Sunday, August 28, 2016

not getting sick

I'm having that feeling like my body is right on the cusp of getting sick.  Like a tingle in my nose, low energy, a little rasp in the throat.  But, I am not getting sick!  I am telling my immune system it is so strong, there is no virus that can compare!  Oh and lots of  Airborne and water.  So I've been laying low this weekend.  I still got some crafty progress made but not as much as I had planned.

Late this week, maybe Thursday?  I finished my socks!  Yeah :)
So glad to finish these.  I really liked the pattern, which was the Blueberry Waffles pattern, which is free on Ravelry.  The yarn was a Crazy Zauberball, which was really fun to knit with.  Since the yarn was pretty thin I just went with my regular cast on which is 64 stitches.  The pattern calls for 52 stitches on DK weight with 3.75 mm needles.  Sock yarn is quite a bit smaller and I also use US size 1 needles (2.25mm).  It worked out quite nicely, as you can see they fit really well.

 For the last couple of weeks I've really been wanting to be knitting a little animal! But I made myself finish my socks first, I didn't want them languishing.  So last night I cast on what I think will be a little kitten.  I'm using the Mrs. Bakery Bear pattern by Kay Jones and I'll just change the face and ears.  I've done that before, I really like her pattern and it's easy enough to alter.  The yarn is just acrylic, it's very soft and has a bit of a halo.
This morning after knitting a bit I moved into the sewing room.  And so did George.  Here she is taking over the cutting side of my sewing table!  She was quite determined to stay right there.


Eventually she did move and I got some cutting done.  The top row you've seen before but now it's sewn into squares.  The rest of the squares I've been playing with.  On the left, second row, was my first attempt to figure out the  Thimble Blossoms Cheerio pattern. I could tell it was a variation of the "road to Tennessee" classic block but with the little squares and a widened center.  I finally gave in and bought the pattern (!) which usually I'm too cheap to do.  I'm blaming feeling under the weather.  I just didn't have the brain power to keep up the math guessing game!  


I was really really close though on the math!!  Oh well.  So, the circlet with the white center is the official Cheerio pattern.  For me, it's all about those little squares!!!  I just love them.  So, I am debating if that will become a pillow top or maybe a runner with some other fun Fall fabrics?  My first attempt is going to be a Halloween pillow.  It kind of looks like one of those floaty rings on boats!  

Welp, that's about all the happenings here.  Hope the end of your Summer is going well - Labor day next weekend!  For me, that's like the end of Summer....except when I lived in Chico and it would still be like super hot into October.  Fall is right around the corner!  Pumpkin everything here we come :)

Sunday, August 14, 2016

It's not pretty

Every year around this time I start to look forward to Fall.  And I start to trick myself a little bit and start doing Fall things.  Like I want to wear sweaters and be cozy, light Fall scented candles, drink pumpkin spice flavored coffee...all the things.  Last week it was really chilly at night and morning so I really felt like the weather was feeling the same as me - looking forward to Fall! ha!

Actually, that's one of the things I love about where I live is that I look forward to each season.  Winter not as much because driving on ice is not my favorite.  But a nice thick snowfall when I don't have to go anywhere is actually really sweet.  The other day I found pumpkin spice coffee creamer at the store and of course bought some and I've been enjoying it all week.

I'm trying to remember if I've talked about my back yard or not?  I think I have.  Anyways.  I killed all the grass and weeds and now it is a dead zone.  I am planning to reseed in September or whenever the temps are between 60-80 degrees consistently during the day.  Before that can happen though I have a LOT of work to do out there.  As per usual I could feel myself starting to get overwhelmed and then avoid the situation.  But!  I told myself if I just do a little at a time I'll be done in no time.

Right?  So what do I do?  Start small and take little bites?  Nope.
Yesterday I thought, I'll just start with weeding and cleaning out the raised bed area.  It's small.  So I raked and filled two trash bags full of grody foxtails and debris.  And then I thought, I'll just see if the sides lift up easily.  One side sort of did which encouraged me to dig out around the edges and lift the entire frame up over the dirt and start to move it across the yard.  In the heat of the afternoon in the sun.

Luckily I did not get sunburned but it was hard!  I'd pull and push it a couple feet then have to stop and cool down.  Then get back to it, then stop, and so on.  I kept telling myself, "you can do it, you can do it."  And eventually I did.  You can see here where I started at the dirt pile and then where I ended up on the other end of the yard.  I know in this picture it doesn't look like that far, but it really is!  Oy vey.

I parked it at the bottom of the little hill there. I wanted to leave a nice open space in the rest of the yard in case Rocky and I play fetch or something, give him room to run.  Also it gets the most continuous sun here.  The shade you see here did not start until 5 pm.  


I was kind of hoping to put an apricot tree at the top of that sloped area, there is a flat spot at the top.  But, I don't know if that will work or not.  Eventually I am going to put flowers on the hill.  I'd really love to get a cottage type garden growing there and then have the rest of the yard be lawn.  


This perspective is from inside the house looking out.  George, being a curious cat, is checking out the new situation.

So, I know these pictures are super ugly and not fun to look at, but I wanted to be able to document my starting place.  Hopefully I can manage to get everything green by next year and that box full of veggies!  My goal is to grow the ingredients for my pickles.  I thought that would be really cool.  So, cucumbers, dill, garlic and jalapenos.  I would also love some tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, lemon cucumbers and who knows what else!  

In other news I have finally gotten past the heel on sock number 2 of my raspberry waffles socks!!!  Yeah!  This yarn is so fun.  I think if I can really work on it this week I can finish this sock and have it finished!  
I hope you all have a great week!  I plan to knit and keep watching the Olympics :)

Sunday, August 7, 2016

slowly but surely


A couple of weeks ago now, I had an appointment with my hairdresser to get my highlights done and trim.  On a whim I sent her a text to see if we could put some pink peek-a-boo chunks in.  I don't even know what got into me!  But, I love it!  You really only see it when I've got my hair pulled back or wind blows or something.

I started a Halloweenie table runner.  So far I just have everything up on the design wall and one square done, the one in the middle.  It was kind of fun to drag out all my Halloween fabric, there's not really that much and pull together what felt right at the moment.  Joann's has some fun Jack Skellington Nightmare Before Christmas fabric.  I cut too many squares and then overshot my estimate of how many half square triangles to make so I have enough leftovers to make a pillow as well.


I keep knitting away on my Raspberry Waffle socks.  This is where I am on the second sock, almost to the heel.  I'm really loving how this yarn is knitting up.  The colors are much deeper in person.  

I really have a hankering to be knitting a little animal of some kind.  But!  I am forcing myself to finish this sock before I cast something else on.  I'm afraid if I don't make myself finish it will languish for months. Plus, I have yet to find some fuzzy yarn in the right weight....

So!  I think I've mentioned before that the plan this year for my yard was to see what grows and then next year start filling in and fixing and planting.  Yep, that was the plan.  Key word was.  What has actually started to happen is that I'm starting the fixing this year.  Rather by accident.  I mentioned the sad weedy state of my back yard to a coworker and her husband and then all of a sudden they were like we found this spray, you should try it, blah blah you can re-seed in September, blah blah.....

And so I found myself planning how to start a new lawn from scratch.  Any real grass has been long dead and overtaken by foxtails.  Foxtails are no fun and frankly they are rude to animals.  It looks like grass at first, so I was fooled.  But, then the ends turned into foxtails, which pop off and get stuck everywhere!  ugggg. 

The new plan is that I have killed everything green in the back yard.  Don't feel bad though because all that was left were foxtails and spindly spiky dandelions.  I am then going to somehow remove all the dead stuff, rake out the dirt, fertilize and re-seed, cover with either a mulch or compost and then hopefully have grass growing.  

In the meantime!  My Mom brought me a red hot poker plant when she came to visit and I needed to plant it.  I have a couple of flower beds right up against the house in the back.  One is full of weeds, the other was full of rocks.  Nice, huh?  LOL I picked the one I thought would be easier - the rocks - and raked them out.  I bought another couple poker plants and it looks really nice!  



After church today I popped over to Joann's fabric, looking for fuzzy yarn to knit an animal.  I found a few contenders but nothing perfect.  On my way out I stopped to check the magazines. Look what I found!  Eeeek!  I can't figure out how to turn the picture, sorry.  But!  Bunny slippers!  That are not felted!!!!!  oh, it is ON!