Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Just Juice - Day 2, Breakfast is served!

Slept like a baby last night! Most likely because my body didn't have to work so hard digesting solid and cooked foods. I juiced all day until my sushi dinner. Late night snack was a small cup of juice at nearly 2AM. I felt so comfortable - no fullness, no uneasy feeling in the stomach. I was even able to sit in my chair with my legs up against my chest, something I've never been able to after eating.
Breakfast of champions! Raw fruits and veggies juiced in my Breville Juice Fountain Elite.
This morning I woke up, thanked the Creator for a new day and downed two glasses of breakfast: spinach, parsley, cucumber, apple, carrot and ginger. Yum!








Just Juice, day one: Success!


I'm attempting a "juice only until dinner" fast. First day of juicing is over and done... not bad! Green/beet juice for breakfast and fruit juice for lunch. Graduation dinner out with the fam and I wasn't even tempted to have any of my son's filet mignon! I ate my fill of sushi (keeping it raw!). I'm getting ready for bed and I feel great. I'm not weighed down from over eating or tired from all the work my body normally does to digest my huge junk intake. Day one: success!
(Decided to make a quick "goodnight" juice - carrots, apples celery and ginger. Mmmmm mmmmm! :))

Friday, June 25, 2010

First Juicing

Last night was taco night at T's. And yes, I fell off the no-dairy wagon and had cheese on my taco! I'll start back on my no dairy fast on Monday. Promise!

We finally used his new juicer, a powerful Breville Elite (mine arrives on Monday). It was a lot of fun! We made a spinach, carrot, apple, cucumber, celery, ginger juice that was delicious! Man, vegetables never tasted so good! I woke up this morning feeling clearheaded and refreshed. Good stuff!

The Breville Elite has a huge 3" opening so you really don't need to cut up average size fruits and vegetables. We stuffed a whole head of celery right into the machine. Even juiced 3 carrots with the greens and all - at once. I highly recommend this 1000 watt juicer. It has two speeds 13,000 & 6000 RPMs so it's super fast!




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CSM Traveller Workcase - have CSM will travel!

I've had been looking for an easy way to travel to and from events with at least one of my very heavy, antique Circular Sock Knitting Machines. After purchasing my favorite CSM, a 1914 Gearhart from a seller on eBay, I decided to check out the link to her business site - The Appalachian Sock Company. This is where I first caught site of the CSM Traveller Workcase.
Each case is handcrafted from solid wood and built to your brand specific machine (i.e. the wood machine base for a Gearhart CSM will be slightly different from that of a Legare CSM).

Not only can my fully assembled Gearhart fit inside its CSM Traveller, but it comes out easily, still attached to the wood machine base, then securely fastens to the workstation with no screws to turn - just slide the base onto the workstation and slide the bolt into place. Done! Now, not only do I have a great way to securely travel with my CSM, but I no longer need to bring a table or stool to clamp my CSM onto. The CSM Traveller does it all, and in a nice neat little workcase that is very portable and extremely light for an all wood item.

Thanks Kim and Greg!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Saturday, June 12, 2010

California Dreaming - My dream plying wheel

Not sure why or how but I know when something is for you, it's for you!
This beautiful California bulky handcrafted spinning wheel fell into my hands for free. Well, not exactly free - I'm trading one of my sewing machines for it. The seller isn't a spinner but thought the wheel was a beautiful piece of furniture. I on the other hand, plan to do all my plying and spinning of bulky art yarns on this wheel.




It's absolutely stunning! Comes with three hand carved bobbins, a folder of information and yarn samples and a beautiful basket filled with roving.







I feel like the luckiest girl in the world! Actually, I'm not lucky, I'm blessed :)


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Thursday, June 10, 2010

Crankin 2010 Is Coming!

Oh I so wish I could attend this year's CSM conference in New Hampshire! Its going to be filled with fun, learning and of course lots of crankin! I placed my order for one of the early bird USB drives available separately for a limited time, or included with conference registration. It arrived today and its totally awesome! Lots of goodies inside :)

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CSM Eye Candy

I put together a small slideshow of some of my CSMs for someone on Ravelry who's conducting a CSM survey. I figured I'd share it with you all :)

Friday, June 4, 2010

A New CSM! This time its twisted!

I'm VERY psyched about my new CSM. Its a 1929 Swedish CSM called, "Favorit". Not only is it my very first non-North American CSM (I've had Canadian and American so far), but its also my first non-traditional functioning CSM. This CSM is twisted, in that it knits inside out! Knitting happens at the top and spills down over the center tube. No weights needed when knitting, only during the cast on stage. Oh yeah, and there's no ribber. It shortrows for heels and toes just like a cylinder CSM. I've enlisted Caprifool's help in translating the manual and patterns. Time to brush up on my Swedish perhaps?
Check out the slideshow:



Wednesday, June 2, 2010

iPad Phone Calls Made Easy

Got an iPad? Got Internet access (via wifi or 3G)? Great! You've got a phone :) It's easy to make phone calls on your iPad with a little app from Toktumi called Line2. The app adds a 2nd line/number functionality to your iPhone using VoIP. It works equally well in adding a phone line to your iPad. When you sign up for Line2 you choose your state and preferred area code and you're assigned a number. That's it. Now you can make and receive calls using your Internet connection and chat away using the built in speaker and mic on your iPad or through your headset.



So, what happens when your iPad is not online and someone tries to call you? Easy, there's a setting in Line2 for forwarding offline calls. Mine are sent to my cell phone. Nice!

After your free 30 day trial Line2 is $14.99 a month. You'll get lots of useful settings, voicemail, automated attendant, etc. Check it out for 30 days, you've got nothing to lose.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

iPad Wifi version. I love you.

So, after weeks of kicking around the idea of buying an iPad I finally pulled the trigger and purchased one. I got a 64gig wifi version and I love it! At first, I obsessed over the 3G model and thought I needed it for its Internet connectivity, that is until I discovered a great little program called MyWi. It allows you to use the signal from your iphone's data plan like a mobile wifi router. Your iphone must be jail broken in order to use the app. Jail breaking literally takes 3 - 5 mins and is done in just a click of the mouse. It's also FREE, so ignore anyone who tries to sell you some expensive jail breaking service. Just google blackra1n or Spirit jail breaks.






Running MyWi on my phone, I can pick up my iphone's wifi signal on my iPad and voilĂ ! I'm surfing the web at no additional cost to me. AT&T charges $30 a month for ipad data service. Apple charges an extra $130 for 3G iPad version... Not a bad savings. We'll see how long the ride lasts.








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