I Never Promised You an Organic Garden » Happy Thoughts http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog and other things you won't expect... Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:46:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 The knitting gods smiled on me http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/the-knitting-gods-smiled-on-me/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/the-knitting-gods-smiled-on-me/#comments Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:36:38 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=139 Herring Bone PatternI had a once in life time experience when it come to knitting.  I started a scarf for my husband a year & 1/2 ago using gorgeous bamboo yarn I got from Unwind Yarn Shop.  I made the mistake of letting my non-knitting husband pick out the pattern so it turned out to be a little more complicated that I intended.  It requires my undivided attention so I haven’t worked on it much.  Sunday night I picked the scarf back up and after doing some math realized I would not have enough yarn to finish.

Herring Bone ScarfNormally this would be a disaster.  There is no way a year & 1/2 after I purchased the yarn that the yarn shop would still have 3 skins of yarn in the same dye lot. But they did!  I couldn’t believe my luck.  For those of you who don’t knit or crochet this is very important because if you purchase yarn from a different dye lot it is very likely that the yarn will be a slightly different color and it will be very visible in your finished product.

Considering the time I have put into the scarf and it will require to finsih, I super excited to actually find the exact yarn I need and not have to “wing” it.

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]]> http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/the-knitting-gods-smiled-on-me/feed/ 4 Mission Accomplished http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/mission-accomplished/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/mission-accomplished/#comments Wed, 23 Sep 2009 02:48:06 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=138 Completed SweaterVery Exciting News: I have finished my first hand knitted wool sweater.  I started this in February, and I just finished sewing up the sleeves at 9:30pm this evening.  I still need to take the time to block it, but it is totally wearable at this moment.  For all you non-knitters, blocking is dousing a completed project in water and pinning it out into the final shape you want.  This helps to work out uneven stitches, ensure proper length and width, and generally improves the final look of your project.

Overall, I am very happy with how the sweater turned out and will wear it with pride.  The body is a little longer than I intended but still stylish, and the sleeves are a little shorter than I expected but can be corrected with blocking.  For those of you who knit or know this sort of information about clothing,  the sweater is a raglan style (something to do with the shoulder seems) and was knitted from the top down, which allowed me to knit the sweater in the round and not have to sew all the sections together at the end.  There really is no better way to make a sweater in my opinion. Who wants to sew pieces together?

Completed NeckWhen I began the class at Unwind Yarn Shop, I thought there was no way I would ever finish a wearable sweater, but I have really surprised myself. While it did take me seven months to complete the project, I did not spend all that time working on the sweater. I put it down this summer to work on other projects. All in all it is very empowering to complete such a big complex project and feel good about the result.  Of course, at least part of the credit goes to Vicki and Julie from Unwind for answering my seemingly never-ending questions and being great teachers.

I think I will definitely be knitting another sweater someday in the future!

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]]> http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/mission-accomplished/feed/ 4 Happy Thoughts http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/happy-thoughts-4/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/happy-thoughts-4/#comments Mon, 21 Jan 2008 04:37:06 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=53 1) Our Wii came

2) We stayed on top of our dirty dishes for one whole week

3) The days are getting longer

4) I have the most wonderful friends here in Richmond and back home in VA

5) I learned new shoulder exercises

6) Racquetball makes the gym entertaining

7) I am doing well on my new year’s resolutions

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]]> http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/happy-thoughts-4/feed/ 0 Wii finally got one http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/wii-finally-got-one/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/wii-finally-got-one/#comments Thu, 17 Jan 2008 02:08:45 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=51 It is official… we bought a Wii. After three weeks of desperate searching, the McKimmy household finally found a reasonably priced Wii and accessories on eBay and won the auction.

It was quite an interesting experience. Instead of standing in crazy lines every weekend and making innumerable impromptu visits to stores that might sell them, Matt and I employed our technology-know-how to find our Wii. We used rss feeds to craigslist searches for Dayton, Indy, and Cincinnati that emailed us when a new Wii became available, and for a short time even sent me text messages. We also signed up for services like wiialert.com and itrackr.com, which sent us text messages when a wii became available in either brick and mortar or online stores. The technique that finally paid off was an rss feed to a honed search string Matt created that alerted us every minute to any new “buy it now” Wiis that appeared on eBay in our price range.

I am very excited to play with it and hopefully it will be worth all the trouble we went through to get it.

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]]> http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/wii-finally-got-one/feed/ 1 Very Happy Thought http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/very-happy-thought/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/very-happy-thought/#comments Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:41:18 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=46 I had to bring back my “Happy Thoughts” post to mention a new version release of Picasa for Linux. (Thanks to Life Hacker and Matthew for showing me this information.) Google has finally released (in beta for now) a new version for Linux that is not only much more stable, but also allows you to upload photos to your Picasa web album quickly and easily from within Picasa.  For me this is great because I have family members who do not use Facebook or any of the other social networking sites, and this is an easy way for them to see my photos online.

I also love Picasa’s photo organization features.  I know a lot of people swear by Flickr, but I love the unified local and remote experience of Picasa.

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]]> http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/very-happy-thought/feed/ 0 Happy Thoughts http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/happy-thoughts-3/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/happy-thoughts-3/#comments Tue, 18 Sep 2007 03:10:50 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=25
  • I successfully rooted and potted my first baby spider plant
  • It is almost time to wear my favorite leather boots again!
  • I got to talk with Emily for a long time this evening.

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    ]]>     http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/happy-thoughts-3/feed/ 0     Happy Thoughts http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/happy-thoughts-2/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/happy-thoughts-2/#comments Fri, 07 Sep 2007 01:10:09 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=20 I have the urge to blog but can’t think of anything interesting to write about, so I thought I would take the time to post some happy thoughts from the week:

    1.  Tomorrow is Friday
    2.  Book club was amazing on Tuesday
    3. I am finally feeling back to normal — no more inflated balloon syndrome for me
    4. I made it to the gym today
    5. Hopi is letting me borrow her bike (THANK YOU HOPI!)
    6. I’ve already gone on two bike rides this week and plan to bike to work tomorrow
    7. I found a great pair of Bermuda shorts at J. C. Penny for only $6

    I am still looking for another name for my “Happy Thoughts” section, so if you have any suggestions please share!

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    ]]>     http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/happy-thoughts-2/feed/ 0     Happy thoughts for sunday http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/happy-thoughts-for-sunday/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/happy-thoughts-for-sunday/#comments Mon, 27 Aug 2007 02:42:30 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=14
  • We had a picnic lunch & took Haley to the dog park today
  • There are actually some really nice neighborhoods in Richmond
  • Garden fresh squash is really yummy

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    ]]>     http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/happy-thoughts-for-sunday/feed/ 0     Happy Thoughts http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/happy-thoughts/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/happy-thoughts/#comments Sat, 25 Aug 2007 18:32:04 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=13 I know it is early in the day but I figured since I was thinking about it I would try and post my “happy thoughts” for today. ( I really need a better name than happy thoughts…suggestions are welcome)

    1. I slept in till 9 am this morning
    2. I had delicious homemade pancakes with fresh strawberries and cool whip for breakfast
    3. It is only 87 degrees outside
    4. I get to see Ashley today

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    ]]>     http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/happy-thoughts/feed/ 0     Happy Thougths http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/happy-thougths/ http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/happy-thougths/#comments Thu, 23 Aug 2007 22:34:26 +0000 Becky McKimmy http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/?p=11 3 Happy Thoughts for the Day

    1. We are having homemade pizza for dinner
    2. It is gorgeous outside
    3. I haven’t had to blow my nose in 3 days! (My allergies were out of control earlier this week but seem to be doing much better)

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    ]]>     http://www.beckymckimmy.com/blog/happy-thougths/feed/ 0