Seamless Knitting in the Round

Hiya all! Well, the weather here is just DIVINE. Perfect Spring weather with dappled sunlight, flowers, singing birds .. the works. It's inspired me to sit in my sun-drenched studio most mornings with an iced mocha and good music and write up patterns for some of the designs I've been working on this winter.

One thing I really wanted was an easy, quick coffee cozy pattern. I wanted something I could whip up for last-minute gifts (the coffee cup itself stuffed with tea/chocolate espresso beans/candy), but that was plain enough to work for men as well as women, without losing that handcrafted touch or being too boring. I worked on a crochet one for a while, but crochet just can't achieve the same reliable stretch as ribbing in knitting. I'm writing up what I think is the perfect pattern for my needs now, but how I did hate that gap/bump on the cast-on row (from joining your yarn when working in the round). I went searching for a simple seamless join. And I found this one! "Joining in the round" by Nancy Wynn.

Great tutorial, clear instructions, and nice big needles so you can see what's going on! I didn't want to embed the video, so you'll need to follow the link, but if you struggle with getting a nice-looking edge on your cast-on row, I recommend you give this a look. She's got a bunch of other great videos on her site .. all the knitty basics for learning and expanding your knitting skills!

 

 
I've also been busy planting flowers, mulching, and getting the garden in order. The photo is of my new violas .... so pretty all in a row. I do wish they weren't so popular with the slugs though!

Coffee cozy pattern (it's a free one) coming soon!!

What Color Tulips Did I Plant? & OWOH Winner!

The tulips have just started shooting up all over .. which means Spring is here! I can't recall exactly what color I planted here by the front door, so it will be a lovely surprise when they finally burst forth into flower. Hmmmm....was it the purple? The red? Or the red and white candy-stripe? Sometimes a little mystery is fun!!

Alas, the Japanese grocery store didn't have any cute bento boxes (see prior post)... but my lovely bloggie friend Sugar Bear brought my attention to this store. They not only have bento boxes in many cute designs, but all the cooking gear and accessories to make the artistic bento lunches too.

The One World One Heart Giveaway world event is now over. Thank you to everyone who stopped by and entered my giveaway!! It was so wonderful to ride the magic carpet and meet up with old friends again and make lovely new ones.

Without further ado .. using ye olde random number generator, the winner of a crochet pattern of their choice is:

Tara at Sew Gorgeous!!!

Congrats to Tara and I hope everyone had a wonderful time in blogland with the OWOH!

Help Needed With Oregon Spider Identification

Look at the beauty I found in the garden today! Well, actually I first became aware of it when my two little boys started screaming to save the beetle from the Big Spider. I sprinted right over and sure enough, a hapless beetle was being pursued by this large, fat, but absolutely beautiful spider. We dutifully saved the beetle from becoming spider lunch (spider now very hungry, I'm sure). But I'm wondering what kind of spider this is? Usually the power of the internet comes to my rescue when identifying bugs, but this one must not be dangerous because I can't find a picture of a similar one anywhere. Anybody know what it is??? I'm in Oregon and this was about the size of a half dollar.
Spider Update: I forgot to mention that I did get a quick look at the underside and I didn't see a bright hourglass shape. The closet thing online I could find was this spider or this spider, but mine has no white cross.

Garden Green Freshness

Our veggie garden is churning out its first goodness of the season. We planted three varieties of lettuce before it got hot, hot, hot and they have really blossomed into prolific plants. Just look at this tasty dinner salad. Everything but the tomatoes is from our garden!! How cool is that? There is something just so satisfying about making dinner out of your own backyard.

Green is obviously a color very much on my mind this week. Here's a Julie cuff I'm working on ..... in green. You can find the free pattern for it here. If you make one, I found the stitch diagram to be leagues clearer to follow than the written instructions. This is one of those pieces where blocking is a must. Blocking works straightening magic on fine crochet thread motifs like this. Here it is currently being blocked.This link is the best tutorial I have found for blocking crochet for those who would like to know. My tips? 1) A piece of thick foam core covered in paper towels works great for a low-cost blocking surface. 2) Use rust-free, rust-proof pins! Seriously, do not fudge on this or you will not be happy.

Now... if only the local bakery has green frosted doughnuts, this will be a beautiful, if very hot, week :)

The Bounty of Summer

Look at what our garden is starting to churn out! We were determined to get a veggie garden going this year and we did it!! My husband and I have two black thumbs and practically no gardening experience, but first we had peas, and now zuchinni, beans and tomatos! Granted it is more a novelty garden than something to help reduce bills at the grocery store as we had hoped, but next year we'll know exactly what to do .... and we plan on producing a veritable bounty of vegetable goodness! I so want to put in a blueberry bush too. How exciting!

One of the pleasures of late summer evenings is sitting out on our mossy patio with the scent of English lavender and lemon thyme in the air and watching the birds fly overhead and the wind whisper through the trees. Last night we took some plates of fresh baked rosemary potatoe bread dripping with preserves out onto the patio as the sun set. Ah bliss! If you haven't tried St. Dalfour preserves from France run, don't walk, to the store! Unlike American jams, they don't have any sugar added, just pure natural fruit and you can really taste the difference. They are a bit more expensive, but well worth it!

While sitting on the patio I thought I smelled the first whiff of Fall in the air. I couldn't say exactly what it was ... maybe the smell of the earth and reeds or a slight change in the evening light .... something that made me realize that summer is starting it's decline and that before we know it Fall will be here.

I'm supposed to taking a bloggie break, but I'm not doing a very good job of it am I ? :)

The Joy of July

It's July and there is so much to be joyful for! First, I entered a blog contest over at Waterrose and won one of her fabulous rings! I already was an admirer of her gorgeous hand embroidered cuffs, like this "Wildflower Romance Felt Cuff".Now I'm a ring fan too :) She even asked me what colors I wanted and then custom made this for me. Eeeee!! Just love it. I love her style of embroidery because it is so delicate, fanciful and organic with lots of swirls and nature imagery. And, for me at any rate, it seems to have a more antique feel while still being utterly modern.
And this is really a joy for our family ... because we did it from scratch and the results have been awesome! Do you remember the lattice I and my boys built?
We now officially have PEAS!!! They are way taller than the lattice now and just bursting out with peapods all over. We pick them every night to add to our dinners and I swear they grow more overnight. This urbanite is really feeling like a farmer now :) These were such a wonderfully easy and satisfying veggie to grow. And very interactive for the kids too. They LOVE to go out and harvest!

I also bought myself a treat :) and books are always a joy to this bibliophile. Have you heard of Snoop?
The premise is that you can fake a portrait of who you are (ex. interview, date, visitors, etc.), but gradual accumulation of clues in your living space seep through and that snooping through your stuff can yield a penetrating portrait of your true identity. By-products of our true behavior, like a wilting plant in the corner, are more telling than explicit signals we provide, like a portrait of Marx. I haven't read it yet since it's still in transit from Amazon, but here's some of the interesting points inside:

* inspirational posters are signs of emotional instability
* Bedrooms of liberals tend to have a larger variety of books, music and art supplies, while conservatives have more flags, alcohol bottles and sports paraphernalia
* Smart, creative people are not shown by the number of books they have, but the diversity and variety of reading material.

Interesting, no? Can't wait to learn to be a "stuff Sherlock". :)


And lastly ... the Sweet Treat Giveaway Winner is ~*~Patty !!

If you haven't had a chance to go look through all the fabulous sweet summer recipes from the giveaway yet, go look at the comments on this post. So many wonderful recipes! Thank you to every one who entered and shared a yummy recipe!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

My family and I had a fantastic visit with my mother last week! Look at the bright and cheery sunflowers she bought me while she was here. Aren't they fantastic?! Oh look! You can even see our new pumpkin walls behind them in this photo if you look closely :)
Do you remember the custom order I was working on last week just before my mother arrived? It turned out fabulous!!! Even more beautiful than I had dreamed!! I do quite a few custom orders, usually based on existing designs (this one has the natural brass and matched an existing earring set), but for some reason I never really share too many of them here. But this one was too gorgeous not to share! Can't get over how those faceted beads shine and sparkle!

I have sold a *ton* at Saturday Market this year. So much that I need to get some new lines under production pronto. I was working on making some flower hair pins last night. This is a shot of my worktable at around 2:00 am. I stitched them with wire, not thread and they didn't gather quite the way I had hoped. I don't know ....... are they cool???? Should I make more?????I distressed the fabric edges gently so they would have a soft, casual feel. A tiny freshwater pearl is stitched into the center. Maybe I'll take them to market tomorrow and see what people think of them?
For those of you who have wondered at the free bird's nest hairpin in your Jeweled Elegance package even after the freebie giveaway was over ...... those hairpins ended up being so insanely popular that I made a second batch to ship with orders. But.... they are really all gone now! Seriously! I will probably bring them back at holiday time, but they are all sold out/given away for now. Thank you so much for your orders and I hope you all enjoy those little nest hairpins!

I'm trying to get together a tutorial or a giveaway or a virtual swap or something else fun for next week. Stay tuned!

A Tale of Pumpkin Walls

At last! The great painting project of 2008 is done! And I must say, with neither my husband or I having painted walls before, the end result is quite beautiful. Especially love how the setting sun catches this pumpkin wall in the evening making the whole room just glow!

My new pumpkin wall above the fireplace.
The lavender was handpicked locally last summer.

Why did this project turn into almost a two week monster? Well, that would be because we elected to leave the window casings white for a depth effect and the line between the orange and white did not go as expected. Blue tape is now my new mortal enemy. Our walls have a bumpy texture and when the *very* well-pressed blue tape came off .... paint had bled under it just horribly. So .... after many days touching up and handpainting with a 1/4 inch fine art brush (TINY!!) all the transition lines were prettied up to look like this:

Ah, a beautiful handpainted seam!

And now ... as promised ... some new pretty jewelry. It's all about vintage style! I've discovered all natural brass and I think I'm in love!! Just adore the Art Nouveau feeling of many of the brass pieces. And one of the great things about natural brass is that it's nickel free so it's more friendly to people with metal allergies. These are all part of my new line currently being featured at Saturday Market. (The new line also includes a rare stash of loose vintage costume gems reworked in natural brass filigree and reproduction vintage images fashioned into bamboo tile pendants and chokers.)

One of a kind, asymmetrical brass sparrow necklace.
$25 at Sherwood Saturday Market
SOLD - THANK YOU!

Art Nouveau style brass butterfly necklace.
$25 at Sherwood Saturday Market

One of a kind, vintage flower bead and brass sparrow necklace.
$25 at Sherwood Saturday Market
SOLD - THANK YOU!

And the painting is finished just in time, because my mother arrives from out-of-state for a week long visit in just a few hours!! Time for a Starbucks and chocolate donut double combo. Think I can clean up all the painting stuff, tidy the house to get ready for her visit, pick up the kids, read some blogs, and finish making my custom order for Saturday in the next 4 hours? Yeah - no problem for superwoman :) Gotta have the coffee and chocolate donut though - that's the secret :)

Puttering Around the House

From freak hail storms that came magically come out of thin air about two weeks ago, we've suddenly snapped into 95 degree weather!!! Whoa! With the extreme heat and longer light at night, we've been cooking dinner much later and eating out on the patio long after the sun has set. Well, talented gourmet chef hubby has been cooking :) As most people know, I'm cooking challenged unless it's sugary baked goods :) Here's a recipe he created!Hot Ginger Soba Noodles
3 carrots
3 yellow squash
3 zucchini
6-8 spring onions
1 bag pea pods (about 4 cups)
1 white onion
9 oz. organic soba nooodles (we use Hakubaku noodles from Japan)
4 grated or very finely chopped tablespoons ginger (hubby didn't measure - but he thinks about 4 grated tablespoons - it's enough when you can smell ginger in the air when frying)
soy sauce

Chop all vegetables except pea pods. Stir fry vegetables and ginger until soft. Boil soba noodles for 3 minutes. Add well-strained boiled noodles straight to stir fry pan. Stir in soy sauce to taste. Serve hot.

While I was watching him cook, I was reflecting on our last lonely Happy Kitty bowl. We had bought two several years ago but one broke and the remaining kitty just hasn't seemed as happy since that day.

The inside of a Happy Kitty bowl. Isn't it cute?? I love Japanese contemporary pottery design!

So, thoughts of the Happy Kitty bowl were fresh in my mind when I went shopping in downtown Portland. And look what I found at the store Three Monkeys!!! It was a little bigger and a lot more expensive, but yes, it definitely was ... a Happy Kitty bowl!! Now what are the odds of that??? Of course I had to get it and the lone Happy Kitty is now happy again with it's sister bowl :)

The back of a Happy Kitty bowl.

Puttering around the house, I also realized that it was finally time to paint. Our children were young Monet's and expressed themselves on the walls but now that they are beyond that phase it's time! I have spent many years pondering and plastering paint chips to the walls in anticipation of this moment and I've finally settled on the color. The new color will be .... pumpkin!! I just got the new Martha Stewart magazine and a dyed paper lamp like this would look *fabulous* with my soon-to-be pumpkin walls!

Photo from Martha Stewart.

So, the family will be painting this week and maybe next week too! We've never painted walls before so wish us luck and an aesthetically pleasing finished product! Next blog post when we are done :) Can't wait to show you the cool new jewelry lines I've been working on!!!

Garden Poetry

Dragonfly Necklace $25 from Jeweled Elegance (SOLD - THANK YOU!)
and cherry blossom tree from ... my garden!

dozing in the garden
a shower of petals
swift dragonfly

Dragonfly Necklace $25 from Jeweled Elegance (SOLD - THANK YOU!)
and chives and thyme from .... my garden!

in the herbs
a bejeweled dragonfly
is happy

Sprouting radishes in a huge re-purposed urn
in .... my garden!

first leaves
in the garden pot
-- table's bounty

One of the wonderful things about doing markets and shows is that you get a chance to interact with customers, make new friends and ... get invaluable feedback about your art. I really pay attention to what people say at market and use it to better my product and produce new jewelry lines. For example, last week I listened to many, many people rave about my dragonfly necklaces. They loved the vintage aspect and the dragonfly imagery, but what really attracted them was the free-form asymmetry. So..... today I took my portable bead box out to my garden and inspired by the natural beauty around me, created several more asymmetrical vintage dragonfly necklaces for this week's Saturday market.

I think the garden pictures turned out great! I usually struggle so with my pictures, but these turned out wonderfully without any photo tweaking at all! I can hardly believe it was my camera that took them :)

And I would like to thank Silver Bell Cottage for this lovely award!! She said I had "amazing and feminine designs" and seriously, my heart just melted in joy when I read that :) Thank you!!!

A Colonial Craft Project in the Garden

Still locked away in my studio making beautiful jeweled treats and goodies for Saturday Market, but a wonderful thing happened! It's been drizzling for weeks. Sun and blue sky too, but not a single day where the ground dried out enough to garden. And then this weekend ... some dry, sunny days! Time to take advantage of this opportunity, exit the studio and work on the garden for a bit. We are trying to get a vegetable garden in this year, so I built this!:It's a lattice for the peas and beans. I felt positively colonial building it, because those sticks are reed grasses my little guys collected and dried from the wetlands behind us. Then we trimmed them to size, staked them and tied them with twine. Voila!! A rugged, yet strong lattice from scratch!

Here is the drink that powered the lattice construction project. Well, not the exact same drink, but I needed really wanted an iced coffee this morning too. Since I am a Starbucks addict, I thought I'd share this delightful link from Zizoo on How to Order A Complicated Drink At Starbucks.

Now, back to work! As you can see in the pictures, it's drizzling again today. Wish me warm, sunny weather for the grand opening of market this Saturday!!

***Update: I have two zero of the free bird's nest hair pins left -- all the nest hair pins are gone now -- thank you for your orders!!! That means two more lucky people will get one free with their next order! It can be either from the main boutique or from etsy, since I know they differ a bit in product.

The Kitchen Table with Earl Grey at 4:00 AM

One morning this week I had the most wonderful date. With a cup of piping hot Earl Grey Tea, a new tool, a bunch of paints and absolute silence. Yes, silence. How was this amazing feat accomplished? At 4:00 am while my family was still snug in their beds. But a girl has to craft when she can!

All of you awesome paper artists have inspired me to try card making. So .. this is the first card I have ever made. History in the making *grin*. This was a Buddhist theme card for a friend, so I started with a 2"x3" image, enlarged it, embellished it (it has lots of gold glitter on the figure and plants which of course doesn't show up in the photo), and then made a border and trimmed it with ribbon. For a first try, I like it!Then I whipped out the acrylics and painted a modern and masculine card for my brother. He lives in California, so I tried to do a California hill and valley theme. Didn't foof it or he might have run for those hills :)

And here is my new tool: A professional ring mandrel!!!! This thing is *heavy*, as in you could use it for weight lifting. I didn't get to play with it much since I've spent the week cleaning for my mother's visit, but I did take one of my bird necklaces and wire in into a ring and then made a "baby one" too. Fun??? Oh, yes!!!!!


This last picture was taken long after the sun rose, but I just HAD to show you all this. I have moss on my patio!!!
This was the first section of the patio we finished, and it was a ..very...long....project, so I suppose there's a slim possibility moss spores were there, invisible, waiting for the fall rains, but I'm going to swear by my moss food recipe, because this is the same area I painted it on and misted religiously. Doesn't it look great!

My mother arrives tomorrow for a week long stay, so I'm not sure how much computer time I'll get, but I'll visit everyone when I'm back!

Romantic Country Party & A Giveaway!!

Karla's Cottage is having a Romantic Country Party! She's asking party goers to post photos of what they love and find most romantic about their homes. Well, those of you who follow my blog know there is really only one good answer to that question this fall. It's my new patio of course!! It's finally done and I LOVE it!!! It is so blissful to sit out there sipping hot cocoa, listening to the crickets and watching the sun set. Let's go on a patio tour!
This is right outside the backdoor. We started with a traditional French gravel border but switched to Japanese style rocks. They look marvelous when wet and glistening with rain. And there is a lot of rain here :)
The main seating area. It has a canopy over it right now so it can stay cool and damp for moss growing. And look closely ... it's working! We built it right up to the lemon thyme and English lavender and oh, how divine it smells when the wind blows through!

And this is looking up the shallow tiered risers to what will be the potted herb and vegetable area. The "culinary patio". It was the last bit to be finished and you can still see paving sand that needs to be swept away and surplus bags of rock. But we already have two potted peppermint plants there growing tall! Eep! Don't look at the grass! It was hard to mow around 50 lb. pavers and rock, so we just let it go.

It has been a long journey getting this patio done, but sitting out there in the autumn evenings ... well worth it!! It's a wonderful place to retreat to and the most romantic spot in my house to me :) In my imagination, it's five years down the road....all the pavers are mossy, white climbing roses blanket the fence, a small fountain is babbling and I'm plucking fresh berries from a potted blueberry bush for the breakfast laid out on the table. I can even smell the fresh squeezed orange juice and chocolate croissants. Ahh! Blissful!!

And now....as promised....in celebration of finally getting the patio finished ... A GIVEAWAY!!!!!

A. Tiny Keys
B. Vintage Style: Old Agate & Turquoise (reworked into my signature hoops)
C. Classic Everyday Pearl Drops
D. Peacock Feathers
E. Magical Fairy Tale Stars
F. Happy Ladybugs (a brighter, cheerier yellow in person than in the photo)

I'm giving the giveaway a bit of a twist because I'm a modern girl who believes in having choices :) I also really want you to love what you win! Take a look at the photo montage above and choose your favorite earrings. Then comment on this post making sure to mention which pair (A,B,C,D,E or F) you want to win. Blogger doesn't always automatically capture your email/blog link, so please put a way to contact you if needed. I'm giving away all six earrings, so we'll have 6 winners!! (Oh! I almost forgot. These all have surgical steel earwires so most metal sensitives can wear them.)

Good luck to everyone entering the giveaway! And if you'd like to see more romantic homes celebrating, you'll find a list of participants at Karla's Cottage!

August in the Garden

Life in the backyard is good! Tall iced teas and chocolate rum balls in the evening. Butterflies, hummingbirds and droning bees flitting amongst the scented herbs during the day. But this week, we are forgoing the usual garden pleasures in favor of stone pavers, mud and gravel! That's right ... we're laying a patio! And not just any patio..... a two tiered wonder, with a seating area at the bottom and an area for a potted culinary garden at the top. We're doing all the work ourselves, so for most of this week, I'll be out of blogland and building paradise! The butterflies are watching us work, each as beautiful as this carved bone one:

I did take a quick break today and picked up these gorgeous new papers! Most have impregnated glitter or satiny bits. I was looking for some fun papers to photograph my jewelry on. For example, the butterfly was photographed on the paper at the far right. The deep rose sheet at the very bottom is three dimensional and looks like flocked, embossed metallic paper. Reminds me of those old ceilings in saloons or gold rush hotels. Too busy for a background, but so interesting, I needed to take it home too :)

Winners Announced!

The rain has finally stopped, blue sky and sunbeams have appeared again and viola! The cherry and plum trees are blossoming! So pretty!


Now that it is March 21st and officially Spring, it is time to draw the winners of the "ONE World-ONE HeART Spring Giveaway"! This giveaway has been enormous fun and I would like to thank everyone who visited my blog and entered to win my little jewels! It was so wonderful to meet you all!

My little "unicorn" assistant helped me put in all the names, stir them up, and then pick the winners. He was such a happy helper and really enjoyed doing the drawing.

And the winners are ........... Jamie for prize package #1 and Heather - Speckled Egg for prize package #2. Congrats!! I will be contacting both of you lucky winners shortly. Please send me your mailing addresses when you have a chance.