up the hole there.  i find that doing it while wearing it is best, so you can see what areas are stretched out when it’s being worn.

weave in ends, etc & make another!

** You can get a really cool effect if you double-strand DK weight superwash yarn with superwash self-striping yarn.  just pick a color in the sock yarn & match it to the DK yarn.  you get a subtler version of the sock yarn pattern. just use 150 yards of each **

Here’s the pattern:

And here’s where i’m at as of last night:

I wish this awesome color would photograph well, but here’s the swatch of it:

It’s a fun, quick project, which after the huge afghan I just finished is a welcome change.

I’m also still working on mittens.  Here are examples of the pairs that I completed a while back:

And I adapted my mitten pattern to be a convertible pair.  These are MINE!  The two-tone thing came from not having enough of the gray yarn that i was carrying along with the sock yarn to get both mittens out of it.  I really like the flap being a different color, though.

So, that’s what has been going on in my yarn love life these days.

Quinoa isn’t super popular yet, but I’m noticing it being mentioned more & more. I thought that someone would like this as a way to try it out.

I came up with this recipe when I had some leftover quinoa. This is one of my usual salads, but just swapped out the raw spinach with the quinoa. It’s REALLY good and fills you up.

Quinoa Chicken Salad Recipe

Given that track record, I’m hoping that I will be pretty close to goal (35 more pounds) just in time for our anniversary party this November. I’m sure that I will at least be within 5-10 pounds of it by then. That is REALLY exciting for me, to think that I could be hitting goal this year.

BTW, I won’t be using my Sparkpeople blog for my weight updates, am just going to blog all in once place to keep it simple. Obviously that place will be here.