Pretty Rose & Garden Update

The snow peas were on their fourth set of flowers before the heat but I think that's starting to make them die back.

The last of the blueberries are blue but not ready for picking....

We have tomatos; about one a week so far.

The potatos are dying back and the green beans are flowering.

The corn's up and is starting to grow now that it's rained some finally...

Can't Just Make One...

I wanted to make a mitred square washcloth with some worsted cotton I had and so I got sucked into making some stitch markers.

 I used a 10mm jump ring and it comfortably slides on my size 10 and 10 1/2's.

I made 4 markers with the diamond beads and two more with some round china blue beads which remind me of Smarties... 

I may have made some earrings, fixed an old pair, and repurposed an old necklace too...

Photos upcoming : )

Handspun Singles...

Do you remember this? It was still on the spindle the last time you saw it and I counldn't figure out how to ply it without just guessing how much I'd spun and truthfully made me feel a bit dizzy to recreate until I watched a tutorial by theknitgirllls on how to ply a single back on itself with a wheel.

Turns out it's the same concept with a drop spindle just a smidge trickier.

So this is before it was tied, bathed, and thwacked.

This is everything all plyed and wound into mini skeins.

For reference that's the spindle whorl above.

The grey is just some wool roving which was on clearance by Hobby Lobby for needle felting.

It was a bit overspun but I like how fluffy it got after its bath & thwack.

Lots of instant gratification.

Rosy Gauntlets

Long Range Planning Project.

I wanted to make some bright gauntlets for winter which could go under mittens but would still allow me to write and type. Just have a stripe before the ribbing starts on the second and the thumb and edging to go.

These are knit out of two skeins of Knitpick's Felici Fingering colorway: Peachy; which is still on sale coincidently... On size 2 needles; my own "pattern":

Cast on the number of stitches you would for socks (56 for me, 72 for Dad),

do a 2x2 rib for as long as you can possibly stand it or until the color changes (33 rows; about 3"),

knit until the bottom of your wrist (the length of your foot from heel to toe),

begin the 2x2 rib again until you reach the upper join from your thumb to your hand and knit in a waste yarn for 10 to 12sts,

Continue ribbing until it matches the cuff or is just above (about 1/2") the join of your fingers and hand,

Bind off,

Add a picot edging if desired,

pick out waste yarn and rib 2x2 rib in the round for your thumb until just below the knuckle in your thumb,

bind off,

& weave in ends.

Shalom Cardigan

The Shalom Cardigan is a free pattern on Ravelry by Meghan McFarlane which is nice and easy to knit.

I cast on last Friday and I just sewed on the last button.

With the mod's I mostly followed to the pattern it only took 2 skeins of Knitpick's Full Circle Worsted in the Orca colorway.

I'll have finished photos up once it's not so hot.

It's still in the mid 90s (F) here and I can't imagine wearing wool/alpaca right now. 

Still Knitting

I promise I'm still working on projects and photos are upcoming.

 I love how our Rose of Sharon's blooming this year.

I know I haven't done a garden update recently and with good reason. Everything is ripe and needs picking so it doesn't occur to me to take photos until after I'm tired from the heat picking all the snow peas (blooming for the 5th time! I'm so sick of peas), green beans (every day now), cherry tomatoes (just about every other day), blueberries, & a few peppers.

The lettuce has bolted but the rabbits are loving it along with carrots frozen in little ice cubes.

I'm working on creating a pattern for my Pretty Picot Shawl.

My Grandma is test knitting for me which is so awesome because she has a different tension than I do...Mom thinks that if we tested it my knitting would hold water; I'm afraid to try : ).

I also have one on the needles I'm photographing after each pattern section.

Distant plans are being made for trying for a larger version with larger needles and another skein to see if it would still sit nicely; but I really need to get some things off the needles before I think about that...

Stool Cover

I've wanted to make this for a while and I finally got around to it.

I think it only took me two days to finish it but mainly that was because it's hot and I had to keep measuring (I was impatient).

My Morning Glory Sweater is in the bag & It's FINISHED but I haven't taken photos because I can't imagine wearing wool & alpaca in 97+ (F) weather. 

Once I was finished crocheting the actual cover I threaded some of the pink worsted cotton through the middle stitches and the holes. Then I fitted the cover over the seat and tied the cotton in a tight bow underneath the seat.

That way it's removable to clean.

This is based on Crochet with Raymond's Granny Mandala.

So this is what the finihsed cover looked like before the pink cotton was threaded through it. It's identical for her mandala pattern through the third increase row but after that I changed it up and just did 5 rows around without increasing in various colors.

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July!

Hope everyone is staying cool. : )

We had a bad windstorm last Friday (June 29) and power is still out for quite a few people. Power restoration for them is projected for around the 10th...

I've been the go to person to call the groceries/gas stations/food delivery places to see if they have power/generators.