Waste not, want not!

 

I didn't really think I had enough green to knit this dishcloth, and I was right! Luckily I had a little of the gold yarn left. I still have a little gold left, so you'll probably see that pop up in a future dishcloth.

This is the Loganberry Dishcloth, a free pattern from Knitpicks. This pattern was not a no-brainer for me. I had to keep track of my rows with paper and pencil. It was also a bit time consuming. I enjoyed learning how to knit the bobbles, but they were a bit tedious to make with cotton yarn. I much prefer wool!

Farmhouse dishcloth

 

I started this Farmhouse Dishcloth last night. It was an easy knit, but I think I would prefer it as more of a square than a rectangle. That would be an easy enough adjustment.

This morning I went in to school to help daughter Carol put together some furniture that she purchased for her classroom. It's hard to believe that summer vacation is almost over and that school starts next week!

New favorite

 

I've been knitting the traditional diagonal dishcloth for years, and I've never really been happy with the way they've turned out. I've tried a variety of dishcloth patterns over the years, and I think I've finally found a new favorite.

This is very similar to the traditional pattern with a few tweaks that help make nicer corners, and it can be knit with or without the holes. I found it at TheMakeYourOwnZone.com. This one was very easy to make, and I will make more. However, I think I might look up some more dishcloth patterns, just so I don't get bored!

Knitting day

We had our family cookout yesterday, and it was wonderful! It did rain all day, but we had fabulous food and lots of fun. 

Daughter Andrea drove down from Minnesota, and we spent this morning visiting with her. After she left for home, we had a little bit of cleanup to do, but since everyone was so helpful yesterday we were able to finish up quickly.

It's been quite a while since I've knit dishcloths, but I promised daughter Carol some new ones. Luckily, dishcloths are pretty utilitarian, so mistakes don't really matter. It might take me a few tries to get in the groove of knitting with cotton again, but I'm up for the challenge!

Button ornaments

 

I haven't done a lot of tatting in the past three months. When I have, I've made button ornaments. These were sitting in a dish waiting for finishing, which I did this afternoon. I'm not sure how many I've made this year, but I know I have plenty for Christmas gift giving!

A lot of my summer reading has been the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child. I'm reading them in order of publication, and I really enjoy the stories. However, the author's use of incomplete sentences and misplaced commas just about drives me crazy!

Today was a tatting day

 

I decided that today was as good a day as any to start tatting bookmarks. I turned to my favorite bookmark pattern, Curds and Whey from Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konior. If I could only keep one of my tatting books, this would be the one. I get so much inspiration from it.

While reorganizing upstairs, I decided it was time to pull out my Great-grandma Morris's quilts. I think she must have made this as a bedspread, because it pretty well covers my queen. I know that our family's biggest beds were full size back then. Grandma Morris passed when I was 10 years old. I'm 71 now. So, I know this quilt is at least 61 years old.

I did a lot of crocheting over the past three months. I wanted to use up the leftover yarn from last years hats. My sister Janet claimed this lapghan.

Daughter Alison claimed the full size afghan. I sure did get a lot out of those skeins of yarn!

After a long break

I know it's been more than three months since I last posted, but I needed a break from blogging. 

We've been very busy. Our granddaughter Lily graduated from high school, and we traveled to Minnesota to celebrate with her. Our youngest daughter Joanne and her family moved from Minnesota to Georgia. So, a couple of weeks after traveling to Minnesota, we went the opposite direction to see Joanne's new home in Georgia. 

Carol and Jon will be celebrating their first anniversary this weekend, and we decided it would be a good time to revive what used to be a yearly family cookout. That inspired me to finally get the upstairs organized. At long last, it looks like we have two guest rooms upstairs with a little bit of crafting supplies in sight. For years it has looked like a craft store exploded upstairs, and we'd just clear off the beds when family came to visit.

Now that I have my crafting supplies down to a more manageable size, I feel like I can get back into a routine.

I have been tatting, knitting, and crocheting, and I've finished quite a few projects, but I'm not going to try and play catch up with three months worth of projects. Instead, I will start fresh.

Today I received a gift of shuttles from a dear tatting friend in India, Madhur Dadlani. Aren't they beautiful? The light colored ones are steam beech wood, and the darker ones are sheesham or Indian rosewood. 

While chatting with Madhur Dadlani online, I wound one of the shuttles with size 20 Lizbeth #167 Jungle Greens. I'm thinking of tatting bookmarks for the kids at school this year, and now seems like as good a time as ever to get started!