Darning

Well, I did it! I have to sadly admit hat when things got a hole in them, I usually got rid of them. But not this time! I just finished darning two pairs of stockings and the crotch of a sleeper for JJ (that we had gotten from the clothing swap). It feels SO GOOD and literally took only MINUTES!

Why and HOW do we ever get the notions that things take longer than they actually do? I mean, when I set my timer for 15 minutes and say to myself I will clean for at least 15 minutes (a la FlyLady) I am ALWAYS amazed at how much I was able to do in such a short amount of time. I look at the sink and think to myself that will take so long to do, I will just wait, I don't have the time. But when I time myself, I get the sink done, wipe down the stove and counters, and even get to organize a little all in 15 minutes!

I used to get rid of things that needed some little TLC (like the holey stockings) because I always thought it would take too much time to fix it. But today I found out that if I do it right away, a stitch in time really does save nine. Nine DOLLARS to replace those stockings!! :)

Showers vs baths

I had to laugh when my husband suggested measuring the water meter to see just how much water we saved by taking showers over baths. Have you ever done it?

Make sure all the water is off and will not be running (no watering lawns, no running dishwashers or laundry). Look at the numbers on your meter. Now take a shower. When you are done, go check the meter and look at the number. A couple of days later, when you are needing a bath, do the same thing. Make sure no water is running and check the meter before and after your bath.

I know I was shocked. I mean I knew that showers used less water than baths, but for me, I use about 3-4 times as much water in a bath as I do in a shower! I also noticed that for the kids baths (where I put in less water than I would in a bath for me), it was only about twice as much as my shower (and I take fairly quick showers).

SO the question then becomes, is it more cost effective to have the kids shower or bath? Well, according to my thinking, a bath would use less water for the kids than showers for the kids. Why? We have four kids. :) One or two, I can understand the argument for a shower over a bath. But it seems the more children you have, the more beneficial, water and cost wise, the bath is.

Why? Because they all use the same bath water. :) I use a little less for the littler ones, and then add some more hot water for the older ones once the little ones are out. This has worked VERY well for us

Reusing Cereal Bags

Yep, you read correct.

I was reading on The Dollar Stretcher (an EXCELLENT resource btw) about freezing foods and preventing freezer burn. Someone suggested saving used cereal bags and wrapping your food in that. So that it what I am doing for now. I was going to stop buying boxed cereal (simply because of the cost), BUT if I am reusing the bags, it might just be worth the cost (I am able to get our gluten free cereals for about $2 a box at the discount store).

I have LOTS of ziploc freezer bags from stockpiling at a sale, so I am putting the food in those and then putting the ziploc bags in the cereal bags. It seems to be working VERY well! I feel good about it anyways. :)

Spool Knitting, French Knitting or Knitting Nancy

My girls love to finger knit and do it just about anywhere, anytime. It is a great way to knit without having to pay for a spool knitter (or make one yourself).

A post on my other blog reminded me about how to make your own knitting nancy. I have several spool knitters that I have gotten (one is the Clover Wonder Knitter that I got on sale for about $3). But I have never taken the time to teach the girls how to use them. Maybe for Christmas this year, we will give one to each of the girls.

I found a page which has a small amount of patterns, one of them for a doll! (Well, it says "mascot" in the directions BUT remove the hat and replace with hair and you have a doll! I have three girls and most EVERYTHING is turned into a doll!) I have not had a LOT of time to explore the site, but the page does talk about how to find patterns and books and such.

And then this is this site a collection of everything you wanted to know about knitting nancies and more.

Have you found any great free online patterns? Share them in the comments below! I will add more later as I find them. You can always re-find this page by searching for "knitting nancy" or "spool knitting" in the upper search bar of this blog. It searches only this blog.

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Spool Knitting has a GREAT tutorial as well as a GREAT idea for making rugs with little bits of left over yarn as well as old knitted/crocheted afghans and sweaters that are falling apart!

1900's pattern book free online! Included are videos to help show you the different types of stitches. Download the book without the videos.

Three Cute Projects

From spool knitting to loom knitting - GREAT make your own loom tutorial!!!