I wasn't hiding, promise

Last night, I stopped in at Home Fabrics to look for some outdoor upholstery fabric. I need to make many cushions for my patio furniture, and I'm feeling like I can handle that right now, so I measured, calculated, and figured out I need about 6 yards for the cushions for one furniture group, which means I need it to be cheap. Hence my stop at Home Fabrics.
I'm in the back, wandering among the sale stuff, finding all kinds of possibilities. At some point, they turn the music off, and I wonder, did they not like that song, or what?
About 1/2 hour later, one of the employees walks past me, stops dead, and calls out to the other, "Hey, remember that story I was just telling you? Here's another one!", then turns to me and says, "Can I help you find something?" I reply that I'm just browsing, looking for that just-right something. Then she says, "We're actually closed. But if you have something you need cut, he can help you up front."
Oops.
I guess that's why they turned off the music.
I bought 4 yards of something I thought might work for one of the other pieces. I was too embarrassed to try to figure out what else I wanted.
What kind of fabric store closes at 6pm 6:30pm?

Hoodoo? or (dun dun duh!) THE WALKING MAN!

I was going to finish him, like the pattern, but when I got his head sewn on, it was like the restroom door symbol come-to-life, like on those commercials? And, I just didn't have the heart. (get it? because he's supposed to have a heart sewn on him. ha.)

Even better, when I showed him to Twin1, he instantly posed him into the "walking man" - like on the street crossing signs.

Now I've got to make one in green. With a wire skeleton inside. And maybe make a big red hand, too.

UPDATE: forgot to say, about the pattern, in case anyone else was confused, when it says "1 sc in next 2", that translates to "dec". Also, I suggest stuffing the arms and body before the last round of the neck, or you'll have trouble getting stuffing in there. Stuff the head after R5. I stuffed mine with yarn scraps, since I didn't want white stuffing showing through.

Yarn: LB Woolease in Black

This struck me as funny...

Year of Ami, week 23, W is for...

What do you know? We're approaching the half-way point! (It would be the finish-line, but, no, I was stupid, and instead of doing each letter over 2 weeks, and going just once through the alphabet, I had to make this a weekly thing, so we get to do each letter twice. Or would you say four times, since for each week, I'm doing one knit and one crochet? Whatever.)

Anyway, my choices for W are way WOW.

To crochet, this most adorable, seriously huggable, from Pooky, Spooky & Crafty,  Widdle Fat Sheepy. Isn't that cute? I love the fatness.

To knit, something that made my jaw drop the minute I saw it, something I've wanted to hold in my hands ever since, from Mochi-Mochi (sorry for the repeat on the designer, but it's worth it, seriously), Woodins.

I'm not entirely sure I'll manage to make the whole thing. I'll start with the little critter, but I must make that log, too, because, seriously, how cute is that? I mean, I'm dying to play with this, and I'm an adult, with only teenagers at home, so I'm going to have to invite nieces and nephews over, or I'll look mighty silly sitting there playing by myself. Then again, who cares how silly you look? That's one seriously cool toy!

Speaking of Mochi-Mochi, her book is out tomorrow! I've got mine on pre-order, and it's finally on it's way to me!

(having a hard time finding projects for X...anyone know of anything? Or should we use that week to catch up, finish the unfinished? That seems unfair...there must be something out there...)

P.S. I know I have some unfinished items from previous weeks. I'm working on them, I promise. But, it's going to get busy this week, with Independence Day celebrations at my place, and various projects that need to get done before that. I'll try not to get further off-track. Promise.

*pics of my own creations added after-the-fact*

very quick read

Picked up The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner last night after knit group.

Done already.

Yup, that was a quick one. No chapters, just a straight read, all the way through. I got almost to the end before I was too sleepy to read last night, and then picked it up this morning and finished the last couple of pages.

Better written than her earlier stuff. But, it did leave me wanting just a bit more. I wanted a little more background or something on some of the other vampires, the ones Bree gets to know a little.

And, did I miss something? Has Edward always had red hair? Did I miss that in the other books? I'm sure that could just be me, missing a detail. I just never had him in my head with red hair. I mean, really? Is that what color his hair is supposed to be?

I Want Sprinkles!

Went to the Cake Wrecks book signing last night up at Kings English bookstore in SLC.

Lots of cake. Lots of fun. Jen and John are basically just as much fun in person as they are on the blog.

And, in case you were wondering the same thing, yes, this is a full-time thing. They even have an assistant.

Also, she wore the boots!

(and...I forgot my camera...oops)

Ugly? Not so much

Personally, I think he's adorable:

I know this doesn't give you a sense of his size here. He's about 7" tall, from his toes to the tip of his taller ear.

I found I had to tweak the shaping a little as I went along. I figured the decreases should be at his sides, more so than related to where your round starts/stops, which you know sort of migrates as you go along. So keep your decreases roughly centered as relates to the corners from your starting rounds. (I hope that made sense...)

As you might expect, I like a little more direction on where to put facial features and arms and such. None given, so I had to refer to the pictures, which were nice and clear.

In case you want more direction: I suggest doing the mouth first, 12 stitches over the "center" of the front, between rnds 11 & 12. Then stitch the nose, over one stitch, 2 rnds above mouth. I did three stitches with my yarn, all right on top of each other. Next, the teeth, 3 stitches each, vertically, and spread out, each over one sc, just under the 5th and 8th stitches on the mouth. The eyes, 3 rnds above mouth, each one centered over 3rd stitch from respective side. The X eye over 2 rnds/stitches, the round eye with the top of it just below round 5.

Sew on the arms, centered on each "side", below rnd 12, which should be one round below the mouth.

Ears are sewn on above each eye, centered on your beginning round.

All facial features were sewn with worsted yarn. Leftover bits that were in my yarn basket, probably Vanna's Choice yarns. I tried to leave enough of a tail on the white eye to sew his teeth with, but came up a little short. So leave yourself a nice long tail on that eye so you don't have to dig up another scrap of yarn just to finish the teeth.

My Ugly Bunny was crocheted using Premier Yarns Serenity Worsted in Green.

Year of Ami, week 22, V is for Voodoo!

Yup, that's right, voodoo. It was either that, or virus. I thought a pair of little voodoo dolls would be more fun. So, there you have it.

to knit, from Anti-Craft, Bad Juju (you even get a little bit of voodoo history with this one)

to crochet, from RedSamur, Hoodoo. (again, a Ravelry link - hope you signed up!)

Tucking in a little personal something belonging to someone you don't care for is entirely optional.

*the writer of this blog does not endorse any torture of small dolls, whether or not in connection with any mysterious powers or other such nonsense*

*pics of my own creations added after-the-fact*

productive weekend

yessir, it was definitely that.

Get this:

I made myself sit down and finally re-do (on a larger size - which meant going out to buy stuff) this cute onesie my SIL and I screwed up way back in October, and I even added bum-ruffles! (not quite exactly the way that tutorial shows, but similar - and the look is the same) I started another one, but decided I didn't have the "right" fabric for this ones' bum-ruffles, so it's only mostly done. (sorry, no pics, finished one is gone to it's new home, new one is going to be a gift, can't reveal.)

Went to a family party, had a great time! (Um, somebody took pictures. I mostly took pictures of my grand-niece, because she is so seriously adorable!)

Then, because I was oh-so-tired of my wardrobe, and because I'd made some good progress on it already, I finished this really cute knit dress for myself.

I generally fail when sewing on knits, especially the slinky slippery kind, which this is. But this fabric and pattern (Butterick 4789) were irresistible. I'd made myself look up my Bernina's suggestions for knit seams and hems, and, what do you know, I'd been doing them wrong! Somewhere, I heard someone say that when you sew knits, you want a longer stitch length than usual, but according to my Bernina manual, you want a shorter stitch length. Stretch while you sew, and use a slight zig-zag, both sources had agreed upon. But the stitch length - I've been doing that wrong for years. Take it from me, the shorter is the way to go. I've also had a bad history with hems on knits, especially the narrow kind. I took it slow, tried it one way, ripped it back, adjusted the tension, (repeat that a couple times), and then, finally, got it right. The dress turned out fabulous! Seriously! I even wore it to church! I might just sew me more stuff from slinky slippery knits. Or any kind of knit.

Baked a batch of Rocky Ledge Bars for my dad for Father's Day. Seriously YUM.

Finished the peas in a pod (lame, oh, so lame), so now I can check that of the list. Not impressed. Just finished.

Put away the last bits of Spring decor, and got out SUMMER! Because now, it's Summer, not Spring.

(Poor Raggedy Ann - she needs new clothes, new hair - she's all sun-bleached!)

Lastly, because I am so very bored with my wardrobe (see above), but also know that I already own too many clothes, I had my son get out all my warm-weather clothes while he was up there in the attic/crawl space getting me the Summer stuff (and putting Spring and other stuff away - thanks Twin1!), and I went through my closets and drawers. I put away cold-weather stuff (it's hard on a gal, having to look at sweaters when it's 90+ outside), let my all-season stuff breath for just a second or two (not really), then hung up tons of warm-weather tops, skirts (my goodness, I have a lot of really cute skirts!), dresses, etc. I even got rid of a couple of things.

Ahem. Literally, two items. I brought two jackets and a skirt to the office, so my co-worker can take them to Turning Point (women's charity in my area), and the skirt somehow ended up back in my bag to home again. I'm hopeless! (The skirt is cute, but not especially cute on me. As I carried it in, I noticed how it didn't look wrinkled, despite the fact that it's been in the super-heated attic smooshed into a vacuum-packed bag for at least 6 months, and I thought, oh, a good travel skirt. Doesn't matter that I don't love how I look in it, or that I don't expect to be going anywhere this summer, I'm going to take it back home, put it on a hanger, and cram it into my already-crowded closet, because it doesn't need to be ironed. Totally hopeless.)

Throughout most of that, I was also doing laundry. Lots and lots of laundry. How do I manage to get so far behind? Or is it just that I have way too many clothes? Yeah, that's probably it.
I'm gonna go purge my wardrobe now. For real, this time. Seriously.

empty nest, everything gone

Not talking about me, here. I'm referring to the little nest of quail's eggs by the front steps. A few nights ago, I came home to total nest devastation. Feathers everywhere, eggs scattered about (didn't take a picture, sorry). I hoped the mama wasn't dead, that she might come back, so I scooped the eggs back into a pile with a piece of broken pottery.

Then, Sunday, I notice all but one egg was gone. Just gone. Something likes eggs, I guess.

Monday morning, even that last lone egg was gone.

I'm sad about that.

I know quail can be a nuisance, that they eat the greens in your garden and pull up baby grasses when you're trying to fill in those dead spots on the lawn. But they're also pretty cute, and I'm sure they eat bugs as well.

I like peas

These knit ones are okay, but I like the real kind, fresh from the garden, much better.

It appears that the link to the pattern is broken right now, or maybe it's been removed? Not sure.
*Update* New link here, and fixed on original posts, too.

Anyway, as mentioned previously, one of the rows says purl, but it seemed like the right side of the pea should be smooth, so I knit that row instead. Had to make 5 peas. When you gather up the edge to make it a ball, stuff the other tail of yarn in there, and that will be plenty to fill it - no stuffing needed.

I tried doing the spray starch on the "vine", but it didn't hold for me. Okay, I was lazy about it, and just did plain yarn, I didn't chain, but I thought it would work anyway. Didn't. Whatever.

At least it's done.

(Still working on Pea Babe. That's going to take a while longer. But I suspect it will be much cuter.)

Yarns used: Premier Yarns Serenity Worsted in Green and Jade

Summer is now, officially, here!

It's not easy being extinct...

but it was easy to make these adorable trilobite replicas!

Knitted version took a wee bit longer, but it's much bigger. Crochet version was easy and quick (we like that). Since my knit version was blind and tail-less, I figured it was unfair to give the smaller one any advantage by allowing him either of those, though I do think he'd be pretty cute with a chained tail or two.

Pattern notes: I chose to make my antennae on the knitted fella after I'd grafted him shut, by pulling a loop through at the corners and chaining from there, instead of having a separate chain to sew on. Be sure to use the nice finish on the crocheted fella, like I did (not that you can see it here).

Yarn used for both: Vanna's Choice in Linen

to: OneTrueSue

Anyone else read Navel Gazing? She's been blog-missing for a while. Recently, she posted something that totally explains her absence. She's apparently become a victim of the recent economic trends, and, among various other life changes, is now working full-time, in an actual office. (I say it like that, because she was formerly a WAHM, and pretty much worked full-time that way, but in her home office, which allowed her to be there when needed, and only stay at her desk until the project was done, vs being at your desk 8 hours every day because that's what's expected.)
And she has come face-to-face with why I hate it when folks try to tell you "every mother is a working mother". Because that's total crap. SAHM's have an extra 8-10 hours a day more than the average working mom, because nobody took 8-10 hours out of their day and refused to ever give it back or in any way (except monetary) make up for it. Aside from the paycheck, it's a pretty poor deal for any mom. Sometimes even the paycheck doesn't help.

What do you SAHM's do? Clean the bathroom again? Make another week's worth of dinners " just in case"? Vacuum the front room in that adorable checkerboard pattern you worked out one afternoon while rocking the baby to sleep? No, probably not. You probably spend that extra time with your kids.

Which is why the life of a Working Mother is not one to be envied. We miss our kids. We literally miss out on milestones and firsts. Oh, and our houses are usually less-than-tidy. Because when we get home, there's  dinner, then homework, and then suddenly it's bedtime. What happened to time to enjoy the kids? Am I really going to choose a clean bathroom over listening to my kid tell me about their day? Not so much.

(I'm not going to address time for yourself here - nobody gets enough of that, from what I hear.)

So, those of you out there who have the privilege of being at home with your kids? I hope you appreciate it. I know it's crazy sometimes. I know there are days when you wish you could get away for a few hours. Believe it or not, there are days when I'd rather be home doing the dishes and scrubbing floors.
I like my job. I am thankful that I have skills that allow me to earn enough to support my family, I appreciate that I am working where I am, that it's close to home, that they are able to be flexible, and allow us to put family first.
I know how fortunate I am.
So does Sue.
But that doesn't mean she can't hate where life has led her.
I wanted to comment on her post, let her know she's not alone, that I understand hating something, while knowing that you need it anyway. I wanted to let her know that there are compensations. That the kids who reject you when you come home, who will inevitably pass through a resentment phase, will come to appreciate what you do, and find a way to love you in spite of your absence.
She's had some other reversals of fortune on top of this, too. I'm sure she's feeling overwhelmed, among other things. Whatever the reason, she closed comments. Which I can totally understand.
Maybe I'm not the best one to be giving her encouragement, given my recent failings as a mother. Not total failure, I know. My kids are not drug addicts, drunks, or sexpots (does anyone use that term anymore?), and I'm pretty sure they love me, shortcomings and all. So there's that.

Sue, you're doing just fine. It's okay to like your job and hate it at the same time. You already know that things will work out, but I'll tell you anyway, everything will work out.

(If I knew her for real, in person, I'd run right over with a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies.)

Nesting

Remember the container garden? Of course you do, that wasn't all that long ago. Well, you couldn't see it in those pictures, but right behind the stacked pots, just to the right up against the side of the steps, there was a small clutch of eggs. I felt bad after I'd pulled all the weeds and plants, exposing the nest, but I was careful not to disturb it further as I planted and positioned my pots. I left it as sheltered as possible, but I worried I'd already done the damage.

Saturday, as I was pointing out some of my favorite plants to my sister, I just about fell off the steps when a quail suddenly burst out from behind the pots, flapping and fluttering. It flew all the way up into the maple tree on the other side of the driveway, and quail just don't generally get much height when they fly, you know.

That poor thing, it scolded us for a good 20 minutes, at least.

The next day, I could see there were more eggs in the nest (I counted at least a dozen).

(big thanks to my brother for this great picture of the eggs!) So, obviously, not abandoned, but no sign of the mama.

Monday night, returning home from work, as I approached the front door, there she was! It was all I could do not to startle her, I was so excited to see her.

Can you see her there? I drew arrows in red, but they're hard to see. Let me give you a close-up of just the bird:

can you see it? (yikes, that's blurry!)

Isn't that just the coolest thing?

Sorry the picture quality isn't better. In an effort not to disturb the nesting mama, I tried to get the picture without getting too close, but I don't have telescopic zoom. Plus, these guys are pretty good at camouflage. She chose to nest here because it's out of the way, and she can blend in with the cement and dirt. My Twins think it's not the best spot for a nest, but the bird had other ideas.

She's still there as of this morning. And she was there last night after that sudden rain, too.

sweet little giraffe

A while back, I made this little bit of adorable for a friends baby shower. I had no idea, but apparently her whole nursery was focused on a giraffe theme!

(Figured it was about time I shared this with you.)

Made this from a Melly & Me pattern by the name of Mrs Perkins. I just love their patterns. Fabrics are from my stash, floral is a Fig Tree fabric, and I'm pretty sure the polka dot is, too.

Party!

Twenty, count 'em, TWENTY people were in my living room last night, to celebrate a couple of family birthdays. Just in case you're not familiar with the sort of house I live in, said living room is roughly 14X18 (been a while since I measured - I'll check that later, to be sure), and generally has a computer desk (that's a recent addition to the room, wasn't there at Thanksgiving), 3 or so armchairs, a footstool, a few straight-backed chairs, and a couple of small tables in it, along with the built-in window seat and bookcases, and various more portable items, like a small CD player, knitting projects, books on the shelves, books not on the shelves, etc.

Full enough without adding a couple of dining tables, 2 high chairs, and a dozen more chairs to that.
And the people to fill the chairs.
And the food and such.
Cozy.

The original plan was, I would host this party in my back yard. That's what I do for big crowds, with the exception of Thanksgiving. I always host a BBQ for Independence Day fireworks (which will be on July 3rd this year), because I have a great view from my front yard of the Stadium of Fire fireworks. The yard and patio are plenty big enough, and I have chairs and tables galore for the outside. Plenty of room to spread out. (Plus, if I host something before the 4th, it's not such a big job getting ready for that one.)

The weather had different ideas.

And, you know, hosting an indoor party means a lot more cleaning up, because you know they'll be in the house, and not just to use the bathroom (which always has to be cleaned anyway).
I kept finding people in other rooms, even downstairs, just trying to get away from the crowd for a minute.

My two darling nephews took me for a walk after I put the food away. Their sweet little sister decided she had to come, too. We got the umbrellas, put on our jackets, and walked around the block. Little sister didn't want to carry her umbrella, or be under one of ours. I think she likes walking in the rain.

The party was GREAT. Lots of good food. Lots of fun.

I even did all the dishes already.

(Wish I'd remembered to get the camera out.)

Prom Night (further explanations)

Too much stress. That's what I'm going to blame it on.

Because, if I hadn't been churned up with worry about how in the heck my Twins are ever going to get into college, and from there, get a job/career, so they can have a life, because, as you may have gathered, neither one actually graduated - which seriously has been, and still is, causing huge amounts of stress for me (and might just be what really should get the blame as the "one too many" thing I was/am trying to juggle...but it's easier to blame the "social life" thing, because that's optional, and therefore disposable), then maybe, just maybe, I could have relaxed and been my better self. (I am not, and I mean this seriously, not blaming the Twins for my lack of social life. Because how I choose to deal with my personal stresses is my problem, not theirs.)

For anyone who has spent any time with me in the last couple of months or so, you're probably thinking, "oh, that's why she was so quiet/withdrawn/unsociable." And that would be true.

I've been weighed down with this since I don't know when, because I've known they were not on track for graduation for a while. It's been hard to behave like a normal person when I have this huge failure staring me in the face.
See, these are my only children. And at my age, as I'm not even dating anyone at this point, I don't expect to have any more children, though I would have loved to have a big family. And would still risk a pregnancy, should I be so fortunate as to 1) meet someone, 2) fall in love, and 3) get married, at any time in the next few years (at 41, I shouldn't even consider it, but I would). At any rate, as these are my only, their failure to graduate from High School means that I have FAILED as a mom. At least as far as instilling a reverence and respect for education and hard work goes. So, as a college graduate, with parents who are not just college graduates, but a professor and a librarian, this has been painful, to say the least. Because if there is one thing this family values (after The Gospel), it's education. Their dad just quit his tenured position as a professor at Uof Wyoming to go back to school, because he's always wanted to. How do they not get how important this is?

Having this failure staring me in the face, it's been hard to be any kind of relaxed or fun person. It's also been really hard to talk about it, with anyone (as previously alluded to here). It's been the one thing I need to talk about, but just couldn't, not in the way that I really needed to. (Except with their dad, somewhat, except...it's...complicated.)

And you seriously hoped that I'd be able to have social life? With this HUGE problem dogging me every second of my life? Yeah, me, too. I tried to tell myself that it's not actually my problem, it's theirs, and that even if it is my problem, if there is nothing I can do about it right now, I should just set it aside, and come back to it later. My ADD brain doesn't seem to allow that. I tried. I think I had some moments here and there. Just not enough, I guess.

whoa, sorry, that went all serious - and I'm still posting it. go figure.

Year of Ami, week 21, U is for...

Unbelievably unique! (and a bit difficult to uncover)

To crochet, a very simple, but also very cute, Ugly Bunny. Use as pincushion is optional.

In case you think I just went looking for anything with "ugly" in the name (even though I did), know that this is after the fashion of the Ugly Dolls. (I have Bop 'n' Beep!)

To knit, we have Captain Underpants! Seriously!

If you never read this series, know that it's not as weird as it sounds. Or, maybe it is, but it's not gross. Well, not in that way, anyway. Sort of juvenile humor, I guess. We were HUGE fans, back when the Twins were in grade school. Even though we are a family of readers, I still credit this series for making Twin2 a reader for life.

*pics of my own creations added after-the-fact*

Dazlious!

(photo: IMDB)

I came to Snow Cake by way of a preview on I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With (good, but I didn't rush out to buy it), which I was watching because I'd seen a preview on either Mostly Martha or No Reservations (based on Mostly Martha, both are worth seeing).

This is why I don't skip the previews, even at home.

I did rush out to buy this one. I haven't even returned it to Netflix yet, and I've already ordered my own copy to keep.

I can't even explain how amazing this movie is.

Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver, Carrie-Anne Moss. Whoa.

Alex (Rickman) reluctantly picks up a hitch-hiker, a quirky teenage girl, as he's driving to Winnipeg. A semi rams into his car, and she's killed. He feels a need to talk to her mother, to apologize, even though he's not at fault. So he finds her. The mother, Linda (Weaver), is a "highly functioning" autistic.

Funny, emotional, cerebral. A few moments that had me thinking, "I do that, too..." and one moment in particular, which just about did me in, having to do with a well-meaning neighbor, and one of those pizza-pan-sized cookies that some folks think can stand in for cake.

I love independent films.

Be sure you watch the deleted scenes, too.

(film is not rated, but I'd say PG - a good date movie, but not something to watch with the kids, because they just won't understand it)

Prom Night (part the 2nd)

Which, in a way, could have been, sort of...romantic. But it wasn't.

Which is kind of the point of this. We were working together, just us, for hours on end. We chatted, we collaborated, we tested lights and built us a make-shift "lighting board" (consisting of 4 surge protector power thingies, each with one light of the four plugged into it, since they had to be, as we found out, each on a separate circuit). We blew out a circuit or two (oh, the innuendo possibilities!), and re-routed the cords. We spent almost an entire day together, mostly paying attention to each other while we worked. If anything was going to happen, here was our chance.

And, basically, nothing.

I wonder, if I'd been more "fun", maybe hammed it up a little in the spotlight, would it have turned out differently? Or was he miffed about the night before, and figured "no" meant "not interested" in a permanent sense?

We work well together. I enjoy his company. He's a very nice person. Have I mentioned? I'm a sucker for a man who's not afraid to make a fool of himself. He's not ever uptight. But, I guess, I just don't know how to be like that myself.

I could tell myself that I'm over-analyzing. Or that, "he's still getting over his ex", "he doesn't want to get involved with the mom of one of his students". But, none of that is relevant, really.

In the end, what it comes down to, is this: if he was interested, he'd call, he'd ask me out.

And, that's not happening.

Do I "like" him? I don't know. Well, okay, obviously, I must. At least, a little. Maybe.

Does he "like" me? I think, maybe, he appreciates me. But, after the cast party, where I basically did not really join in on any of the games, (I'm just not comfortable with the whole "party game" thing) maybe he's thinking I'm just not that much fun? Because, well, I'm not. I mean, I can be. Fun, that is. At least, I think I can. I have been, on occasion. I think. (I obviously have some issues here.)

I was not able to just relax and be myself with him.

(further explanations to come...)

The Quart of Milk

If you happen to be knitting this in the round, like me, then know that you will need to let go of your aversion to seams, and knit back and forth when you get to the top part. Partly because of the color changes, and partly because otherwise you may not be able to follow what she's doing for the shaping.
Also, if you adjusted the location of your purls, like I did, don't try to keep the same line when you get to the top. It won't matter, anyway, because you just did a round of purls before starting the top section. Nobody will know if the next bit is in line with the sides, and you need to do the stitches as written, or you could get lost.
For the record, a quart is roughly 7" tall before the folded-in parts.
Very nearly done with this.

Container Garden

I went to Cook's Greenhouse after work yesterday. I love doing the containers for the porch, but some years, I just don't seem to get the time. When I found out they had cancelled the Hidden Garden Tour (apparently, forever), I felt compelled to brighten up my front stoop (because, really, it's not a porch) so I could enjoy some kind of garden. (The hanging basket of flowers is a gift from Cam, his thank-you to me for the play.)

I didn't think I'd put it all together last night, but, as I had the soil, and the containers were right there, and I'd just spent $50 at the nursery, with no other free evening in sight until Saturday, I went for it.

In the dark.

Because when I got home, just after 7pm, I had to still get up on the roof to see why the swamp cooler wasn't doing so well, and I was up there until about 9pm, replacing the filter basket for the pump, and cleaning the "spider" so it could send the water over all the panels. Yeah, that was fun. I played with the float to adjust the water level, and now, if it's not actually turned on, like at night, we have a little drip. Not much, but I'll have to get back up there and adjust the float again. It's cooling much better, though, so, time well spent.

Anyway - the planters:

I love my little teacup.

I worry about the plants - small planters need more frequent watering. But if it seems to suffer, I'll move it more into the shade, or I'll re-pot them in something larger. For now, I like this arrangement of flowering cabbage, curry, and, um, I forget what that other silver-green trailing stuff is.

My urn! (and gargoyle!)

This is a lightweight plastic planter, not the heavy stone it looks. So I can move it even when it's full. More flowering cabbage, sweet potato vine in a couple of colors, some velvet black coleus, and a trailing something with pale lavender flowers. (I'm really good with the plant names...)

And, the stacked planter.

I had to pull some weeds and yank out some fever few to give this space. The crumbled bits underneath are from a shallow bowl planter I put it on a couple years back, which suffered in the snow and cold. I'll get a new one, but the "look" of it doesn't bug me, for some reason. I'm into that "natural" look in a yard. (translation: I don't love yard-work, and a few leaves and pine cones are normal, natural elements, right?) I used a lot of coleus here, and lots of sweet potato vine, more of that silvery trailing stuff, then finally added some color with those cute red, um, teensy flowery things.

(I tossed all the little plant tags. Oops.)

I kinda wondered if I'd come out in the morning and wonder what the heck I thought I was doing out there in the dark, with only the porch light to guide me. But I think they turned out well.

I'll take pictures again in a few weeks, when they've had a chance to grow and fill in a bit more. I usually crowd my planters pretty good, and I thought I had enough plants, but then, I added the smallest one on the stack, and I don't know, I didn't seem to have as much as I thought.

In which we discuss "Prom Night" (part 1)

That day was supposed to be an all-day rehearsal. Until the Prom was scheduled. At which point, to allow the kids to have their "day dates" (when did this become the fashion? the all-day Prom date?), Cam changed it to Early Morning Rehearsal. Even with that, we were missing some key people.
After rehearsal, I took the Twins home so they could shower and get ready for their dates, and I set out on some errands for the play.

Part-way through my errands, Twin1 calls to say he needs a ride out to PG right away. I detour to do that, including a stop at Planted Earth to get a last-minute corsage for his date ("prepared" is not exactly "him"). Twin2 has his ride arranged, so he's taken care of, except he won't tell me who his date is. Whatever. He did say who was driving, so I knew he was with good people. (Are you wondering why I wasn't trying to be home to see all this going on? Or if I took pictures of my fine boys with their beautiful dates? Turns out, I'm just not that kind of mom.)

Eventually, I arrive back at the school, ready to work on the set, or do whatever Cam needs me to do.
(It's now been so long, I'm a bit fuzzy on the afternoon/early evening of that day.) I think we worked on the set a little, before we started in on the lighting. Maybe. Or not.

If you recall, it was the lighting pieces we were working on when that first awkward moment took place. As in, that happened the night before. And not one word from him about anything. Even though we were together the entire rest of the day/evening. Late into the evening.

Here's how it was:

We (Cam and myself) spent about 7 hours together, just the two of us, climbing risers and ladders, running extension cords, and positioning lights.

(Have you ever had to do any set lighting? Apparently, it involves at least one person to position the light, while another one stands in the light, walking a bit around the stage, to make sure the actor(s) will be lit properly when they need to be, and that everything looks just so, and there are no dark areas. At least, that's how we had to do things on our make-shift set. I'm sure it's much easier when you have an actual auditorium with built-in lighting, and a board full of controls and such.)

So, just so you can visualize this, Cam is up on a ladder, which is on top of some risers, so he's basically up by the ceiling. I am on the set/stage area, walking and standing where he says to, keeping my face turned to the light, looking up at him, the entire time. (Shades of Funny Face here, only with a spotlight instead of a camera, and also, I'm no Audrey Hepburn.)

I'm trying not to go blind staring into some really bright lights, and wondering if I look frumpy (nothing like a spotlight shining on you for hours on end to crush your ego), while Cam is, basically, spending the evening looking at...me.

to be continued...

sort of like gardening...but not really

Here is my little seedling:

I think he turned out pretty cute.

I had to start him over when I was nearly done with the seed portion, because I wasn't paying attention to the pattern, and hadn't done the plain rounds in between the increase rounds.

Duh.

So, I know his eyes are crooked. But I think he's pretty cute anyway. I embroidered the eyes, figuring that would join the layers together, and I'd have both sets done at once. Not so much. It's not easy to get your fingers in there, so I was working blind as far as the inside goes. As it turns out, due to the angle of stitching and such, the inside didn't much look like the outside. I flipped it to the "seed" side, and stitched the eyes again, over the few stitches and partial stitches that showed up.

Speaking of joining layers, I stitched him together along the inc/dec portions, using regular sewing thread. It's fairly invisible from both sides. Instead of working across him in a direct line, I stitched across in thirds, following the inc/dec sections, to be sure my stitches were well-disguised.

No problems with pattern. I chose to interpret the last bit there, "work from 8 on other 2 needles" as "work 4 stitches from each remaining needle as for first needle", or something to that effect. I gathered from reading her other entries that she was only a pre-teen when she designed this. Pretty impressive.

Yarns used: Sugar N Cream in Jute, Caron Simply Soft Brites in Limelight, with black DMC floss, 6 strands, for embroidering eyes.

Look! It's a Monkey!

I made a monkey!

And took pictures of him in my garden!

Why is the monkey climbing the rose bushes? No idea. But he's as happy as I am that I'm not at the office.

What? Did you say something about other projects? Something I'm supposed to be working on for some "challenge" or other? Ummmm. Mumble mumble....

Look! Monkey!

Year of Ami, week 20, T is for Trilobite!

Terribly torn, I was tempted to try this terrific Tofu (learning experience, sharp edges/corners, plus simple shape). But in the end, the trilobites trumped it.

To knit, Grumbleknits Trilobite. (and check out the Trilobite Cookies, linked in the comments, too!)

And to crochet, Trilobites for Hookers.

(This is a Ravelry download, so if you're not a Raveler, it might not work for you. Let me know if that's a problem. Though, if you like to knit/crochet, you should join.)

*pics of my own creations added after-the-fact*

Meet Stumpy

I know I've got other projects that should have taken precedence, but I guess I just really liked this one, so I was eager to hold the finished project in my hands. Plus, it's not made with crochet thread, so it's easier to see what I'm doing while watching a movie.

I used my "E" hook on the whole thing. Because I didn't have the "F" with me when I started, and because I wasn't paying attention at first. I don't think it hurt the design.

I love the little "moss" frill.

One correction to the pattern: R13-14 on the stump should read "sc 48", since that's how many were in the previous round. But that's sort of a no-brainer.

I felt the need to sew the center bottom to the center top to dimple it a bit, as it seemed to round a bit much to sit flat. Maybe if I'd used the right size hook? Don't know.

I chose to crochet the spots for the mushroom instead of using felt. I made 3 small, and 2 large. For the small, 6sc in magic ring, sl st, finish. For the large, 6sc in magic ring, inc around for 12sc, sl st, finish.

I meant to flare out the base of the mushroom as I sewed it on, but somehow didn't manage to do that. It looks fine, though, so I'm leaving it.

I think it would be cute to accent this with light brown "rings" or wood grain, or green trailing vines/leaves.

*Yarns used: Alpaca Love in Espresso Bean & Fern, Full 'O Sheep in Lipstick, Patons Classic Wool in Winter White.

radishes!

See? I told you I'd have something to show you.

Small clarification on the knit radish pattern. Where it says "repeat rounds 3 and 4 until you have 7 stitches..." I was confused, because I could see from her pictures that the radish is mainly smooth, with increases and decreases in line. Plus, the math didn't work out. You can't keep doing K1fb, K1, (round 3 as written) because you are short a stitch the very next round. What round 3 should have said is something more along the lines of "K1fb, K to end of needle", which only works if you evenly distribute the stitches, and your work is on 3 needles, with 1 working needle. Which is how it should be, but this is one of those things I'd be at a loss to write up, because even the way I put it could be confusing. Anyway, the designer says that is what she meant, and will correct the pattern ASAP.

A little clarification needed on the crochet radish as well. When working the leaf, the leafy part isn't clear. What I finally settled on was working the hdc in one stitch, then grouping the (dc,tc,dc) in the next stitch, which makes the return around the other end basically symmetrical. Also, if you don't split that up, you don't end up in the last chain when it's time to turn. Others have left comments along that vein, but it's not been corrected yet. Again, I'm not sure of the proper way to write it up, so I can't blame the designer if she hasn't figured out how to correct it yet, either. Though I suspect there must be some rules about writing patterns that would clear it up.

No surprise, I like the crochet leaf much better than the knit leaf. Sorry it's too dark to see the detail. It's a dark yarn, and my flash doesn't work. I'll try to get a better picture later, if I can find a bright light to shine on it.

Speaking of leaves, that's what held this up, once I'd gotten the patterns straight in my head. I wanted to use the same yarn, because, as you may know, worsted is not all the same. Sadly, the yarn I used for the radish only came in one color green, which I felt was too pale for a radish leaf. The yarn I ended up using here is still a tad fluffier than the radish yarn. And is, maybe, a little too dark, as well.

Yarns for both: Sensations Kashmira in Red & Cream, LB Wool-Ease in Pines.

Year of Ami, week 19, S is for...

Some seriously sweet stuff!

Something simple to crochet, this super-sweet Little Stump from Ana Paula. I don't know why, but I'm thoroughly enchanted by this little item!

And, a seriously singular knit, Seedling, by Purpgee2000. This little fella is reversible, changing from a seed

to a little plant baby.

(I should have something from P, Q, or R to show you soon. I'm resisting making any more peas, on the grounds it's going to need more than the pattern said. I need to know the actual dimensions of a quart-size milk carton, but haven't been to the store in a while. There was an error in the knit radish pattern, but I was able to have it clarified/corrected, so now I can continue. Pea Babe is just going to take a little time to complete. There's been a lot going on at home, but I'm not giving up yet!)

*Pics of my own creations added after-the-fact*

this was my weekend

Twin2 chose to walk at graduation ceremonies, even though he still has a lot of work to do in order to actually graduate. Brave, I thought. (I knit some on my jaywalkers during the grad ceremonies. Almost ready to start the heel gussets!)

We all went for an easy hike in Capitol Reef. Twin1 looks like he's all alone here - but there were tons of us.

My sweet niece Ms P was the life of the party at the campground. (Her daddy is a park ranger this summer at Capitol Reef - lucky girl!) Her favorite words seem to be "hug", "help", "down", "hat", and "pretty". This little girl is in heaven, practically living in the biggest "sandbox" ever ("sand"=very soft dirt).

Dangerous sandbox, with pretty, blossoming, prickly pear.

This nifty carved rock was just to the side of the trail, calmly waiting to be noticed. I had to wonder if the rock was originally more like the shape of the carving, and has worn away over the years, or if the person who carved this was just adding their own interpretation.

I carefully selected and packed various knit and crochet projects for the camping trip. I even started on my knitted radish just before we left:

If I'd been a passenger instead of a driver, maybe I'd have a lot of finished objects to add to my list.

Instead, inspired by some cute little pincushions available at the Gifford House (located right there in the campground), I started working on this: