Pillow Fort

 

I was so disgusted by yet another day of miserable heat and humidity that I threw a sheet over the couch, piled up a giant bunch of pillows and made a day of it in front of the TV watching weird Olympic sport in my jammies. I kinda had a headache and kinda didn't. I knit. I spun, I stitched a bit-but none of it was fun and no real progress was had. I need a day out. I need some fresh air. Hopefully that will be today. 

Friday Fiber: Olympic Edition

 

My fiber adventure didn't stop with the Tour this year. We're trapped inside from the heat and humidity and planted in front of the TV watching Olympic coverage all day. Even The Mister isn't venturing out. They promise us relief starting today. It will be most welcome if it materializes. I'm going stir crazy.

I said during the Tour that my next spinning project would be something I dyed myself. I have a lot of bare fiber like this BFL from Miss Babs and I need to use it up. 

I got my color inspiration from the Olympic rings. I did my usual jar dyeing and then sat it in the hot sun for a few hours. 

It exhausted pretty well. The red is always a problem. I had some pink in the water but not much. 

I let it dry overnight and gave it another rinse in the morning and then a spin. In this humidity it takes a while to dry even in the hot sun.

I was happy to see the colors stayed nice and bright. 

I'll chain ply it to keep the colors together and then hopefully turn it into some Olympic themed stripey mitts. 

Da dum da dum dum dum...I just can't get that Olympic theme out of my head. 

Masked

 

Here's The Mister and me celebrating our second jabs in April. The MIster is wearing his one and only mask. 

I have no  idea why I only made him one mask when I made myself a bag full but I did and guess what he came home from his golf trip without. I have no idea how you lose your mask but he did so I spent yesterday making him a couple more. 

He really liked that tie dye material and lucky for him I had one piece of it left. 

I had to really stop and think about how to make them. It's been a long time. It's hard to believe we still even need them but things are getting scary again. Our numbers were great. Now not so much. 

I had stopped doing the daily numbers back in May when there were no cases to be found for weeks. Now I am back to it since we had 24 new cases in the surrounding area in just 2 weeks. The personal trainer that works with Daughter at the rink just sent out an email saying that his brother who is fully vaxed is very ill with Delta. He's requiring Covid tests for anyone using his gym and everyone he sees at other locations like the rink must mask up again inside or out. My sister has a friend that just did a 7 day stay in the hospital thanks to you know what. 

Sitting in front of the sewing machine wasn't a terrible way to spend a hot and muggy afternoon even though I hate fiddling with trying to get the pleats even. As usual I was over thinking it all. I know now what these masks look like after a few washings and no one is going to care if the pleats are uneven as long as it stays on your face. 

In less than an hour The Mister had his beloved tie dye mask replaced and another one for just in case. I probably should make him a few more if I can find some decent manly material. Who knows how much longer this nightmare will last. Who'd have thought that we'd still be here now. Not me. 

Wednesday WIPs

 

It was a week of head scratching around here. I had some hard stuff going on. First the cable project had to get its sleeves joined and it did NOT play nice. I had to rip it out way too many times but I now think we have finally come to an understanding. Let the raglan decreases begin. 

The new mitt pattern is one of those where you just have to follow the directions and NOT think about it. I do believe I've  now got a basic understanding of what's going on and it's starting to take shape. I'm using the leftover yarn from the thrummed mitts and it's so gorgeous it's a been a pleasure to work with even when I goofed things up. 

At least I am past the heel on the man sock so it's smooth sailing from here on with this project. I thought I would have all three pair done this summer. Ha. 

The only thing that happened with poor Festive Doodle is that she got packed up in a bin in case any moths might be lurking. It's so buggy here right now. I swear I'll get her second sleeve on as soon as it cools down. She's just too big a lap full of wool for me right now. 

Tiny Needle Tuesday: Framed

 

Let me start out by saying that the high price we pay to have other people frame things for us is money well spent. Pre-vaccination I thought I would frame a piece myself using an online source and it didn't go so well. The first problem I ran into is that I had to buy a lot of custom mats until I got a color I could live with. 

 The second problem I ran into is that my piece was the same size as the backing board I had custom cut. I gave the site my design dimensions and they do the figuring for you so you get what you get. I wanted to lace the back like they show you how to do in all the You Tube videos but that wasn't going to work. 

So.....I had to order one of these to stick it down on so it would fit in the frame.

I lost count of how many times I had to measure and adjust everything to get it somewhat straight and centered in the mat.

I would get it straight and then I notice puckers or threads showing from the back. I have the utmost respect for anyone who does this for a living. It's really hard to get it right.

I had to remind myself over and over that close enough is good enough. It's not going to be hanging in the Louvre.  At best these wonky baby birth samplers get a few years out in the open and then they go in the back of the closet to entertain the dust bunnies-as they should. 

Thrummed

 

The thrum mitts are done. It's always fun to weave in the loose ends. Just look at that insanity. 

You would never know so much was going on inside but there sure is.  Now they get tucked away until winter. Ah....winter. This actually hasn't been too terrible a summer except for the bugs. If I walk into one more spider web I swear.....

Up next in the thrum basket will be these red ones. They are what I originally wanted but I was too impatient to wait for the fiber to show up so I ordered the purple kit which I ended up loving. It will be a while until I get to these. At least until it cools off. I am all thrummed out at the moment.

What I hope to be casting on next is a pattern that Cindy sent me. I've been winding yarn and digging out scraps for it all weekend.

It's for the Tough and Toasty mitts she's been knitting lately. She sent me a pair of them last year and I love them for stashing in pockets or in my project bag on chilly days.

This may take awhile because I've been staying up all night watching the Olympics for several nights and right now I don't think I can count to 10 without making a mistake. I need a nap. A serious nap. 

And......I got some comments on my fried green tomatoes yesterday but I ate mine before I could show them off. These are Daughter's. She texted me a photo of the ones she made in her new air fryer last week which made me get one of my own. Mine looked just like this and they were GOOD. Double coated with flour and Panko.  I was skeptical but it worked. They were nice and crunchy on the outside and cooked to perfection inside. Next year I am going to have to put some of these big boys in a bucket on the deck and see if I can start growing my own. 

An Annual Harvest

 

It's that time of year. The time where one of The Mister's old work friends goes on vacation and tells up to go pick whatever we want out of his garden while he is gone. It is a big garden.

The whole back row is nothing but sunflowers. It's quite spectacular. He said to pick all I wanted but the cats would just make mischief with them in the house and I don't want to draw birds or squirrels into my cat infested yard so I let them be. 

It was a pretty good haul. His beds are a weedy mess but the plants look so much healthier and happier than my poor things in their sad little buckets.

This is the second cherry tomato harvest from my plants. I did harvest three nice green peppers which became some sweet and sour tofu the other night. 

Everything got a good wash and a good chop. Since I've been on my own all weekend I made myself......

......a giant pot of ratatouille. The Mister is away with SIL to play in a golf tournament in Pennsylvania.

My favorite part of the big harvest are the green tomatoes.  I always get a couple.

Fried green tomatoes anyone? This air fryer just showed up from Amazon and I'm going to give it a try.  It's not summer without at least one plateful. 

You Just Gotta Laugh

 

I bet you know where this is going. If you guessed another kitchen delay you'd be right.  Now they say the cabinets won't be here until sometime in late August. The Mister bypassed Lowes and put in a call to the manufacturers who say they are not even shipping anything out to the stores until the 18th at the soonest and that's if they can get the wood and if Covid doesn't impact their workforce-again. 

What is really hilarious is that Daughter has had a whole entire house built in less time than it has taken us to get a kitchen remodeled. This is a photo she sent me in May and I'm sure it's much further along now than this. They are supposed to be moving in right about the time our cabinets might show up. Sigh...........

Something New

 

When I saw this newly released stamp I had to have it.

I have a ridiculous collection of watercolors and I am always looking for something to paint. I hate to draw anymore but I do love to slop paint around every once in a while. 

This is what the stamp is for but...........

.....this is what I wanted it for. I love filling in mandalas but I hate drawing them out because mine are always wonky. This is perfect. Just perfect. It will keep me busy for days as I work around that perfect circle.

The Mister has also been working on two new paint by number kits. He just finished this one.... 

...and he's working his way through this one. I can't thank Kathy B enough for bringing these to my attention. The Mister works on these for hours every day which gives me the time to do my own thing. 

Hot and Hazy

 

It's been hot but not blistering hot so now that the Tour is over we've been getting up early and getting Pup out for a walk before it gets too warm.

It's been kind of weird out and I was surprised to learn that the haze is from the wildfires out west. 

Visibility might be poor but we did see a school of Cownose Rays put on quite the show in the quiet early morning water. They are up here from Florida for their annual breeding event. When they poke a wing up out of the murky water they look like sharks and can scare the stuffing out of you. 

Seeing this swimming towards you can't be much fun either.