Scrap Dilemma

Yesterday was horseback riding day. I have not started any beading yet but have continued to look and think on it. One problem I discovered yesterday and used to spur me onto (or excuse) picking up the knitting needles again is that I can hardly bead while perched on a stool in a dirty barn smelling of horse. I dug around in my little emergency knitting kit and pulled out the two tiny remaining balls of yarn from the now finished socks. I cast on 36 stitches and am making an attempt at a small child's pair of socks. I am doing this by altering the adult pattern. I am a bit of a fly by the seat of your pants girl so it has been a lot of fun to make the mathy decisions as I go.

I knitted away most of the afternoon on my new invention and hit a snag at 11pm. The yarn ran out. It would hardly make sense to go buy another skein of this yarn to finish them but my husband suggested I go try and find a solid color sock weight yarn (at the store as this was the remains of my first sock weight yarn adventure). I can then make a pair of socks for him with the solid leftovers :). I have managed to turn the heel and just have the foot length left to knit up.

I tried them in their unfinished state on my 2 year old grandson. They were to small for his chunky little legs so i guess I will have to wait for a baby to come along.

My Creative Space-Finished Socks and Beaded Inspiration

My Creative Space is the brilliant idea of Kootoyoo. Go look and see all of the creative posts by artists and crafters around the globe.


They are done-I finished the last stitch last night closing up the second sock toe at about ten PM Wednesday night.

Next up beading. Today I have done a search for design ideas. I am hoping to do some corn (the orange, yellow and maroon beads inspire corn I think). I am also inspired but he idea of a dogwood flower and a butterfly. Because this is to celebrate my father and siblings joining the Cherokee nation I want to have some authenticity to what I put together. Here are sources of potential inspiration for me.


These were made and photographed by Martha Berry. She is a Cherokee beading artist. I bought some of the patterns she offers but am looking around for inspiration in designs that are meaningful for my dad and I (he and I get the first two pair of moccs).

I like This creative Space Thursday Stuff

So all week I have been working away on my sock so I can finish it by Thursday. I am down to the toe and think it will be finished just in time to make a completed pair by then. I have to say the Creative Space stuff has served to light a fire under me. Another push has been the fact that my big old piece of leather came in the mail on Saturday and I went bead shopping on Sunday (Ship wreck beads).

We packed up my second to the oldest daughter's apartment in Seattle to move her back down to Portland for a new job here. Olympia and ship wreck beads was along the way. That store has the most fantabulous selection of all things beady on the planet. It is absolutely Huge! I am planning on making moccasins for my dad and myself (a tribal celebration of sorts) and some beaded hair barrettes for my daughters. Once years ago I did a bit of beading but it has been ages (and my eye sight has slipped since then).

I picked out a range of maroons, oranges, yellows and black to bead an ear of corn. I am thinking of trying to use raffia for the husk. A range of green beads to do some leaves and then a few multicolored strands to use in any other design that I come up with. I will of course present pictures of all of these goods on Thursday (unless I finish the socks first).

Action Packed But Nothing Made Today

8:30 am-A morning meeting and coffee at Long-bottoms Coffee House. This was my first trip and although the baked goods were highly recommended I settled for a giant skim peppermint mocha. It was HUGE and tasty.

11:00 am 6 mile bike ride with sunglasses and short sleeves....ahhh SUNSHINE!!

12:00 pm lunch with some girl friends and talk of starting a neighborhood newspaper.

1:30 pm A stop with a couple of the girls at the bike shop for a carrying pouch (creative juices flowing...why are they so ugly? can't I make one with pretty fabric? I bought one to act as a shape prototype.

1:45 pm Toy store to buy a child's birthday gift-stuffed germs (e coli and MRSA).

2:20 pm Sitting in the sun knitting on the socks and talking with friend....basking in heat and vitamin D.

4:00 pm Home to make dinner, putter in the garden and do a bit of kitchen cleaning.

7:30 pm family movie "Harry Potter and the Sorcerers stone" with popcorn as Grace finished reading the book.

9:30 pm back to a bit of work to prepare for teaching tomorrow.

My Creative Space-Socks

Today as the sunshine was out and I babysit my grandson Thursday mornings the two of us went out to play. I brought my 'knitting emergency bag' with sock number two in progress. sock number one had to be knitted twice so technically this is sock number three :)...I have learned a lot from sock knitting and am having a blast with it all just now. When completed these two will be knee socks for my 8 year old daughter Grace.

While my 2 year old grandson played with the rocks in the back garden I sat on a lawn chair with knitting in hand. I also took time out to admire his bootiful (his word) rock finds.



I am using the Beginners lightweight sock pattern from Knitting Pure and Simple and the Sox Berroco Self Patterning Jacquard Sock Yarn #1477.

Her is where the Creative Space people Live-and interact-Kootoyoo

As I am new to this and don't know how to set up a nice clickable list. Please someone give me the directions and add your link to your comment :)

Happy creating!!

Finished Cardigan--For Me!!

Last week I finished knitting the Knitting Pure & Simple Wrap Cardigan Top Down pattern. I love Knitting Pure and Simple Patterns. They were the first pattern brand I ever tried and I was able, even as a beginner, to read and understand the instructions. This is my second project. The first was a baby sweater (I don't dive into the shallow end on anything).

In the midst of this project I found out that I was twisting my knitting. I started knitting a pair of sock in tandem with the cardi project. The cardigan had gotten to big to carry into a horse barn and I wanted something small to carry to meetings and Grace's horse-back riding lessons. I carried my first forlorn sock into my local knitting shop for some advice (it was a bit twisted and the toe seam was shifted 90 degrees. The woman behind the counter took me by the hand and after a picture we ripped out all of my hours of work. She diagnosed my wonky knitting and then...I had to go home and start it right back up again so that my two sweater sleeves would match on the sweater. I was really worried that by the time I finished the sweater I wouldn't remember the right way to knit (it was just a 2 minute lesson). My fear did speed up the process because i finished that sleeve in one evening so I could move onto knitting properly.

I have yet to weave in the ends or block this sweater. This is mostly because I have no clue how to do the blocking. There is a class at my 'shop' on June 12 that I might take to give me a kick up the backside and get going on it.

Our Back Yard Vegetable Patch

Four Raised beds, extra planting space at the south end and another small herb bed at the north. We use the central pathway to play Boules in the summer.


In the foreground is our pea-bed. We put in the trellises this weekend and the peas shot up a 6 inches in a day. David has already had to add more wires at the top. Tomatoes and Peppers in the distant bed.


The foreground bed hold four varieties of potatoes (red, white, blue and yellow). The distant bed holds onions, garlic, leeks a brussel-sprouts plant and broccoli plants.



There are 5 tomatoes in the cages (red beefsteak, yellow, purple, zebra green and cherry tomatoes). Around the edges of the bed are a variety of bell peppers and the more hot variety.


On Sunday we put in a small little herb bed near the patio. It currently holds curly parsley, Thyme, chives, Dill and rosemary. I am on the look-out for a nice big basil plant to add and use with my summer rainbow of tomatoes
.

A couple of years we reclaimed this space from a hillside. We hired a concrete guy to redo our driveway and he used the reclaimed concrete from our driveway to build a retaining wall around the south end of our back yard. This year I finally got some decent dirt filled in and with the new fence from last year I was free to put in sunflowers, corn and bush beans (they haven’t sprouted yet).


Along the fence I put in a Suffolk Red Grape

Down in the new planting bed I put in a Willamette hop plant. We don’t make beer (yet?) but I do like them for wreaths and things. The poor hop plant took a bit of a hit when I transplanted it. I’m not sure if it was a water issue of a bit of frost. The plant seems to be perking up again though.


Problem area-This part of the yard holds a large old lilac and snowball bush. The problem is that they are right smack in the middle of the reclaimed hillside. I am going to hire a garden guy to help me tear them out so I can plant squash and hopefully a little watermelon. I don't want to sacrifice the snowball bush entirely so am hoping to dig up a start to move a few feet west into the side yard.

Close-up of the pretty snowball bush.

Some might think we are crazy for digging up our lawn for vegetables. We felt we were not sacrificing too much as just outside our gate is what we call greenspace.



The greenspace is owned by the local power company to hold their back-up power poles. I love the green grass that someone else mows and do think the power poles are attractive in a linear sort of way.


Step back down into the yard and turn right and you are on my back patio and surrounded by a bit of landscaping.


The hostas and birdbath island have taken 3 years of patience to grow.


My neighbors and family call the plant in the back of this picture my giant weed. It is really a bronze artichoke (purely decorative) that I grew from a 4 inch pot several years ago. It puts out a lovely lavender flower in July that looks much like a giant thistle.



Hanging on my patio is this bird house. In the past It had birds move in but beginning last year a community of honey bees made it home. They behave themselves and never bother us but are fun to watch in the spring and early summer when they zip in and out carrying nectar inside. When it gets hot they use their wings to make air-conditioning and the whole bird house hums like a box fan.