SUMMER TIME COLORS

Even though it's hot, this is my favorite season of the year - summer, then spring, autumn, and lastly, winter.  Our yard in bursting with color as are the knitting projects.  I'm half way finished with the vest for my sister - a DROPS pattern that is very easy and has some nice detail to the decreasing at the armholes.  This is my first attempt at a DROPS pattern, and I feel confident using other patterns by DROPS.  The finished vest will be in the next blog.  

I've also been working on a few little things - two little bears and feather and fan dish cloths.

The bears a just the first two - more to come. They were a momentary nuisance for Spaz - he hardly awoke from his afternoon nap. The pattern for the bears can be found here: 

http://halifaxcharityknitters.wordpress.com 

Feather and Fan is one of my favorite patterns for scarves and cloths.  I have it memorized along with Grandma's Favorite Dish Cloth.  

The pattern for these can be found here: http://knittingbunny.blogspot.com  

Knitting Bunny has some lovely examples of this dish cloth - they inspired me to make a few for the Christmas Bazaar - and Michael's had a sale on cotton yarn.  Perfect timing.  So as I continue working on the vest, I am enjoying the fruits of Master Gardener's labors.  

The garden is providing us with a bounty of lemon cucumbers, tomatoes, green beans, peppers, and zucchini - we are eating it, freezing it, and sharing it.  

TOMATOES of all sizes - a variety of colors  - red, yellow, and striped (coming in the next blog). 

And the corn behind the giant lilies is a mile high. Each stalk has one or more ears.  Corn was a last minute plant just to see if it would grow, and with a little TLC, they're doing what corn does best.  Hunter is look for the toad that has made its home in the garden.

The flower garden is an evolving thing.  Master Gardener D has planted and nurtured annuals, perennials, roses, sun flowers, wild flowers, and has started a little succulent/cactus rock garden. I take photos regularly because things change from day to day.  So here are some of the beauties.  You'll see what I mean by summer time colors. 

Happy faces.

 These are definitely unique - lavender roses.

This last photo of the sunflower bouquet adorns a few family photos.  My family will know these people.  It's such a lovely setting, I had to include it. You never know when a chance photo will touch the heart strings. 

See you in the next blog - until then, you know what to do - keep on knitting and crocheting or what ever keeps your creative spirit alive. 

BABY BLANKET - BOOTIES - FLOWERS - GARDEN

Greetings - It's a lovely July 1 day here where the flowers and garden are basking in sunshine and loving it.  The humans are loving it also, although the prediction is for rising heat for the next few weeks.  It's the middle of summer - it's expected. Thank goodness for A/C.  Hot or cold, the knitting never stops.  I just finished a baby blanket and matching booties for a friend's future grandchild who will be arriving this fall.  

I used the ever faithful grandma's wash cloth pattern, worsted yarn, and size 9 needles. Half the blanket is variegated yarn, the other half is stripped two rows cream, two rows variegated...just a large version of the wash cloth.  When I found the booties pattern, I knew it would work perfectly to match the stripes. Both blanket and booties are super easy.  The booties pattern can be found here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/easiest--fastest-baby-booties-ever

My sister, C, has asked for a knitted vest for her birthday and I'm waiting for her to choose a color.  In the meantime, I'm going to knit a child size version.  Patterns from DROPS.  

The garden and flowers are spectacular.  We're harvesting a lot of squash, cucumbers, and little yellow tomatoes.  Watermelon, eggplant, corn, red tomatoes, and green beans will be ready before long.  

baby watermelon - by the time Master Gardener, D goes camping at the coast, he'll be able to take this guy with him for dessert. 

corn - our own "Field of Dreams"

FLOWERS

lavender mini roses

marigolds in the garden keep bugs away

orange nasturtiums

love this one .. not sure what it is.

short calla lilies snuggling with the nasturtiums. 

So that's the latest from Green's garden and minipurl's knitting.  More to come soon as the hot weather helps the tomatoes turn red. 

BLOOMING SUMMER AND KNITTED SNAKES

Summer has arrived hot and windy.  103 yesterday but expecting a cool down into the 90s tomorrow.  The garden is thriving, though, with watering and feeding - we've had our first harvests.  Zucchini and yellow squash never fail to arrive first.  I've blanched and frozen some, made zucchini bread, and zucchini chips.  Needless to say, squash will be served often at dinner. 

Here's the June garden - I've complained about the heat, but obviously, the garden loves it.  We were smarter this year, and used out space more wisely - no over crowding, especially with the tomatoes. I say "we" but the real work has been done by Master Gardener Damon.  

Here's some of our first harvest - lemon cucumbers, regular cucumber, yellow cherry tomatoes, yellow summer squash, zucchini, and 8-ball zucchini.  We try to grow some things out of the ordinary so we tried the 8-ball z.  These I usually shred and freeze to use later. 

We're also trying to grow some corn.  Farmers in this area grow corn in abundance - corn for the table, and corn for animal feed.  So hopefully we'll have some success. The plants were only a few inches tall when I bought them and they've been growing fast since then.

These are future pumpkins we planted on the outside of the garden area and made a path for them to vine on to.  One year our pumpkins grew their vines onto the fences and trees - was a little unusual to see pumpkins hanging from the branches.  One of these plants will be jumbo pumpkins and the other will be sweet pumpkins for pies and bread.  Yum.

Here's a close up of the mini tomatoes.  We were surprised at the way these grow with multiple tomatoes on a branch.  These are so good - they never make it into a salad because they're so easy to eat as a snack or a treat. 

All varieties of flowers are also popping up - this is a Calla Lily.  What a beauty with spotted leaves. 

This Asiatic Lily reminds me of a Georgia O'Keeffe flower painting - up close so it draws you in.  Below is what is called a red hot poker. Yikes!

More flowers and vegetables will be in the next blog.  Many are still germinating and have not produced their flowers or fruit.  There are wild flower seeds and bulbs still under the ground.

Roses love the heat and don't mind sharing the garden with other plants, white, red, and pink - roses smell like flowers should.

On to the KNITTING.  

I've been knitting snake scarves - it all started with this Coral Snake Scarf pattern I found on Ravelry and then grew, and is still growing from there. One snake led to another snake, and so on. 

This pattern can be found here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/coral-snake-scarf
I did some searching about snake colors and found beautiful striping patterns and vivid coloring  - however, this one is your basic green garden snake with a textured body.

I call this next one a fantasy snake since it's coloring is not the usual that's found in nature.  The stripes are made with a variegated yarn.  You don't know what you're going to get until the color shows up.  I like that. 

Now that it is hot and dry in the foothills, people who live there, as in Elk Creek, have to keep their eyes open for rattlesnakes that come around looking for shade and water. Here's my cabled version - non-poisonous - not like the real thing. sssssssssssssssssss!

A boa constrictor is in the works.  It's more like a boa that a dangerous snake since it's made with novelty eyelash yarn.  Look for it in the next blog. I continue knitting granny's favorite wash cloths for the Christmas Bazaar.  However, I found they are useful when needed as a thank you gift or just because.  I bundle them in threes and tie with a ribbon.  I've been experimenting with stripes made with variegated yarn - I like how it looks and it's a good way to use the small ball of cotton yarn. 

That's the latest from sunny and very warm northern California.  Keep on gardening, knitting, and crocheting.  There is always a need.  Plus it's creative and fun. 

THE COLORS OF MAY

It's a warm and soothing month of May here  in northern California.  Today we had a few rain sprinkles mixed with a lot of sunshine.  Even though it's warming, memories of cold winter days motivate knitters and crocheters to continue making items to keep neck, head, and hands warm when the time comes.  Here is another version of my favorite neck warmer that I've shown in previous blogs.  This pattern is worth every penny of the purchase price. If you're interested look for it here: Cabled Neck Warmer at Etsy store: http://homemadeoriginals.net/

also at Blog: http://homemadeoriginals.blogspot.com/

This one is a modified version of the mistake rib neck warmer. I used two yarns together, one worsted grey and one multicolored sock yarn.  I found these unusual buttons on a very worn out sweater at the thrift shop.  Bought the sweater and salvaged the buttons.  No telling what you can find at a thrift shop that you can use in your crafts, especially ribbons, yarns and buttons. 

In my last blog I showed three wool grey striped hats.  Here are two more wool hats to add to the collection that I'll be mailing to the organization, afghans for Afghans.  Their mission is to send warm, wool clothing items to children in Afghanistan before the harsh winter sets in.  

Their current campaign is for hats, mittens, and socks. The items need to be sent to their San Francisco address by a date in July. From there volunteer organizations transport them to Afghanistan.  If you are interested in participating, you will find all the information here: 

http://www.afghansforafghans.org/index.html

You know the old saying, "April showers bring May flowers."  It's true.  Wild flower seeds, and bulbs long dormant are popping up and filling in the flower beds.  Love it.  Our yard has never looked so good, thanks to Master Gardener, D's research and hard work. 

And the vegetable garden, too.  Master Gardener D's tomato structures are doing their job of keeping the plants leaves off the the ground and growing up like they're supposed to.  You can see the huge squash leaves in the background.  We should have some yellow summer squash in a few days. Yum.  More flowers below - We think these are a type of lupin. Love the colors. 

How beautiful is this!  This lovely red purple flower is a Day Lily.  More of these should be coming up soon. 

I'm currently working on snake scarves inspired by a pattern for a coral snake.  I now have one coral snake, one rattle snake, a rainbow snake (my own idea), and part of a green textured snake.  I'm not particularly fond of snakes, but appreciate the beautiful colors and patterns that some of them wear. Look for my snake scarves and the link to the pattern in my next blog.

Keep on knitting, crocheting, and gardening - nonprescription stress relievers.