ONE THOUSAND VIEWS

Congratulations to myself because today I have reached over 1,000 views!  

And not only that, but Sharm Hour has been seen in over a dozen different countries- from Canada, France, Germany, Czech Republic, and Poland all the way to India, Australia, Russia, and South Korea.  I truly never imagined that would happen!

I started Charm Hour becuase I literally have projects going constantly.  I'm even known for bringing many of them to class, which reasonably leads to people asking me what I'm working on.  I often get asked how things turned out, and I thought, "Well, I like taking pictures.  Why not take pictures of my projects and put them online?"  I felt very silly about it at first, and didn't even tell anyone about it except Joe.  I kept thinking, "who would care about what I'm doing?"and get all self-conscious that having a blog would make me seem narcissistic.

BUT, I myself love looking at other people's blogs.  And I love seeing the truly creative things people come up with.  And I figured that you never know, maybe one of my projects would encourage someone else to try a new project, or figure out how to do cables, or just pick up that scarf they've been working on for what seems like ever but never finished.  Crafting brings me so much joy and relaxation.  Stressful day? I reach for that yarn (and a glass of wine, but hey it's all in moderation). I love creating something new, especially when I get to see someone's face when you give them something totally unique and special.

Thank you to everyone who has stopped to look at this humble little blog.  

I truly hope that you enjoy looking at the pictures and trying out the projects as much as I do.

To celebrate this exciting day Oy and I went on a long walk to enjoy the spectacularly warm weather (hey, I'm from upstate NY, 55 is totally warm to me) and take pictures of all the flowers starting to come up!

It would be a little unreasonable to put up all 115 pictures I took, but I'll put up a few of my favorites:

you can barely see it, but there's a little honeybee in the upper middle!

 daffodils!  they always make me think of those very old fashioned phones.

 even Oy stopped to smell the flowers

a TARDIS for Milo

I don't know if I've gotten into this yet, but I am a total nerd.  I mean spending the better part of my spare time surrounded by a couch full of yarn, and that fact that I named my dog Oy might hint to that, but it might not have been that explicit yet.  (For the record, Oy is an amazing character in Stephen King's Dark Tower series, it starts with the book The Gunslinger and will be the best thing you've ever read).

I will readily admit it- I love Doctor Who.  I'm fairly certain that Clara is already my favorite companion, I cried like a baby at the end of Angels Take Manhattan (both times I watched it), and do not like choosing a favorite doctor because every time there's a new one I hate it and then learn to love him, and let's be real it's all the same time lord, so why choose?

I'm actually quite astounded that this is my first Doctor Who themed post!  I'm in the process of working out some wonderful charts and patterns for washcloths with different characters on them which I love.  But this post is a magnificent crocheted TARDIS!  This stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space and is the time/space craft of the Doctor.  It looks like a police box because it's camouflage broke one time in 1960's England, but it's much bigger on the inside, as they are so fond of pointing out.

This one is a gift for my dear friend and college roommate, Milo.  She is a fellow sci-fi enthusiast and very good friend, and I am quite excited to pass along this little cutie.

My heart goes out to Boston.

As with everyone else across our nation, and across the globe my thoughts and prayers are with those affected by this tragedy in Boston.

I am thankful for all of those helping out in Boston today- first responders, EMTs, police, the National Guard, and of course all of the nurses, technicians, and doctors working hard throughout the day and night to provide compassionate care to those wounded today.  Rather than become angry and disheartened by these events it's important to think of all of those who acted not with fear or anger but with bravery and kindness.  While many ran out a brave few ran in to risk their lives to care for strangers.

In the coming days it's important to take everything coming out in the news with a grain of salt.  It's best to keep our minds open as so much is still unknown about what led to the attack today.  This attack affects people of all nationalities and an act of terror can be perpetrated by an American or foreign individual. A person of interest is not the same as a suspect or a convicted terrorist and we need to stand by the American value of innocent until proven guilty.  Again, trust in the officials to identify and persecute these criminals and instead focus your energy on improving the lives of others.

Take that heartbreak that we all feel and use it to create something positive.  Care for your neighbors.  Find a way to give back in your community- donate blood through the Red Cross, give your time at your local food pantry, or bring cookies to your fire department.  There are so many ways to help out those around us and to simply bring a smile to someone's face.  I urge you to find a way to do that this week, and every other.


I hope this finds you safe and in good health.

Peanut Noodles

Due to the great success of Joe's last entry, we're in for another delicious and exciting edition of Joe's Cooking Corner!

And because we still had half a box of snow peas left we opted for another asian dish- this time a Thai influenced peanut noodles dish.  This originally came from Joe's mother, Sarah, who is a magnificent cook. You can dial up the heat by adding red pepper flakes, but I am a total wimp when it comes to hot and spicy, so Joe took mercy on me and made it nice and mild.  But as with most things this can be easily adjusted to be more sweet or salty or spicy, depending on how much you add of each ingredient so don't hold back from tasting as you go.

Knit Hexagons

I have this thing where I don't buy knitting or crocheting patterns.  I don't understand why I should pay for one when there are so many amazing patterns for free on the internet.  I get really irritated when I find an adorable picture, click on it, and find out they want me to pay $5 for it on Etsy or Ravelry.  It usually ends up in a little bit of cursing like a sailor as I attempt to peruse the World Wide Web for a comparable version that's free. And 9 times out of 10 I find one.  Or at least one I can alter enough to make it work.

It's not just that I'm cheap.  And for Pete's sake I'm in graduate school and am living off of loan money so I seriously need to be cheap. It's also that I don't understand why a PDF should cost that much money.

Those 1 out of 10 times when there is no better alternative I get super disappointed.  But I haven't given in yet and I am damn stubborn, so I'm thinking I'll hold out until my pattern-making skills catch up to my desires.  My inner biologist is obsessed with realistic animal stuffed animals (like this iguana) on PlanetJune and by jove one day I will make my own.

Just this week I was riding home from school and sat next to a lady knitting something itty bitty, so I asked what she was making.  She told me all about these little stuffed hexagons (or "hexipuffs") she was making from scraps and how they very neatly get put together to make a puffy little quilt.  I have tons of scraps! and I love projects I can do in class or on the train! Perfect!


But then I came home and found it on Ravelry and realized that the very cute Beekeeper's Quilt pattern costs $5.50.  I got very grumpy and spent two days mulling over whether it was worth buying it.  Was this pattern really worth caving in for?  And seriously, over $5?!  It's very small and simple.  Plus from what I read on the few blog posts I read (there are hundreds) many people ended up modifying the cast on, the increase/decrease, or the bind off.  I'm definitely not paying it if I'm going to have to change it anyways.

So my decision was made- I was going to make it up.  And if I'm  making it up then I can change it!  So I made mine a little bigger so that I can make fewer of them. Because 450 of those little buggers for just a lap blanket is insanity.  It should be easily changeable for those who want to make it smaller or bigger.

Modern Bobble Baby Blanket

I was hooked on baby blankets this past winter.  This one was actually made a few months ago for one of the cutest babies around, and I have finally found time to post it.   This ended up being more long and skinny than I intended, because I ran out of yarn, but I'm still pretty happy with the final product.

Also, this is not my original pattern, just one that I found online and loved.  It came from Moogly Blog, and was called Blackberry Salad Striped Afghan, for the bright colors they alternated between.

For my version I opted to do a more modern take and use high contrast colors.  The yarn is Loops & Threads Impeccable Solids in Chocolate and Aran.

Plus, all those little bobbles seem fun for little grabby baby hands.

Beef Teriyaki and Heart-Shaped Carrots

Joe and I were fortunate enough to have his parents come up to visit this weekend!  And even better, we didn't have an imminent school work so we could relax and enjoy their company without the pressure of looming deadlines.

Joe is from what he would call suburbs, but is really very much the country of central Ohio.  One of the many benefits of living in the country is that the food is seriously amazing.  There is nothing as good as getting all that meat, fruits, and veggies as fresh as is physically possible. Add to this the fact that Joe's family is Italian, and therefore cooks at least double what you need and you end up with a mind blowing amount of food.

So back to this most recent trip- we made out like bandits with an amazing freezer full of meat flash frozen from the butcher's.

And a box full of thin mints for good measure!

(Thanks again for all the food!!!)