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Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Yarn Along: Yarn Clubs!


LOVE the 70s clothing on the cover! It's so appropriate to the setting in Edwardian times. Ha!

All the knitting on Amira's cropped hoodie is finished! I still haven't sewn the seams, and I've made no progress on other projects, but after I cross off a few more things today and tomorrow, I hope to get it completed so she can wear it this week. Since I can't show you the other knitting I've been doing, I will show you yarn.


Two skeins of BFL Sport in Polished Stone and two in Over the Ocean. One skein of Silk/Merino DK in Silver Leaf (It's really hard to capture this color, it is the palest green/blue, with a silvery cast. It's not grey at all.

My yarn club shipments arrived this week, two from MadelineTosh and one from Paradise, though all the yarns are MadelineTosh. I have two subscriptions for the Magnolia Society, one in tonals and one in semi-solid. The Silver Leaf came with a coupon to get another skein for $5.00 off and a skein of any other color of the yarn for $4.00 off. Since I also get 10% off from my membership in the club, and I have a filled card that I can use to get $10 off, and another $10 off from points there, it makes those two skeins quite affordable. So, now I'm trying to think of a good color to get to go along with two skeins of the Silver Leaf.


Swatch for Amira, which needs testers in about a month.

I will be needing testers in late November for a woman's, sleeveless shell. I totally lied about not needing to seam this garment, as I was working from the wrong notes. This one needs seaming, but only two seams, one on each side. As you can see from the swatch, it involves texture and simple lace. The pattern requires standard chart reading skills, ability to increase and decrease, make yos, knit in the round, and pick up stitches. Right now, I'm working on my own top in a deep red. There are no specific brand requirements for the yarn, simply a DK weight yarn that knits up at 5.5 stitches per in in stockinette (the gauge for the top will be about 5.25 spi, but I want a yarn that will drape well at that gauge). I'd like to have at least two testers per size: 29", 34", 39", 44", 49" finished bust. Yardage requirements are calculated for each size, respectively, as: 790, 900, 1000, 1100, 1225 yds. This is still an estimate, however, so I recommend getting an extra skein of whatever you buy, or if you are using stash, making sure that you have an extra ball's worth of the yarn. I'll want you to join a Facebook group for testers, if you are able, but will require a Ravelry entry, tagging me in it, and a link up when the pattern is released. The specific details will be given if you take this on for me. I will give the finished copy of the pattern to testers when the pattern is released, a percentage/amount off coupon to my Ravelry Store for those who complete the test, and a coupon for a free pattern for those who provide photos and link up to the pattern page. If you are able to do this, please contact me. Here's the weekly reminder to like Arabian Knits Designs on Facebook, if you haven't already. That's where I put updates and testing opportunities and other design news. Thank you!

Amira and I finished Glory in the Flower and have started The Sanctuary Tree. We are still reading The Restaurant at the End of the Universe in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, 25th Anniversary Edition with the kids, and I'm trying to pick Everywhere Present: Christianity in a One-Storey Universe up again, though it feels like I'm not going to get a chance to read anything just for myself anytime soon.



Also posting to Keep Calm and Craft On.

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 1:10 PM 0 comments

Monday, October 26, 2015

Menu Plan: October 25 - 31


Do you ever feel like you are running all the time and still not doing anything? That's kind of how it's been around here. It's been so busy, but I feel like I just have pieces of things done and nothing complete. Anyway, here is the menu for the week. It's another busy one at home, in our school work, and with our garden/property. Tonight's dinner ended up being a way to quickly use up produce from our garden in a way that didn't require me cooking so I could continue with my knitting and other tasks. I also have a huge pile of grading to do, still, and I feel like I am teaching and grading from morning to night with Alexander's schedule.

Below, I include our daily Bible readings which we use to read through the entire Bible each year. We read through all of the Old Testament and New Testament, reading the Psalms and Proverbs twice. Remember that the Psalms are according to eastern numbering in our daily Bible reading, also I Kings is the original designation, it is I Samuel in western Bibles (II Kings is II Samuel in the west, III Kings is I Kings, and IV Kings is II Kings, I Ezra is also called I Esdras in other translations, II Ezra is often translated as Ezra or II Esdras).

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up.

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 11:59 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Yarn Along: So Close!


I'm on to the ribbed edging on Amira's cropped hoodie. It is 290 sts on each row. It's taking me a long time. However, I still think I can get it finished this week, as after that, I only have two small seams to sew. There's no photo, but I've sewn one of the side and sleeve seams on my Cross Your Heart. There's a proposal for a child's garment that is just about ready to send (today or tomorrow!) and I am finishing up the swatch for a holiday issue of a magazine for next year, that should be ready to mail early next week. I know I said that I was taking a break from submissions, but a call came up for something that I already have great plans for, and if I finish the proposals, Amira's sweater, and mine, then I will take a shot at it. If not, I'll just keep it on the back burner for a little while.


Swatch for Amira, which needs testers in about a month.

I will be needing testers in November for a woman's, sleeveless shell, knit in the round, with minimal back and forth knitting and only as much seaming as you like. As you can see from the swatch, it involves texture and simple lace. The pattern requires standard chart reading skills, ability to increase and decrease, make yos, knit in the round, and pick up stitches. Right now, I'm working on my own top in a deep red. There are no specific brand requirements for the yarn, simply a DK weight yarn that knits up at 5.5 stitches per in in stockinette (the gauge for the top will be about 5.25 spi, but I want a yarn that will drape well at that gauge). I'd like to have at least two testers per size: 29", 34", 39", 44", 49" finished bust. Yardage requirements are calculated for each size, respectively, as: 790, 900, 1000, 1100, 1225 yds. This is still an estimate, however, so I recommend getting an extra skein of whatever you buy, or if you are using stash, making sure that you have an extra ball's worth of the yarn. I'll want you to join a Facebook group for testers, if you are able, but will require a Ravelry entry, tagging me in it, and a link up when the pattern is released. The specific details will be given if you take this on for me. I will give the finished copy of the pattern to testers when the pattern is released, a percentage/amount off coupon to my Ravelry Store for those who complete the test, and a coupon for a free pattern for those who provide photos and link up to the pattern page. If you are able to do this, please contact me. Here's the weekly reminder to like Arabian Knits Designs on Facebook, if you haven't already. That's where I put updates and testing opportunities and other design news. Thank you!

We'll focus on books I'm actually making progress on this week. I've finished reading The Keeping Days with Amira, and we started Glory in the Flower today. I read this series books when I was about her age and is a sweet thing to be sharing them with her now that she is old enough. They laid the foundation for my conversion to Christianity, but not by being preachy, "message," stories, rather by having a story so compelling to me that I was interested in the message. We are also continuing with The Restaurant at the End of the Universe in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, 25th Anniversary Edition, and I'm still reading Everywhere Present: Christianity in a One-Storey Universe.



Also posting to Keep Calm and Craft On.

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 9:52 AM 0 comments

Monday, October 19, 2015

Menu Plan: October 18 - 24


The cold is still alive and well in our home, but going away. We even missed church on Sunday. Not everyone was sick, but enough of us were that I needed to be here to care for them, so we did Morning Prayer with our reserved Eucharist (which we receive each Sunday, anyway, not being able to commune here), and rested. We would appreciate your prayers.

There may be a couple repeats this week, but I think for the most part, we're keeping on track. Our garden is slowing down, but we even had a couple ripe enough watermelons (which is a miracle, given how late we planted them). We're still harvesting and trying to beat the hard freeze which is coming. School is rough this year. With Alexander taking college courses during the day, he and I are doing double duty on school, since he comes home to do his homeschool high school work, and I have to teach into the night. Then, there is the four day a week ballet schedule, with three girls in, and Amira's lessons taking seven hours each week. Not a lot is getting done in our homes and lives outside of school and work and ballet right now. We're thinking that next term, Alexander will have to miss out on the co-op, because while he technically can go, he doesn't have class that day, and his instructor wants them doing their work in class so he can log their hours for the FAA certification, he still has high school lessons to do and studying his books and notes from the college classes, and he has a job for a month or two longer that also takes some of his time (though less and less, as the farming season is winding down) with Dominic who also works for the same farmer, and household duties. We've tried to lighten his load and work with his schedule, but he's been slammed into being a grown up with lots of responsibilities, and the other kids are also taking up the slack in what he can't do, which makes their schedules a bit tighter. And, like I said, I'm homeschooling from morning to evening now. So, we figure after this term, we'll drop our co-op for him, which at least lets him do some study and high school lessons at that time, and frees up some of his other time. As for me, I'm thankful for a moms' night out this week.

Below, I include our daily Bible readings which we use to read through the entire Bible each year. We read through all of the Old Testament and New Testament, reading the Psalms and Proverbs twice. Remember that the Psalms are according to eastern numbering in our daily Bible reading, also I Kings is the original designation, it is I Samuel in western Bibles (II Kings is II Samuel in the west, III Kings is I Kings, and IV Kings is II Kings, I Ezra is also called I Esdras in other translations, II Ezra is often translated as Ezra or II Esdras).

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up.

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 11:59 PM 0 comments

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Summer Randomania

I know that it is officially fall, and that it's actually unofficially winter where we live. Nonetheless, here are some bits of randomania from this summer.

Everyone knows how toddlers and small children say cute things when they are learning language and either putting things together in their own way or mispronouncing words. Nejat has a whole spate of these.

When she wants to see something on television, she wants to: Watchamovie. One word. I wish I could express her tone and inflection. She starts high pitched with the stress on the first syllable, then drops and says the last three in equal emphasis.

Also, I thought that only Buckwheat said O-tay! Apparently, this is not so. Nejat pronounces hard C as a T sound. It's adorable and hilarious. Until she says kitty.

Speaking of inappropriate things she says inadvertently, she also says everyone's name in funny, toddler ways. Dominic's name is now Dommit. Which sounds like a profane exclamation.

Rich said something a month or two ago, while we were trying, desperately, to get our post-liturgical nap, that Sundays were the day your children experience the love of God and the apathy of their parents, all at the same time. Our kids were asking a million questions and making all these demands, and we were like "Whatever, do what you want. Just be quiet so we can sleep."

That is all for now.

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 7:45 AM 2 comments

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Catharsis

I read on a designing group about a way a lady used to handle rejections with her co-workers in a different field of work. They made a joke and assigned prizes, and it was cathartic. So that is what I am doing here. In the last two years, I have self-published eight patterns, submitted 18 for consideration, and there are two more I'm sending in about two weeks. Two of the 18 are still under consideration, and there is some overlap, as some of the rejections have been self-published, I'm working on four of them for either resubmission to another publication/yarn company or publishing myself, and one of them is basically the same pattern reworked in a different weight yarn. However, of the 16 that I submitted and heard back, only one has been accepted for publication. Over the years, I have submitted three more, and two of those were published, the third is something I gave to the girls and have no interest in reworking to publish myself or with anyone else. So, out of 19, I have a success rate of 3. I realize that for creative work, this is not that unusual and not bad, but it is a grinding work, putting yourself out there to promote and sell. So, here is a catalogue of my rejections from the past two years. There are four photos missing, because I am working on them actively for publication right now.

I've had two batches of rejections in the last month, and I just have to laugh a little about it and find some humor at this point. Several of these are going to become a collection of accessories that I will release as an e-book for a lower price than individually purchasing the patterns, and I will need testers for them, I hope, by January. More details will be forthcoming as I finish the pattern writing and so on for them.

So, here are my citizens of the Island of Misfit Knitwear.


Honestly, I think that had I submitted this set earlier, it would have been accepted. There was another set in the book that was visually similar, even though there were many other differences, down to a rather similar color choice, and it was probably too close. In any case, it has been published for sale, and you can find April on Ravelry, with a little burp cloth to match for free (through the end of this year).


Laetare is a pretty simple design, actually, but with a little twist. I'm not sure why it wasn't accepted, but when I wear mine (it doesn't have to be a nursing cover up!), I get tons of compliments on it.


This is a swatch for a drapey, turban styled headband that I will release in the spring or summer of next year.


This is a sweater design I have submitted to two different magazines, and it fit nobody's style. I thought of saving it for a later submission, but I think I am going to use it as a self-published design, perhaps next year. I started with a piece of painted Persian artwork and isolated the patterns, turned them on end to make them easier to repeat in knitting and graphed the whole thing so I could use it in a stranded piece of work. I added some more to the design so the knitter could carry floats instead of using intarsia.


This was submitted first as a warm, cozy shawl pattern knit in a worsted weight wool. I am actually pretty proud of the cabling detail I figured out and charted, and the math I had to use to get an almost circular shawl with the designs I wanted on it. This is definitely going to be used in the future.


Here it is in a dk weight yarn and different color. This yarn is a blend of wool and alpaca and created a lighter fabric with a little more drape. This was submitted as a shawl design to go along with a story on locally produced/sourced yarns. Again, this is definitely a design I will work out in the future, either in the worsted or the dk, or change an element and use the changed one in the dk and the original in the worsted.


This is a swatch for a flounced, middy skirt that I actually think is quite lovely and elegant, and it will be released next year as well.


These next four were submitted together, to be considered as a coordinating set, or individually, for a yarn club's pattern selections. I plan on putting these patterns together with another three that I have in various stages of completion for a collection that I will self-publish around March.


This is a hat that I am exceedingly proud of, actually. It will be available in four sizes: toddler/15", child/small adult/18", adult medium/20", adult large/23". I will want at least two testers on each size and hope to have the pattern writing finished by January if any of my four submissions from this month are accepted, earlier if they are not.


This cowl will also be available in four sizes, from toddler to adult, and I would like two testers on each size.


These gauntlet mitts will be designed for four sizes, from toddler to adult, with the same tester requests as before.


These have two options for the knitter. They can either be made shorter, as boot cuffs, or longer, as leg warmers. These, another design I'm still knitting for the prototype, and the gauntlets are the only designs out of the collection that I think aren't really unisex. I think the rest are all quite versatile for men or women, and depending on color choice, can be made more or less masculine or feminine. I'd want more than eight testers on these, or for the eight testers to be willing to knit both lengths.

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 8:50 AM 3 comments

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Yarn Along: Close to Two Finished Sweaters!


I've re-sewn the sleeves to the body on my Cross Your Heart, and I think that it will be enough to negate the need for the gussets. I have sewn another side seam, and I'll get the other one done this week, then pick up the neck sts for the (shorter) funnel neck. Amira's cropped hoodie is near completion also. The pattern is more of a guideline for me, I'm kind of making it up as I go along at this point. I've changed the gauge and size, did the math for that, and I'm working it as much in one piece as possible to minimize the seaming.


Yummy Rowan yarns: Lima in Rosario, KidSilk Haze in Royal Blue, and Cocoon in Frost. Plus some Habu Stainless Steel Thread.

I was able to go to the Rowan Yarn Tasting at Paradise again this year. It was supposed to be a fun trip for a few of us from this area, but I was the only one who ended up going. They give rather generous goodie bags, so I like to make it just for that, not counting all the other fun stuff and shopping there. Even though I didn't win any of the drawings, my competitive streak kicked in to get me another skein of Rowan yarn. Someone hadn't claimed her drawing prize and after giving a couple warnings that after a certain time they would offer it again, they did. Only this time, they asked a trivia question about the significance of the patterns on Aran sweaters. I won't say that I ran, because I don't run, but I certainly did scamper down the ramp to the check in table, and blurted my answer out before the lady who was there could say anything, and I won! I didn't even know what I was winning. That is how competitive I am. Anyway, I didn't buy a ton, but Rich instructed me that I was to buy a ball winder, since it would speed up the process for everyone at our home, and I had forgotten my needles to work on the project I brought, so I bought another set of those, and picked up some stainless steel thread from Habu to make some jewelry type pieces for the kids, but I wish I had picked up the copper thread, too.

My other project at the moment is swatching for a Saint Nicholas stocking for a magazine. I think it's a really strong design, and I'm hoping it works with their issue, as well. If it doesn't fit the rest of their story, I will finish it and publish it myself. It may become Yasmina's stocking, since I owe her, Mariam, and Nejat their own handmade ones, but I had a different design in mind for her, so I'll have to think about that. After that submission and another that is almost ready to send, I'm going to take a little break from submissions and work on my own self published designs some more. I've had to neglect them a little with deadlines and so on, and I'd like to get more out there that is either ready or just about ready right now.



Swatch for Amira, which needs testers in about a month.

I will be needing testers in November for a woman's, sleeveless shell, knit in the round, with minimal back and forth knitting and only as much seaming as you like. As you can see from the swatch, it involves texture and simple lace. The pattern requires standard chart reading skills, ability to increase and decrease, make yos, knit in the round, and pick up stitches. Right now, I'm working on my own top in a deep red. There are no specific brand requirements for the yarn, simply a DK weight yarn that knits up at 5.5 stitches per in in stockinette (the gauge for the top will be about 5.25 spi, but I want a yarn that will drape well at that gauge). I'd like to have at least two testers per size: 29", 34", 39", 44", 49" finished bust. Yardage requirements are calculated for each size, respectively, as: 790, 900, 1000, 1100, 1225 yds. This is still an estimate, however, so I recommend getting an extra skein of whatever you buy, or if you are using stash, making sure that you have an extra ball's worth of the yarn. I'll want you to join a Facebook group for testers, if you are able, but will require a Ravelry entry, tagging me in it, and a link up when the pattern is released. The specific details will be given if you take this on for me. I will give the finished copy of the pattern to testers when the pattern is released, a percentage/amount off coupon to my Ravelry Store for those who complete the test, and a coupon for a free pattern for those who provide photos and link up to the pattern page. If you are able to do this, please contact me. Here's the weekly reminder to like Arabian Knits Designs on Facebook, if you haven't already. That's where I put updates and testing opportunities and other design news. Thank you!

I did not finish Everywhere Present: Christianity in a One-Storey Universe, but I'm still reading and enjoying it. We are continuing with The Restaurant at the End of the Universe in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, 25th Anniversary Edition.



Also posting to Keep Calm and Craft On.

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 9:47 AM 3 comments

Monday, October 12, 2015

Menu Plan: October 11 - 17


We have had a bit of a cold going through the house. Nothing too miserable, but just enough to slow everyone down. We've moved some of last week's meals to this week, and simplified a lot of them as well. Since our garden is still providing for us, we've been covering it with plastic when it gets to freezing and below at night and uncovering it for the sun and (very little) rain. We're hoping to inch it along through this weekend, but I have a feeling that the hard freeze is going to come this weekend or shortly thereafter. Because of our garden, though, we have a lot of wonderful produce that we are using in almost all of our meals.

This week has one of Rich and my anniversaries in it, too. We already celebrated 21 years since our first meeting this past summer, and our 19th wedding anniversary will be at the end of this year. This week, it is the anniversary of our first date, also known as the anniversary of what we count as our first date, since otherwise we'd have to wait a week or two into our dating for us to have a first date, also known as the anniversary of the night Rich brought me home from the dance and accepted my offer to come inside and have coffee even though he didn't drink and hated coffee - 21 years this week, which isn't too shabby. I asked Rich if we were going to do anything for it (we have college tuition to pay, because Alexander's program is so intensive and requires so many credits, that though most are paid through Running Start, not all of it is, and we've been remodeling the bathroom and are getting ready to work on the utility room, too, and other things we're having to possibly replace and repair), and he said that he was going to pick grapes with the older boys and then we were going to a fancy pants restaurant in town for our special dinner alone. So, that's what we're doing. He, Alexander and Dominic are going to glean Concord grapes on one of the two days of the week that we don't have anything happening too late in the afternoon, and then he'll drop them off at home, change his clothes and he and I will go to dinner. I look forward to far more than 21 more years with this man of mine.

We are plugging along with school and I'm missing Alexander during the day, but also having to do extra lessons with him at night because Running Start does not provide all of his high school education, nor did we want this to be the end of his high school education since he is still just a junior, but it makes for long homeschool days for me. The good news is that a lot of his work is just assignments I can set for him and have him do, so really it's a long day of education for him. We knew it would be like this, but I think it's a bit harder on everyone than we understood. He's now getting up in the morning at the same time that Rich and I do, between 5:00 and 5:30, and he stays up late like we do, either doing school work or finishing chores here at home or going over his books and notes from the college, and neither of us has as much leisure time as we'd like. Which wasn't that much to begin with, honestly. We told him that by taking on this program, he'd be reducing his life to school, school, and work, and he's doing it. The good news is that he loves what he's learning and studying, and the experience is really growing him up, which is great to see.

Below, I include our daily Bible readings which we use to read through the entire Bible each year. We read through all of the Old Testament and New Testament, reading the Psalms and Proverbs twice. Remember that the Psalms are according to eastern numbering in our daily Bible reading, also I Kings is the original designation, it is I Samuel in western Bibles (II Kings is II Samuel in the west, III Kings is I Kings, and IV Kings is II Kings, I Ezra is also called I Esdras in other translations, II Ezra is often translated as Ezra or II Esdras).

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up.

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 11:59 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, October 06, 2015

Yarn Along: Blast from the Past!


I finished another cranked headband this week, and I picked up a sweater that has been almost finished for about 10 1/2 years. No joke. I started it around August of 2004, had all the knitting on the body and sleeves done by March of 2005, and only needed to knit the neck and make two gussets for the arms (I had shortened them as they had originally been designed for women whose arms can touch their knees when hanging by their sides, but ended up eliminating more increases than I should have, so they were a bit tight, and didn't want to reknit the sleeves). It's been sitting in my knitting pile ever since. So, I finally grabbed the yarn and needles and started the gussets, and I'm going to pick up the neck stitches to finish that off as well. If I get the gussets sewn in and the side and sleeve seams done this week, I will have another finished object that is pretty impressive, in my opinion. Even here, it isn't quite cold enough to wear this during the day, but by the end of the month it will be. It took me all of an hour and a half to knit a gusset, and that was with plenty of interruptions, so again I find myself wondering why I didn't do it before. This is another reason to pick classic and timeless patterns, rather than faddish ones, I suppose.


Swatch for Amira, which needs testers in about a month.

I will be needing testers in November for a woman's, sleeveless shell, knit in the round, with minimal back and forth knitting and only as much seaming as you like. As you can see from the swatch, it involves texture and simple lace. The pattern requires standard chart reading skills, ability to increase and decrease, make yos, knit in the round, and pick up stitches. Right now, I'm working on my own top in a deep red. There are no specific brand requirements for the yarn, simply a DK weight yarn that knits up at 5.5 stitches per in in stockinette (the gauge for the top will be about 5.25 spi, but I want a yarn that will drape well at that gauge). I'd like to have at least two testers per size: 29", 34", 39", 44", 49" finished bust (corrected measurements). Yardage requirements are calculated for each size, respectively, as: 790, 900, 1000, 1100, 1225 yds. This is still an estimate, however, so I recommend getting an extra skein of whatever you buy, or if you are using stash, making sure that you have an extra ball's worth of the yarn. I'll want you to join a Facebook group for testers, if you are able, but will require a Ravelry entry, tagging me in it, and a link up when the pattern is released. The specific details will be given if you take this on for me. I will give the finished copy of the pattern to testers when the pattern is released, a percentage/amount off coupon to my Ravelry Store for those who complete the test, and a coupon for a free pattern for those who provide photos and link up to the pattern page. If you are able to do this, please contact me. Here's the weekly reminder to like Arabian Knits Designs on Facebook, if you haven't already. That's where I put updates and testing opportunities and other design news. Thank you!

I'm continuing with Everywhere Present: Christianity in a One-Storey Universe, and hope to get enough time to sit and read it soon so I can finish it. We finished Hitchhiker's Guide and are moving on to The Restaurant at the End of the Universe in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, 25th Anniversary Edition.



Also posting to Keep Calm and Craft On, and Yarn Fanatic Party.

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 10:30 AM 4 comments

Monday, October 05, 2015

Menu Plan: October 4 - 10


Alexander's birthday is this week. I can't believe he is going to be 17! We're having a special dinner for him, but I don't know what else he has planned. The rest of our meals are pretty simple or about using up garden produce and things in our freezers and pantry. Our garden is almost finished for the year, which is sad. Winter comes early and quickly here.

We have an exciting trip we're planning as an anniversary gift to ourselves. Our 20th anniversary is next year, and we've talked about going to a friend's resort in Mexico for that, but this year, our 19th, there was a great deal on Living Social for a two night stay at Cannon Beach for $199 at a lovely little lighthouse inn. As this is where we spent our honeymoon, we thought it would be a nice treat to ourselves this year. We can't go on our actual anniversary, but we're working out which nights we can spend there. I know that many people who read this blog live in OR or WA, so I thought I'd throw out the link to the deal, in case you are interested, too. It expires at the end of the day of October 7, I think PDT. If enough people also take advantage of this deal, ours becomes free, just to be completely open with you. I wouldn't share it here if I didn't think it was a great deal, and if I didn't think folks would be interested in it.

Below, I include our daily Bible readings which we use to read through the entire Bible each year. We read through all of the Old Testament and New Testament, reading the Psalms and Proverbs twice. Remember that the Psalms are according to eastern numbering in our daily Bible reading, also I Kings is the original designation, it is I Samuel in western Bibles (II Kings is II Samuel in the west, III Kings is I Kings, and IV Kings is II Kings, I Ezra is also called I Esdras in other translations, II Ezra is often translated as Ezra or II Esdras).

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up.

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 12:23 PM 0 comments

Thursday, October 01, 2015

Yarn Along: Quick and Easy


Instead of working on Amira's cropped hoodie, I took rainforest leaf with me to the girls' ballet classes. I wanted something quick and easy to work on, after all the long term projects and swatches for proposals that I've been working on so much lately. There are three more swatches and three prototypes I need to have finished by the end of this month, so I'm really hoping that taking a break to do something that is just finished, for pity's sake, will help spur me on to finishing other things. All I have left to do is wash, block, and weave in the ends.




I wish I could show you the swatches and prototypes I've sent in, because I am really proud of them, but I can't yet. So, instead, here's the weekly reminder to like Arabian Knits Designs on Facebook, if you haven't already. That's where I put updates and testing opportunities and other design news. Thank you!

Still reading Everywhere Present: Christianity in a One-Storey Universe and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, 25th Anniversary Edition. We're enjoying both of them for rather different reasons.



Also posting to Keep Calm and Craft On, and Yarn Fanatic Party.

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// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 11:28 AM 0 comments

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