I have a major love for yarn. I love to touch it, I love to squeeze it, I love to run it through my fingers.
Last week, I indulged that love with a two-day trek around Western Washington visiting local yarn shops with my dog-walking, yarn-shopping, sewing-crafting buddy Kristi. She drives, I navigate, and we made it to 17 yarn shops this year from Bellingham to Seattle. What I love about this silly tour, is the amazing creativity I’m exposed to and the sweet, friendly ladies I meet. Each shop offers a free knit pattern and sometimes a crochet one, too. They have sales, prizes, drawings, and treats. It’s a giant yarn shop party, and I get to touch yarn to my heart’s content.
This year, I was on a mission; I was looking for some sturdy cotton yarn for dishcloths. Last year, one of the shops had a pattern for these and I’d made up a few. I thought white would be a nice, serviceable color. I was wrong. While the pattern was cute, the passover strand made it highly impractical. After a few times through the wash, they started coming back looking like this.
They were so sweet when they were brand-new. After mending them a few times, I decided they were a lost cause. So this year, I was on the hunt for mercerized cotton (that makes it stronger and shinier) or just a more heavy-duty yarn. Out on Whidbey Island at Crafters Co-op, where you can find a little bit of everything, I bought some Peaches & Creme yarn in yellow, orange, and green. This could do the trick.
The next day in Mount Vernon, we stopped at Wild Fibers, they have some truly gorgeous yarn, and I always spend too much money when I visit. Browsing the shelves, I came across “yarn” made from t-shirt material–Tee Cakes by HiKoo. It was totally wrong for dishrags, but they had a free pattern for potholders. Mine are old, stained, and edged with wax after a craft project this winter. Maybe I could add some color to the whole kitchen.
Later in Seattle at one of our favorites, Acorn Street Shop, they were offering a tiny purse pattern in mercerized cotton. Even though it was a lighter weight yarn, it was so pretty I couldn’t pass it up on sale. I wasn’t interested in the purse at all, but this would make a cute dishcloth.
After two days of driving, shopping, ferries, and traffic, I got home exhausted, nursing a head cold, and toting bags of yarn. So Saturday while the MR worked outside between rain showers, I started in on a little knitting and crocheting.
A couple weeks ago, Just for the Knit of It (a blog I follow) had posted a ton of washcloth patterns that you could get for free on Ravelry (social networking for knitters and crocheters). I decided to try Nubbie Scrubbies in the Cotton Classic and Double Bump in the Peaches & Creme. I whipped those up so quickly and easily. Instant gratification is such a boost. The Tee Cakes potholders were done in a snap, too.
And now I have some lovely new additions to my kitchen.
I have total faith that the potholders will work out well. They are a great size and really thick. I love that while they’re totally old-fashioned knit potholders, they look really fun and funky just by the choice of yarn. I can see making these for my girls when they move out some day.
I just couldn’t resist playing around with the heart bokeh when I was editing. For the pattern, go to MacandMe.net all proceeds go to Mac’s college fund.
I’m going to have to reserve my judgment on the dishcloths until they’ve seen a few months of service. The white ones last year were so cute until they started falling apart. One of the ladies on Whidbey gave me some great advice. She suggested washing them out really well with dish soap, rinsing, and then sticking them into the microwave for a 30 seconds to kill the germs. That way, they wouldn’t have to go through the wash as frequently and would undergo less wear and tear. I’m going to have to give it a try–the random tips you pick up at a yarn shop. Just an FYI, if you try the Nubbie Scrubbie pattern, it’s a total yarn hog.
You may be questioning, my choice of colors. Well, there’s a method to my madness. I picked up a placemat that matches my favorite tablecloth a few months ago. I like to have something under my coffeemaker. At the last house, the steam caused trouble with the cabinet above it over the years, so the MR had me move it out to the edge of the counter each day. Well, the silver tray the coffeepot was on would leave gray marks on the tile. A placemat simply makes it all slide back and forth easily. And in this house, it adds a little needed color.
If you don’t like yarn and hate that handcrafted look, homemade dishrags and potholders are probably not your thing. But I love being able to add that personal touch to my kitchen. No one else it going to have these.
Adding any personal touches to your home? What kind of crafts are you into?
Sending prayers to the people in Oklahoma. Thankful that the MR’s cousin and my cousin and her family are all safe about an hour from the devastation.
This is the perfect time of year to spend outside in the yard. We’ve got the garden started, the MR has a pile of dirt to move around, we’ve stopped at garden sales and the hardware store to pick up new plants. Flowers are blooming, veges are coming up, plants are growing, things are looking good–mostly.
In the past, I’ve been pretty haphazard in my choice of topics. Whatever is on my mind is what I’ve written about, but order can be fun. So I’ve decided to try something new. The MR spends most of the weekend working hard outdoors, so I thought Mondays might be a great time to recap what’s going on around here in the yard, the garden, the orchard, and the flower beds. It’s a bit of a mouthful and a lot of work, but let’s see how it turns out.
If you were to drive up to our house, this is the view you’d be greeted with.
It looks a little rough at the moment, but just you wait and see. The MR has been hauling dirt around for the last month filling the garden boxes and adding it where it was needed. This weekend, he expanded the garden bed next to our room and then leveled out the patch of grass adjacent to it. He topped it off with some grass seed, and in a few weeks, it’ll be looking good. You’ll be amazed.
I remember looking at this flower bed recently and being disappointed with the meager array of plants and abundance of weeds, but all I have to do is take a look back at pictures from when we moved in to realize we’ve made huge strides. The MR expanded the bed,covered up some ugly cement blocks, and gave it a meandering edge. It makes it a little less formal and softens the edges. It’s fun to see that so many of the plants I picked up at the FFA plant sale last year have come back in full force. I love those little dianthus/mini carnation/pinks–call them what you will they’re cute.
I bought chives and sage last spring and put some in containers and planted the others out in the flower bed. The MR recently moved the container plants out to the yard as well, and look at the difference in size. I wasn’t sure the ones we set out in the ground were going to make it, but they’re more than double the ones from the pots we had on the deck.
The 4×4 post is a hose guard to help protect those herbs. I have a beautiful curved metal one with a glow in the dark orb that gets taken out by the hose every time I water. This looks much more substantial, but I do believe it needs some beautifying.
The MR asked Baby Girl and I at dinner last week if we’d noticed the palm tree that was blooming. Huh? Palm trees bloom? BG had hopes of a coconut palm or some other amazing tropical find. I don’t believe we’re that lucky, but it certainly is blooming.
I didn’t say it was pretty; it’s just kind of weird. But the hostas and decorative grasses we planted last year are looking good, and the planting strip off the portico is starting to fill in.
Let’s move on down to the orchard and take a look at what’s going on off the meadow. I’m sorry to say it’s a bit of a mixed bag. We have apples–little, teeny, baby apples, but apples nonetheless. The pears have some nasty bug that lays its eggs on the leaves, and then burrows inside–rather unfortunate. The MR used some bug spray on the pears and the rest of the trees for good measure. I don’t know if it was the poison, the deer nibbling it, or the shock of transplant, but the nectarine tree has seen better days. And while the currants are going to have a banner year, the blueberries are looking a little underwhelming. I need to prune off all the dead branches and maybe douse them with some worm castings and/or some organic fertilizer.
And that brings us to the garden proper. The carrots have failed to make an appearance. Maybe the seeds were too old (they are from 2009), maybe the seed tape was a silly idea, maybe it’s time to try again. Gardening is not an exact science. While the carrots are a no show, the lettuce leaves have begun to poke up their sweet little heads. The peas are a bit of a problem. Earlier this week, I was quite excited to see the beginnings of a row. Imagine my surprise when I found all those tender young plants pulled up. The MR blamed slugs, but slugs just mow down their victims at ground level and leave a trail of devastation. Something has been pulling up the peas. Bunnies, deer, birds? Maybe all of the above. We’ve put in a little fence for the moment until something more permanent can be put together. The potatoes in the grow bags are holding their own. Maybe the critters are frightened of the bright color…
That’s one of the fun things about gardening, each year it’s a new experience. I thought I’d just go out and smile at my luxuriously growing peas and start on a little trellis to attach to the chain link fence, instead I’m trying to figure out how to save the few that are left. Along with the trials, come wonderful surprises like the field of foxgloves we found last year. They’ve just started blooming again.
Last summer, we grew our tomatoes on the deck, and that’s where they’ll be again this year. I had really good luck with giant plants and tons of tomatoes using walls of water, but that’s a little tacky for the deck. Up here, they are safe from predators, get lots of reflected heat, and are quite convenient for snacking when we sit and watch the sun set. For now, they’re in a protected spot next to the side wall, but eventually they’ll be out next to the rail like last year.
I’ve been continuing my war against the barberry. Someday the planting bed next to the driveway will be beautiful–just not today. But we have plenty else to be going on with.
How’s the great outdoors been treating you? Moving any dirt? Finding any magic?
A few months back, I made a jewelry organizer and was oh so pleased with it.
Apparently I have more jewelry than I imagined, so some pins and necklaces didn’t have a home. No worries; I had some glass and silver boxes to put things in. It would all work out. And then I added a few more things and wound up with this girly box.
We had a whole set of these once upon a time for the girls’ play room. But now that they are 16 and 18, it doesn’t go with their style and it certainly is way too cutesy for me. Thankfully the cure was quite simple.
I have plenty of scraps left from when I covered the back of the china hutch with handmade paper. Couldn’t I just cover this box and make it cool versus cute?
I grabbed my spray adhesive and went to town.
It was just a matter of spraying all the sides, and then wrapping them with paper. I used white glue to smooth down the edges and called it good. I didn’t get really fussed about making it perfect–sometimes perfect is overrated. Now it feels like it belongs.
Little details can make a big difference. Here we are all up close and personal.
This five minute fix makes me happy.
What little projects have you been doing around the house?
Well it happened; I got the call I’ve been dreading.
On Monday after the thunder and lightning and strong winds, Baby Girl phoned to say the driveway was blocked. She’d moved one small tree, but this one was too much. With all those tall trees lining our drive, moving spindly saplings has become the norm.
But this was a first, at least for me. We lost a few trees in the stands below the tennis court this winter, and the MR had mentioned that the chainsaw is out of commission. (Let’s be honest, I am accident-prone and will never use a chainsaw.) So I hopped in the car and drove to the rescue only to be greeted with the sight of a big tree and a lot of leaves blocking the way.
I took a good look and figured maybe we could handle it. You see my housekeeper was just finishing up and would be leaving in a half hour. She’s a really nice lady, but I didn’t want to trap her at my house forever. So BG and I came back to the garage to gather our supplies: pole pruners, loppers, and a hand saw. I couldn’t find the axe, and BG told me she didn’t want me using an axe. Thanks for the vote of confidence.
Back we drove with tools in hand. The tree had split at one time, so my game plan was to limb up the tree and saw off the top. Between the two of us, we should be able to move the short section blocking the driveway.
We got busy with lots of moral support from Bogart and Cocoa and took turns sawing. This was definitely harder than cutting down a Christmas tree. The MR says he needs a new saw, and I’m on board with that.
Before too long, we’d achieved our goal.
We threw the limbs into the woods, and carried the tree to the side.
We probably could have moved the tree without removing all the branches, but I didn’t want them scraping up vehicles as they drove by or whacking me in the face when we were moving it. I’d called the MR when we were searching for tools, and he arrived shortly after the job was completed.
I have to admit, it’s satisfying to accomplish some manual labor that the MR would usually take care of. Me and Baby Girl moved a ton of bricks a few weeks ago and took down a tree this week. We make a fine team. I am woman; hear me roar.
And now when storms blow in, my fears of being trapped have blown away–mostly.
How have you challenged yourself lately?
Hope you all had a happy Mother’s Day spending time with family and friends. Sweet Miss has been telling me for weeks that she was just too busy with some big project to come home and see me–cue very sad music. So I was quite excited when she drove up Friday with a bouquet of flowers. Two nights at home was way more than I expected.
Baby Girl was off to FFA state and didn’t get home until late on Saturday, but we had all day Sunday together as a family. The girls helped me teach Sunday school, and everyone pitched in to make a tasty dinner featuring some of my favorites: barbecued salmon, sweet potato fries, strawberry and spinach salad, and homemade snicker bars for dessert. Sweet Miss brought me sunflowers and Baby Girl made me this beautiful pot in ceramics.
With all that excitement, I don’t have a bunch of projects to share with you. But here’s a little something I want to encourage you to do. Take a look around your house, I mean really look. Sometimes we are so familiar with the odd or strange, that we don’t even notice it any more. For example, when you used to drive up to our house, this pot full of flowers greeted you.
I thought it would be lovely to have some flowers softening the edge of the portico and adding a little color to the column area, so I set them there about a year ago. I don’t think this photo captures the true sinking ship feel this placement gives you. The poor flowers were growing at a tilt, and the whole scene gave you a sense of unease–something was just off. Pots don’t come with slanting bottoms. What was I to do? And so I just left it there looking crazy.
Dragging the pot from one side of the covered area to the other took all of five seconds and makes so much more sense.
It’s these little changes that help a room come together. Of course now as I look at this picture, I’m thinking I need to power wash the entry (or ask the MR to do it) and get a decorative hose pot to tidy up this area.
Sometimes it takes very little to go from plain to pleasing. I’m not saying that everything has to be perfect, but I shouldn’t leave a tilting pot sitting next to my driveway simply because I don’t know where else to put it. Don’t be afraid of changing things up.
What areas in your home or garden need a little attention?
For months I’ve been staring at this.
It’s the hope chest my parents gave me ages ago. It’s cedar-lined, highly useful, and just doesn’t go with our bedroom. At the old house, I hid it in the closet, and while we have lots of closet space, they all have built-in, tilted shoe storage that makes it impossible to tuck my chest away.
The MR said get rid of it, but then where would I put my sweaters, the girls’ baby blankets and tiny outfits, the dress I wore when he proposed, and all the other stuff I just tuck away in it? I’m attached to this thing. It’s not going anywhere. And so I stared at it some more and sighed.
A paint job and some new hardware would fix it up. I’ve heard rave reviews about Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and decided to give it a try. If you’re local, they carry it at Haley’s Cottage in downtown Kirkland. Bring your quarters; it’s metered parking. The paint was a bit of a splurge, but you don’t have to use a primer or prep the surface. This paint sticks to everything.
First things first, I emptied out my hope chest.
And lo and behold at the bottom, I found the ring bearer’s pillow from our wedding.
One of the benefits of cleaning out hope chests, boxes, or closets is all the fun memories hidden treasures bring to mind.
Next, it was time to remove the hardware. I was ready with my trusty screw driver only to be foiled by these.
The decorative plates were nailed on. I grabbed a hammer and chisel and gently got to work. After removing all the hardware, I used a little wood fill, let it dry, and then sanded it smooth.
Then, I moved it into the light which just so happens to be at the foot of the MR’s side of the bed in the middle of the doorway to our room. Having a king-sized built-in bed can make moving furniture around tricky, but I wanted to work in a well-lit area off the carpet if possible.
The MR did have to be careful not to stumble over it in the dark. I’d love to say we only had to live with it for a day or two, but I just don’t work that fast. I used a roller to paint the large areas, but those fake drawers have a lot of detail, so I used a foam brush.
I took a critical look at it and decided it needed another coat of paint. Unfortunately, I did that multiple times. I’m not sure if the chalky finish was throwing me off, or if I’m just not that great a painter. Finally, I was satisfied.
And it’s a good thing too, because someone got bored and decided to chew up the tack cloth and some foam brushes.
While Annie Sloan paint doesn’t require a primer, it does need wax to finish it off.
I used a rag to rub the wax on and went back over it with another rag to buff it out. I was getting happy; this project was almost finished. I pulled out some lovely, simple hardware, I’d picked up ages ago, and then I hit this speed bump.
It looked so sleek, so nice, so finished; it was just a little off.
If only I’d checked the hardware at the beginning, it would have saved me a lot of trouble. I got out my wood fill, sanded, painted, and waxed all over again.
While the MR asked if I needed a new hole drilled, I decided a little hot glue would do the trick. That just smeared and looked ugly, so they’re only attached really tightly on one side. The drawer pulls are strictly decorative. I guess we could run into trouble if someone tries to stand on them, but I’m willing to chance it.
It’s been a week, and I’m excited to get the big pile of sweaters out of the corner of my bedroom. I’m also pleased with the way the hope chest turned out.
If it were just me, I might have spray painted the whole thing a bright turquoise or a muted teal, but the MR likes a more subtle pallet. You could say he reigns me in, or perhaps he’s the voice of reason. Now my little hope chest no longer sticks out like a sore thumb in this gray and white soothing bedroom.
Here’s a little before an after to give you a feel for how it goes from in-your-face brown to something that belongs in this room.
While we’ve never gravitated towards a country cottage or shabby chic look (I did embrace plaid for a few years in the late ’90s), I’m surprised at how much of our furniture fights with the architecture and modern feel of our home. We’re just learning to work with it.
Has a home demanded you change your style? How have you made that awkward piece fit in?
When one of my favorite blogs announced their Spring Pinterest Challenge, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. We’ve been spending a lot of time outside the last few weeks working on the garden boxes, weeding, dealing with worms, and moving dirt. I decided to do something fun, easy, and dare I say cute.
I had pinned Chickettes easy stone garden markers a while back. I liked the idea of adding a little color to the vegetable garden, while I’m waiting for all those seeds to take off. It also helps when I send one of the girls out to pick something, and they have no idea what I’m talking about. It’ll all be labelled–no excuses to keep watching shows rather than harvesting some veges.
I read through her easy directions and was happy to discover I had everything on hand. Last week when we were moving stones for the garden boxes, I’d loaded a bunch of large rocks into the wheelbarrow when we cleaned up for the night. The MR wondered what I was up to piling rocks in the garage. Just relax; the mystery is revealed.
I washed up the rocks, laid them out on a drop cloth, and sprayed them with some primer. Once they were all shiny white, it was time to decide on some colors.
We have stacks of paint samples around the house, unfortunately most of them are gray or beige–not the most festive colors for the garden. We did have some paint left over from painting the girls’ rooms and other projects, so I got busy painting rocks. Then it was simply a matter of using a paint pen to label each and then cover them with a protective layer of clear coat.
Not only am I putting these in the garden, most of my rocks are headed for the orchard. At the old house, all of our fruit trees were scattered about the back yard. We added them bit by bit, and I knew exactly what was what. Here, they’re all in a straight line, and I can’t remember a thing.
Now with labels, I can go back to looking like I know what I’m doing. I even went so far as to color code them. Pears are one color, blueberries are another, and now we can pretend I’m organized.
In real life, they add bright little spots of color all down the slope with fun names like Rescue, Beauty, Enterprise, Fantasia, and Flavorosa.
The MR wasn’t sure painted rocks were upscale enough for our fancy, new garden boxes. He figured we’d recognize the plants once they came up. He’s right, but I like my little rocks.
How do you label your garden?
To check out all the fun Pinterest projects people are up to this spring, you can hop on over to Young House Love.
