Friday's Flowers

Colorado Blue Columbine

The blue columbine is Colorado's state flower.



I was thrilled to find these growing at Crystal Reservoir. It's the first time I have ever seen this flower in person.



According to my field guide, the name "Columbine" comes from the Latin word colum, for "dove," referring to the flower petals resembling a group of birds in flight. This flower is an important nectar source for several hummingbird species in the state.



It's also a plant that's a protected species, so do not pick the flowers or transplant it from its wild habitat. Take a picture (or several) instead.

Pikes Peak

Today we drove the Pikes Peak Highway. Along the way to the summit, we stopped for a walk around Crystal Reservoir. This is a great place to view Pikes Peak.



The clouds appeared to be radiating from the mountain.



The drive to the summit is 19 miles of beautiful scene after beautiful scene. We rose above the clouds and then above the tree line until we reached the top--an elevation of 14,110 feet above sea level.



It's hard to capture in photos what it's like to be that high, but here's a picture of a group of people enjoying the breathtaking view. It looks like they could step right out onto that cloud if they wanted.



To me, it felt like being in an airplane, seeing the clouds from above, but there's no pressurized cabin to help with the oxygen and it's always cold up here. Good thing I had some wool in the truck to keep me warm.



Details about the fiber another day.

Hike

The weather was better this morning, so after dropping John off for his meeting, I headed to Garden of the Gods. I decided to hike up to Siamese Twins.


Siamese Twins

This rock formation has a unique window from which to view Pikes Peak.



It's a very popular spot to pose for a photo and makes a nice backdrop for a sock in progress.



See, I have been knitting a little.

Greetings from Colorado Springs

Garden of the Gods

I got my trip to Colorado after all. John is here for a meeting, but we will have time to explore too. Drove through Garden of the Gods this evening. We had planned to get out and hike, but the weather was not cooperating (rain and lightning). If things are better tomorrow, I'll probably spend most of the day there with the camera. We saw several nice deer. This guy was kind enough to pose for a picture.



I guess park deer are used to this kind of thing.

June

007 Snap a Dozen Days




Kosher Dills & Bread and Butter
From John's Garden and Tracy's Kitchen

June is pickle month at our house. We are hoping for a bountiful cucumber harvest, so we can make plenty of pickles to eat and give away. John planted two 4' x 8' beds of cucumbers (about 24 plants) this year. He is picking cucumbers daily and so far I've put up six pints of bread and butter pickles and seven quarts of kosher dills. Just after this first round of pickling, we noticed tiny worms on the plants--not a good sign. Let's hope we can get rid of these pests soon, because in just one week they have ruined about 100 cucumbers!

The pickle recipes I'm using are from Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book (1984 edition), but here is one for bread and butter pickles that is very similar. The main difference is that I put the jars in a water-bath for five minutes. I'm surprised this recipe doesn't include that step.

Making pickles is a relatively new venture for me. This is only my second year to try my hand at it, so I'm still experimenting with the ingredients. The first year, the bread and butter pickles were just right, but the dills weren't dill enough or spicy enough for our taste, so this year I really packed in the dill seed, garlic and hot peppers. Hope I didn't overdo it. We'll have to wait at least a week before trying them. The flavor will be much better the longer they sit.

I'm picking up tips here and there. Friends of mine just told me about Pickle Crisp and they even gave me a box to try on the next batch. Another friend shared a tip that's been a great time saver. She told me to put the label on the lid instead of the jar. Since you can't reuse the lids for canning, you don' have to spend time removing the sticky glue that's left when the label is removed. Does anyone have other good tips to share?

Friday's Flowers

Cucumber Blossom

Kim came up with the idea to share photos of flowers on Fridays and I decided to join her. Each Friday this summer you can expect to see a flower picture posted here and maybe a little information about it.

Cucumber blossoms are not the showiest of flowers, but they are quite nice up-close. Our garden is loaded with them right now.



In order for the flower to develop into fruit, pollen must be carried from the male flower to the female flower. The bees have been doing their job and we are enjoying homegrown cucumbers every day.

Moss Grid Hand Towel

Did you ever start a project as a quick knit only to have it linger on the needles for months? That's what happened with this hand towel. I started it in March and now in June, it's finally finished. Yay! I feel like I should celebrate. I like the yarn, I like the finished product, but I did not enjoy the process. It seems I have a mental block when it comes to this stitch pattern. It's simple, but for some reason I could never get through a knitting session without making a mistake--not one time. And I found myself messing up in the same way over and over again. Too much tinking back to fix errors that should never have happened in the first place took the fun out of the process. But, I stuck with it and now I have a lovely towel to use and enjoy.

Pattern Book: Mason-Dixon Knitting
Yarn: 2nd Time Cotton, 75% recycled cotton, 25% acrylic
Color: #557 Atlantis
Needles: US 6
Size: 15" x 24"

Change of Plans

Plans to attend the Wool Market in Estes Park, Colorado fell through this year. Instead we ended up in nearby Palacios, a far cry from the Rockies and no wool in sight, but still, we had a nice time.



We stayed at The Main Inn Bed and Breakfast in one of the bungalows. Our room was clean and comfortable and breakfast was delicious.



John fished, of course, and I brought knitting to occupy my time, but didn't knit a stitch. I walked along the seawall, took pictures and soaked in the slow pace of small town living on the bay.



I could get used to this.

Before and After

BEFORE CLEANING
How did it get this bad?



AFTER CLEANING
Much better.



BEFORE FELTING



AFTER FELTING



Pattern: Eyeglass Case from Felted Knits
Yarn: Araucania Nature Wool
Needles: US 10 circular

I like the way this turned out. The fabric is nice and sturdy, but the size is larger than I need for my reading glasses. It's better suited for sunglasses, I think, so I'll give it to John. I promised him a case a long time ago.

I found some free patterns for felted eyeglass patterns that I may try next time:
Horizontal Design with Flap
Veritcal Design with Flap
Wet Felted Case

Knit in Public

Saturday was World Wide Knit in Public Day. As it turned out, I had a chance to do a little public knitting while waiting for John to get his hair cut.



I worked on socks which is my take-along knitting. I keep them packed in my bag and ready to go, just in case.



I found this small backpack at REI last year for about $20. It has turned out to be the perfect knitting bag: tiny in size, but roomy enough for yarn, needles, snacks, pattern books, magazines, etc.



I've been known to really load it up for a flight out of town. The zippers assure that nothing will accidentally fall out when stowed under the airplane seat. And, the outer zippered pocket is perfect for small gadgets like scissors, retractable tape measure, row counter and things like that. The light colored interior is a bonus, making it easy to see what's inside. I love this bag!



The socks I'm working on are the basket weave rib pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks. However, I decided not to carry the stitch pattern down the foot, but to knit stockinette instead. And for the heel, I'm using my favorite short row technique: Priscilla A. Gibson-Roberts style. I'm all in favor of mindless knitting, especially when it comes to socks.

Random Things

Closet cleaning continues. I managed to sort through all the stuff that didn't make it back in the closet. Most of it went in the trash or is waiting for a trip to the donation center. I had been storing canning jars in that closet, so I had to find a better place to keep them. Of course, that meant I had to clean out a few kitchen cabinets...one thing leads to another. Got rid of lots of cookbooks I don't use anymore and also cleaned out the dreaded cabinet of plastic containers. Now the jars are in the kitchen where they belong. It won't be long before they will be used for pickling and canning.

As you can imagine, all this cleaning is cutting into my knitting time, but I do have three little hats to share that I knitted last week.


Knitted Newborn Hat


Slump Roll Cap
I think the link for this one has been removed. It used to be here. Download the party kit at the same site for a cute helicopter hat designed by Susan B. Anderson.


So-Soft Preemie Hat

For each of these hats I cast on 48 stitches using Cotton-Ease (worsted weight) and size US7 DPNs. I still have plenty of this yarn left and so far, I'm not tired of knitting preemie hats. I find them to be the perfect project for warm summer days. I'm sending these to TPP/Michigan.

Socks also make good summer knitting and I have some on the needles that I'm enjoying. Since I always have a pair of socks going, I find it very easy to let myself buy sock yarn. Recently, I added a new yarn to the stash.



It's Mama Llama's Original Sock in the color Blue Jeans. I found it at one of my favorite yarn shops, but it's sold online too. Catherine, the dyer, lives here in the Houston area. I met her through her blog some time ago, so I was very excited to see her yarn for sale locally. Oh, and I picked up a pretty shawl pin too.

I also want to tell you about a blog I came across this week. It's called SockPixie. When you visit, be sure to check out Caroline's free patterns. Several of them are on my to-knit list. Her designs and photography are outstanding. The latest free pattern is for a pair of socks that was designed to kick off her new business venture with her daughter. You can find their collection of hand painted sock yarns at sockpixie.com.

Have a great weekend!

Create a Craft Closet in Three "Easy" Steps

Step One: Empty out a closet, preferably one that's not being used by anyone.

I picked the walk-in closet in Robyn's old room. She went through it last summer and took all her stuff home with her, but we somehow managed to fill it up again.



Step Two: Go through the house and gather up yarn, fiber, pattern books and all things crafty. Store in bins and baskets. Arrange neatly in the closet and admire.



Doesn't it look neat and organized? All of my yarn is now in one place. The black stacking cart on the left holds all of my baby yarn. The blue woven basket on the floor is filled with sock yarn. The two canvas bins next to that hold wool for felting and worsted weight acrylic for charity knitting. The other six plastic bins on the shelves above contain the rest of my stash: cotton, wool and other natural fibers. The rest of the baskets are for sewing and craft supplies. I still have to dig out all of my embroidery stuff from my bedroom closet. I have a lot of that.



This side of the closet is for my spinning supplies. The two large bins are holding my fiber. I made sure there's still plenty of room to add more.

The white brick that is being used as a bookend is from the old part of Needville High School that burned down recently. The 60 year old bricks survived and they sold them to raise money for a charitable cause.

Step Three: Figure out what to do with all the junk you took out of the closet in step one.





Without a doubt, this is the hardest step. I'll deal with it tomorrow.

Spirals

Designs in knitting are often inspired by designs in nature. I love the spiral of the sundial shells I found on the beach, so it was only natural that I knit a preemie hat that would imitate that design.



I used a pattern I came up with last year, but this time I tried to extend the spiral stitch through the decreases. It didn't work as well as I had hoped. The stitches are muddled together, so I don't think I'll be adding the spiral decreases to the pattern. I like it better as originally designed.

Pattern: Preemie Spiral Hat
Yarn: Cotton Ease (worsted weight)
Needles: US 7 DPNs
Size: 3-5 lbs (worked on 48 stitches)

What I really wanted was for the spiral to clearly and neatly converge together on the top of the hat, like it does in this hat (scroll down for top view of hat), so I gave it a try.



Pattern: Odessa with modifications
Yarn: Cotton-Ease (worsted weight)
Needles: US7 DPNs
Size: 3-5 lbs
Modifications:
CO 50 stitches.
Work pattern as written until hat measures 4" from cast on edge.
Begin decreases as written through line #8 (30 stitches remain).
K2tog around.
Cut yarn and draw through remaining 15 stitches.

This is more like I had in mind.





Here are more spiral designs you might like to try:
Striped Hat
Spiral Preemie Cap
Spiral Rib Hat
Baby Swirls (this one is crocheted)

I'm donating my hats to The Preemie Project. Be sure to click the link to see the newly designed website. It's looks great and is easy to navigate.

Eye Opener

These are sure to brighten your day.



Who said washing dishes has to be boring?

I'm perhaps the last one out there to knit the Ballband Dishcloth recently made popular by Mason-Dixon, but I'm no stranger to knitting dishcloths. I cut my teeth (knitting-wise) on dishcloths back when I was a new knitter. I never counted how many I knitted, but it was a bunch. I used many of them myself, gave others to family members and the rest became my gift stash. Every so often I would dip into that stash and pull out a couple to include in a gift for a new bride. Well, this weekend I have a shower to attend and the stash has run dry, so I worked up these in the brightest colors I could find. The green actually matches something on the bride's gift registry, so it's a good bet she'll like them.

Just when I thought my dishcloth days were behind me, I now find myself wanting to make more of these. There will be opportunities. I know someone that will soon be in need of a housewarming gift and my own kitchen could benefit from a bright bit of hand knitted happiness.



Pattern: Ballband Dishcloth
Yarn: Lily Sugar 'n Cream, 100% cotton
Colors: Hot Green & Summer Prints, Lazy Daisy & Hot Pink
Needles: US 6