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…