Sky Scarf, April, 2012

Here is the Sky Scarf at the end of April. Right now it's almost three feet long. If I do my math correctly, this scarf will be nearly nine feet long by the end of the year. That will be a LONG, cozy, scarf! I have discovered that I am running short of the light grey and the light blue yarn and that I haven't used any of the dark blue and very little of the dark grey. This has been a fun project, but it does get a little tedious. So far, I've only gotten behind by a few days, but since I've been keeping track of the sky colors in a little notebook I've been able to catch up quickly. I'm probably doing my scarf little bit different than other people. I look at the sky at noon and really do the color based on the color of the sky. For instance, I don't do anything different for rain other than the grey. Some people are adding beads of charms. The fun thing about this project is that the pattern is no more than a guideline; you add in your own creative touches if you want.

Spring, 2012

This is the Japanese Maple in front of our house. A week or so ago, I found...

...this baby Japanese Maple growing in one of my decorative whiskey barrels around the side of the house. These barrels had...

 ...a few tulips growing in them. The bulbs had gotten kind of old and the soil wasn't great, so this is about the only tulip that came up. I just redid the soil in preparation for some summer perennials and put the...

...cut tulip in a pretty vase in the windowsill in my kitchen and transplanted the little tree into another planter to see if I can get it to grow. The tulip has opened a little more and I think it's really pretty.

Just outside my front door, I took this picture of what I thought was a really cool cloud formation. I love all the contrast of the dark storm cloud and the blue sky.

My First Zippered Pouch.

This is something I've been wanting to make for quite awhile now, a zippered pouch. I love containers and little bags to hold things and until now I've been quite happy making drawstring bags. But drawstring bags have their drawbacks (no pun intended), and it was time to learn something new. So, I turned to the internet and searched "How to sew a zipper in a pouch." After watching a couple, I pulled out all my materials and the zipper foot to my sewing machine and went to work.

I had the zipper on hand. Like I said, I've been thinking about making this for awhile now. The fabric was something I had gotten in a pile from my mom. I think this little bag turned out well. It's not perfect but it met my criteria, it's lined and has a zipper closure. Good for my first try and I'm hoping my next try will be even better.

I would eventually like to make a small purse with a long thin strap to hold my cell phone and driver's license, but I'm not sure what to use for the strap and the video that showed how to make a thin strap didn't work for me. So, that will have to be something I work on next. I don't care for ribbon straps and would like to make one from the same fabric, but not too thick. I think the fabric store carries a tool to help with the turning, so I'll have to look into that next.

It's freezing in Alaska! Someone turn on the oven!

I made Baked Alaska for dessert on Easter Sunday. It's a recipe that's been in my box for years. I wasn't sure where it had originally come from, but my copy was a copy of a copy that was cut apart and glued to three sides of two recipe cards. There are four layers. The first starts with a baking a homemade yellow cake about 1/2 inch thick and then cooling it completely in the freezer. The second layer is simply vanilla ice cream cut into 1/2 inch thick slices, placed on top of the cake and put back into the freezer. The third layer is more time consuming. It is a mixture of chocolate chips, milk and marshmellows, melted then cooled to which cool whip is added. This layer is spread on top of the ice cream layer and, you got it, back into the freezer. Lastly, the fourth and top layer, is meringue. The baked part comes after you spread the meringue on top of the chocolate layer, put the 9 x 13 pan inside another 9 x 13 pan and bake in a preheated 450 degree oven until light brown, about 3 minutes or so, after which, you remove the outside pan and put it back in the freezer. This dessert is a lot of monkey business and takes a considerable amount of time to make, but the result is wonderful, not too heavy and your guests will love it. That makes it worth the time, right? I asked my mom where the recipe came from and she told me my Aunt Connie.

My "Long Pom Pom Cowl".

I LOVE the Purl Soho websites. They have so many wonderful projects and tutorials in knitting, crochetting and sewing, that I regularly find something I am dying to make. If you haven't taken a look, you really must. Seriously! If you are like me, you really find more projects you'd like to do than you have the time and/or money to finish. Anyway, last week they posted this photo on Facebook of some of their more recent projects. I think it was of a display at their store. I had been wanting to make this "Long Pom Pom Cowl" ever since I saw it on the website in September of 2011.

So, this week, I ran off to my local fabric store and purchased the supplies and started sewing. It calls for a half yard of linen and four yards of pom pom trim. It cost me less than $15 to make. This isn't a difficult project, but the linen fabric can be a little slippery to work with, so use your iron to crease the edges and lots of pins or basting. I also changed the pattern a bit and made a rolled seam connecting the ends into a cowl BEFORE I added the pom pom trim. I thought it made for a nicer finished back seam.

http://purlbee.squarespace.com/long-pom-pom-cowl

Sky Scarf, March, 2012

Well, I'm three months into the Sky Scarf for 2012. That is a quarter of the way done for those mathematically challenged folks, such as myself. To be honest, I'm getting a little tired of this project. It's not that I wouldn't recommend doing it. Just know going in, that it's a committment. A daily committment to knit two rows. It doesn't sound like a lot and it isn't, but it IS a DAILY COMMITTMENT. Of course, I could stop any time, but I won't. I'm one of those people who like to complete projects once I've started them. I love the "doing", but I hate to leave things uncompleted also. I have lots of projects I would love to do and once they are started, they get done.

We've had a lot of blue sky here in Michigan for this first quarter of 2012. In fact, I may have to buy more blue yarn! I also didn't think I would get to use the dark grey yarn at all, but we have had a few days with some dark clouds. Again, I'm knitting my two rows based on what the sky looks like at noon. I'm generally home for lunch, so that makes looking at the sky on my way home and knitting my two rows once I get home, pretty easy.

Sky Scarf, February, 2012

Today is Wednesday, February 29, 2012. It's obviously a Leap Year, so this scarf with have two more rows than usual. I'm really going to have to come up with some creative ways to photograph this as it gets longer. I'm also afraid that I'm going to run out of yarn. I purchased one hank of each color. However, I have only used the dark grey with the light grey for one day. The grey days just haven't been that dark. I haven't used the dark blue at all. I have been keeping track of the dates and the colors I've used for each day in a little notebook. If someone were to ask my advise on purchasing yarn for this project I would recommend buying only three colors; a medium blue, a white and a medium grey. Since you are using two strands at a time, you are also combining these colors on occassion. This is a fun project, but as with most scarves, it is a little boring. I do like the visual record of the weather. Sometimes we think it's all grey skies here in Michigan and this month has been greyer than last, but we've had lots of sun too. I look forward to starting on March tomorrow.

Sky Scarf, January 2012

This noon, I completed the January, 2012 portion of my Sky Scarf for Holland, Michigan. As you can see from the photo above, we are having a beautiful sunny day here and that we have had a lot of blue sky for the month. This is most unusual. I was expecting to knit a lot of grey this month. The other big change to the scarf was tearing out everything since the first post and reknitting it from garter stitch (knit every row) to a knit two, purl two rib pattern. I am much happier with this version. It is a little narrow and I think it shows off the difference in color from day to day. One month done, eleven to go. Tomorrow, we start February.

"Two for One" or "WOW! Two Posts in One day!"

Every year, Holland Friends of Art puts on an outdoor craft fair called "Art in the Park". It is held in August in Centennial Park here in Holland, Michigan. I have participated in it once and when I was on the board was involved in it in other ways. Anyway, years ago they started holding a poster competition for the members and this year I decided to enter a piece for it. Here it is. I didn't think it would hurt to show my entry here since probably only one or two people will even see it. I like how it turned out. I used only Sharpie brand markers for this. I love Sharpies but have never really used them for artwork. That might change. There are lots of colors available and some limited edition colors too, I might have to do some shopping to fill out my palette.

A new painting.

It's been a long time since I've painted anything. There, I said it. It's not like I'm not doing anything creative though. I've been reading and knitting (a lot) and making some cards, but I haven't been painting, unless you count painting my son's bedroom. So, about two weeks ago, I had motivation to finish a painting for the Holland Friends of Art Members show. I work better with a deadline, an empty frame complete with a mat already cut, a blank sheet of watercolor paper and no excuses. I must admit I was a little nervous. What was I going to paint? How would it turn out? Would it be done in time for the show? I selected a photo that I took several years ago near Asheville, North Carolina and dove in. I am happy with how it turned out. Not completey, but I am my worse critic. The best part is that I really enjoyed the process and am looking forward to the next piece. I might even have to place an order for more paper and a couple of more tubes of paint.

By the way, the Sky Scarf is going well and I'll post an update on or about February 1. Stay tuned.

Sky Scarf Post #1/2

Well, we're only a week into 2012 and I thought I would post a photo of my progress on the Sky Scarf.

I thought being in Michigan and it being winter when I started that I would be knitting nothing but grey and white for the first four months. But as you can see, it's been quite the happy mix this first week with lots of blue sky.

I decided that I would knit my two rows based on what the sky was doing at noon each day. The above photo was the sky at about 12:30 p.m. At noon it was completely grey. It's mostly grey again now at about 1:30 p.m.

My intent is to post a photo the end of each month so that you can see the progress.

One thing I haven't been able to do is twist the yarn along the edge the way she did it in the pattern. My plan is to crochet all the way around when it's done.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Well, here it is, a week before Christmas and the Christmas cards are finally out, and the tree and stockings are up.

Here are a few pictures of the cards I made this year. These in addition to some I made last year, but didn't send and some store bought cards are what I sent out this year.

I've done these cross stitch cards before. The idea came from the Better Homes and Gardens Country Crafts Christmas Edition magazine from 1990. The pattern was for a sampler, but they also had the idea to do some of the motifs on perforated paper, cut them out and use them on cards. I had a great time using some scrapbook paper for the backgrounds (something that wasn't around in 1990).

I was short a couple of cards and decided to make a couple cheery looking cards using the Iris Folding technique. I like the look of it and even though it looks complicated, it's really simple.

And, because I know my friend Aimee reads this blog and I love her's. here are a few interior Christmas shots.

I only pick ornaments that mean something to my family. Perhaps an interest or a hobby, but there is a connection between each one and us.

My mom and dad cross stitched us these Christmas stockings back in 1998 after Jarod was born. Yes, BOTH of my parents cross stitch. I love them and these stockings too. I believe they've done one for every member of their family and even some friends too. Lots of work and love went into these.

This is the is the coffee/tea service table in my dining room. I'm not sure where the table came from originally. I believe it was my husband's grandmother's table. My mother in law was using it as a laundry room table for her detergent (horrors), so after much begging, he bought her a shelf and took this home. It needed a lot of work and refinishing, but it looks great here. It is a drop leaf table. We went to a Bed & Breakfast that had one of these electric kettles and I really wanted one after that. So, now I have my own set up and use it often.

Now, I'm off to build a "yarn swift" so that I can be ready to start the Sky Scarf for 2012. Merry Christmas to all!

Sky Scarf, Holland, MI

You know, sometimes I come across things online that I want to do, but I can't remember how I came across them in the first place. This is just such a thing.

It's called a Sky Scarf and is the brain child of Lea Redmond AKA Leafcutter on Ravelry. She calls this a "Conceptual Knitting" project.

Basically, you look at the sky every day and knit two rows on a scarf in colors that represent what the sky is doing.

Above are my color choices. I'm using Cascade 220 Fingering in white, robin egg blue, sapphire, silver and charcoal.

This scarf is knit on size 4 needles over the course of a year and will measure approximately five feet when finished.

I will be starting on January 1, 2012. Lea recommends keeping everything together in the open so that it is easy to remember to do your rows each day. I found (YES, FOUND!) this beautiful Longaberger basket last year, bought a new liner, and I think will be the perfect place to keep this scarf for a year.

Check back to see my progress. Since I live in Michigan, I'm sensing there will be a lot of white and gray to start with.

Interested in making your own? Click HERE.

Interested in the yarn I'm using? Click HERE.

Interested in joining the Ravelry group for this scarf? Click HERE.

Definitely a TREAT!!!

Well, my yarn arrived and I consider it a TREAT. I'm sure this photo doesn't do this yarn justice. This is what I received for the "Trick or Treat" from The Buffalo Wool Company. It has no label, so I have no idea which of their yarns this is. No big deal though since they said that these were all random skeins and some wouldn't be labeled. I assume this is made from Bison fleece and it looks to be close to a worsted weight. The color looks black in this photo, but upon closer examination it looks like a combination of dark brown, green and black. I immediately thought this would be a great stocking cap for the hubby. Stay tuned as this may be going on the needles sooner than later.

Trick or Treat

Mystery Yarn! I can't wait!

http://store.thebuffalowoolco.com/trick-or-treat/

I'll be posting what I get AND photos of what I've made. Stay tuned!

Dipping my toes back in the water...

A NEW blog post by yours truly!

I just realized, embarassingly enough, that it has almost been a year since I posted anything on this blog. Can't imagine that anyone would want to visit here if there is nothing new to see. So, here is a brief posting of one of the new Birthday cards I just finished. My card box was decimated following all the May birthdays on the Riemersma side of the family, so it was time to get to card making. I made a few Anniversary cards too. Next post will be devoted to card making, I think. Then again, it might be sailing since the boat will be put away sometime in the next couple of weeks. My, how the time has flown. Stay tuned and if you have seen this posting, come back and invite your friends too. Thanks for visiting.

Cute Zombie Bag

I found this cute bag pattern on a website called, "The Happy Zombie". Not sure how I came across this. I just click on links from other sites I like and find cool stuff.

Anyway, this bag is made from three "fat quarters". I'm too lazy at the moment to research exactly what a "fat quarter" is. Suffice it to say that my local fabric store sells them and I think quilters by them. The size is about 18x22. I had bought a few to make something else and then when I found this pattern, I decided to make this instead. These three fabrics wouldn't have been my first choice and they don't go together as well as I would've liked. When I make another one, I'll choose my fabrics a lot more carefully.

This bag is fully lined and you have a choice of whether or not to make boxed corners. The pattern is easy to understand and follow and doesn't take too long to make. My only complaint is that the bag is quite a bit smaller than I thought it would be. That isn't the pattern's fault, it's mine, since I didn't read the final size before starting. I'm certain it would be easy enough to make this pattern larger. Then, of course, you would need more than a "fat quarter".

This would be a great bag for a child. It has one large pocket and two small side pockets. I'm going to use it for a pool bag on our trip to Key West, FL later this year. The side pockets are perfect for keys, sunglasses or suntan lotion and the large compartment in the center is good for a book or two. I'm sure I will be making another one.

The Unfinished Christmas.

This Christmas I had TONS of ideas for handmade gifts to make. I also had tons of projects started and materials bought to start projects. I made a list of unfinished projects. Scary. So, I decided it was time to finish up some of these ideas.

Some years I've made my own Christmas cards and I thought about doing it again, but with all the ideas for other projects in my head, I had made eight cards by Thanksgiving. My original idea was to handknit washcloths and send those out as Christmas cards. I think I made two. Hardly what I needed. I'll get back to the unfinished washcloth idea later.

So, I found this cute sailboat image on the "Life Is Good" website that they were posting as a coloring page and used it for our Christmas card. Bob and I sat on the floor in the living room one wintery Sunday afternoon with a fire in the fireplace, coloring all the cards while watching "The Walking Dead" marathon on AMC. Yeah, I know, hardly a Christmas-y show, but we had so much fun. Yay! Christmas cards DONE!

In addition to the Christmas washcloths, another project started more than a year was making "Morsbags". Morsbags is an English website. You make fabric bags and then give them out to people to use instead of plastic bags at the grocery store. They have a free pattern, not that you really need one. They also have labels you can buy or print to call attention to their site. Not a new concept, but I thought I would make them for the women in my family for last Christmas. I got fabric from a second hand store and some donated. Again, I got two done.

This brings us back to the Christmas washcloths. Three of the five are shown above. Since, I had finished the "Morsbags", I decided to finish the washcloths too and give those to the women in my family. These washcloth patterns are wonderful and really easy to knit. The designer is Kris Knits and I have seven of her washcloth pattern sets.

So, to make a long story short. This was the season to finish some unfinished Christmas projects. Now, I didn't finish them all and I did start some new ones, but I feel like I made progress and you can too.

Christmas Card makin'

Yesterday, I made my first two Christmas cards. I checked the closet and the card box to be sure there weren't any left overs from previous years that I had forgotten or boxes I had purchased on sale after Christmas. So, I pulled out the Christmas papers and the Stampin' Up idea books and went to town. Well, maybe not "to town", but I did make two cards and was happy with both. Here they are. I liked the idea of repeating a small stamp several times in a row. I used a green pencil to add color to the one on the right. Two down, many more to go.

The Day After Halloween

I've been wanting to make pennants for a long time, but have never come up with a good theme.

Well, all that changed yesterday when it came to me to take all the cards that our son has gotten for Halloween and make a pennant decoration out of them.

This morning I went to work. Since all the cards were different sizes, I just cut out triangles from the front in whatever size they came out to be. Then I used spray mount to attach them to some plain black paper and hot glued some orange yarn across the top of the backs and voila, a Halloween themed pennant string!

I think it turned out very cute and it will be fun to hang up next Halloween.