Ep. 34- Be Well to Knit Well

~Welcome/ Intro/ Thanks!
  Shout out to Meghan- get well and feel better!
~Sponsor:
Bar Maids! They are donating their Travel Pack! Includes a LoLo to go bar, LoLo Lips and the Cuticle Intensive!
~Contest:
 Post your best recipes for apples on the Ravelry Page! If you aren't on Ravelry, you can email it to me and I will post it for you!
~Knitting and Weaving:
  Simple knitted bodice is so close!  I have just about 14 more rows of neckband stitches and I will be done!  (Then of course I need to weave in ends and block, but that barely counts- it will be done by OFFF!)
  The socks I started last week are going well!
~ OFFF Details! 
  I will be there from Friday the 24th to Sunday the 26th! Saturday, Erin from the Anatomy of Knitting Podcast and I will be at the Bar Maids booth from 12-1 on Saturday for a meet and greet!  Come see us and get some hugs and buttons!
~Sales:
   - Fabric.com 30% clearance coupon code: Clear910. Also, notions and patterns are 20% off until tomorrow (Monday the 20th) so check that out!  Finally, check out the clearance section where they have 20-30% clearance!
   - ParadiseFibers.net has a moving sale closeout!  Awesome deals on name brand yarns and free shipping over $100.
   - wow-coupons.com has awesome links to grocery, retail and manufacturer coupons for almost anything you could need!
~Tip of the Week:
   Stay healthy! Cold and flu remedies, medicine and doctor visits are expensive! I've found that when I'm sick and cranky, I will pay almost any amount of money to feel better, and that is not a good state to be in. Wash your hands, don't touch your face, get some exercise, eat healthy food and get plenty of rest to stay healthy!  If you use up all your leave time being sick, then you won't be able to use it to do fun things like go to fiber festivals!
~ How I Saved the Week:
I bought a cone of yarn (about 2 pounds) to warp my loom with for only about $18! Over 5,000 yards of a beautiful steel gray color that goes really well with a lot of other yarns I have!
~Worth It!
The Knitter's Gift, edited by Bernadette Murphy
Retail: $12.95, 38 stories, 9 patterns.
I really like this book when it is cold and gloomy and I want to read stories about knitting! The stories are inspiring and touching! I don't know if I would recommend purchasing this book, I probably wouldn't have bought it for myself but it was a gift.  Definitely a library read though!!
~Contact Info:
Email Me!
Ravelry: Roue
Twitter: Roue0824
If you like the show, please leave a review on iTunes or click that fancy button!

~

Ep. 33- You Know It's Autumn When...

~Welcome/ Intro / Thanks!
~Sponsors:
Audible is giving my lovely listeners (that's you!) a free audiobook and a free 2 week trial!  Check it out for a free download!
   -September's Prize donation has come from Bar Maids! Yes, the lovely ladies are back and are donating their LoLo Travel Pack! This includes a Lo-Lo to go bar, (small and fits well inside a knitting bag) a Lo-Lo Lips (amazing chapstick) and their new product, the Cuticle Intesnsive! (So nice and smells great!)  If you want to win, send me a recipe for apples!  Visit the Ravelry Group and enter your best apple recipe!  I love apples and I want your recipes!
~Contest Winners from last month:
Listen to hear if you've won!
~ Knitting and Weaving!!

   I've finished Aaron's cabled socks and he is thoroughly enjoying them!  I've also started a new pair for myself out of some Dream in Color Smooshy that I picked up at Little Knits a few months ago on sale!  Yay!  I've done a bit of work on my simple knitted bodice, and I've also been weaving on my new loom!  I love it!  It is super duper fun and really easy! YaY!
~Free Entertainment:
I've been listening to The Well Knitted Life on the Knitmores' suggestion, and I am enjoying it!  Sadly, this segment might disappear because I am no longer allowed to listen to headphones at work, and since this was 90% of my listening time, I'm going to have a hard time keeping up with all my favorite podcasts as it is! I hope you'll all share your new free entertainment you find on the Ravelry group!
~Garden: 
We harvested almost 48 pounds of green tomatoes!  Kim from the Crooked Row podcast mentioned that if your tomatoes get too much water, they will split and rot.  It rains a lot here and we didn't want that to happen so we picked them! We are storing them in paper bags and cardboard boxes and they are starting to ripen off the vine!  We will definitely be canning and freezing loads of tomatoes!

~Sales:

I was a little bit lazy, I really wanted to talk to you guys but I didn't feel like doing homework so the big sales I've noticed in stores are summer stuff and Halloween!  Go get stuff!

~ Tip of the Week:

  Priorities: Save FOR something.  Whether it is the down payment on a house or a new ball of cashmere, if you have a specific goal you are saving for, it will be a lot easier to pass up those impulse buys because you know it will negatively affect your ability to buy something you really want!

~ DIY:

Apples in the fire!  Core out your favorite variety of apple (I like fuji and pink lady), wrap it partly in aluminum foil, fill the cored out space with a little butter and loads of sugar and cinnamon (or cloves, orange peel, ginger, whatever you think would be tasty) and wrap it up in the foil.  Either throw the apple into a fire for 20 minutes or bake it at 350 for about 45 minutes!  A tasty, inexpensive and (mostly) healthy snack or dessert!  

~Worth It!

   - Natural Alternatives for You and Your Home by Casey Kellar.

Retail: $24.99, I got it on Amazon for $18!  Use a coupon!  

Awesome book on making natural household products like body washes, face creams, cough drops and flea treatments!  I love this book and I can't wait to tell you more about the awesome things I make out of it!

Totally worth it!

Ep. 32- Self Preservation

~Welcome/ Intro/ Thank you!
   I had an awesome birthday! Thanks for all the birthday messages!
~Sponsors/ Contests!  
Check them all out in previous posts from this month! 
   Visit audiblepodcast.com/knitcents to download a free audiobook of your choice and sign up for a free 2 week trial!
~Knitting/ Spinning:
  I've been working on my Simple Knitted Bodice again!  I'm almost finished with the first sleeve, and the second one won't take long either!  (since is short sleeved!)  I've also almost finished Aaron's first TDTU sock!  Haven't done any spinning :(  I did however, buy a Schacht Cricket rigid heddle loom with some birthday money!
~Free Entertainment:
 NPR Sunday Puzzle!  Check it out on iTunes!
~Garden Update:
   Tomatoes are still going crazy, and I got some canning supplies for my birthday so we are going to make dilly beans and pickles this week!  Yay!
~Sales!
  -Joann has a really amazing deal on fine crochet thread!! 1.19 for a spool of of 400 yards of fine crochet thread! Great to use as a lifeline!
  -CrystalCreekFibers has awesome prices on fibers, including 4oz of hand dyed mulberry silk top for only $17!
  - Lion Brand Yarn Co. has Schacht Cricket looms on sale, 15% off! I got mine there!
~Tip of the Week:
  Self Preservation!  Can, freeze, dry or pickle fresh foods now!  Buy them fresh in bulk and preserve them to have all year! Bulk foods are way cheaper, and they are even more of a steal when they are in season!!!
~ How I Saved the Week:
   - Everything I bought with my birthday money was on sale except for a skein of yarn and a couple sets of needle tips!  I win!  Also, I bought some gross yogurt (because I wasn't at my favorite grocery store and the terrible store I was at didn't have ANY good yogurt!!) so I made frozen fruit yogurt popsicles out of them!!
~Worth It!
Put 'Em Up! by Sherri Brooks Vinton
  $19.95 retail, 300 pages!
This book is amazing!  It teaches you really easily how to preserve your own food without using special equipment!  Dry foods in your oven or air dry, freeze, can in a large soup pot and pickle using vinegar!  The book is laid out by main ingredient, so if you find yourself saying "what am I ever going to do with x pounds of x?" you can flip to that section!  I made dilly beans and pickles, and also some bruiseberry vinegar!!
SO WORTH IT!!!
~Contact Info:
Email ME!
Ravelry: Roue
Twitter: Roue0824
Leave a review on iTunes or click that fancypants button over there!

Episode 31- Warning, No Whining!

~Welcome/ Intro/ Thank you!
   -Sorry last week's episode was so whiney!  This one is way better!
This week's episode is brought to you by Audible!  Visit audiblepodcast.com/knitcents for a free 2 week trial and a free audiobook download of your choice!
~ Sponsor:
Sunset Fibers is offering 4oz of fiber or 200 yds of yarn in the colorway of your choice to the winner of this month's contest!  Check out all the details at the Ravelry Group page!
~ Knitting:
  I've finished the pattern prototype for the vanilla TDTU sock pattern!  It is being test knit and I hope to have the finished product done by the end of September!  I've been working on Aaron's cabled sock, but haven't gotten much done because I've been working on wedding plans a lot!  Not much spinning either.
~ Garden Update: 
Tomatoes! Mmmmmmmmmm
~ Sales:
   -Webs is having their summer sale with bargains of up to 70% off!
   - Knitpicks is getting rid of lots of summer colors at 25% off, and they have loads of kits for 15-33% off!
   - Amazon has tons of canning supplies for amazing prices!  Check them out if you are going to be doing as much canning as I will be!
~Tip of the Week
Ship packages online!  If you have the weight of your package, you can visit USPS.com and save up to 15% on shipping!!
~ How I Saved the Week:
Costco!  I got almost all my party goodies there for super cheap!
~ DIY:
 Preserving Carrots and squashes.  Carrots: peel, slice and blanch the carrots, then freeze them for up to 9 months!  Blanching is where you heat the food in boiling water for a short amount of time, then immediately dunk them into ice water for the same amount of time!
Squashes: Grate and store in the freezer in quantities perfect for zucchini bread! Yum!
~ Worth It:
Baby Knits for Beginners by Debbie Bliss
$19.95  144 pages, 16 patterns
Pros:
Patterns are well written and easy to read
Beautiful photos of all the patterns
Patterns are progressive in terms of skill
Technique pages are very good with easy to understand pictures.
Cons:
None of the sweaters are seamless! What the heck?
Yarn is all Debbie Bliss- do a little research to sub yarn!
Overall Worth it!
~Contact Info:
Email Me!
Ravelry: Roue
Twitter: Roue0824
Please leave a review on iTunes or click that shiny button below!!!

Episode 30- Its too darn hot!

This episode was very bad and I was super whiney and the music was too loud.  Feel free to skip it if you'd like.  If you want the info though, there it is:
Sales:
c-cerpets.com Super cute knit hand puppet patterns!  Use coupon code :Rav for 25% off!
Flocks of Yarn is going out of business. :( But they've got good sales going on because of it!
Sears is having their summer appliance sale, which includes air conditioners!!!

Episode 29- I tried to be lazy...

~Welcome, Intro, Thank yous
~Sponsors/ Contests:
 Check out last week's shownotes, there are a LOT!
~ Knitting/ Spinning:
I've got 5 repeats of chart B on Brandywine, and I still love it!  I've also finished the first top down toe up sock and I'm almost done with the foot of the second one!  I also started a new pair for Aaron, using some JoAnn Sensations Bamboo and Ewe yarn.  This ball seems a little slubby and has some weird bits of unspun sections that I am not a big fan of.  Hopefully it was just a little at the beginning of the ball...  I've worked a little on spinning that cormo, but not much on that front.
~Free Entertainment:
I'm still listening to the Quarter Share series by Nathan Lowell. (See last 2 or 3 episode notes) I've finished all but the final book, and I'm 2/3 through that one!  There is also a spin off type book from the same universe but about a different character that is queued up on my ipod for the next one!
~Garden Update:
We harvested a ton of stuff and made some AMAZING veggie lasagna from our garden and CSA this week!  I'm quite sure I've gained 15 pounds!
~ Sales!
   -Hairball Yarn is offering free shipping in the US!
   - WhitKnits is offering 15% off all their sock yarns and summer yarns during the month of August!
   -Woot is a website that highlights a deal every day!  Sometimes there are useless deals but sometimes the deals are really quite amazing!
~Tip of the Week:
Take advantage of free things!  Free isn't always a scam, sometimes its an advertisement, but you can also request free samples of products through their websites, take advantage of free trials of things like magazine and movie subscriptions (like Netflix, the best $9 a month I spend) and loads of other things!  Be creative!
~ How I Saved the Week:  Aaron really likes these sandwiches they make at our local grocery store, but one sandwich is about $7, so instead I decided we will make our own!  I made some delicious foccacia bread and we made up yummy sandwiches!  The bread recipe is from the Williams Sonoma Bread Cookbook. Its a recipe for Onion Foccacia, but instead of onion I use 3-4 cloves of pressed garlic and about a teaspoon of fresh chopped rosemary!  So yummy!
~ Worth It:
Knit Ponchos, Wraps and Scarves by Jane Davis
Retails at $21.99, 128 pages, 44 patterns
Pros:
-Teaches a lot of techniques: lace, cables, beads, fringes
- Lots of yarn options: says "use x amount of yardage in sport weight yarn of x fiber content" instead of specific yarn.  Gives readers permission to choose their own yarn a little easier.
- Beautiful color photos of every project
- Full range of skill levels
-Instructions are easy to follow
- Patterns are charted and written out line by line
- Diagrams used to teach techniques are easy to see and follow
Cons:
- Some patterns use really crazy novelty yarns which makes the design hard to see
- A lot of the patterns use Super Bulky yarn, which isn't my style.  Nothing wrong with it, just not for me
Overall: Worth it!!
~Contact Info
Email Me!
Ravelry: Roue
Twitter: Roue0824
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