New Neighbors! Just in time...

 Here are some new neighbors down the street! 

It really tickles me to see the efforts of the actual neighbors who entertain us all with their "friends".  Every month for more than a year they have showcased somone.

Easy Lined Fat Quarter Zipper Pouch

 Here is a lined fat quarter zipper pouch.  Very easy to make.

This small bag was made with a fat quarter of quilting cotton and a 22' zipper that I cut down.  

Here is the bag open so you can see that it is completely lined, and, in fact, also has not raw seam edges.  

Some day I will write up a tutorial post.  I might even try to make a tutorial episode on The Country Wife From Vermont YouTube channel...but that might be a little while.

This is the first time I have made a "project bag" from a fat quarter.  I am delighted that it worked.  The finished dimensions are 7.25 by 9.5".  It also has a little non-boxed boxy bottom.  When I make another post I will put in a picture of that boxy bit.

Cotton Bolls?

 Today I went on a quick ministering visit--quick because I just handed over a project bag, zippered vinyl tools bag, yarn cakes, and crocheting instruction book (all bags which I made and was pretty happy with them)  at the door--and along the way I saw several fields with cotton bolls popping open. This is the first time I have been in a safe place to stop the car and take a photo.  I do get rather a charge out of fields of cotton.  Some year I might, possibly, try to learn to spin cotton.  My first attempt last year was pitiful.  I am afraid I might have annoyed the teacher by being so unreceptive to trying again after abysmal failure!

Don't you think those are beautiful?!  A whole field as far as the eye can see is very impressive.  It is still a few weeks from harvest I think.

Pumpkin Spice Crocheted Pumpkins

 It has been a long time since I wrote a blog post. I am sorry.  I have written some in my head but never got to the keyboard.  Life, you know?!  I expect you are just as busy.  Last week on The Country Wife From Vermont YouTube channel I spoke of things coming to a head with a need to let some things drop off.  I am sort of doing that.  At least I am deciding to let some things become lower priority. I feel like that will help me regain my sanity...and even improve my health!

In the meantime, it is now Fall.  Fall is pumpkin season. And apple season.  Here are some crocheted pumpkins I recently made.  They still need their stems but they will come soonish, I think.

These pumpkins have the same number of stitches in them, just different thickness of yarns  (worsted weight and super bulky weight) and different size hooks...5 mm and 10 mm hooks.  You will likely turn up your nose at the colors...I do. I don't know why I chose those yarns...oh well.  I think maybe crocheting with a single yarn might be better. I have one of those on the hook currently but I started with one size hook and then appear to have changed size hook...making a very funky looking piece of work.

This pattern is a Brianna K Designs pattern.  She gives it out for free on her blog but if you want the pattern stripped down to just the pattern and not a hundred advertisements, it is available on Ravelry.com.  If you go there you will note that it says the pattern is also available for free...info in notes.

For these pumpkins I crocheted 19 chain stitches  to start and went from there...with 9 of the wheat stitch panels.  This is a very easy pattern once you get the hang of it.  When working with one color at the beginning I did get off track but now having successfully crocheted two of them, I believe I will be able to stay on track with succeeding ones!  Give them a try.

Stovetop Lichen Dyeing!

 The last batch of lichen that a dear friend harvested for me has been used!  Since I have a jar of lichen fermenting in ammonia on the deck I decided to try stovetop dyeing with lichen.  I am so happy with the results!

Here you can see two bits of Lonk sheep fiber.  The one on the back was stovetop dyed with white mushrooms.  Made a nice light creamy beige color.  Not really impressive.  The front fiber, however, makes me very happy!  It was dyed with lichen.  I am pretty sure I mordanted with cold water alum then, after heating the lichen to simmering for an hour, letting it sit overnight to cool, then added the fiber.  I brought the fiber up to simmering for an hour then shut off the heat and let it sit overnight.  This glorious color is what I found when I pulled it out of the dyebath.  I think I will try again and see if an exhaust bath works!

The Finest Kind Sweater Designed by Alicia Plummer is Coming Along!

In a past blog post I think I mentioned that Dear One asked me to make him the Finest Kind Sweater.  I have been working two or more rounds a day for all summer.  Finally yesterday I finished the right front section and worked a three-needle bind off to put the two shoulders together.  The first try I managed to bind off both fronts together instead of binding a right front to a right back etc.  Oh well.  So I took that bind off out and did it properly the second time!

Next thing to do was to knit the collar which I did when we came home from the FamilySearch Center.  We had patrons in the Center last night and enjoyed helping them.

Here is a photo of the shoulders stitched together correctly.  Dear One tried it on and the sweater fits!

Here is the collar.  Not a great design in my view but that is what is called for so I did it.  Finished it late last night.  No ends woven in yet.  

Hopefully today I will start picking up stitches for the first sleeve...

Crochet with Knitted Borders Baby Floor Mat

 Lately I have been making baby floor mats.  These are "blankets" that are not large enough to wrap around a baby but which are perfect for putting on the floor and laying a baby down on to have a space between baby and floor.  I have made several.  This time I started making a crocheted rectangular blanket but found my hands wore out way before the blanket was big enough.  At that point I decided to add some knitted borders.

The first set of knitted borders was a disaster!  The first problem was that I tried to do a mitered corner.  It was late in the day and I was not thinking.  Mitered squared DECREASE at one corner so decreasing at four corners was the wrong thing to do.  Next I had added two stitches at each corner on either side of the actual corner stitch.  This made a TERRIBLE corner!  

After working five colors of knitted bands and knowing absolutely that it did not work, I pulled all those knit stitches out back to the crocheted rectangle and picked up stitches again.  This time I only added one stitch at each corner. It is not ideal but it worked out sort of okay.  Well enough that I am going to give it to the new baby this week.

Tomorrow I will make this baby floor mat one of the finished objects I speak of on my YouTube channel video. In case you are interested, that channel is The Country Wife From Vermont.  I will see if I can link the channel here.

As you can see from this photo, which is poor I will agree, but also there are issues.  One thing I did learn from this project is that when you are knitting garter stitch blankets and you are starting a new color, you absolutely must add the new color at the right side of the project.  Otherwise you will get colored blips where you do not want them! Oh, well. I have a pretty high tolerance for error.  Especially if fit is not an issue.  You can see the light blue blips on the first dark blue garter ridge round.

Who Is This Skeleton?

 The neighborhood skeleton has changed clothes again!

Who do you think he is this month?  I am thinking possibly back-to-school guard?  

Make a guess and let us know!  Thanks!

Mushroom Dyeing Results!

 The first part of this year's mushroom dyeing project is complete.  It is a complete success!  At least I am so happy about the results.

The quick story is that I put about 7 grams of wetted Lonk sheep fiber into the pot with the mushroom dye-bath and let it simmer for an hour then shut off the burner and let everything cool down overnight.  The gold-y orange color is beautiful.  Well, my husband doesn't like it but I do!

Since that worked so well I put four 7-8 gram pieces of Lonk fiber in a bowl with cold water with 10 percent alum dissolved in the water and let them soak 24 hours.  Some people say 24 hour, others say at least 4 days.  Well, I went with the 24 hours.

After rinsing the now pre-mordanted Lonk fiber, the fiber was put into the dye-bath and brought to a simmer where it sat for one hour.  Turned off and let cool down overnight.  This morning I pulled out the fiber and dried it off somewhat.  

This is the results:

The fiber on the left is the un-pre-mordanted-with-alum fiber; the one of the right is mordanted.  There is a difference.  The fiber with mordant is a brighter color.  I am so pleased!

So pleased that I went back out to the new fairy gardens on the lawn and picked a bag of white mushroom tops.  They are Agaricadeae mushrooms according to Picture This app. Since they are white I have no idea if they will do anything but I am going to put in a plain piece of fiber and a mordanted piece of fiber tomorrow, simmer one hour, then let cool.  I will let you know if we get different colors!

By the way...I believe the orange mushrooms are Suillacaeae.

Those Orange Mushrooms As Dye...

Today was a very busy day.  Those orange mushrooms in their own fairy garden that I showed you yesterday were calling to me.  I was so afraid the weather would change again and I would be unable to harvest them and turn them into dye....so after supper I went out with my stroller (to keep me upright!), a cardboard box, a 5 gallon paint strainer bag, and a pair of garden gloves that I put on before I picked even one mushroom.  

Since I do not know specifically if these mushrooms are safe to handle, I felt very strongly about not touching them.  When I got to the lawn I found that multiple mushrooms had already started molding and going by.  I did not collect them.  I will let them go back into the ground from which they sprang.

Even though these mushrooms are on our own lawn, I still did not harvest them all.  When I had about as many as I though I should collect, I went back into the house, emptied one of our dye pots--a nice stainless steel pot with a glass cover that is ONLY USED for dyeing, even though it is only natural dyestuffs I am currently using--and after cleaning the pot I filled it about 2/3 full of water then set the bag of mushrooms into the water and set the burner heat to medium low, covered the pot, then went to my wonderful VERY elderly blue platform rocker to do some knitting for a while.  (After about four rows I realized that I had forgotten that I was supposed to be decreasing every other round.  Rats!  So I took out those rows and decided to check the dye pot until I recovered my equanimity after that faux-pas...)

The wool fiber I used to put in the pot as a sample was 5.6 grams of Lonk Wool.  Yes, Lonk!  Look it up.  ("The Lonk is a British breed of domestic sheep. It belongs to the group of black-faced hill breeds of northern England.)". 

So I lifted the bag out of the water to see if there was any color.  About 30 minutes had passed so I was pleased to see a sort of dark brown-y orange liquid...SO I put the bit of Lonk fiber in the pot.  In another ten minutes or so I will turn off the heat and let the mushrooms and wool sit together overnight.  I look forward to morning!!

This is the pot with the paint strainer bag and in the top of the pot, that little non-bag hump-y looking thing  is the fiber.  I repeat: I look forward to the morning.

++++++++++++

On a totally other subject:  today I was serving with a friend in the FamilySearch Center.  I spent most of my time learning rather than forwarding our family history.  I started with the front page of The Family History Guide. There are a number of short videos that I watched then moved on to click on a link, then another, then another.  THERE IS SO MUCH THERE! (Actually thousands of articles and links, etc)  If you think you don't know enough about doing family history research, this is the website for you.  If you think you know all there is to know about doing family history work, this website is for you!  You are wrong!  There is so much more.  SO MUCH.

I won't tell you about what I learned because it is all still swirling around in my brain.  Suffice it to say that this website is a wonderful blessing to everyone who goes to it...from the rankest beginner, even if you have not even begun family history work...on up to the most certified credentialed researcher.  Later on this year I believe we will begin holding The Family History Guide workshops...not classes because no one can know all that is there.  We will work on family history together starting with projects and goals, and moving on one step at a time.

By the way:  The Family History Guide is not an app to download; it is a free website accessible via your own device.  The Family History Guide also allows you to work through the projects, goals etc with the focus you want.  Let's say you have an account at FamilySearch, a totally free global family tree website....you can focus your work and projects on FamilySearch.  Perhaps you have purchased an Ancestry.com account, or acquired a free account...you can focus your learning on Ancestry.  You can also focus on FindMyPast or MyHeritage.  So great!  I am so enthusiastic.  I was part of The Family History Guide many years ago when they first started (2015!) and even then I knew it was a good thing.

That is it for today!  Mushroom dyeing and The Family History Guide!  Two very different things but both a big part of this day.

Best wishes to all.

We Have Fairy Gardens!

 We have had rain almost every day for about two weeks.  We needed it and are happy for it...though I do have to say that today I left the house when it was cloudy and by the time I got to my destination more than 30 minutes away I had been through two very scary deluges!  I do not enjoy driving or riding in the rain. AT ALL!

This morning when we woke up I took these pictures of what I have heard described as Fairy Gardens.  They really are beautiful.

These mushrooms came up in two days and are just outside our garage.  I do love them.  I intended to harvest them for solar dyeing wool fiber to see what color we could get. BUT the day got ahead of me.  Hopefully tomorrow.

As you can see, these came up by the birdfeeder.  There are also some plants...probably sunflowers...that are growing up where seeds were dropped.  I think we will let them grow a bit before cutting them. 

These mushrooms are a different variety of mushrooms.  Last year or the year before I did some mushroom dyeing with orange-y mushrooms and got a lovely yellow fiber. I hope I can repeat that.  I just have to find the directions again!

My hope is that the mushrooms will still be in good shape tomorrow when I have time to harvest them and turn them into dye.  I picked some last week and almost immediately they turned into a horrifying moldy mess.  I hope I can help the basket recuperate!

Since I am mentally into solar dyeing I am hoping someone has a lot of weedy goldenrod they would like someone to take away.  I would do it!  I really love the beautiful yellow goldenrod produces.  You should try it yourself!

Two Sample Shawls Plus Unexpected Skin Surgery

 This weekend I added two sample shawls to my knitting basket.  Here they are:

The photo is not ideal but maybe you can enlarge it.

The brown shawl is sort of like the Outlander-Inspired Shawl for 18-Inch dolls.    I made a few small changes to suit me a little better.  The main change was that I slipped the first stitch purl-wise every row to get a nice chain-like edging.  Since I will use this as a sample, but also as a shawl for one of our Emotional Support Chickens, I knitted about 20 garter ridges then did the bottom eyelet edging, knitted one additional row then bound off loosely.  It came out okay.

The green shawl is also a sample for my friend to choose from when she chooses her shawl pattern.  This shawl is simply the increase rows of Grandmother's Favorite Dishcloth then one row of eyelet stitches then binding off loosely.  It also is about 20 garter ridges and will be for another Emotional Support Chicken.  They need their shawls for their own emotional support!!  At least I like to think so...

This was a fun weekend evening project though it would probably have been better to spread out the knitting joy a little...

So about the unexpected skin surgery:  I spoke of it on The Country Wife From Vermont YouTube channel last week if you want to hear it "live"!  Here are the basic details: I went to the skin doctor for the annual "naked" appointment--my mother died of malignant melanoma which spread to her lungs and then to her brain, and since I have a ton of moles, I go every six months to be checked.  Once a year there is an ignominious full-body check.  Last week was the day.  I got there and was helped up onto the bench (I waited for help since good balance is no longer my middle name...) and he started the exam.  A minute or so into the exam he asked if there was anything  new or different.  Well, yes.  The day before my left ear was itchy so I scratched  it and found a smallish lump/bump which I scratched all day and into the day of the appointment.  He looked at it and said, "Huh!  Would you mind if we took that off?  It might be nothing, but it might be something."  Well, what would you do?!!  So I said go for it.  So he did.  

The wound is supposed to Vaselined and covered until it heals or until I hear from the office about the biopsy results.  Of course, you will know how well the bandage sticks to skin with Vaseline on it...so it is now healing in the open air.  If you are a medical person and think I should do something else, please let me know!  Many thanks.

So that is the newsy bits  front from the South today. I hope all is well with you and your family as you are reading this.

Lawn Renovation!

 There are a fair few empty bare spots on our lawn. I am not sure why though it might be because we don't water enough.  Maybe we drive over the lawn too often? I don't know BUT  several weeks ago I spoke with Chris at BC Mulch and More.  She told me how to fix the lawn when I asked.  This is her suggestion:

Dragon fly exploring the newly laid compost!

1.  Go to Southern States to get some Contractor Mix grass seed.

2.  Use a garden fork to aerate the bare spot.

3  Spread the compost I was purchasing from her over the aerated spot.

4.  Broadcast on the grass seed.

5.  Water several times a day until the seeds are established.

This seemed like an easy project.

Not so!

The first issue was that Southern States only had grass seed in fifty pound bags.  That would have been way overkill.  At least that is my thought.

Southern States was in process of opening bags on pallets from another location and they were going to have and open bag the next day...so I came back.

They did not have a bag open.  The nice boy at the desk suggested I call before coming so I could save my gasoline.  I agreed to that.

A week later I did go back to the store and they still had not opened a bag but did it on the spot and sold me two pounds of seed.

This is the bare spot on the lawn I decided to address first.

Now the real fun began.  As I was aerating the soil it seemed like just about every other poke into the ground hit a stone!  R-r-r-r!!  Well, I continued then spread the bucket of compost and aerated again.  Next I got the seed from the house and broadcast a good bit of it.  Finally I got the hose out and sprayed the  ground in good shape.  As I am writing this I am looking at the clock and need to go and water again.

Here is the lawn with the whole process completed...except for all the watering projects!

Let us all pray that the seed takes hold and the lawn improves.  If it does, there are more bare spots...

DIY Diz!

This week I learned something new:  it is possible to pre-draft wool fiber through a diz!  What is a diz?  It is some small flat or curved "thing" with different sized holes in it which you can use to pull roving through or pull smooth fiber off wool combs to turn it into roving.  I wondered if I could use a large button to pull fiber through.  Yes, you can!

This is a plastic button that is about 1.25" in diameter (is diameter straight across?  I seem to have forgotten some of the fine points of math!). I used a 2.5 mm crochet hook to pull a little end of roving through one of the holes.  I then pulled the fiber with my left hand and held the fiber on the other side with a bit of tension on it to pre-draft the roving and make it easier to spin.  This worked like a charm AND the spinning is much more consistent.  Makes me happy.

This is what the "nest" looks like after dizzing it off:

So light and fluffy!  It makes really nice yarn.  Doesn't this make you want to take up spinning?!!!

NOTE:  If you want to watch me actually using this diz, I do a short demo on The Country Wife From Vermont  YouTube channel which will post on Saturday, 26 July.    This link might take you there, or you can just look for it by name.

This is the address for last week's episode:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzy5keNE5_c

Active Bird Nest In Our Tree!

 This morning Dear One was sitting on the front porch waiting for the police to come check up on us to see if we actually did have burglars or what. (We did not have burglars...someone just forgot to turn off  the security system before opening a door...fortunately the police are very nice about it.  I guess coming to a home where there are no actual crimes being committed is a restful thing for them.)

As I came out to see what was up, he asked if I had seen the birds in the tree. I had not.  I hear them every morning before dawn but figured they were sitting on the eaves of the house.  Not so!  There is a bird's nest in the tree!  I guess they are pretty happy I did not prune that high up in the tree last week!  I guess that makes me feel like a dolt that I did not spot the nest...

Can you see it?

Of course you can!  I love having birds around us.  They counterbalance the "other sounds" we hear from the pond...!

Tour de Fleece: First Completed Bobbin

 Here is the first bobbin of 2-ply yarn I spun for this year's Tour de Fleece.  I am taking things a little easier this year.  Last year I was stressed to the max trying to spin spin spin.  This year I am committed to fifteen minutes a day or at least five yards of Thetford Roving spun by the end of the day.

This yarn was the result of the blending board rolags I made at the first Tour de Fleece event this year.  I have now used up much of this thick and thin yarn on a project which I will unveil next week when it is completed!

The singles were spun on the Ashford Traveler that my angel friend Elsie gave me twenty years ago.  When it was time to ply I used the Ashford eSpinner 3.  That worked so well!  Of course, I only have two bobbins for that eSpinner so I had to first unwind the singles  on the full bobbin.  I am hoping to order another two bobbins from WooLee Winder for this eSpinner.  Then I will be set.  Famous last words, of course!

Beach Boy Skeleton!

 Here he is in all his beachy glory:

Don't you just love his adorable watermelon inner tube floaty thing?!!!  Of course, on principle I am against watermelons because they gag me but, I still think this  is cute.  

The library here in town is going to have a crafternoon tomorrow where they will take colorful buttons and craft a watermelon card.  Pretty cute.

And yes, you are correct, I do not like to eat watermelon.  Every year I try and every year it gags me.  Someone told me I just need to eat a really ripe local watermelon and I would love them.  Not so far...

Tour De Fleece Started on 5 July

 The Columbia Spinning Ladies who took me in last year and have helped me tremendously in improving my spinning have a wonderful plan for Tour de Fleece this year.  Every Saturday in July will have an event/workshop to improve our skills.

On Saturday just past we learned how to create our own self striping yarn!  TJ, our leader, had a big pile of fiber and instructed each of us to take three colors that appealed to us to make the yarn.  I chose red, yellow, and blue.  Not very creative but...that is what I chose.

These are the rolags I made on the Ashford Blending Board I purchased earlier this year.  I had only tried blending on it once or twice before.  This was what I made on Saturday.  The next thing we did was to spin up the rolags into singles.  I did that.  When I came home I spent about ten minutes spinning some white singles to ply with the colorful striped yarn to tone it down a little.  I have not plied yet as there was more red, yellow, and blue to turn into rolags and spin into singles.

Today I finished blending up the remaining red, yellow, and blue fiber into rolags and now have six more rolags to spin plus a big fat "rolag" or maybe better call it a sort of batt.  I will spin that last.  If all goes well I will get this done tomorrow.  The spinning of these rolags, I mean.  I expect that the following day I will get to plying. Hopefully.  I will show the yarn off  after that.  One of the Columbia Spinners has already finished her spin and has knitted it up into a swatch.  It looks so good.  In my heart of hearts I hope to complete my spinning, plying, wet-finishing, skeining up, rolling into a ball, then knitting a swatch by next Saturday.  I will let you know how it goes.  At this point...not too sure that is a reasonable expectation, but I will try.  Will let you know!

The Ashford eSpinner 3 which is upstairs is where I am spinning the white Thetford Roving to use for plying.  Last night I spun up 5 grams of roving.  Today I spun 10 grams of roving.

Easy Felted Basket

 My sister had a birthday almost two months ago. I wanted to send her flowers but it was also Mother's Day time and I expected her boys would have sent flowers. I told her I was going to send her flowers and asked if she wanted them in a basket or in a vase. She said basket!

When I texted her ten days ago to ask her for a florist in her town she did send me the name of a florist  then said she would just as soon have seeds for perennial flowers.  I thought that was a great idea so I went to several stores to see what they had.  I found quite a few seeds for flowers I would love in our yard if I ever was going to become a gardener, which I will not be doing!  Too lazy/busy/too many other things to do, so no flowers here. I cannot even keep the potted plants alive on our porch...!

So I thought I would make her a basket. Since it was almost Independence Day, I thought I would use red, white, and blue yarns.

This is what I did:

Yarn used: 100% natural wool in three colors.

US #15 needles.

Easy Felted Basket (very small)

With one strand red and two strands white—Cast on 41 then knit one round, purl one round, knit one round purl one round then:

Knit 10, cast off 10, knit 10, cast off 10

Knit 10, cast on 10. Knit 10, cast on 10.

Knit for about 4 more inches.

Drop red yarn and join blue yarn. Knit four or more inches from cast on.

Purl one round.

K4, K2tog around.

Knit one round.

K3, K2tog around.

Knit one round.

K2, K2tog around.

Knit one round.

K1, K2tog around.

Knit one round.

K2tog around.

Break yarn leaving a long tail then weave through all stitches and fasten off securely.

Putting in washing machine with other items and using hot water and most agitation available. 

Remove from washer and shake to your satisfaction then let dry completely.  Pull into shape then stuff a small kitchen towel inside to help the basket hold its round shape while drying.

_____________________

Over the past few months we have received mailings, many in small boxes. One box I absolutely adored.  It was probably 3" or maybe 4" cubed. So cute.  Well, I put some red, white, and blue tissue paper inside then smushed in the little basket and the packets of seeds.  I used heavy duty shipping tape to close it up.  

Because I was so unwise to do this kind of packing job, I have decided to try again and make another basket, this time a little larger and also perhaps a rectangular one. (I have to finish a couple of knitting projects with time constraints first, though....) ALSO I will see if I can find some fragrant perennial seeds.  If anyone has any suggestions on what to get, please tell me.  Also tell me what seed-seller to go to for the purchases.  Many thanks!

Uncle "Skeleton" Sam!

 Our neighbors have scored again with dressing their skeleton for a holiday:

My opinion:  They do a great job in making the neighborhood more interesting.  I look forward to every new month or holiday to see what they will come up with next!  Love it.

Solar Dyeing Wool Report!

 On Friday of Memorial Day Weekend 2025 I put three jars on the deck railing with a little over ten grams of combed top of un-named breed of wool in for solar dyeing.  In one jar were avocado pits and peels.  The second jar had red onion skins, a lot of tiny ones that I found in the bottom of a potato bin at Aldi!  The third jar had four hibiscus herbal tea bags--a bit of a waste of good tea, but!  The jars were all filled with water to almost the top and some plastic stuffed in on top to submerge the wool in the water and dye materials.

Four weeks later I have opened the jars, emptied everything into the 13-quart stainless steel bowl my parents gave us for a wedding gift (our mother gave one to each of my siblings who all married in the same twelve months period all those years ago!) I then rinsed the wool and set it to drying.

This is what we have:

The white fiber on top is where we started.  Sample number one under the white is the avocado solar dye.  It actually did take up some color.   Sample number two is the red onion dye.  Sample number three is the hibiscus tea.  That gave the most color.

So-for an experiment which held high hopes but not much in the line of expectations, I am pretty happy!  

This weekend the Tour de Fleece starts.  One of goals I have for Tour de Fleece is to card each of these samples then spin them into a tiny skein of yarn then knit a sample and see what we have.  Yay for Tour de Fleece and goals!

The wonderful Columbia Spinners who have accepted me into their midst have a great plan for every Saturday during TdF for learning new skills.  During all the other days I am hoping to really improve my spinning to create a more consistent yarn so it will actually be useful for knitting.

Last year's Tour de Fleece  product yarn is not yet all used up. I did knit a shawl with most of it that initially I did not like at all.  Now, months after the end of the Spin It To Knit It Along, I am feeling somewhat better about it.  The remaining yarn from last year is now in the back of my mind for using to weave a shawl sometime this year.  We shall see.

It is Fireworks Season! Again!!

Multiple times during the year since we have moved to South Carolina, we have seen many many little mobile fireworks stores.  They are everywhere!!  They moved in nearly a month ago.  Again.

Here is one of them:

This happens to be the back of the fireworks trailer that is in the Neighborhood Walmart parking lot.  If you need any pyrotechnics, come on down!!!

Any occasion seems to be the time for fireworks here.  A few times in the past few months we have been sitting in our upstairs tv room and have first heard, then seen, fireworks across the pond from us.  This past weekend we heard then Dear One stepped to the front window so see them two streets over from us. I have decided that on Independence Day I will just lie in bed having opened the blinds and just watch from the bug-free convenience of our comfy bed!

May you all have a safe and happy Independence Day!

Mini Yankee Doodle Chicklet!

Ginger Balch at In Sheep's Clothing, a yarn shop in Torrington, Connecticut, has come up with another darling chicken/chicklet pattern!  I purchased the kit two weeks ago and had it in hand within a week.  This is what I made:

 She included everything in the kit but I thought I needed a "Liberty Bell" instead of the little Christmas bells she included. I found them online for not very much money.  I am so happy how it turned out though the next one I make I will insert a tiny bit of stuffing inside to make the chicklet poof out a bit.

It was on my mind to make a ton of these and hand them out to friends BUT common sense came to me. I already have **two projects with time crunches so...maybe for next year if anyone would like a Mini Yankee Doodle Chicklet...but you have to let me know so I can put it on a list!

**The two projects with end dates are The Woolly Thistle Vest Knit A Long which ends early to mid July and the Hoadie's Sweet Vanilla Sock Test Knit which ends 12 July.  Both of those dates are coming right up.  The socks are toe up socks.  I love them. They fit really well.  I am ready to start the legs which will only be about four inches, maybe five.  Since I wear "combat boots" so I can walk, I need the cuff of the sock to come up a few inches above the top of the boot.  We shall see how far I go!

The Woolly Thistle Vest KAL is more taxing as the vest has to cover a lot more territory. I am at the point of dividing for the armholes/front/back.  I plan to steek for the armholes and for the sort of scoop neckline.  Since I am creating this pattern myself there is no guarantee that it will be any good at all...hoping for the best.

DIY Tensioning Device For Rigid Heddle Loom!

 Today I cut four pieces of PVC pipe to use as a tensioning device along with two pick sticks and lots of flat rubber bands for the 16” Ashford Rigid Heddle loom. It worked!

Lilac GreenStalk Vertical Planter: Set Up, Filled, Planted

 Before going to the FamilySearch Center this morning I put the wheels on the swirly base for the lilac-colored GreenStalk Vertical planter.  Of course I did not see the instructions, I just followed someone who showed what to do on YouTube.  Sadly that person did not mention staggering the locking wheels and i did not notice the difference so all three locking wheels are on one side.  Oh well.  It will probably be okay, right!?

 When I returned home from the FSC I mixed together the organic potting mix with some wonderful compost from BC Mulch and More.  While there I was instructed on how to get our lawn to look like a lawn instead of a back lot.  I hope to get started on that soonish.  Must speak to dear neighbor first.

After mixing the soil I filled the containers, placed the containers and their individual watering containers on top of each other then finally planted 2 Contender string beans in 12 holes and planted two zucchini plants and four yellow marigolds the latter six in the bottom layer.  I hope to plant some flowers or maybe some lettuce or more kale in the top layer.  Just not today.

After completing this job I picked the blueberries which really were ripe this time.  The two Brightwell plans produced best…and taste delicious.

First Time Warping Rigid Heddle Loom For Kitchen Towels

 For some time I have planned to weave kitchen towels.  Yesterday I got step one finished.

Today I finished it up...a long process.  If you are a rigid heddle loom weaver you can see that there are some problems...but I am hoping for the best anyway!

The yarn is Maurice Brassard 8/4 cotton.  The loom is a 32" Ashford Rigid Heddle Loom.  I have warped 220 ends and plan to weave at 10 ends per inch.  I am trying a houndstooth plus some plain weave and some stripes. I hope it won't be ghastly!  We shall see.

Kale! Quite a Few Varieties...

 A couple of months ago I was in a store where seeds were sold.  I saw a packet that had multiple kale varieties.  I hoped I would have some curly kale and some dinosaur kale.

This was our kale meal for tonight...the first time I have harvested from the GreenStalk.  Last year the bugs got the kale.  Miserable things!  There are at least five different kale varieties in this dish...one of which is the looked-for dinosaur kale but NOT the curly kale.  I might plant a few more seeds later in the season and see if I get curly kale.  Either way, this was a delightful mess of cooked kale for supper!  At least I for one enjoyed it!

The second harvest of wax beans was on the table for supper, as well.  I cooked both the kale and the beans in the 3-quart Instant Pot.  It appears as if that piece of equipment is on its way out.  Last week, for no reason I could ascertain, the top black knob "blew" twice.  I washed everything and put in a new gasket.  Today the IP did not come up to pressure.  I may do some online investigation to see if I can figure it out.  If I cannot, I will say goodbye to this one.  And probably not replace since we have an 8-quart plus a 6-quart Max that zi use for pressure canning leftovers.  That works so good for us since we can can in pint jars, four at a time.  Works great.

So: solicitation for help:  has anyone had Instant Pot problems they were able to fix? I would love to know what you did.  Many thanks.

Another Small But Satisfyling Harvest!

 Here is another photo of the back deck harvest 2025.

They are called Sun (Something), though not Sun Gold. I have not been able to find those here.  The harvested tomatoes have all been consumed.  I hope there will be a few more.

When I purchased the plant it said the variety was very productive.  I guess that meant when it was planted in the ground.  It is in a pretty good-sized pot on the deck.  Maybe not enough dirt.  

If someone has suggestions for container planting for maximum harvest, I would love your suggestions.  Still, I am pretty happy.  I really cannot eat as many fresh tomatoes as I would like to. Back in the old days many years ago I ate tons of them every day...four, five, six full-sized tomatoes. Yummy!  Developed skin allergies and then intestinal allergy SO...I don't need more of that kind of thing. The medicine does enough unpleasantness without my help.  It is sad, though...

First Blueberry Harvest!

 Last week we had our first blueberry harvest which made us very happy!

Yes, it is a small bowl and there are not very many berries.  And yes, they are not as sweet as we hoped for BUT that is because in retrospect, they were not really ripe.  They just looked blue in comparison to the other berries.  We will check again later this week and hope for sweeter berries.

Wax Beans Ready To Pick

 It is great that these beans are ready to eat.  Of course,  there are only about ten beans, but Dear One will be happy when I pick them and cook them!

Don't they look yummy!  They are growing in the GreenStalk Vertical Planter.  I just ordered a lilac colored planter to put some flower into.  I think.  The planter we already have has the string beans, basil, strawberries, kale, and volunteer marigolds growing. I will use the marigolds for wool dyeing since I loved the gentle yellow color last year.

The GreenStalk people have added Lemon Yellow and Blueberry color to their line-up of planters!!!

Woven Placemats Completed

 A friend's daughter is now married.  When I learned of the upcoming nuptials I decided to weave some placemats for the young people.  Well, they are done so I guess I shall share the details.

The yarn used was Knit Picks Dishie yarn in Azure and Linen, I think.  At least that is what I put in the Ravelry page. 

The Ashford 16" rigid heddle loom with the 7.5 dent heddle is the loom I used.  I warped the whole 16" width.  I do not remember what the length was that I used for the warp length.  The plan was to weave six placemats plus the loom waste, whatever that length was.

The striped mats are for the wedding gift, mainly because the gingham mats have too many problems with them.

The last two times I have woven a project I have been inclined to spend more time weaving. I do actually have a few projects in mind!   We shall see...Weaving is actually easier on the hands than knitting!

Solar Dyeing Experiments Starting!

 One night I was up knitting and happened to see a solar dyeing video.  Then another and another.  I decided it was time to try it, since I have planned to do it for ages.

On the left is hibiscus tea bags which I think will give a really deep pink since the water is already pink after one hour!  The middle jar is avocado pits and peels.  The one on the right is red onion skins.  I am looking forward to seeing how they do.  I will need to wait 3 or more weeks. I can be that patient.  I think!  I put 11, 12, and 13 grams of unnamed wool fiber into the jars.  The thought was that once they are dyed I can spin them into striped yarn.  Of course, it will be a very short strand of yarn but it will make me happy.

Now I need to check them every Saturday, open the jar, add in more water if needed, then close up the jar again. I am hoping for no mold problems...

On the topic of natural dyeing...the lichen a dear friend gave me is now being "processed"...which means I have started removing the lichen from the sticks she picked up from her lawn after a wind storm.  I am thinking now that there may be plenty of lichen to do the "real lichen dye" process, ie filling a glass jar full of lichen, filling it half full with water then another half full of ammonia and letting it sit 3-6 months.  That means I should have purple dye this fall!  I really look forward to that.  This time I won't bring the dye bath to a boil...only a simmer.  The last time that heat killed the color.  So sad.

PS. I guess I should have completely removed the labels from the jars.  It has rained a good deal the last two days so perhaps tomorrow I will see if the rain has affected the labels to make them easier to remove then remove them.  Does anyone have any suggestions about how to completely remove labels?  Many thanks.

Memorial Day Skeleton

 Here is the skeleton clothed for Memorial Day.  I appreciate these people who take pride in our servicemen and women and share their feelings.

Here is hoping you had a safe and happy day remembering those who served from your own family.

Alligator Barrier Seems To Be Coming Down...

When I came home from a very long extra shift at the FamilySearch Center today Dear One told me I should look out the window.   This is what I saw:

 

What you are seeing is the pond clearly in view now.

The lovely neighbors on our left side have cleared out most of the brush behind their house.  I won't show you our back line!  I have always been so happy to have quite a hedge of brush and crape myrtle trees between our lawn and the pond where at least two alligators live.

It will be interesting to see what develops from now.  I sincerely hope the alligators do not feel that they can now come racing up the bank from the pond and onto the lawn.  I have scary dreams about this happening.

Swatching For A Mitered Square Blanket

 The blanket I am currently working on, and hope to finish in the next week, is making me want to get started on a mitered square blanket.  I have watched Cheryl Brunette's mitered square afghan YouTube videos multiple times and think now might be the time to get started.  This is the year I have mentioned for using up all the yarn so a good time to get rolling on mitered squares.  I am making progress on the using it up project: the acrylic is almost half gone.  The wool yarn, fabric, and fiber is another story altogether...!

Since I definitely buy into the idea of knitting swatches before knitting a big project, I thought I would make some swatches for this blanket and get an idea of what I like and what I don't like.

These four swatches taught me things I wanted to know.  The upper left swatch is knitted with an odd number of stitches...in this case 31 stitches.  This necessitates, at least for me, moving stitch markers.  It is a nice-looking block with a nice definite diagonal line across the front of the square.

The rest of the swatches are even numbers of stitches--30 stitches here, and uses one stitch marker in the middle.  The bottom left swatch was knit to two stitches before the marker then SSK was done, the marker moved and a K2Tog knitted then finished the row.

The bottom right swatch was knit the same except that I switched the SSK and K2Tog so...knit to two stitches before the marker then K2Tog, slip marker, then SSK.  I liked the look of this better than the opposite one.

These first three swatches used the cable cast on.  I did not really like how it looked so the upper right swatch was cast on using the German Twisted Cast On, 30 stitches with marker between stitch 15 and stitch 16, then K2Tog, slip marker, SSK, knit to end of row.  All the alternate rows on all of the swatches were plain knitting.

As far as I am concerned, the upper right swatch is the one I will use.  

OH, BIG FORGET!  The first stitch of every row was slipped purlwise with yarn in front and the last stitch on every row was knit through the back loop.  This gives a beautiful chain for picking up when it is time to add in the next square.  

There are many videos for making mitered square blankets/afghans.  I suggest watching a few of them, then make your own swatches to see what you like.  I used the same yarn and the same needles so I could really tell. In this case it was I Love This Yarn and US 8 needles.  I think it is entirely satisfactory.  I will probably watch Cheryl Brunette again and follow her number of stitches to cast on since I like the idea of multiple size squares in the same blanket.  I just think I will use these easy to follow decreases because the stitch marker stays in the same place all the time so no real thinking is involved.

Please feel free to comment on my decision.  I might still change my mind since I am not ready to start...

Magic Coaster! Very Easy Crochet Project

 This week our daughter sent me a video on making Magic Potholders.  The YouTuber is Play Hooky With Me.  I decided to give it a try with some scrap yarn that was just sitting beside my handwork chair waiting to be used up.  This photo showed what happened!  It only took a couple of hours, maybe. I did not keep track but I did complete it before bed that day.

The yarn I used was I Love This Cotton.  It was crocheted with a 3.5 mm crochet hook. 

I do not know if anyone can see my page on Ravelry, but if you can, here is the link. I know I can see it but it is possible that if you don't have a Ravelry login, you might not be able to see it.  If you don't have a login,  it is totally Free.  I started in 2007 with an eye to keeping my knitting needles organized and also my yarn acquisitions.  That did not last...however, that is one of the things I intend to do...at least enter all my knitting needles so I will stop buying more....If I already have the size I don't really need another set, do I?!

Anyway, I would appreciate it if someone who does not already have a Ravelry account would go to that link and see if they can get to the page.  Many thanks.

Barley Bread?

 A dear friend leaving the area gifted us a big bucket of barley. We have made barley soup several times. Today I made barley bread.  It looks ugly but turned out really well…nice and soft!

Here it is. More or less!

I did not see the metal bread tins so I used the silicon pans.   They did work, just not well.  

The recipe was called “Best Barley Bread”.  I just don’t seem to have saved it in Notes.  I will post it when I find it.

Growing Things On A Rainy Day!

 It has been more than a week since I have taken the time to write.  It has been a very busy time.  

Today is a lovely rainy day.  I just took this photo of the GreenStalk vertical garden on the back deck.  I love the lilac colored planter.  I suggested to Dear One that it might be a great spring gift but then I thought about the fact that I have not really used the produce from the last seasons so I guess I will see if I can make one GreenStalk successful then add a lilac one next year....

 

There we go, though I have absolutely no idea why there is no background.  I don't really mind since there is a lot of "stuff" on the deck, though the picture I actually thought I was going had a lovely view of the rain-wetted decking.  Oh, well.

Here is the GreenStalk with wax beans looking good; some basil really going to town. The strawberry plants on the top layer are doing well, too.

There are some tiny kale plants in the second layer but they are totally invisible here.  There are very sturdy marigolds that are volunteers from last year, too.  They look promising.  You can just barely see a few green leaves on the right side of the second layer.

When I went out to investigate the garden this afternoon I noticed that the deck railing planter where I had started a packet of kale seeds earlier had been devastated...probably by the squirrels that visit from time to time to see if they can pick up something just lying around for them to steal.  Those hummers.  Well, as Alissa says, "Squirrels need to eat, too."  Yes. they do.  I am so sorry they scarfed down the last of the kale seedlings, though.  I intended to transplant them shortly.

Today I have been wondering how to use the basil this year.  Does anyone have any suggestions?

A Prior Weaving Project

 Here is a placemat I wove last year using I Love This Cotton. I really do love this cotton yarn for placemats on our rigid heddle loom. Three color plain weave.

This still brings me joy every time I put this on the table…

Another Wall Quote

 Today I visited a dear lady and saw this quote on her wall which she kindly allowed me to photograph:

I love it!  I would never say "All work and no play", either.  I hope everyone reading this takes time for some play every day.  I don't mean spend ALL your time playing but a little play keeps the spirit happy.

Every Day Is A Happy Day

 

Yesterday when I got home from a doctor appointment there was a beautiful birthday bouquet waiting for me from my angel sister. I love these flowers. It is a bit of a funky view of the bouquet but you can see how beautiful they are.

Today the sun is shining.  The lawnmower man is going to arrive soon.  We get to go see the doctor today for Dear One.  I like to go because if tattling is needed, I can do it!  I think we all have times when we don't want to spill the beans entirely to the doctor because of potential unpleasantness, but... the doctor cannot be useful if she does not know the whole story...thus, I am accompanying!

Granny Squares Project

 This weekend I started crocheting granny squares for the first time in ages. Well, I have crocheted a few grannies in past months but only as samples. Now I am crocheting for a project. I hope to get all the squares crocheted this week then join them into a small blanket. We shall see how this goes…

The thing I am doing differently this time is that as soon as the crocheting is completed I am sewing in the ends.  This will make for a quicker end to the project.

If you would like to see the specifics you could go to:

Thecountrywife.blogspot.com

There you can see all the projects I am working on and the ones I have finished.