Temperature Tuesday and a Swap

We are on our way to summer.  The end of May was almost all dark brown (upper 80s) with a few pink stripes (lower 90s)!  I love the brown and pink together!

Here is a close up of May (between the white stripes).  You can see it just getting hotter and hotter.  I expect next month will introduce the next color (red)!

I also got my Reducio Swap package!  The theme was the TriWizard Tournament!  The outside of my package was so cute!

The inside was even better!

There was a cute little Ravenclaw mini sock, a golden egg (which Millie has claimed and plays with), gillyweed (both as a cloth/doily and in a little vial), a copy of the maze (with 4 champions marked), some tea to keep me warm after a trip into the lake, and 4 mini skeins of handspun yarn for my sock yarn blanket!  So lovely!  I love the Reducio swaps. They are so much fun!

 

 

FO: Hermione Socks

Project: Hermione Socks for me
Pattern: Hermione’s Everyday Socks
Yarn: Malabrigo Sock in Indiecieta
Needles: US 1 1/2 (2.5 mm)
Started: April 5, 2015
Finished: May 27, 2015
Modifications: I made the cuff only 15 rounds. I knit these on dpns instead of circular needles. I treated needless 1 and 2 as the pattern needle 1, and 3 and 4 as pattern needle 2. It was not a hard conversion.

This yarn is so soft. It is so lovely to knit with. I understand why people love it. It is like butter! This pattern is also so wonderful! It is easy to knit with just enough to be interesting. The texture is lovely and the socks are my most comfortable. This pattern may become my new go to pattern!

I was originally worried that the texture was lost on this yarn, but it isn’t lost at all. I think this pattern would be fantastic for a pooly yarn.

 

HaldeCraft Yarn Club

This round of the HaldeCraft Yarn Club’s theme is Farscape. This month’s installment is called “Soft, yes. Weak, no.”

The yarn is so luxurious!! It is a merino, cashmere, nylon blend. My boys saw it and tried to claim it. This yarn is so very soft that I may make something like arm warmers or a shawlette. It should be were out can be petted!

This is a little more color true. The blues and greets are really pretty.

The yarn also came with a handmade lotion with the same name. It smells clean and just a little floral. I love it!

 

Wee Block Wednesday: The Return

My poor sock yarn blankie got neglected for a few weeks.  I was focused on Zack’s birthday stuff, so I put it aside. Now that that is done, I have picked it back up. It is the perfect instant gratification project combined with mindless knitting.  Since I still haven’t been able to focus much this week, it has been my meditation knitting.  I managed to do three blocks (bringing the total to 111 blocks).

The block on the left is the first block.  It is ShiBui Sock in the Zinnia colorway.  This yarn has been discontinued. It is one of my “time capsule” blocks. I got the yarn in a Blankie Mania swap many years ago. I love the colorway. It is very spring and floral!  The second block is on the right. It is purples, pinks, greys, and a touch of black.  It is Panda by StitchJones in the Umeda colorway.  I believe that this was a hand dye, but I can find no shop or anything on Ravelry.  I got this yarn in the same swap.

The last little block is the pretty blue, purple, yellow, and red block. This is Plymouth Happy Feet in color 7.  The color is so pretty!  I got this in the same swap that I got the others.  These three little blocks have been great therapy for me this past week!

 

Temperature Tuesday

My scarf is continuing to grow. Last week, I got to add a new color. After last Tuesday, we continued with warm temperatures. We did have a few days in the lower 80s, but most of the week was upper 80s and lower 90s. This week should be more of those warmer temperatures!

I have been knitting in my ends, but I haven’t trimmed then. I am still deciding if that is how I want to handle them. They make that side thicker. I am also not sure about how it looks. I may pull them out and weren’t them in differently. I am still deciding!

 

2 FOs!!

This past week was really difficult. A couple I am very close to and work with lost their toddler in a very tragic way.  Most of the week, I was in a bit of a daze. For two days, I couldn’t even focus long enough to work on simple projects.  I finally started to come out of it, and being able to craft became very comforting to me.  As a result, I was able to get a lot done.

First up, my DH’s birthday surprise blanket!  I decided to do this a few days before his birthday. I told him that I was going to make it for someone else. I had him help me pick a pattern to go with the yarn. I thought that it would be so fast because it was bulky.  It was not. In part, it took me a long time because I decided to make it so big!  So here are the details:

Project: Secret Blanket

Pattern: Marshmallow Crochet Baby Blanket

Hook: Size N

Yarn: Bernat Blanket in Mallard Wood (7 skeins)

Started: April 24, 2015

Finished: May 15, 2015

Modifications and notes: I started with a chain of 103 to upsize this to an adult blanket.  It came out 41″ x 56″. I didn’t expect it to take so much yarn, so there are several different dye lots. Only one stands out as very different.  I should have gone up another hook size. This is a little stiff. That being said, my DH has used it every night since it was completed to cover his legs while watching tv (that was what I had intended it for).

You can see the stripe of the differing dye lot in this picture. My husband didn’t really notice (or care), so that is all that matters. This blanket is super soft and warm without being stifling (it is breathable because of the pattern).  I really like how it came out!

On Saturday, my husband’s little cousin announced that she is pregnant. My husband gets to see her once a year, so he asked me if I had anything for him to take up for the new baby. I didn’t, but I had been seeing the Wee Fast, Wee Speedy, and Wee Sweet patterns on Ravelry and Craftsy.  I quickly glanced through and picked Wee Fast. I happened to have a skein of bulky yarn on hand. This wee sweater is so cute and took me around 2 hours to complete (that is a guess given the number of interruptions I had).  The pattern is simple. It would have gone faster, but I used bamboo needles. That never works out well for me!  It slowed me a down a lot.  So here are the details:

Project: Wee Fast

Pattern: Wee Fast

Needles: 10 1/2 and 11

Yarn: Lion Brand Baby First in the Honey Bee Colorway (about 1/2 a skein)

Started and Finished: May 16, 2015

Modifications: My only modification was to start with a size 10 1/2 instead of a 10. This was because I grabbed the wrong needles and was not intentional.  I used a button from my button jar.

 

Temperature Tuesday

I finally got to add a new color! Sunday it for over 90, so I got to add pink. I was so excited to see a new color that I didn’t care that it was hot. Tomorrow I have an all day field trip in the heat, so maybe I will be less happy tomorrow.

 

Favorite Thing Friday: Handmade Mother’s Day Gifts

The school the boys attend does a little clay project for Mother’s Day in Kindergarten and First Grade.  In Kindergarten, it is a little pinch bowl. In First Grade, it is a turtle.  Yesterday, Wyatt brought home his turtle for me.

It is the one on the right. The one on the left is the one I got from Logan three years ago.  He was so excited, he simply couldn’t wait for Sunday!  He had to give it to me.

So, today was a little photo shoot. Then he made his way to his “forever” home on my bookshelf!

I love these little reminders of my kiddos while I am working.  Looking at them throughout the day reminds me that I am loved. It also reminds me of why I do the work I do.  I am doing what I can to make the world a better place for those that I love.

 

Temperature Tuesday

Well, April is complete! The white divides the month. As you can see, April ended with cooler temps, and May began with the same cooler temps. It is warming back up again. I am hopeful that I will get to add more colors!

 

DIY Cleaner Day

I have been making my own cleaners for several years. I ran out of a few of the essential oils I use regularly a while ago, and let my husband replace my cleaners with store bought stuff.

Yesterday I got my Young Living kit. Today, I got rid of some of the yucky stuff that had made it’s way into our house and made new stuff.

I started with bug spray. This is a 2 oz glass bottle. I put 15 drops citronella, 15 drops rosemary, 10 drops peppermint, and 15 drops lavender. I then fill the bottle 3/4 of the way full of witch hazel, and the rest of the way with water. I had the citronella and rosemary oils on hand. We have used this in the past, and it works well. It should also keep ticks away with the addition of peppermint! I have read that you can make a good bug spray with Purification oil (a Young Living blend), but I know this one works and has most of the stuff on hand.

The next cleaner I made was an all purpose/bathroom cleaner. I used the same size bottle (I have a ton of them). For that one, I put 15 drops of Thieves oil, a splash of witch hazel, then I filled the bottle 3/4 of the way with white vinegar, and the rest of the way with water. It makes my bathroom smell like Christmas!

In the past I have made my bathroom cleaner with Castile soap and tea tree oil instead of Thieves oil. The Thieves smells better and doesn’t leave a soap residue that has to be rinsed. I am very happy with the new recipe. I will probably invest in some of the Thieves household cleaner in the future. I also need bigger glass spray bottles.

That was my big Saturday project. After I made my cleaners, I cleaned all my bathrooms. I then took my baby and the dogs (we are dog sitting a friend’s dog, so I have two dogs this weekend). We put the bug spray on (a little goes a very long way). It was a lovely afternoon!