Friday, October 28, 2011

Good Granny!

Here's a fun link to some cute Granny Squares in 3D! There are videos to make each of them, but they are in German. The good thing is, if you watch what they are doing, you can figure it out.




There are some very unique blocks there. My favorite one is this:




Here is a cool tutorial for a caston and also a bindoff picot edge. Very cool!

Aim's knitting update:

I finished Klaralund about 2 weeks ago. It was a speedy and easy knit! I am very happy with it. In this photo it's unblocked, and I just pulled it on over a baggy t-shirt, but you get the idea, happy sherbet colors!




I started another blanket, based on this one on Ravelry, called the Rambling Rows Afghan. I have a bunch of beautiful variegated bulky wools to use in yummy colors!


Last weekend I got a lot done, in spite of being sick again. I am starting to think all the illnesses and fevers I have been having the past couple of years are due to dental problems. I think I need to have the tooth I had crowned last year pulled. Yikes.

Aim's outdoor update:

Miraculously, our weather here has been mild for so long, I was able to get the front yard raked of leaves, and the window frames painted before the first frost. Woot! Now the back yard's leaves will probably not be down for 2 more weeks. My rosebush in front is blooming away still.

I gathered all my green tomatoes last week, and they have been ripening slowly on my kitchen counter. I also brought in my rosemary potted plant for the winter, and just in time! That very night was our first hard frost. And the next morning the drive to work was amazingly beautiful. Frost on the ground, a thin layer of fog over the fields, and a gorgeous sun-dog in the sky.

I have continued to walk to work, but earlier this week I got extremely chilled when I misread how cold it was going to be on the way home. I had to sleep in a wool sweater with wool socks under a wool blanket with the heat turned up! It is hot apple cider weather now :)

Stay warm,

Aim

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Happy Saturday!

I made soap today! A second type of soap that was fun and fast.


These are for gift-giving this Christmas, along with others I made earlier this summer.

I walked my dog in the breezy sunny day, and raked the leaves out of my front yard again.

I put all the light-switch covers back on in the living room which I finished painting 2 days ago. I'm liking the new look very much!

I decluttered some areas of my home today, and also roamed the garden photographing late-blooming flowers. My Carefree Wonder roses are still blooming profusely! I have had roses on that bush as late as Thanksgiving, but this year I have not pruned it, so there are mostly rose-hips. I will pick them this winter I think, since they are high in Vitamin C. I have to find out how to process them....

I didn't get around to painting the outdoor woodwork--hopefully I can do that before this week is over, or it will be too late this year. And, I didn't warp my loom yet; that may be a winter project that has to wait.

Yesterday, I made mini donuts in my mini-donut maker. I'm not usually a big fan of goofy electric kitchen appliances, but this one is pretty fun! I froze some of them. Then, I baked Tirali, an Italian cookie also known as Lemon Knots for you Starbuck's fans. I only iced half of them and took them to church; I froze the other 3-1/2 dozen.

I am gearing up to watch the Chicago Bears whoop the Vikings tonight, with some knitting on my lap and a cocktail of some sort. Just my kind of evening :)

Soon winter will be here, and I don't think it'll be as hard as previous winters on me. At the risk of sounding mysterious, I'm being set free from a lot of psychological baggage, and I look forward to the cold weather.