KniCroBlo Week, Day 4: Where are they now?

That's a good question, where are they now? I have no idea. Once I give my knits away, I really don't give it a second thought. I have made handmade gifts for my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law every year for the last few years and I don't think I’ve ever seen either of them wearing or using the items that I’ve made them. Ok, that’s not entirely true. My mother-in-law loves an Asian inspired quilted table runner that I made her a few years ago after they went to China. She always has it either on her dinning room table or in her family room on a side table.

But my sister-in-law, I’ve never seen her use anything I’ve made for her. Granted, we’ve never been invited to her house so I don’t know what’s going on there but I’ve knitted her scarves and shawls and never seen her using them. I guess I’m of the school of thought that I got pleasure out of making the item so if she never uses them, that’s on her. The funny thing is that last year I decided not to put so much pressure on myself and fore go the hand made Christmas gifts last year and she’s the only one that pointed out that she didn’t get anything hand made. Weird, I thought she didn’t like getting handmade.

I’ve only made one thing for Hubbs. I knit him a pair of socks over a year ago and have been told that they slide down inside his work boots so he doesn’t like to wear them. This I can understand and I don’t take offense to. Personally I love handmade socks. They fit better and wick away sweat better then any socks I can buy but I get where Hubbs is coming from.

Hand knits for my family is a totally different story. Being that my Grandmother and my mother are avid knitters themselves, they know how much work goes into a hand knit item. My older sister doesn’t knit but she does quilt by hand so she also understands what goes into a handmade item. They love wearing handmade items and my older sister always points out to me when she’s wearing a pair of socks that I’ve made for her. She’s too funny, actually they all are. If they get a compliment on an item that I’ve made, they’re sure to tell the person that I’ve made it for them. But the best compliment I’ve ever received from my grandmother was a couple of years ago, she gave all the other grandkids hand knit sweaters…except me. She told me that I knit better then her (so not true) and that she’s not knitting for me anymore since I out knit her, so I got a pattern and some yarn. Lol Best compliment ever. The woman’s been knitting for something like 50 years and there is no way that I’m a better knitter, faster maybe but not better.

As for the things that I make for myself, some are folded and put away, others are in a pile on my dresser. Right now I’m wearing my Lovely Leaf Lace Scarf. Roheline, My Girl Friday and Buttercream Jacket are the ones in the pile. Honey Cowl is hanging on the coat hook right inside my bedroom door and my sock drawer is full of nothing but hand knit socks. I love my hand knits. I feel odd getting dressed without at least one hand knit item. I love them and I love getting compliments on them. There is no sense of accomplishment that measures up to getting a compliment on a sweater that I made from nothing but a pile of string with two sticks.

KniCroBlo Week, Day 3: Tidy Mind, Tidy Stitches

My number one rule of stashing yarn? Don't do it. Just say no. No yarn that doesn't have a specific purpose. It's a rule that I had to learn the hard way. I used to shop hop a lot with my mom for fabric and I would buy all kinds of stuff that I was sure I'd use later but now it just sits in a dresser in my sewing room hoping to be used...someday. Ugh, the dreaded someday. It never comes. And if it does, it doesn't come fast enough and most of the time that fabric that I loved so much 5 years ago, I'm over now and have no plans to use..ever.

So I took that lesson and have applied to yarn. Does that mean that I don't have a stash? No. So how did I get a stash? Some of it was gifted to me by a friend when she was moving out of state. Some of it was stuff I bought for specific projects that I never got around to and no longer want to do and some of it I have a plan for and am just waiting to finish a current project before I start a new one.

How do I store my stash? Easy, plastic bin, under my scrap basket under two boxes and a VCR.Is this the best way to store yarn? I don't know, but I really doubt it. However, it keeps it from getting dusty and it keeps a certain black, furry kitty cat from getting in to it and making a huge mess.

Writing this post has made me really think about how I keep my stash. I don't have hardly any of it on Ravelry. It would make sense to have it on Rav, then I'd know what I have and if I can use it for a project. Interesting. Maybe a project for next week.

KniCroBlo Week, Day 2: Skill + 1UP

After looking over my projects page on Ravelry, I noticed a real change in my knitting over the past year vs the years prior. I didn't start knitting until the end of 2007. Prior to that I was strictly a quilter and had never had a desire to cross over to knitting. All my projects leading up to 2010 were small objects; hats, socks, scarves and stoles. I made 19 pairs of socks alone in 2009.

2010 was a different story. I didn't complete nearly as many projects but I made lots of large projects. I learned to seam and not fear it, it's still not my favorite thing but it's doable. I learned a new cast-on method and a new way to make button holes. But I think the biggest thing I learned to do in 2010 was learn to convert a pattern to work it in the round.

I don't think my skills are too advanced and I'm sure there is always something to learn and places to improve in my knitting. Of all the things I learned my favorite is that my Grandmother thinks I'm a good knitter. She has been knitting for years but brags about me to her knitting friends. That is my greatest skills accomplishment of 2010.

KniCroBlo Week, Day One: A Tale of Two Yarns

I think a more accurate title for this post would be A Tale of One Yarn in Two Colors. In August of last year I was looking for a fairly inexpensive yarn to do the Buttercream Jacket from Interweave Knits Summer 2010 Issue. Per my normal way of doing things I researched all my options and decided instead of going to my local yarn shop, that I go to Joann's Fabrics to see if they had anything that was going to fit the bill. Remembering "cheap" and "lots of yardage" were my key words.

So armed with my 40% off coupon and a vague notion of a color I hit the store. I found a couple different options but only Lions Brand Fisherman's Wool meet the criteria. So after going through the 4 or 5 different colors they carried I settled on Heather Brown.

When I got the stuff home, I wound it into center pull cakes. And in winding it to those cakes I realized that this stuff was stiff and scratchy. But I didn't give up on it. I faithfully knitted those enormous cakes into my Buttercream Jacket (more like Coffee with Cream due to the color).

And I loved my Buttercream Jacket...except that it was scratchy. I mean itchy. I mean so itchy that I scratched until I broke blood vessels under my skin. Sooo not good but I wore that jacket anyway. It took months before it broke in enough that I didn't look like I had fleas every time I wore it. Once it broke in I could wear it with a short sleeve shirt and not itch...much.

So in February of this year, I was, once again, looking for some yarn that could get my hands on quickly. This time I was looking for something to make Roheline from Twist Collective Winter 2010. Criteria was the same as before, cheap and plenty of yardage. Again a trip to Joanns was in order. I attempted to avoid the Fisherman's Wool like the plague but I kept being drawn back to it for the Oatmeal colorway. Finally I picked up a skein of the stuff and discovered that unlike the Heather Brown, the Oatmeal was soft (not super soft but decent) and it didn't seem like it would be itchy like the Heather Brown was either. Generally once I have a bad experience with a yarn or find that I just don't like it, I don't give it a second chance. But coming from a place of yes (also a place of being cheap), I decided to give it a second chance.

But this time, I ended up with a very comfortable and easy to wear sweater that I really like. The wool is beautiful and warm. It's only itchy within reason, I mean it is wool after all.

2nd Annual Knitting & Crochet Blog Week starts tomorrow!

Now that I've gotten that out, time to chill.

Nothing like relaxing and listening to some podcasts on a Sunday. Hope your Sunday is restful too.

Cross your fingers for me. I'm off this morning to take a promotional test for my job. If I do well it will go so far to improving the quality of my life.

I don't talk about my job much here but suffice it to say that my job situation is really bad and I've been looking to leave for a while. The state currently has a hard freeze on hiring which means that I can't even transfer to a new division and do the same job somewhere else. Of course with the hard freeze I wont be able to go somewhere else anyway but when the freeze is lifted I will be able to get a better job.

The hard part is that I love my current co-workers and I really do like my job. I know it sounds weird when I say that my job situation is bad in one breath and say that I like my job in another. But it's true, both statements. If management would stop setting our unit up for failure by giving us realistic time lines and due dates things would be different. But what can you do when they refuse to listen? Not much...or look for a new job.

I shouldn't blame our management. They're great. It's government. They want it all without providing enough staff to actually do the job and they don't care if you need more staff. It's like a whirlpool around here. Crap is constantly flowing in from the field, so we feed crap to management who feeds it to the legislature/Governor. Who then sends it back and starts the cycle all over again.

Anyway, I didn't start this post as a way to gripe about my job, my bosses or my government. Fingers crossed, I'll do great on this test, get offered tons of awesome jobs, promote, make more money and be happier at work. Fingers crossed.

Book #23 of the 50 Book Challenge...

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

From Goodreads.com:

Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark won the annual competition described in Hunger Games, but the aftermath leaves these victors with no sense of triumph. Instead, they have become the poster boys for a rebellion that they never planned to lead. That new, unwanted status puts them in the bull's-eye for merciless revenge by The Capitol.

My take: 4 out of 5 stars. Great book. Totally cliff hanger ending. Can't wait to get my hands on the next book in the series.

Book #22 of the 50 Book Challenge...

The Uglies by ScottWesterfeld

From Goodreads.com:

Playing on every teen’s passionate desire to look as good as everybody else, Scott Westerfeld (Midnighters) projects a future world in which a compulsory operation at sixteen wipes out physical differences and makes everyone pretty by conforming to an ideal standard of beauty. The "New Pretties" are then free to play and party, while the younger "Uglies" look on enviously and spend the time before their own transformations in plotting mischievous tricks against their elders. Tally Youngblood is one of the most daring of the Uglies, and her imaginative tricks have gotten her in trouble with the menacing department of Special Circumstances. She has yearned to be pretty, but since her best friend Shay ran away to the rumored rebel settlement of recalcitrant Uglies called The Smoke, Tally has been troubled. The authorities give her an impossible choice: either she follows Shay’s cryptic directions to The Smoke with the purpose of betraying the rebels, or she will never be allowed to become pretty. Hoping to rescue Shay, Tally sets off on the dangerous journey as a spy. But after finally reaching The Smoke she has a change of heart when her new lover David reveals to her the sinister secret behind becoming pretty. The fast-moving story is enlivened by many action sequences in the style of videogames, using intriguing inventions like hoverboards that use the rider’s skateboard skills to skim through the air, and bungee jackets that make wild downward plunges survivable -- and fun. Behind all the commotion is the disturbing vision of our own society -- the Rusties -- visible only in rusting ruins after a virus destroyed all petroleum. Teens will be entranced, and the cliffhanger ending will leave them gasping for the sequel. (Ages 12 and up) --Patty Campbell

My take: 4 out of 5 stars. I have to admit that I had no desire to read this book. The description on Goodreads just left me with a bad taste in my mouth but I decided to go ahead and give it a shot. And since I gave it 4 out of 5 stars, I guess this is where that whole, "don't judge a book by its cover" thing comes in. I loved this book and I can't wait to read the next one. I requested the sequel before I even finished this one. Great cliff hanger. Highly recommend it.

I finished up my 1st month packet of Dear Jane.

A-7 Dad's Plaids

A-8 Florence Nightingale

Top Row, 1st from Left

Top Row, 2nd from Left

And I got started on the 2nd month...

A-9 Cabin Fever

I actually had to learn to paper piece which I'd never done before but it turned out well. I'm proud of myself for learning something new.

Book #21 of the 50 Book Challenge...

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

From Goodreads.com:

Cat's Cradle, one of Vonnegut's most entertaining novels, is filled with scientists and G-men and even ordinary folks caught up in the game. These assorted characters chase each other around in search of the world's most important and dangerous substance, a new form of ice that freezes at room temperature. At one time, this novel could probably be found on the bookshelf of every college kid in America; it's still a fabulous read and a great place to start if you're young enough to have missed the first Vonnegut craze.

My take: 2 out of 5 stars. I spent the entire time I was reading this book trying to figure out what I was missing, what the author wasn't telling me. Turns out whatever it was, he never did tell me. Thus 2 out of 5. I really didn't like it all that much.

The 2nd Annual Knitting & Crochet Blog Week is next week! If you haven't signed up yet, you should! It's going to be really fun! It runs from March 28 through April 3rd.

Here's the tags if you're participating! I'm really looking forward to it. I missed it last year and have been waiting for my chance at it!

The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King

This is the second book in the Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. For some reason I love this series. I remember reading these books and just waiting with baited breath for the next book to come out. This one isn't one of my favorites but I give it 3 out of 5 stars because I did like it.

Larch, progress has been made...

I ended up doing short rows on the right side of the back, doing a three needle bind off for the right side, then binding off 41 stitches for the neck and then doing the short rows on the left side and doing a three needle bind off to complete the back. I know that's not what the designer had in mind but it's what I did. I'm sure when it's done, no one will know the difference.

So after I finished the back, I cast on for the first sleeve. Once again, I don't get it. You cast on and work back and forth and then end up working in the round. The cuff then needs to be seamed up. Doesn't really make sense to me. But since I realized that I screwed up the cuff after I joined the sleeve to work in the round, I'm going to rip the whole thing out and work it in the round to begin with.

I have to admit with all the stockinette on this sweater is pretty boring. I find myself wishing this sweater was over with. But honestly, I think part of that is that I'm using such fine yarn, it takes a long time to get any kind of growth on this sweater. I'm hoping that now that the body is done and I just have sleeves and the collar to go, it will go much faster. Part of me wants this done because it's so cute and I can't wait to wear it and part of me wants it done just so it's done.

The ABC of Me!

A - Age: I'm 35
B - Bed Size: Queen
C - Chore you hate: Taking out the trash
D - Dogs Name: Rexragous International Dog of Mystery "Rex" & Dixie
E - Essential Start of the Day item: Coffee
F - Favourite Colour: Blues and greens
G - Gold or Silver: Both
H - Height: 5ft 9inches
I - Instruments you play: Piano, want to learn to play mandolin
J - Job: Analyst
K - Kids: None
L - Living Arrangements: Live in a house with my husband, two dogs and one cat
M - Music You Love: Classic Rock
N - Nicknames: Weezie & Sister
O - Overnight Hospital Stay: None
P - Pet Peeve: Tardiness
Q - Quote from a Movie: Too many to name
R - Right handed or Left: Right
S - Siblings: 2 sisters, one older and one younger
T - Time you wake up: Between 4:30 and 5
U - Underwear: Cotton
V - Vegetables you dislike: Green Beans
W - Workout Style: I used to run and I'd like to get back to it
X - X-Rays You've had: My knees when I was a kid and recently my right foot and my left hand after a motorcycle accident
Y - Yummy Food you make: Lots, I love to cook
Z - The best place to Visit - I love to travel but one of my favorites is Tamales Bay

I just ordered this gorgeous necklace from Jessie McCann's Etsy shop to commemorate my up coming 5th wedding Anniversary.

The outside will have our wedding date on the outside and the inside will have both of our names along with each of our birthstones.

It's such a beautiful, elegant piece that I know I'll be wearing years from now.

I don't normally talk about politics or current events here but I've been the events in Japan pretty closely. While listening to the news at work yesterday it suddenly dawned on me that an earthquake like what happened in Japan could easily happen here. I'm on the safety team at work, we've recently had an earthquake drill and talked about disaster preparedness. After that meeting, Hubbs and I talked about what we need to do to prepare in case of an earthquake but other then purchasing a few bottles of propane we never did anything to prepare.

This morning I went to the American Red Cross site and found a list to build a preparedness kit. The list has everything from food and water to emergency radio and blankets. I think that Hubbs and I will be building one of these kits and soon. California is very active with earthquakes and being that we live in the California Delta, tsunami's are a real possibility. However, that water would have to travel a really long way before it would reach us, but the possibility is still there. Watching those images on last nights news of the water rushing in and washing away cars and houses was very frightening.

I don't ask for donations ever but I think that donating money to The Red Cross can really help the people of Japan. If you can donate, please do. Even $5 can help.

I am so stuck on Larch...

I've slit off for the two fronts and the back. I've finished both fronts but I'm stuck on the back. I'm to the point where I need to do the short rows for the top before binding off for the neck but I just don't get the directions.

The directions say:
Shape shoulders: (RS) Work to 5 (6, 7, 8, 9, 10) sts from arm edge, wrap and turn, 2 times. Work
to 12 (12, 14, 16, 18, 10) sts from arm edge, wrap and turn, 2 times. Work to end of row picking up wraps and working them together with their sts, 2 times. Return held shoulder sts to needles, turn work so that WS is facing, work 3 needle BO across 17 (19, 22, 25, 27, 30) back and front left shoulder sts, BO 41 neck back sts, work 3 needle BO across 17 (19, 22, 25, 27, 30) back and front right shoulder sts, break yarn.

I just don't get it. Am I working to the far side and then doing the wrap and turn? Am I doing the near side? I just don't know why I'm having such a hard time with this. I did the wrap and turns on both of the fronts without a problem but these directions are baffling me. I've looked for help on Ravelry and it doesn't seem that anyone else is having this problem. I really want to finish this sweater so I can wear it.

If anyone can explain this to me, feel free to jump in because I'm sitting here with my dunce cap on.

I've been after new hiking boots for a while now. All of last summer/falls adventures have really gotten my juices going for hiking again. I used to hike all the time but after I moved to Sacramento, I didn't really know where to go.

On Saturday Hubbs and I were doing a little shopping and decided to run over to REI. I've been a member of REI for something like 20 years. I bought my membership back when I was about 13 and was doing a lot of backpacking with various groups including Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts. When you live in a really small town, sometimes you have to join forces to have enough people to go on a trip. I've backpacked in Lassen National Park and in Grand Canyon among other places with these groups. I loved it.

When I got older back packing wasn't something that I had much time to do. But day hikes on the weekends are totally do able. While I was at REI, I found this great book 60 Hikes within 60 Miles Sacramento. Now I have lots of places to hike and it even tells you which ones are dog friendly.

I did finally buy some boots. I've been looking since some time last year for new boots. I picked up Merrell Moab Ventilators. They're light weight and so far the couple trips around the neighborhood they've made have been really comfortable. Can't wait to hit the trails!

Book #20 of the 50 Book Challenge...

The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger by Stephen King

From Goodreads.com:
In the first book of this brilliant series, Stephen King introduces readers to one of his most enigmatic heroes, Roland of Gilead, The Last Gunslinger. He is a haunting figure, a loner on a spellbinding journey into good and evil. In his desolate world, which frighteningly mirrors our own, Roland pursues The Man in Black, encounters an alluring woman named Alice, and begins a friendship with the Kid from Earth called Jake. Both grippingly realistic and eerily dreamlike, The Gunslinger leaves readers eagerly awaiting the next chapter.

My take: 4 out of 5 stars. I've read this book before and loved it.

Book #19 of the 50 Book Challenge...

The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan

From Goodreads.com:

Gabry lives a quiet life. As safe a life as is possible in a town trapped between a forest and the ocean, in a world teeming with the dead, who constantly hunger for those still living. She’s content on her side of the Barrier, happy to let her friends dream of the Dark City up the coast while she watches from the top of her lighthouse. But there are threats the Barrier cannot hold back. Threats like the secrets Gabry’s mother thought she left behind when she escaped from the Sisterhood and the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Like the cult of religious zealots who worship the dead. Like the stranger from the forest who seems to know Gabry. And suddenly, everything is changing. One reckless moment, and half of Gabry’s generation is dead, the other half imprisoned. Now Gabry only knows one thing: she must face the forest of her mother’s past in order to save herself and the one she loves.

My take: 4 out of 5 stars. I really enjoyed this book and will be reading the next book in the series. I read the first book, The Forest of Hands and Teeth about a month ago and I'll be requesting the next book, The Dark and Hollow Places from the library.

The second annual Knitting & Corchet Blog Week is coming up at the end of the month. It runs from March 28th to April 3rd this year. I'm really thinking about joining in. It's seven day of specific topics and questions to help you grow in your fiber art. More information can be found on Eskimimi's blog, Eskimimi Knits.

Christmas 2009, my mom gave Dear Jane Block of the Month from Stitchin Heaven. I have been in love with this quilt since the first time I saw it a few years ago. But it's 224 blocks and very intimidating.

The blocks started coming in January of 2010 but I never worked on them. I just put them away and never even looked at them. When I did look at them I discovered that I needed the Dear Jane book by Brenda Manges Papadakis (check out her Dear Jane website, pretty cool). Every time I looked for the book it was sold out. For my birthday my mom got me the book.

Over the weekend I decided to see if I could get started on the blocks. So I pulled out month one and got to work. I didn't manage to finish month one before the end of the weekend but I did finish 6 out of the 10 blocks.

A-1, Pinwheel Gone Awry

A-2, One - Two Buckle My Shoe

A-3, Hunters Moon

A-4, Courtney's Stethoscope

A-5, Cathie's Campfire

A-6, Uncle Homer

I've almost finished A-7, Dad's Plaids too but at some point you have to leave the sewing room and pay attention the husband. At one point I guess he decided that I had done enough sewing because he started texting from the living room! lol

Dear Jane is and already has tested my skills. I don't applique, well at least I hadn't prior to this weekend. I'm looking forward to the challenge.

Wordless Wednesday

Book #18 in the 50 Book Challenge...

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

From Goodreads.com:

Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with everyone out to make sure you don't live to see the morning?

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars. I really enjoyed this book and have already requested the 2nd book in the series. After reading the book, I can see why the wait list was so long, it's excellent.

Book #17 in the 50 Book Challenge...

War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

From Goodreads.com:

"No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s and yet as mortal as his own.” Thus begins one of the most terrifying and morally prescient science fiction novels ever penned. Beginning with a series of strange flashes in the distant night sky, the Martian attack initially causes little concern on Earth. Then the destruction erupts—ten massive aliens roam England and destroy with heat rays everything in their path. Very soon mankind finds itself on the brink of extinction. Wells raises questions of mortality, man’s place in nature, and the evil lurking in the technological future—questions that remain urgently relevant in the twenty-first century.

My Review: 4 out of 5 stars. Great story, very interesting to see what people at the end of the 19th century thought mars might be like. Some of the language was a bit archaic and was prone to send me into fits of giggles (because I'm truly a child underneath it all), but I still love it.

Book #16 of the 50 Book Challenge...

Dies the Fire by S.M. Stirling

From Goodreads.com:

More of "the best straight-ahead science fiction the genre has ever seen" (Amazing) from the bestselling author of Conquistador. An electrical storm over Nantucket causes all electronic devices to cease to function-computers, radio, even firearms-and plunges the world into a darkness humanity is unprepared to face. But as some people band together to help, others are building armies for conquest...It all started when an electrical storm over the island of Nantucket produced a blinding white flash, causing all electronic devices to cease to function-computers, telephones, engines, radio, television, even firearms-and plunged the world into a darkness humanity was unprepared to face. But even as some people band together to help one another, others are building armies for conquest...

My take: 3 out of 4 stars. It was good but not great. Not sure if I'll read the next book in the series.

Honey Cowl is done! And I love it!

Turned out so cute and the fit is perfect.

Goes with my purple snow jacket perfect.

So perfect!

Pattern: Honey Cowl by MadelineTosh

Yarn: Tosh DK in Black Velvet (1 Skein)

Needles: Size 8 US

Mods: None

I came down with a nasty head cold this week. Mostly runny nose, stuffed up ears and coughing along with feeling like my head was stuffed with cotton. I am a horrible, whiny sick person and I'm sure that Hubbs was grateful that he had to go to work and thus avoided having to deal with me for most of the day.

So as to not waste a day, I paid bills and balanced the check book but after that I ran out of chores to do. The house was already clean and honestly even if it wasn't I wouldn't have worked on it anyway since I just wasn't up to doing anything to strenuous. So instead I did a little shopping for stitch markers on Etsy. I found tons I like but I really wanted instant gratification. I hate waiting for stuff to ship. So I made my own.

Blue ones.

Green ones.

Both sets fit size 5 and smaller needles. I love my stitch markers that I bought from Miss Purl at Stitches West but they're better suited for size 8 needles then the size 4's I'm using for Larch. I made two sets of 7 each. And it was really easy. They're not as nice as the ones I bought but pretty good for a first try. I had problems wrapping the wire around to secure the loop at the top. Some came out better then others. It was fun and cheap since I had all the stuff to make them already. A good way to pass a couple of hours when you're sick.

I picked up a new bag over the weekend. I decided that I needed a small messenger bag that I could carry across my body. I found a Sherpani bag on sale at REI.
It's got one big pocket and one small pocket. In the big pocket it's also got a waterproof sleeve for holding a 16oz water bottle and one small pocket which is plenty big enough to hold my cell phone.

The big pocket is big enough to hold my full sized wallet, my glasses, my hair brush, a small bag for my Burt's Bees lip balm (of which I generally have four or five of them), my camera and even a large hard back book. The small pocket holds my calendar, my iPod and my badge for work. It also has a tethered key chain that I put my work keys on so I can always find them.

The flap also has a small pocket in it that's just big enough to hold my car keys and a lip balm for easy access. It's a great bag.