I know, I know

I can hardly believe it myself. But it's a hot, humid day, so it's a good time to sit at the computer in my cool sewing room and do a little update.


In April we flew to Iceland for a few days. It's a place I just had to visit, and once we saw a great deal including flights, hotel, and a one-day tour, we grabbed it at Travelzoo.

We spent our time exploring Reykjavik, touring the area, and enjoying the Icelandic spirit.

 The "lampshades" are made of fish hides.

 I found a man's face in my beer!

 Of course I came home with some lovely Icelandic yarns.

 Our final day in Reykjavik could not have been more stunning.

Iceland is only 4 1/2 hours from Boston. That's my kind of flight!

Done with winter

I’m done with winter 2018. It hasn’t been a particularly good winter, given all the below-average temperatures and the two major blizzards in March. Today is quite mild, for a change, and the snow is disappearing fast. Soon I’ll be able to walk, not wade, across the front and back lawns. It,s always a joy to get our grounds back.

I’m yearning to do some gardening, as you can see from my header. Most of those pots of basil will be for my oven-roasted tomato sauce in September, and a few I’ll give away. I bought one packet of Fedco sweet basil seeds about six years ago; the tiny seeds in that packet are still producing basil seedlings each spring. Amazing.

I noticed today that the goldfinches at my feeder are getting their yellow feathers back. That’s always a sure sign of spring. And a friend at exercise class this morning said her lilac bush is developing buds. Lilacs are still 1 1/2 months away, though. I dug up, divided, and replanted several flower bulbs last fall. I’m eager to see how they do this spring.

I’ve begun saving coffee grounds, egg shells, and banana peels. Those will help enrich the soil when I plant tomato seedlings in June. My compost bins, too, are looking ready to be emptied into the garden plot.

So my mind is on spring and flowers and planting my garden.

This winter

At the moment it's 9*, according to the thermometer, which is being bathed by the sun, but according to the local weather station, it's -19*. Sounds reasonable, since we've had nothing but frigid weather for the past two weeks or more. I don't even remember the last time Sage and I were able to go outside for a decent walk. I take her out briefly for her bathroom breaks, then we skedaddle inside.
Here's a goldfinch trying to chip ice off the lilac bush outside our kitchen window this morning. Poor little duffer. I've noticed the goldfinches, juncos, and chickadees are keeping their feathers fluffed-up for maximum insulation these days. I've been wearing my trusty Cuddl Dud long johns and my hand knit woolen sweaters every single day.

As you can see, too, from the photo above, we have plenty of snow in southern Maine. In fact, one blizzard pretty much ruined Christmas Day for many folks. Luckily my family decided, after hearing the forecasted storm, to have Christmas on the 24th instead. So we celebrated here and had a good time together.

The cold and the snow provide a great atmosphere for knitting. I'm working on a Minimalist Cardigan.



This cardigan has been on my "to-do" list for years, and sitting in my yarn stash was a bag of ten skeins of Luxury Tweed Aran, by Tivoli yarns. I decided to combine the pattern with the yarn and knit myself a sweater. Trouble is, I'm not sure ten skeins will be enough. I bought the yarn in Ireland about eight years ago. I did some searching of various knitters' yarn stashes on Ravelry, found two skeins of this yarn in the same dye lot (what are the chances???), contacted the owner of the skeins in Ottawa, and we closed a sweet deal. The yarn should arrive this coming week.

Now I can relax and enjoy the knitting as the snow and the frigid temperatures surround us outside.

Some knitting

 I've begun some Christmas knitting lately.

There are two feather and fan scarves. I made the mistake of starting the second scarf immediately after finishing the first. Mistake! I was so bored with this pattern, which I usually enjoy, that I could hardly wait to cast off the second scarf.

The pattern calls for three repeats of the pattern, and the scarf on the left is done that way. I decided three repeats made for an awfully wide scarf, though, so I did only two repeats for the second scarf. (I've provided a link to a feather and fan pattern above, but I can't say for sure if it's the pattern I used.)

I've also knit three Barley Hats for charity donations. Some police departments in Maine collect handmade hats to give to the homeless. I'll be taking these to an area police department.

The Barley Hat pattern is free and well-written. The link above will take you to the free pattern.

I never thought it would come to this.

I've been painting rocks.

And you know what? It's really fun. It gives me a chance to create something pretty in very little time,...and forget the state of our country for awhile. I then hide the rock for others to find. I hope these rocks bring the finders a smile.

I began noticing painted rocks on Pinterest and admiring their beauty.

I have no natural artistic talent, so I tried a few styles before finding the one that works best for me.

I also witnessed a young girl (pictured here) finding someone's painted rock on Bailey Island a few weeks ago. The girl, about ten or so, was walking just ahead of me by the shore and found this beauty.

She hadn't heard of the painted rock movement, so I explained to her that she could either keep the rock, or she could hide it for someone else to find. She said without hesitation, "I want to keep it." She's from Connecticut, so that's where this beautifully painted rock now resides.


...and, I should admit,  I was jealous that she had found the rock before I could find it myself!

As I said before, I have no natural artistic talent, so it took some experimenting for me to find just the design that I can create successfully.

I mailed this box of four rocks to my sister who's visiting in Idaho at the moment. She promptly hid them around town, and she has kept me posted on which of them have been found.





I've decided mandalas work best for me. I've always admired the beauty of mandalas .

My mandala-painting equipment is simple: a toothpick with one flat (blunt) end, some acrylic paint, some acrylic sealer, and some rocks.

Craft stores sell bags of nice, smooth river-bottom rocks, Dollar Tree sells these for $1, and I also find rocks when I'm out walking.

The large rock on the left has been sitting in my small flower garden for years. Recently I brought it inside, cleaned it, and painted a mandala on it. It's back in my flower garden now.

 I spotted this rock in a neighbor's driveway last week. It looked as if it would appreciate some gussying-up, so I pocketed it, brought it home...

...added a mandala...

...and returned it to its home yesterday. I checked this morning, and it's still sitting where I placed it, so I don't think the homeowners have found it yet.
















If you're on Facebook, you can find several sites there for painted rocks that have been found and enjoyed.

I've yet to find a painted rock, but I'll keep looking.

Mason jar centerpiece

I've been in love with Mason jars for years. I used them only for canning until about two years ago.

I'm still canning with them, but I've also branched out to painting them to use as centerpieces, mantel decorations, etc.

On Etsy and Pinterest I've long admired painted Mason jars tucked into shallow wooden boxes and used for flower arrangements.

I almost bought an old wooden box at a flea market last weekend, but I wasn't sure it was the size I needed.

On Sunday it occurred to me that Ken could probably make me the wooden box, so I showed him photos on Pinterest of what I needed, and he promptly got to work.

Soon I had a small, shallow wooden box just the right size for three one-pint Mason jars.

Now it was time for me to get to work.

I stained the box a somewhat dark color.

 

Then I got out my acrylic paints, poured some pure white into a small container, added a few drops of brown paint, stirred in some Plaster of Paris, and now had chalk paint.

I gave the jars two or three coats of the paint.

While the jars were drying, I went outside and cut some hydrangea blossoms.

 I sprayed the jars with an acrylic sealer, placed the hydrangea blossoms in them, tied a bit of jute around the neck of each jar, and that was it.

I'm enjoying my Mason jar centerpiece. I've seen them priced from $25 to $40 on Etsy, but mine were practically free. And I had fun putting it all together.

Still knitting!

Some knitters take the summer off. I don't. I like to have something on my needles at all times.

These felted coin purses are a good way to use up odds and ends of worsted wool yarn. They're also much more convenient, I find, for storing credit cards, gift cards, insurance cards, etc., than putting them in those "file" areas of one's wallet. When I need a specific card, I can remove all of them at once from the coin purse and quickly sift through them to find the one I want.

The little purses are hand knit and machine felted. I used the "Felted Coin Purse" pattern by Viola Soffe. It's a free pattern on Ravelry.

We were in Camden recently, and when I go to Camden, my first stop is always The Cashmere Goat, a lovely yarn shop. I made a beeline for the "discount yarn" bins and selected two skeins of wool blend yarns to make hats for charity. The first hat is done: "Barley," by Tin Can Knits. It's another free pattern, and the hat is a joy to knit. I made it in the "Adult S" size, but the pattern has directions from size Baby to Adult Large.

Finally, I've been wanting to try Kristien Rettig's "Gingersnap" baby cardigan. I used three balls of mystery cotton or cotton blend that I bought at a yarn sale years ago. I suspect the yarn is DK rather than the worsted called for, but I did end up with a baby cardigan, so I'll donate it somewhere when the time is right. The pattern is a free download on Ravelry, and there's also a pattern for a matching cardigan for an 18" doll.