Scrappy, scrappy

I've been working on loom knitting again. I have an order for 10 dishcloths and am expecting I'll be getting a few more orders real soon. I decided to use some of my scraps of yarn to give some visual interest to these cloths.

Waste not, want not.

As long as I was thinking scrappy...

I put together the first in a series of journals. 

The cover is a print of one of my kaleidoscopes. I believe this one started as a rose.

I love the look of all the different papers. It's up to the recipient to decide how to use them.

 

Working the needles

Oh sorry....was the click, click, click, click bothering you??

 I apologize. I gave my mom a couple of these scarves for her b-day a few weeks ago and a bunch of the ladies in her building have been asking where she got them.  When she said "my daughter makes them", they were all excited.

I've been enlisted to make a bunch and bring them over for the ladies to peruse.

 

Missing Tea

I never realized that I'd be busy over summer.

Honestly, I don't know where the times goes.

I'm afraid my Tea Tuesday friends from Kimmie's blog may have forgotten about me or worse, thought I forgot about them.

I'm skipping the tea for today and going for a big glass of ice water.

We've had so much rain here. Now high temps and humidity...with more storms due tonight.

My garden is mud...

Luckily the plants aren't seeming to mind.

I've got tomatoes on every plant.

In addition to gardening, I've been "home-schooling" this summer. Trying to keep the kids brains engaged so they can retain the info they've already learned. 

Other craft goodness has been on the agenda as well. 

We just came home from knitting group... 

And I've been sewing as well. 

So I guess when you add up everything going on, it's not to difficult to see where the time went. 

What's keeping you busy this summer?

 

Ruffle scarf and rainy days

I finally got a half way decent picture taken of my latest scarf.

 It's so dark and dreary that my usual photo op spots just wouldn't work.

We are definitely out of the drought...

I dumped 4.2 inches out of our rain gauge this morning...and it's raining again.

I've started on a blue one for Little J. I was surprised at her choice of color...usually she's all about the bright and wild colors. Her newest thing is to wear two different colored socks. I'm glad she marches to the beat of her own drummer!! I'm like that now but definitely wasn't as a kid.

 

Ruffle scarf and knitting success

I completed another ruffle scarf yesterday while at knitting group.

Thank goodness I was there because I was knitting away and came to the end of the skein without realizing it. My "teacher" Pat had to do some "tinking"...which is knitting backward...to fix my mistake. 

Isn't it pretty?!?! 

It's going to be a gift but I know she never visits me here. :)

 

I also learned...or re-learned from Pat...how to cast on stitches with regular yarn. 

When I got home a watched a YouTube video on how to purl so now I can do this!!! Hooray!

I still need to learn to keep my stitches looser but I just so excited that it has finally clicked for me. 

To knit or crochet

I finally learned how to knit on needles...albeit only with a new special kind of yarn. There are many brands and styles of this yarn on the market...but this was the only one at the fancy pants yarn shop that a few of my knitting group friends and I went to last week.

I made this knitted scarf.  The surprising thing (that will only make sense to knitters)is that there are only 6 stitches per row....all knit stitches!

I even figured out how to bind off by myself!! It was without a near catastrophe but I managed to save it....thank goodness.

I think I'd have cried it it had fallen apart.

Then last night while watching "Wheel of Fortune",

hey it's educational for the kids,

I crocheted this scarf with the leftover yarn.

I can't believe how quickly it went!

Of course it's much thinner and much longer. 

I am pretty sure I have to stop all yarnwork for a while. 

I've had a pain in my basal thumb joint for a couple of months now. I had some stiffness and then something that felt like it came out of joint and popped back in. Honestly, after that it felt better than is had in a month or so...but now it  has flared up again. 

I've decided (with my non-existent medical degree) that it's either tendonitis or arthritis....hopefully the former.

Knitting again

I have finally gone beyond just the standard dishcloth project.
Not that I won't be making more of these but now I've been experimenting a bit.










I made a slight bigger doll hat and am planning a matching scarf.






I wanted more of an elf hat look for this one so I came up with my own "pattern".   The "pattern" is still a work in progress. :)

Now I'm working on this  new stitch...

Looks like popcorn to me!!

Since Pinterest has gotten so big I've decided to start labeling my photos so that if they are "pinned", the credit goes to me.

Don't get me wrong....I love Pinterest, but I also want to make sure I get credit where credit is due.

Not a part of Pinterest yet...need an invite?  Let me know in a comment.

 

 

Mama's little helper tea

You may (or may not) have noticed that I have not posted anything since last Wednesday. 

I had intentions of completing projects but my back had other plans. An ice pack, ibuprofen and my chiropractor have been my friends this past week.

While sitting and icing, I've managed to finish The Help.

I like to read the novel before seeing a movie based on the book.

 And this, otherwise not comfortable, chair my friend. It has a nice firm straight back...something none of our the seating seems to provide. 

It's made of elk antlers and is over 100 yrs old. 

I want to recover it in something more interesting than what is currently on it. 

It was my Grandfather's chair. 

He traded an eye exam and glasses for it with a North Dakota Congressman or Governor in the early 1900's. 

I've heard the story both ways. 

Pretty neat, huh! 

It's definitely a conversation piece!!

The reason for the doll in the chair is to show one project that I did complete.

A tiny knit hat for Rosie.

Well my back has had just about enough sitting in front of the computer.

I'll have to go check out the rest of the Tea Tuesday links over at Kimmie's blog later.

 

Missed Tea Tuesday again

Gosh, it's already Wednesday evening! Time seems to be getting away from me lately. 

I did want to show you why I missed tea yesterday. 

I was learning to knit the top onto a kitchen towel. Isn't it sweet...the towel I mean. It's a vintage towel from the box of linens I've been working through.  It  now hangs proudly in my kitchen.

I also wanted to show you that I've started on the pages for the Postcard Challenge. 

This is the page for France.

I made a pocket to hold the postcard from a label which I believe is from some sort of alcoholic beverage. Beer, ale, wine or spirit...not sure...

I have a couple of extras laying beside that I plan to include once I put the page in it's proper place in the book.

I also have my postcard for Friday completed!!! 

Of course, I can't show that now. 

But I must say,  I do love it!

Hopefully, I'll have enough time after my volunteer duty in the school library tomorrow to complete the page to hold said postcard before posting it on Friday morning.

Creative ADD

I've been all over the place lately when it comes to creativity. 

I think I may have Art ADD (attention deficit disorder). 

Ok...some might argue that I have ADD in other areas of my life as well but the Art ADD is self-diagnosed. 

I blame the other on Motherhood. Children steal you're ability to keep a clear running thought in your head. :) But I wouldn't change a thing.

Anyway...these are the things I've done in the past week.

I papered our recycling cabinet to match the fridge.

Knitted another dishcloth on the loom...

Knitted a cowl on the loom...

Miniature terrain on a recycled CD...

Another terrain piece...

And last night I started another twirly crochet scarf because my elbow was hurting from the repetitive motion of the knitting. 

Crochet seems to work my wrist more and doesn't bother me.

In addition I've been washing and ironing my way through a large box of old linens. Deciding what is decent enough to save and use and what I can use in my artwork. Vintage linens and fabric are part of my idea for the Postcard Challenge book.

So, yeah...definitely Art ADD.

Loom knitting

Over that past month or so while I've been working out I've gotten some of the regulars there. I've heard them talking about their Tuesday knitting group so I asked If I could tag along because I seem to be knitting challenged.  

When I got to the coffee shop I saw most of the gals were using these weird circle things...huh, I thought to myself. So I was borrowed a loom and hook and sat down to learn. 

She said I should start with a dishcloth since they are very basic.

It was so stinking easy I couldn't believe it!! This it what it looked like this morning before going to workout. The gal who taught me said she'd show me how to bind it off there.

Look how great it turned out!!

I had some other chunkier yarn in my bag today so I had her watch me start a new one to make sure I remembered how. 

This will be a scarf...eventually.

Learning a new skill

Over the weekend we had guests...my brother-in-law and his girlfriend. I had asked her if she'd show me how to knit some time. She said sure if I'd show her how to crochet.  We both learned something very interesting, I knit like a crocheter and she crochets like a knitter. It was difficult for each of us to break the habits that we used for our previous yarn work.  I've been trying again and again but never get any further than this. I'll keep trying.

I also made this journal cover  the other day but as I was working on a second one...my sewing machine started acting goofy. I think the timing is off...or maybe the tension. I'm going to have to bring it in for a tune up. It's about 25 years old and has never been looked at...it's well over due.