Zelaya Art: My New Blog

I am proud to announce my new blog dedicated to my knitting business, Zelaya Art! Please check it out and follow along.  I REALLY appreciate the support! 

New Happenings!

Well I haven't been to these parts in quite some time!  My life has changed so much over the past year, it is hard to keep up with all of the chaos.  I had a baby in April (he's over there on the right looking all proud in his Tigers garb), quit my job as a prek teacher, and now I'm a freelance writer.  I write content for the Internet from my home while baby is sleeping and I'm not running a mile a minute trying to keep up with cleaning and what not.  Oh, and our house is being overrun by gigantic wolf spiders, but that's a whole other story.  Ewww. I still knit when I have time, which basically means the baby blankets I'm working on take about a month each.  I have two new nieces, in fact, one is being born TODAY!!! Shhhhh... don't tell them they're getting pretty hand-knit baby blankets for Christmas.



I'd like to share my latest writing projects.  Most of the time I sell my work so I can't share it once it is no longer "mine", but I've been working on building lenses on Squidoo as well, and I'm very proud of what I've done so far.  I love to write about baby and kid stuff, crafting, health-related topics, recycling and upcycling, science, mental health, and other topics.  Please check out my pages and my profile and let me know what you think!

Food Related:

The Best Spinach and Artichoke Dip EVER
Spinach, The Superfood
Crawfish Etouffee Recipes So Good You'll Wanna Slap Your Momma

Baby:
Avocado For Babies
My Top 5 Baby Must-Haves
Munchkin Fresh Food Feeder For Babies

Others:
Danger: Diet Soda
How NOT To Talk To a Person With Bipolar Disorder
Celebrating Grandparents Day
Recycle! Upcycle! Downcycle!
 

My New Baby

Ok, so, no, I did not have a baby, but I did get the best Christmas present ever, a Kindle! I'm so excited. I still need the learn the ins and outs of it, but so far I have downloaded about 5 books, some of them free or only $5, so I'm getting the hang of it. I wasted no time in knitting a case for it, because I plan to carry it in my purse and I don't want it to get scratched or anything, and why buy a case when you can make one yourself? Fun! I first made a black one, but it didn't work out so well because I had been drinking a lot of beer and, consequently, made a couple obvious mistakes. So then yesterday I knit a pretty lime green one, which is shown in the picture. And I have to say sorry about the pics... they were just taken at 5am so I had no good lighting and they look terrible. The case is not actually that color. It is more of a light lime green.

Since I don't usually follow patterns, I can't really share anything spectacular with you. You may be disappointed to know that I really just knit a big rectangle and sewed up the sides :) I used a double strand to make it a bit thicker, used size 9 needles, and started with 16 stitches. Then I just knit in stockinette stitch until it was long enough to fit the kindle when doubled over. Sew up the sides and you're done!

This holiday season, I also had fun making the rag wreaths shown in the previous post. Here is a picture of our mantle with three of them. They are quite addictive. It is so fun picking out the different fabrics. I ended up having a craft party at my house a couple weeks ago and we all made these wreaths. I have no pictures of that night, regrettably.

Happy Holidays!!

Atlanta Twitter Knitters

This past Sunday, a group of us Atlanta Twitter Knitters (and crocheters and spinners) met at my house for some knitting, spinning, crocheting, eating, and great conversation. Here are some pics that were taken.

Above, you see Cathy (@cathycarter), Kellie (@futterwackan), and Claire (@sk8rknitr).

Below, you see Nicole (@nalmaraz) and Lia (@liaknits79) demonstrating spinning while Kellie observes.





























Here you see Cathy, Nicole, and Lia again and below, you see Kellie and myself (@merfz). I forgot to hold my knitting in that pic :)

We had fun! Let's do it again soon!

My New Etsy Shop

Introducing... my new Etsy shop! I have been thinking about re-opening my shop for about a year now and finally did it. I had a shop a couple years ago, but it had my paintings in it and didn't do so great. This time I am featuring mostly my knit items. I will list some paintings later, but for now I am only listing my knit things. Since I'm celebrating my grand re-opening, I am offering FREE shipping on all items for the first 2 weeks. Come check it out my new Etsy shop!

Knit-A-Year Project

Here is a pic of my Knit-A-Year project thus far. It is getting bigger! I can't imagine how long it is going to be when April, 2011 rolls around. I'm on day 49 today. I love the reflection that this project affords. It really requires you to slow down and think for a few minutes each day and reflect those thoughts with yarn. I have to admit, I do skip some days because of being too busy, but I always catch up when I can. I need to do better at knitting on it each and every day. I do have the time, I just struggle sometimes with what kind of a mood I'm in and what color I should use to represent it.

For an invitation to our Knit-A-Year group, just send me your email and I'll send you the invitation.

Dishcloths for the Moms

I just finished knitting kitchen discloths for my mother and mother-in-law for Mother's Day. I found the super easy free pattern on Knitting Pattern Central. They were fun to knit, and, like I said, perfectly easy and great for beginner knitters. I hope they like them!

Ladybug

Here is my finished knit amigurumi ladybug by Amy Gaines. Her's always look better than mine, but I love it nonetheless. We haven't given him/her a name yet... any suggestions? I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this one yet. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep it, give it to the kids, or sell it in a craft fair, which Amy says is fine to do. Thanks again, Amy, for your fabulous patterns!

Revisiting a Past FO - knitcroblo6

I love to knit all kinds of things, from scarves and hats to dishcloths and purses, but one of my favorite things to knit is amigurumi, so I thought with this post I'd include my very first amigurumi project. This adorable owl is by Amy Gaines and was knit, as opposed to crocheted. My son (pictured) absolutely loves it, but I think he's forgotten Jorge (that's what we named him) by now because Jorge sits on my craft table, untouched. I prefer to keep him that way because he is somewhat fragile. Since he was my first amigurumi, he has a few mistakes, and my sewing isn't great so things look a bit worn around the edges. I love how his eyes look all worried, as if he thinks he's about to get squeezed to death :) Ah Jorge, we love you so.

Location, Location, Location - knitcroblo5

I love to knit pretty much anywhere! My favorite place to knit is on my couch in my living room or the comfy greenish chair, also in the living room, usually while watching a movie. I also LOVE to knit in the car on a long road trip, when I'm the passenger, of course. I just bring my knitting everywhere in case I have an opportunity to sit for awhile. The baseball field is another spot where I can be caught knitting, only during practices though.. I love to actually watch the games. And another great spot? Doctors' waiting rooms!

Where do YOU knit?

MANY New Skills! - knitcroblog4

(It's my birthday today!!)

Wow. WOW. I'm supposed to write about ONE new skill I'd like to learn? How about several? This is going to take a while :)

Firstly, as previously mentioned, I really need to learn to knit with double pointed needles! It seems everyone and their brother can and that I'm the only one who can't. I have gone as far as casting on and knitting a few rounds on them, but I have failed to practice and develop the skill. It seems that everything I want to knit calls for DPNs, so I really need to bite the bullet and learn already.

I also want to learn the Magic Loop Method, just in case the DPN thing doesn't work out. I have heard it is way easier that using DPNs, and I already know how to use circulars, so maybe this would be easier.

I need to learn how to fix mistakes! I usually just frog a few rows and start over, even when it is just a dropped stitch, which I hear is easy to fix. I just don't know what I'm looking at, so I don't know what the mistake is, let alone how to fix it.

I would LOVE to learn to crochet! I basically want to know how to crochet or knit anything I want.. I have a lot to learn :)

An Inspirational Pattern - knitcroblo2

Ok, so you might be thinking, "Just fingerless mitts? That is inspirational?". Well, to me, a self-proclaimed novice knitter, yes, I do aspire to knit fingerless mitts. I love the cables running up and down these beautifully blue mitts. I recently taught myself to knit a cable via YouTube, but that is all I know how to do: knit a cable! I have no idea how to knit something with a cable in it, aka: I can't follow a pattern to save my life. And to boot, I have not yet mastered knitting with double pointed needles. I can knit with circulars, maybe I need to learn the magic loop method?

These "Blue Monday" fingerless mitts are from D'Oh!Mestic and if you click on this link, you can find the free pattern for them that I found on Knitting Pattern Central's Free Pattern Directory... I love that place.

Knit A Year Project

Here is the most recent picture of my Knit A Year project taken a few minutes ago. The black was knit on a very dark and depressing day for me. As mentioned in my bio, I have Bipolar Disorder and this project is really helping me see just how darn moody I really am, which is not all bad, and it helps me document those moods, which I'm supposed to be doing every day anyway. I like the reflection and awareness this project allows for. I think I learn something new about myself every day and I would encourage everyone to try their hand at the Knit A Year project for these reasons. (if you would like an invitation to our Knit A Year group on Ling, please email me your email address: mzel@bellsouth.net) The light, fluffy green color I knit yesterday signifies the calmness and inner reflection that seemed to engulf me yesterday. My mood has gradually improved a bit since that black day, and I look forward to coming out of this depression soon.

Explorations In Creativity

So here is my Knit A Year project thus far. For more information about Knit A Year, see my previous blog post or click on the clickable link in this sentence. The days are represented as follows:

Day 1: Light pink for Easter
Day 2: Brown because I felt like doo doo that day.
Day 3: Brown and white to represent my favorite part of our zoo trip that day: the giraffes.
Day 4: Yellow stands for my excellent mood, the sun-shiny day, and the yellow pine pollen is everywhere here in Atlanta.
Day 5: Rainbow colors to represent my great mood and happiness that I taught my son to knit that day (yesterday). Here is a picture of him taken just a few minutes ago. He's doing well with that knitting!

I can't wait to see where this project takes me. I heard that they will be on display somewhere when we are finished with them. To be invited to our Knit A Year group on Ling, please email me your email address: mzel@bellsouth.net.

In other creativity news, my daughter has asked us to keep all the lids from the flavored waters we drink because she is going to make something with them. She is thinking of making a huge fish. I love that she is creative and that she is doing a green project! Here are pictures of her collection hanging off of our cupboards. I think the note is cute! I'm going to show her this website that suggests all kinds of ideas for creating things with bottle caps: http://www.artistshelpingchildren.org/bottlecapsartscraftstideasprojects.html









I love that my family is so creative! By far the most creative one in the family is Stephen, my 9-year-old son pictured knitting above. He is constantly making things, writing stories, reading, and drawing, and I mean constantly. He is so excited to add knitting to his repertoire... too cute! (I just heard him tell his brother, "I'm going to knit all day today!"