If you are a beginning knitter, or perhaps if you’ve been knitting alone for a while, you might like the idea of joining a knitting group or knitting club. These groups can be very helpful if you are just starting out as knitters are very generous with tips and advice. If you are an old hand at knitting, perhaps you’d just like to share some time with other knitters, learning new patterns or new stitches. It’s nice to make new friends who share your interest in knitting.

Where to find a Knitting Club or Knitting Group

To find a knitting club or group, check first with your local yarn store or whoever teaches the knitting classes at your local Joann or Michaels store. You can also try

Macomer's knitting shop books feature knitting groups.

online at Ravelry.com. There are lots of local knitting groups who have a forum. You can ask questions about where they meet and maybe friend some of them on the forum to get to know them first before you attend a meeting.

You can find out quite a bit about the group from exchanging a few messages on Ravelry. I once asked a local knitter about the local knitting group and she actually told me that because of groups I’d joined on Ravelry she didn’t think I’d “fit in” with the group. It seems this group had a pick on with the local yarn shop owner and since I joined that yarn store’s group on Ravelry, this woman thought if they got together and “talked about” the yarn store owner, I might be uncomfortable.

I didn’t have dog in that fight, let me tell you! I told her I was knitting for relaxation, not drama and declined to go to the meetings but my exchange with her certainly told me a lot about that particular knitting group.

Another way to find a local knitting group is to check with charities in your area who knit for soldiers, the homeless, chemo patients and other charitable knitting projects. These groups always welcome extra hands and you can feel good about joining a group like that.

Why Join a Knitting Club or Knitting Group

• Taking knitting classes is a great way to learn new patterns or basic knitting for beginners but these classes cost money or may be hard to fit into your schedule. Joining a knitting club or group can actually take the place of taking a knitting class as you’ll find lots of help and free advice. You can take a knitting project you’re having trouble with or ask lots of questions until you become an experienced knitter as well.

• You can learn new patterns with people to help you along the way. If you are not experienced at reading a knitting pattern, it is very helpful to have someone who can explain it to you, and demonstrate the right way to do the stitches. If you run into a snag, you can ask questions, which is impossible if you’re trying to learn from a book. In a Knitting Group, you are expected and encouraged to bring your patterns and projects along with you.

• Knitting with a group keeps you motivated to finish those knitting projects so you can show off your progress at the next meeting. You don’t put aside unfinished projects out of frustration or boredom.

• You can make lots of new friends at a knitting group or knitting club.  It’s nice to have knitting buddies to get together with once a week or so, share knitting projects and maybe coffee and cookies. You can exchange ideas, maybe do charity projects for the community and your knitting gets better all the while.

• You can get ideas for new projects - Some knitting groups have themes for the get-togethers, such as one skein projects, knitting Christmas gifts. You might see a new yarn that inspires you or a new patterns you would like to try. When knitters gather, there is no limit to the wonderful ideas they can come up with.

If there isn’t a knitting group or knitting club in your area, maybe other knitters have been wanting one as well. Put up flyers at the local yarn shop or talk to the owner about hosting one. Find a charity to knit for and then round up other knitters who would like to join in. Our local YMCA has a knitting group because one of the members asked if they could host one there.

Knitting groups and knitting clubs are usually very casual get-togethers and no matter why you’d like to get together with other knitters, there is sure to be a group out there that fit into. Don’t struggle with projects and get frustrated, knitting alone.

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I can fix most knitting mistakes but the other night, I picked up a lace pattern scarf I was knitting and discovered half the stitches had fallen off the needle. Well, just put

The scarf in question.

them back on, I thought. Pretty easy to fix. However, the yarn was silky and rather slippery so some of the stitches had fallen out totally.

I don’t know if you’ve ever done a lace knitting pattern but this one is pretty easy. You knit one row, then on every other row, you knit 2, do a yarn over, knit 2 together, do a yarn over, knit 2 together, until the last two stitches and knit those two. When I discovered this huge knotty knitting problem, I was on a row with the yarn over, which is very hard to put back correctly, I discovered. What I ended up doing was taking out stitches until I got to a knitted row, then I put them back onto the needle and started repeating the pattern.

OK, big problem. When I had knitted a few rows, I saw that the holes in the lace pattern were huge in the row I’d put back on.I’d already struggled with this for about an our and it was bedtime so I put it aside and figured I’d start again the next night.

So did I mention that this scarf was already about five feet long?!! The prospect of pulling it all out and starting over wasn’t even an option. Plus it is supposed to be a knitted birthday gift for a birthday in September and the person I’m giving it to would definitely notice a mistake, I think. If it was for me, I’d just keep going and, although I’d always see the mistake, I could live with it.

I was very frustrated and aggravated with this whole thing but I started thinking. About a month ago, my husband and I started taking a tai chi class one night a week. Since then, I found another tai chi class at a Y near me and have been going to that one morning a week. What has tai chi got to do with knitting, you ask? In tai chi it isn’t about  quickly learning a routine and then moving on to the next thing. You practice the smallest move over and over, slowly, slowly, until it’s perfect. Every small detail has to be perfected and it doesn’t matter how long it takes. Tai Chi masters spend their entire lives aiming for this perfection.

In tai chi I”m learning the virtue of patience and the ability to consciously focus on the moment. In our hectic daily lives most of us rush through tasks and don’t relax all that much. We rarely slow down to consciously focus on one thing, shutting out all distractions. Even in knitting, I seem to be always rather impatient to finish a project for a birthday or Christmas gift, knitting several projects at a time to keep from getting bored, and always thinking of the next project, buying yarns, planning what I’ll do with them.

In tai chi you don’t get frustrated that you can’t learn faster and move on to the next thing. It sure isn’t about moving faster. The experience is all about perfecting each moment. I’ve been going to yoga classes for about 18 months and it took me a solid year to really feel I’d gotten into the flow of it, allowing muscle memory to take over, getting out of my mind and being in the moment. I knew I could apply all these lessons to knitting and fixing this knitting problem was a good place to begin.

Last night, I picked it up again, focusing on patience. There must be an answer, I thought. I pulled it out a few rows and put it back on the needles. Same result. The lacy holes didn’t look right.Take a deep breath and focus, I thought.

I pulled it out twice more and finally it started to flow again as if there had never been an issue.

I was pretty proud of the whole experience by the time I was finished. I think if I can bring the lessons of patience and focus I’ve learned in tai chi and yoga to my knitting, it will be a more pleasurable experience for it’s own sake, not just for the high I got buying new yarn or finishing a very long project. In the end too, I’m hoping to be more Zen about my entire life, not just when knitting or being in a class. Now that’s a lesson worth learning!

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My husband and I are getting ready to retire and we’re working on ways to supplement our income. However, we don’t really want another “job,” we want to earn some

This slouch hat and scarf were easy knitted projects

money doing things we love. For me that includes knitting for profit. When you’re retired, you have more time for hobbies, volunteering and spending time on activities that bring you pleasure and fulfillment -  It’s a real plus if you can also make some supplemental income along the way.

So, assuming you love to knit and want to start a business to supplement retirement, what are the basics of knitting for profit?

One short answer is, it depends on how hard you want to work. You can start your knitting store at a website like Etsy.com, teach knitting classes at a local yarn store or Hobby Lobby or you can make a good knitting income doing craft fairs - plus you’ll have the free time in retirement to spend your weekends manning a booth.

Here are some suggestions for selling your knitting at craft fairs:

1. Selling knitted items at a craft fair means you have to have a good stock of items which can be knitted up quickly and easily, made from inexpensive yarn. Using  specialty yarn might be flashier but you’ll never make a profit if you spend too much on yarn. If you want to use specialty yarn, put on some fancy edging but don’t use it throughout the project.

2.  Items which sell most quickly at craft fairs are usually priced under $5 or under $10. You can also throw in some pricier options to show off your talents and get people to stop at your booth. Some may even buy that $60 scarf made of hand dyed alpaca yarn.

3.  Select about 5 patterns and then make each item in many different colors. Have at least 10 items made of each pattern. You could knit 50 entirely different items but then people have trouble choosing and often just move along. If they want a baby hat and you have several in different sizes and colors, then they just need to choose from the stock you have.

Easy Baby Hat made of Sugar and Cream Yarn

4.  Sugar and Creme yarn offers great advantages for craft fair knitted projects. You can usually get this yarn on sale and make several dishcloths or baby hats from one skein. Knitting Pattern Central offers dozens of free knitted dishcloth patterns. Some dishcloth patterns are also suitable for baby washcloths. Other quick knit ideas might be belts, bookmarks, tea cozies or knitted hair accessories, or hats made on the knifty knitter loom.

5.  Add pom poms or other unique, handmade embellishments to your hats and other patterns so people can’t resist them! Here’s an article explaining how.

6.  Always figure the cost of your yarn and the amount of time you have invested in knitting items for sale. You probably won’t make even $7 an hour but if you get very fast at knitting dishcloths, you can make a good amount of them in a few hours time.

7.  Do some One Skein Wonders patterns. These are usually quick and easy. If the pattern calls for a more expensive specialty yarn, substitute yarn you got with a discount coupon at Joanns.

7. Make some hats on the knifty knitter loom. These are very quick and easy.

If you’d like more ideas on Knitting for Profit, check out this Knitting for Profit ebook, available for instant download.

In the opening of this article, I mentioned volunteering. Volunteering brings fulfillment to your life like nothing else can gives you a chance to share your love of knitting with others. Give some knitting classes at the local nursing home, to kids at the YMCA or at a woman’s shelter near you. Let people get to know you as the “Knitting Lady” and they’ll turn out to support your efforts when you have knitting for sale too. Maybe you can even turn a student into a future business partner, who knows?

Even though we have a couple years until we retire, when I have time, I’m already working on my stock pile of baby hats, knitted dishcloths, hair accessories and a couple other things to sell at my first craft fair. Working on it now helps bring retirement that much closer!

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Knitting for pets has lots of advantages. Have you ever spent a month knitting a scarf for a sister or nephew and when the big day comes to present it,

Erika's chicken shawl

they just don’t seem to value all the time and effort you put into it? It languishes in a closet somewhere, never to be seen again. Not so with knitting for pets! Your little dog will strut around proudly in that knitted doggie sweater you worked so hard on. Not only can you knit dog sweaters, you can also make dog collars, dog and cat toys and much more.

You don’t have to limit yourself to knitting for dogs and cats either. A friend of mine even made a pattern for this unique chicken shawl! If you have a chicken of your own, you can find the pattern on Erika’s RedShirt Knitting blog.

I’ve collected a great listing of free patterns online for knitting for pets and wanted to share them with you.

Speaking of knitting patterns for dogs, have you ever heard of “dog blogs?” I hadn’t until recently when I stumbled across several dozen of them. My dog Molly has been bugging me to start her own blog, so I thought, “Why not?” If you like dogs, maybe you’d like to check out Molly’s Blog and leave a comment for her.

In the meantime, here are some free knitting patterns for dogs, cats and other assorted pets:

Knitting Central Pet Patterns - does your cat need a knitted cat mask? Well, maybe not, but Knitting Central’s Pet Patter page has dozens of great ideas, from beds, sweaters, afghans, collars and toys for dogs, to knitted cat scarves and hats, catnip toys and felted kitty beds.

Lion Brand also has a selection of knitting patterns for dogs, mostly dog sweaters, but some cat beds and pet afghans. Some of the dog sweater patterns use fun fur and are really cute.

About.com has a small collection of knitting patterns for pets too. There are some cute knitted cat toys there that my cats would like.

BellaOnline’s Dog Editor has collected a great listing of gifts for dogs, including some knitted items. If you do other types of crafts, there are some good ideas too.  I loved her recipe for dog biscuits!

Here’s an article on eHow about how to knit a dog harness too.

One of my favorite patterns is by CoCoKnits for a felted dog collar. Since I have an Australian Shepherd and a Lab who refuse to wear sweaters, I think a

knifty knitter loom for dog collars and leashes

new knitted dog collar would be a great project for them.

If you like the knifty knitter and have a chihuahua, here’s a cute sweater pattern by Linda’s Loom Room You could probably adapt the pattern to a larger dog by using a larger loom. Here’s another one by Kathy Norris Designs and a colorful dog sweater by the LoomLady.

If you like using the knifty knitter and you’d like to make dog collars or leashes, this knifty knitter cording loom

Molly would love a knitted dog toy.

works really well. You can also felt your project after you’re done for extra strength and a snazzy look.

If you don’t mind spending a little money, here are some great knitting for pets books:

Pet Projects: Animal Knits Bible

Dress Your Dog: Nifty Knits for Classy Canines

Knitting for Cats

So, if your relatives disappoint you with their reaction to that knitted piece of art you gave them for Christmas, knit for someone who appreciates it! Knitting patterns for dogs, cats and other assorted pets are great for beginners because your lovable pet won’t notice a dropped stitch or blooper.

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A few months ago I went to a baby shower and someone was wearing the most beautiful, colorful scarf and  I was so impressed with it that I even took a photo, thinking I might be able to make one myself later on. Now that I’m beginning to do my Christmas knitting projects, I thought my sister would like a scarf like this one. I also thought I’d have plenty of yarn to choose from in my stash since this easy scarf pattern could be any colors of my choosing.

My yarn choices for this easy scarf pattern.

Not so! It seems that whenever I decide on a project, I might get one or two skeins of yarn from my stash but each new knitting project invariably requires purchasing more of something. And so, my stash continues to grow, despite my best efforts to use it up. One nice thing about patterns like this is that you can up those few yards of leftovers you have from other projects too.

This particular pattern isn’t about fancy stitches at all. It’s so easy because it’s all about the yarn and the colors. Once you choose your colors and textures, the rest is just plain knitting.

I am using size 13 straight knitting needles. I cast on 12 stitches in black  bulky yarn by Yarn Bee and knitted a while, then I changed to some Lion Brand Jiffy yarn in bright turquoise. I’ve got several other skeins of fun fur, Jiffy yarn, a skein of bright red cameo bulky by Yarn Bee and a pretty pink one I can’t identify.

A beginner knitter could do this scarf easily because you make the scarf as wide as you want, use whatever yarns you want and whatever needle size you want. Maybe too many choices for a beginner but once your choices are made, you can just happily knit away.

The only thing you need to know is how to change yarns in a pattern. The way I do it is to come to the end of a row and cut off the old yarn skein, leaving about an 8 inch tail. Tie the tail of the old yarn to the new yarn, leaving a tail on the new yarn also. Begin knitting the row with the new yarn. When your scarf is finished, weave in the tails toward their matching color.

Brightly colored easy scarf pattern

So, are you wondering what the scarf looked like that was my inspiration? This is it.

I’ve always been drawn to patterns in both beadwork and knitting that just give me the outline and then I can make it whatever I want to make it. I’m not very good at following detailed, complicated patterns for anything I do. Sometimes my ideas work out and sometimes they don’t but sometimes, even mistakes turn out beautifully!

I’m going to be working on this easy scarf pattern for the next several nights and hopefully, it will be finished fairly quickly. Since the scarf isn’t wide and has no difficult pattern, it should be one of those projects that can be finished in few evening. I’ll keep you posted.

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When I learned how to knit, I was about eight years old. I didn’t really knit again until last year when I took a basic knitting refresher class that got me off and running again. I discovered though, that there is much more to knitting a real project than learning to cast on, and do stockinette and purl stitches. Here are some of my favorite websites and sources that can help you learn how to knit easily. Many of them have forums too so if you get frustrated, take your questions to experienced knitters and they’ll always be glad to help you out.

Here are some of my favorite sites for help with beginning knitting:

The Daily Knitter offers a long list of knitting articles and videos, including basic knitting instruction. They also offer a handy chart of knitting abbreviations, yarn weights, and a guide to the meaning of the care instruction symbols on skeins of yarn.

Learn to knit at About.com - covers every basic knitting question you might have- casting on, basic stitches, easy patterns, beginner knitting tips. About.com also offers Easy Knitting Patterns for Beginners to get you started.

YouTube How to Knit Videos offer visual tutorials in knitting for beginners. Even if you are more advanced, you can learn new stitches on YouTube.

Here is one knitting instruction video I liked because it goes through each step very slowly and up close. You can find one on any knitting topic or question you might have by going to YouTube and typing in your keywords.

Knitting Help.com offers free videos on learning to knit, from casting on to more advanced techniques. This website also offers a knitting forum so you can ask any other questions you might have.

The Craft Yarn Council’s Learning Center offers info and tips on beginner knitting and crochet too.

Lion Brand offers hundreds of free patterns and beginner knitting instructions too. There are videos and 34 tutorials on all basic knitting topics.

Knitting Pattern Central offers a huge, and free!, list of knitting patterns but they also offer knitting tutorials from basic to advanced.

Once you’ve got the basic knitting down pat, you can go back to most all of these websites for free easy knitting patterns too so keep the list handy for later use.

If you don’t mind spending a little money for books and DVD’s (which I like because I can refer back to them easily), Amazon offers several great options.

Knitting DVD’s

The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Knitting got 5 star ratings on Amazon from 120 reviewers and only 11 had less than 5 stars! That’s a pretty powerful endorsement for a DVD on knitting.

If you have a favorite website to answer all your beginner knitting questions, feel free to post it in the comment section!

Books on knitting instruction

Stitch ‘N Bitch Knitting Handboo another winner with 234 five star ratings on Amazon. A fun and funny read with 40 great easy knitting patterns which you can do by learning the instructions in the book.

I love The Yarn Harlot’s books. They are fun and funny and contain lots of basic knowledge that a knitter will find handy.

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Well, we don’t live in the country yet, but this year I was bitten by the gardening bug. Texas had a beautiful spring which made me want to get out and plant something. Up

Fresh basil makes delicous pesto

to this point, the only herb I had was one rosemary plant and one mint plant but now I have parsley, basil, oregano, sage and thyme growing happily off the back patio. Since we’re eating more of a raw food diet now, the herbs are a wonderful addition to new recipes.

There’s something gratifying about walking out the back door and gathering herbs for a special recipe. I raise all my plants organically too so I know they are especially good for us.

I’ve discovered too that gardening, cooking and knitting have something in common. They all offer opportunities for creative expression and possibilities for endless experiments. I’ve found that people who are creative in one area find pleasure in multiple hobbies very easily. Sometimes I even need to put down the knitting needles and do something different for a while (hard to imagine-lol).

The heat of Texas makes basil go crazy! When I lived in Oregon, I’d try growing basil every year but it never did much. It was just too cool there at night, I think. This spring, I planted one basil plant in with a container tomato and I’ve been cutting it back weekly, using it in salads and other recipes. I even made my own pesto for the first time, using my new Vitamix.

Last weekend, I hosted a family barbecue and made a pasta salad using all my own herbs for the seasoning. I also tried a recipe for shrimp salad from Martha Stewart’s Living with my herbs and it was terrific! It’s nice to present tasty dishes to your family and tell them “I grew all these herbs right outside!”

One healthy BBQ tip I picked up recently too is that if you marinade your meat in herbs before barbecuing, it neutralizes the cancer causing compounds that form on barbecued meat.

Sage is delicious with chicken

Here’s a great recipe I got from the back of a package of Bob’s Red Mill organic Whole Grain Quinoa. If you haven’t tried Quinoa, it has a rather nutty taste and is filled with fiber, iron and all 8 essential amino acids. I got the gluten free variety because my husband needs a gluten free diet.

Quinoa Tabouli

I first had a tabouli salad like this in a Lebanese restaurant and loved it. Mine turned out very similar to the recipe in the restaurant. The fresh herbs make it a delicious summery salad.

Ingredients

2 cups cooked and cooled Bob’s Red Mill Quinoa
1 cup chopped parsley (from my own garden!)
2 Tbs chopped fresh mint or 1 tsp dried
1 clove garlic minced or pressed
1 Tbs fresh basil or 1/2 tsp dried
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground White Pepper (I used regular pepper)

Simply toss all ingredients together and chill for one hour or more to let flavors blend and so the liquids are absorbed into the quinoa.

Oregano and thyme

I’ve also made tabouli in the past using diced cucumbers, tomatoes and green olives. There are lots of variations but tabouli is really tasty and good for you.

If anyone in your family needs a special diet, I highly recommend the book Pure and Simple - Delicious Whole Natural Foods Cookbook. Vegan, MSG Free and Gluten Free

Order from Amazon with free shipping

Don’t let the vegan part scare you, you can always serve grilled chicken or whatever with the recipes. I have lots of cookbooks that I don’t use all that much but I’ve really made many of these recipes and my husband has loved them!

About 4 months ago, my husband and I decided to start eating green smoothies and more of a raw food diet so all my gardening efforts are paying off now. To do the green smoothies, you pretty much have to invest in a Vitamix but in the end you save money. Have you ever bought a refrigerator full of veggies with all the best of intentions to be healthier, then ended up throwing most of them away because you never got around to eating them. Since I got the Vitamix, I fill the frig with veggies and then toss them into the Vitamix and blend. That thing will blend anything to a smooth smoothie.

We feel more energy, we sleep better and we’ve lost some weight.

The Vitamix website offers lots of recipes and info on green smoothies, a whole food diet and more, which is free. You can also get free shipping with this link too.

If you’d like to know more about container gardening, GardenGuides.com has lots of great info!

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When I first stated knitting, I needed a good knitting bag, or rather many good knitting bags! I’m sure you could spend a lot of money on one, but I love using something I already have for another purpose and if I can get a knitting bag for free, so much the better.

free knitting bags

I’ve got many of those lightweight, reusable shopping bags around, the kind that different stores give you free, or you can purchase for 99 cents. I have to admit, when it comes to reusable shopping bags, I find my Chico bags are the easiest to carry around so I don’t end up using these others.  These make terrific knitting bags! Since I have so many of them, I can put a different project into each one, plus I have one knitting bag with all my essential tools, like scissors, tape measure and various knitting needles.

I like these shopping bags as knitting bags because they stand upright, they are lightweight and they come in many sizes. They can also be easily folded with yarn inside to stick into my luggage when I travel.

The type of bag they make especially for wine bottles are handy too. You can put a different skein of yarn into each pocket where a wine bottle goes.

In each knitting bag with a project, I also keep the labels from the yarn I’m using so if I give it as a gift, I have the yarn care instructions handy.

Another easy and inexpensive knitting bag can be made from a canvas tote.You can purchase these on Amazon for under $5 or at a craft store like Joanns. Get a stencil and add “I Love Knitting” on the bag to personalize it.

So, what do I put into the knitting bag with my knitting essentials?

• Tape measure in a retractable holder
• Scissors for trimming ends or cutting yarn
• Various size knitting needles
• Various size crochet hooks for catching dropped stitches
• Large eyed needles for weaving in ends.
• Stitch place holders-these are essential if using circular needles to mark the beginning of each row. ( I keep mine in a small plastic tube so they don’t get lost)
• Row counter

Other miscellaneous things also make their way into my knitting bag. I have a booklet with stitch examples, for instance. If I misplace anything while knitting, it’s likely to be in this bag!

If you’d like a really handy reusable shopping bag, I’d suggest buying 3 or 4 Chico bags. They come on a key chain and each bag can be stuffed into a tiny bag that’s easy to carry around with you. If you use reusable shopping bags, be sure to wash frequently and have a separate one for meat. I’ve read that many people are contaminating their food by not washing the bags frequently.

When my stepdaughter (who is from Chico) got married, she gave these handy bags in her wedding welcome bags. Our whole family is using them now.

By using your imagination and taking stock of what you already have, or what you can purchase inexpensively, you’ll find lots of different ideas for the perfect knitting bag.

What’s in your knitting bag?

If you’d like a knitting bag pattern to make yourself, check out LionBrand Yarn.com and search patterns for bags or totes.

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My alpaca and knitting blog is evolving in ways I couldn’t have predicted when I started. First it was going to be about our search for an alpaca ranch, setting it up and getting it going. When we couldn’t find land we wanted and I fell in love with knitting again, I decided to make this a knitting blog and I’ve had quite a following of wonderful knitters and I appreciate all my readers very much. I’m still knitted daily but I think to create a really good knitting blog, I’d need to constantly come up with new knitting patterns and info to benefit those who visit here.

My Alpaca Yarns blog is still going to be about knitting but since we finally purchased the land we want to retire on, I will at last have the chance to get back to country living and doing things for myself. When we lived in Southern Oregon, I had a garden, I raised herbs, used my dehydrator often and did many things for myself. Since we’ve moved to the city, there is little room for a garden but there are many ways I can embrace country living right here and refresh my skills for the time when we move to our land.

Years ago, I worked in a country garden store where we sold plants and gardening supplies, feed for animals and many fascinating items. I bought a book back then that I’ve used hundreds of times over the years, called The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery. This all-inclusive book teaches you how to raise any kind of country animal from chickens to bees, how to garden and preserve foods, how to live simply, manage your money and so much more. I’d highly recommend this book for all around info on country living. I got this book out recently to refresh myself on the “how tos” of doing things for myself.

This spring, for the first time since we moved here, I planted several tomatoes in pots. My one loan rosemary plant got some company and now I have dill, oregano, basil, mint and thyme and before dinner I can go out and snip some fresh herbs to add to the chicken or veggies. I even found two viney spinach plants which I can keep growing until fall, just snipping off large leaves and using them.

Besides the idea of voluntary simplicity, My husband and I have also started drinking green smoothies daily. I splurged and bought a Vitamix, (if you’re interested in a Vitamix, get free shipping here) which could chop rocks if need be, and each day we begin with a raw fruit and veggie smoothie containing greens we’d probably never ordinarily eat, such as kale, Swiss chard and mustard greens. I made my own raspberry viniagrette in the Vitmamix so we have a fresh, chemical free salad dressing to dress up our dinner salad each night. We also enjoy fresh strawberry sorbet at night instead of ice cream!

Another investment I made was a terrific little recipe book called Raw Energy: 124 Raw Food Recipes for Energy Bars, Smoothies, and Other Snacks to Supercharge Your Body. If you have kids and want healthy snacks they’ll love, this is the book for you! There are all sorts of power snack balls, smoothie recipes, info on how to “bake” with a dehydrator and more.

So, as you can see, Alpaca Yarns is now going to be about more than knitting and alpacas but I hope readers will enjoy and benefit from the country living tips and be inspired to take up voluntary simplicity in their own homes.

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When I first started this blog, it was going to be about our search for land to build our alpaca ranch. It then became a knitting blog because we gave up on finding the

Our little piece of heaven

perfect piece of land. My husband wanted to retire to land near a lake and every piece of land we found had some sort of stumbling blocks. Many didn’t allow farm animals, like alpacas and even chickens, or restrictions said we had to build a house larger than we wanted, or the land was too expensive, and on and on. Every time we came close to buying a piece of land to raise alpacas, for some reason or other it fell through.

Now we are the type of people who believes that everything happens for a reason. I told my husband either we’d still find the perfect piece of land or maybe we were just supposed to find a smaller house in the city and retire there. Whatever we did, we knew we wanted to simplify our lives and downsize. When my husband came across this “subdivision,” the owner had died and the heirs just wanted to sell off the land at discount-so far so good. The pieces were large - 5.5 acres each, about a block from Lake Richland Chambers. Long story short, they accepted our offer on two adjoining 5.5 acre lots.

On this land, we can have one animal per acre and we can raise chickens - something I’ve wanted to get back to since we left my dozen hens in Oregon. Everything is just falling into place now, even though we won’t be able to actually move for a couple years. But now we own the land and we can improve it over time - put in a road, clear it off and map out where we want things.

Lake Richland Chambers is near by

In our new home, we’re going to embrace voluntary simplicity, raising and preserving our own food, installing solar and wind power and having a super energy efficient home.

I’d never heard of voluntary simplicity before but there is an entire movement growing around this concept. I recently read The Ultimate Cheapskate’s Road Map to True Riches: A Practical (and Fun) Guide to Enjoying Life More by Spending Less and it was an eye-opening book. People are stressed and multi-tasked to death any more. Many have struggled with debt and are buried under a pile of “things” that don’t bring satisfaction the way the commercials promise. People are looking for more meaning to life, meaining that comes from enjoying the simple things, like raising your own garden, sewing your own clothes, and enjoying your children and family time.

My 82 year old mom says these days they talk about the “new norm” where there is more unemployment and less money and people are having to learn to live on leiss.  In her lifetime, except for the past 20 years or so of overabundance, people have lived on much less. They lived on the money they had and didn’t go into debt. They did things for themselves as a source of both saving money and satisfaction. People are going back to that.

I see it as a good thing. If taxes and inflation go sky-high like many are saying it will, the only way to achieve satisfaction and fulfillment is to preserve the money you have by clipping coupons, raising your own food, doing more for yourself.

Here’s a great article on voluntary simplicity, They Can’t Tax Voluntary Simplicity-Yet!

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