Soft baskets...

Last week, I wrote that I was making a crocheted basket, and I was wondering how difficult these might be for me to make - having some arthritis in some fingers.  While I did need to give my hands breaks and stretches more often than normal, I didn't suffer later for some of the manhandling required while wrangling multiple strands of yarn together and pulling it hard through the stitches below.  In fact, after I finished my first one:

...having plenty of this yarn left over, I felt compelled to start a second basket.  This time I crocheted handles into the last two rounds:

While these probably aren't practical for holding really heavy stuff, they certainly could carry pretty much anything. It's just that large, heavy items would tend to pull the soft side out of shape, and they might not look so great after a while. 

Into the larger one I put our collection of "medical equipment" that have become common use items.  Things like blood pressure cuffs, an oxygen meter, and a digital thermometer.  

We don't use the thermometer or oxygen meter very often, but this is a handy (and kind of hidden) way to store these items together so they're easy to pull out when someone wants to check their vitals.  Curious...  are we the only ones who've made a party game out of passing the blood pressure cuff and oxygen meter around the table after dinner and some laughs over a table game?   Or are we the only ones who have this much fun?

Or, maybe that's just what happens when you keep these things in the dining room.  

I love that this stuff now has an attractive container - where they can be kept handy, but hidden from view:

Now I am looking around the house wondering where else might I tuck more of these cute baskets, and what colors would work where.   The real fun of making one of these is combining colors and watching those colors change as the basket grows.  

And there is great satisfaction in knowing I'm using up a bunch of yarn that previously had no obvious use.  I'm pretty pumped about these baskets on several counts.  Be on the lookout for more to show up here eventually!

Managing to crochet a little...

It has not been my intention to be so scarce here, but we've had some beautiful weather - perfect for working outdoors.  But as good as working in the garden and yard feel to me, it's also been exhausting. 

And then there were a lot of veggies needing picking at the same time. Preserving some of the harvest has also been tiring.  Satisfying, but tiring.

And somehow we've also been living life, coming and going, spending time with friends and family, physical therapy, fitting in a new exercise regimen, "fall activities" starting up. This past week, we celebrated our 44th Wedding Anniversary. 

I feel like I've got at least a half a dozen blog posts in me to write.  

In the evening, when work and play is done and I've been torn between sinking into the recliner or sitting at the computer to type a blog post, the recliner has won every time.

That said, I have crocheted a bit here and there, and managed to finish a larger doily I've dubbed Autumn Splendor: 

Crocheted with Curio #10 thread in the colorway Clementine

The pattern name is Summer Splendor, but for some reason I always seem to make this doily in autumn colors.  I've also apparently given away the others I've made, and I was wanting one for myself.

Also, a crocheted basket project has been calling out to me for a while, so I finally dug out some yarns and started making one.

This is the tutorial I'm (more or less) following:

I really like the handles shown above.  I'm hoping I have a leather belt or two hanging around - that I didn't donate in one my recent decluttering challenges.  

Here are the yarns I'm starting mine with:

It will be fun when I make color changes.  This is a great project for using up yarn scraps.  I have a feeling once I get one of these baskets under my belt, I may want to make more.  That said, this is not the easiest thing to crochet - I'm using 4 strands of worsted weight yarn together, and crocheting with an 8mm (or size L) hook.  With a bit of arthritis in my hands, I find stopping and stretching often a good thing to do.

Someone commented on the last post that the doilies I've been making lately have an autumnal feel to them.  That would be because I pulled out some autumn colored threads to work from:

I do the same with my "kitchen cotton" yarn.  I pull together yarns that evoke the season I'm in (or will soon be in).  Whether I knit or crochet anything with those yarns is only evident when the next season rolls around, but gathering certain yarns and threads in seasonal colors is a regular thing here.  

Some people decorate with the change of seasons; I gather yarn.

Do you do anything similar?

Time is going way too fast...

Can someone please tell me how we are approaching the middle of August already?!?  Summer is not my favorite season because of the heat and humidity, but this summer, except for a week or two here and there of temps in the 90's, it's been pretty pleasant so far.  We've not had droughty conditions, as we often have through July and August.  I'm thinking I might almost be sad when summer is over, it's been so nice here.

With produce from the garden needing picking almost daily, and having enough green beans to can a batch every few days, added to the normal stuff of life, I haven't been crocheting much.  Last week I finished a couple more little doilies, but it was just last night that I got around to blocking them.

First up is Doily # 44:

Made in Curio #10 thread in the colorway, Turmeric

The spoke shape in the middle was a bear to work.  I  struggled to make total sense of the instructions to make FPdtr's (that's Front Post Double Triple stitches) criss-crossing each other, so finally I just studied the photograph of the finished doily and made this section the best I could.  I'm not normally a fan of crocheting via diagrams, but this pattern would have benefitted from having a diagram to consult.  

The first thing that came to mind as I looked at the picture of this one was a carousel, so that is its name.

Nearly beat by Carousel, I thought I'd look for a simpler doily, so I worked up Doily #17:

Crocheted in Curio #10 thread in the colorway, Clementine

This one wasn't hard until the last two rows.  For some reason I kept drifting off, and I ended up having to repeat one or more of the last two rounds two or three times.  

In the end, I'm not sure I completed this one correctly, but on the final row of many fiddly picots, I started to not care.    Finished was better than perfect, I decided.  I named this one Windmill; you may be able to see the four "blades" better in this picture: 

Or maybe not?  

That's all for now on the crochet front.  It appears there's another gorgeous week ahead, and I may be pulling up the green bean plants since they're taking up a lot of space and not producing much at this point.  For the first time ever, I'm considering planting some things for a fall garden. 

The last jar of green beans before going into the pressure canner.  Tomatoes are up next!

As July comes to a close...

Today's harvest

Some green beans, possibly my last zucchini, a yellow squash, tomatoes and one mini bell pepper.

I've been picking and canning green beans for a week now.  Daily, new beans mature to the point of needing to be picked.  And inevitably, because green beans like to play hide and seek, I always find a few beans swollen way past their prime and I wonder, "How many days did I completely miss these?!? "

So every morning, the question I now ask myself when I see a still slightly young bean is, "Do I leave it and take a chance on not seeing it again before it's become too tough to eat, or do I pick it now and enjoy it, even though I know with just one more day on the vine, it will likely be perfect?"

I haven't figured out the best answer to that question, so I just keep picking some and leaving others...  knowing at some point this will all come to a happy end.

Giant Marconi sweet peppers (above) are producing like crazy.  These are at least 7-8 inches long.  I've tried in the past to grow these peppers in planters, but had little success, so it's been exciting to see these produce so prolifically this summer.  If you're not familiar with these, Giant Marconi are a delicious, sweet pepper when they are fully red.  Much sweeter than bell peppers.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

A week or so ago, I picked a few ripe tomatoes that had developed blossom end rot.  I felt heartsick as I looked over my little kingdom of 25 tomato plants, and wondered if all would be lost.

Research told me the problem is a calcium absorption issue, and can be caused by either over or under watering.  I thought I'd been watering adequately, but I decided to take a chance and water a bit more, and to water on more of a schedule than I had been.

Fortunately, either the problem resolved, or perhaps it was only those earliest ripening tomatoes that were affected.  I keep watering, and check regularly to assure myself they're doing well.

It looks like I might be processing tomatoes within a week or two.  At a minimum, the early ripening ones will go into the freezer until there are enough to can.

Meanwhile, some of the sunflowers are fading.

But they and the zinnia's are still at work attracting moths and bees.

And, finally, this little melon-looking thing has me stumped.  I've misplaced my garden diagram, but I'm pretty sure I planted some sort of winter squash in this spot.   It doesn't seem the right shape for butternut, but that's the only winter squash seed packet that appears to have been opened.  It will be fun to see what it grows up to be!  😄

That's a wrap for July.  

Happy August, everyone!

Color play...

There wasn't much time last week devoted to crocheting, but I did manage to finish one more of 99 Little Doilies (from the book of the same name).

This is Doily #93:

Or, as I fancy it...  "Not My First Rodeo"

Get it?  it reminded me of a spur wheel... spurs made me think of horses, and horses made me think of rodeos...  and then I just brought it on home...  I know...  I know...  Just like a joke - it's never as good when someone explains it.

I'll try not to do that so much with future doilies that I name (unless someone asks me how I came up with a particular name). Somehow, I don't see anyone else as invested in naming these as I am, though...

Anyway, I discovered something when I was crocheting this little doily - done with Curio #10 thread in the colorway, Conch.  Placed against the doily I had earlier made with the color, Ivory Peach, I suddenly realized I liked the Ivory Peach color much better.  

And I really like both of these colors together on this medium gray table cloth.

And that got my wheels to turning...   If I mount anything made in the Ivory Peach, a cool gray background will help it to pop.  

And...  I began to imagine a number of different doilies made with these two colors, laid together, serving as something of a centerpiece on the dining room table when this gray table cloth is in use.

I don't know if I'll see that last idea through, but I do think I'll at least make another, maybe larger, doily in Ivory Peach before giving up on the color in a crocheted project.  It definitely needs something darker and, I think, cooler to cancel out what I was seeing as a slight yellow tone that had me not liking it so much originally.

I don't know why, after all this time, I am often amazed when I accidentally notice colors playing together in my crochet work.  Alone, some colors don't seem like much, but combined with just the right shade or tone of another color, and suddenly lights are blinking and bells are ringing.

That's how my crafting seems to roll. I can try hard to put colors together in a pleasing combination, but most of my successes seem to be happy accidents.  

Which is fine by me, I guess.

I'll take successes however they come.