Celtic knots are finished...

 Finally!    

I don't know why, but my feet just drug as I thought about working on these cross stitched knots the last few weeks.  Days and sometimes weeks went by when I didn't even feel like picking them up for some reason.

I'm pleased with the stitching part, but I'm not sure how I feel about the finishing part.

Thinking they were a little too bland as plain pillows, I made a trip to Hobby Lobby to see if I could find a trim that might perk them up.  I didn't have any luck with the trim, but I did come home with some fabric for an upcoming project!  More on that another time.

Back at home, I remembered once upon a time I had bought a cord-making gadget.   Of course!  I had plenty of floss - I could make my own trim!  Fortunately, once I remembered I had it, I remembered exactly where I had put it when I unpacked my craft supplies three and a half years ago.

Following the instructions that came with the Kreinik Custom Corder, I made the first cord in the two green colors I'd stitched the first knot in.

In the picture, the trim is hardly noticeable.  In person, it's more obvious, but it's underwhelming.  Clearly, I didn't use enough strands of floss.   But did I want to make it over?  No I really did not.  At least not until I made thicker cording for the second pillow - to my mind, it made sense to experiment on the second unfinished pillow before ripping out what had been done on the first one. And I figured watching a few tutorials wasn't a bad idea, either.

Ok... that's better, but I wish I had just used one of the colors this time.  The light and dark gold twisted together is a little busy.  But did I want to make it over?  No. I really really did not.

It isn't that the Kreinik is exactly hard to use, but the printed instructions are too brief, and I didn't find it as easy to use as the tutorials made it appear to be.  It didn't help that every tutorial I watched added some slightly different technique.  I also now know I used too-long strands of floss and it became unwieldy.  I needed Hub to come and hold one end while I kept my end taut (thankfully, I have long arms) as I slid the Kreinik to the middle and let it drop - to twist the cord back on itself.  One of these days, when I'm under no pressure to finish a project, I will play around with it and perhaps get the hang of it more easily. 

For now, I'm happy to be finished with this project that took way too long for what it was.  Someday I may remake the cording on the green knot pillow, but for now I'm relieved to call it done.  

Chances are, I'll be perfectly fine with its imperfectness and never change it.

Outside the back door...

I'm happy to say, after a slow start, the garden seems to be thriving.  After a gorgeous, if very wet, spring we're now consistently in the 80's and 90's (mostly 90's), but rain happens every few days.  In recent years, we've had drought conditions by this time of year (lasting into August), so the rain is welcome.

With no tomatoes, it feels like a much less ambitious garden than last year's.  This summer, it's green beans, cucumbers, zucchini and yellow squash, sunflowers, watermelon, pumpkin, and mini pumpkins.

I've had to replant green beans a few times, but I think the bunnies are done munching on the fresh young leaves.  Blood meal appeared to help early on with deterring the freeloaders.  And I have bone meal waiting in the wings to use (if needed) once the flowering starts.   

Recently, on a whim, I bought some new-to-me Goldrush yellow (bush) beans, and planted some in planters yesterday. I'm curious if anyone reading has experience with these.  I'm looking forward to trying them.

I'm not sure why I planted so many sunflowers, but hopefully they'll put on a show soon and remind me.  

Garlic was harvested last week, and are drying in the detached garage.

 

Twenty-two heads of garlic don't look like that many - especially considering I'm making plans to plant this many and more come late autumn from what I've harvested above.    

Growing garlic is a new experience for me.  So far, it's been the simplest thing I've ever grown. In my zone, hardneck grows best, from what I've read.  Instructions online say to dry for 3-4 weeks before using.  Waiting patiently to cut into these cloves is the most challenging part of growing garlic, from what I can tell.

And the first sign of produce planted in the spring has presented itself this week. 

Hopefully this prickly little cucumber will soon grow big enough to find its way into a dinner salad. 

~~~~~

In the challenge category, the last two summers, sedum along the back of the house has succumbed to what appears to be powdery mildew.

This plant isn't in a spot where I even notice it much before this happens. I'm thinking of cutting it down and disposing of it this year, and just hope to catch the blight earlier next summer and apply some homemade treatment to see if that can keep it at bay.

And, to our surprise, and probably the most interesting thing in this post, a couple of nights ago we discovered we have a family of racoons that are attracted to our birdfeeders.  I had heard a little noise out there for a couple of nights before, but figured it was a stray cat and didn't bother to look. This time, I turned on the security light and took a peek.

Yikes!  There were five in total.  We assume it was a mama and her four cubs rooting around in the day lilies searching for any scraps of sunflower seeds that had fallen from the feeders.  

Tapping on the window didn't faze this one. 

So, the birdfeeders are removed and our bird watching is on pause while we hope these varmints move on and find something more substantial out in the wild, or in the farm fields that back up to some of our neighbors. 

Meanwhile, we suspect we've discovered the culprit to one of our neighbors' recently missing koi fish.

~~~~~

Year of Projects 2024-2025 Roundup!

In my post yesterday I explained the internet problems we've been having, so let me just jump to the point of this post and say that I know this Year of Projects Roundup post is a week late.  It just wasn't possible for me to post last Sunday.  

That said, since I don't make any plans for my upcoming Year Of Projects, there's not a lot for me to write in this first post of a new YOP year anyway, so I guess it works out this time.

Let me tell you though... I felt sad last week not being able to create my favorite post of the whole year.  But this weekend, going back through all the things I've made in a year's time was a great mood-lifter.  Looking back at a record of things I've made in the last 12 months is encouraging.  And almost always, I get a nice surprise when I come across some things I had pretty much forgotten about.

So settle in for a scroll down memory lane.  Or just click through the pictures.  I promise I won't mind.  Or even know, for that matter.  

I started the past YOP year finishing up a small (14") Kawandi:

I've had the itch ever since to make another, larger one. I'm just not sure how large a kawandi I have the stick-to-it-iveness to finish. 

Just like in years past, when I put aside thick afghan yarn, I once again turned to my crochet thread to make doilies.  All but the last large doily are from the book, 99 Little Doilies by Patricia Kristofferson.  Kristofferson only assigns these doilies a number, but I usually feel compelled to give them a name.

🠅 Old Fashioned Sunday 🠇

Herb Garden

Not My First Rodeo

Carousel

I found it interesting that the same doily pattern made months later in a different color inspired a completely different name:

Crinoline

Chernozem

Windmill 

Lead Rosette 

And a favorite larger doily pattern was unearthed and made again:

Autumn Splendor 

Before winter's blast, hat making skills were dusted off:

With hats handed off, my first Dahlia blanket that I had started in the spring was finished:

I enjoyed making it so much, I almost immediately began another:

And before the chill of winter was truly over, a Granny Goes Large blanket was completed:

Somewhere in the mix of blankets and doilies, yarny baskets were crocheted:

I loved how these turned out, and would like to make more, but my neck was so sore after making these, I've been hesitant to give them a go again.  

Three and a half years after moving into this house, I finally sewed up some decent curtains for the laundry room:

I pulled out two sweet cross stitch projects I began in 2020 and finished them into mini pillows:

Actively ongoing:

In quiet, tired hours I've knit dozens of dish/wash cloths

and started a many-pieced hexagon blanket:

and the cross stitched Celtic knots I started a month ago are just about finished:

And that is the end of my 2024-2025 Year of Projects!  

Thank you for taking a look!

Internet woes...

We've had internet woes recently and I haven't been able to use my PC to get online regularly for several months.  The kicker was most recently being without internet for an entire week (just getting back online yesterday).  And that was after being off the internet for multiple days at a time the previous two months at least.  Note: before anyone advise that we ask for reimbursement or credit for lost service, I already have.  Over the course of multiple weeks and calls with overseas "agents", we accumulated a credit of a full month on our last internet bill, and still have credit on a future bill.

From the beginning of our personal internet experience, we've gotten our internet access through our phone lines.  It wasn't bad at all at the beginning, but once fiber optic service became available, our phone-line-internet-service began to deteriorate.  To the point, where we now feel like we've just been written off by Brightspeed (has been Embarq, has been Century Link) as relics of a bygone era that will eventually go the way of every other dinosaur.

Forced into the modern age, we watched curiously in recent weeks as fiber optic cables to our country neighborhood were being laid. The big utility trucks that for weeks narrowed every county road we traveled have moved on - taking their Ditch Witch drillers with them.  For at least a week, maybe two now, the busyness has been replaced with silence - as if all that activity had never happened.  Phone calls have netted no information about when internet service will be available through the shiny new underground cables.

Meanwhile, we're on two different waiting lists to get broadband through radio signal when the capacity is available for that.  The radio signal appears at the moment to be our preference.  Hopefully soon we'll get out of this frustrating spot we're in, as every day we have internet through our phone line feels precarious at best.  While this post is a bit of a rant, mostly, while I have internet service and the ability to easily write and publish a post, I'm wanting to let my readers know why I've been sporadic and downright absent so much here (and on your blogs) lately.  

Hopefully today my internet access will hold long enough for me to create a YOP update (which is actually my YOP Roundup post that is now a week late) and pre-publish it so it makes it out tomorrow - even if my internet is down.  If you see a Year of Projects post on Sunday, and I don't respond to comments, you can take a good guess at why.

And if you see me online here and there, your surprise will only be eclipsed by mine. Internet access has begun to feel like a priceless commodity.  Using it with little thought, feels frivolously careless.  

I marvel now how easy and like a game it felt to do a digital fast this past spring. You'd think that would have made me immensely patient when ours has gone out for days at a time. Aside from the frustration of not receiving a service we pay for - with a reasonable expectation that that service will be available - I am utterly dismayed at how much our lives are dependent on having internet access.  Bank records, medical records and communciations, calendars, news, information, inspiration...  

Everything is available on the internet, and when it is suddenly unavailable, I find myself at loose ends and feel unsettled.  And the moment I see that it is restored again, I feel a peace.

This is not right.  It's definitely not good. 

It just is.  

And I don't like the realization one bit.