watermelon & sweet peas

Ahhhh. Summer.

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And that means the eating of watermelon and seeing sweet peas sprouting throughout the garden.
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And of course, delving into the summer colors of crochet cotton. And finding a pattern for summertime potholders.

Rachel from Cornflower Blue Studio wrote this post about her ultra-lovely crochet potholders --yum, by the way! -- that were inspired by this book:

Hmmmm. She kick-started me into re-paging through that same book that I own and....

finding an easy pattern for a summery potholder.
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Just perfect for those watemelon & sweet pea summer days in the kitchen.

yippee. socks & a finish!

If you know me, you know that I would go to the moon & back just to knit myself a pair of socks. I have seen so many beautiful socks on other blogs and just {sob} because I seem to be completely incapable of knitting. Period.
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Oh, believe me. I have checked out every how-to-knit book, wrestled with those dratted needles and yarn, watched every how-to-knit youtube video & prayed for some sort of knitting savvy.
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Nope.
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Until I paged through my copy of CROCHET today (Sept/Oct 08) and lookee, lookee, there is a pattern for socks. Not knitted mind you, but lovely crochet -- which I know how to do!






And to my complete and utter amazement, I see an actual, wearable sock forming from my hook.
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The yarn is REDHEART yarn ~ Heart and Sole ~ watercolor stripe with a size B hook.

Even my girls, who sometimes look at my creations as if they are a bit wonky, have put in an order for their very own crochet socks.

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Yippee! Socks!

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And. A finish.

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The lap'ghan for my great-aunt is finished! And I just can't wait to see it on her lap.

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hairpin rosette -- and a case of 'just pinch me'

My dear blogirl-friend from Dandelion Quilts and I were just 'talking' about what you do when someone 'famous' comments on your blog. (She had just had a 'famous' blogger comment on hers and she was giddy!)
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So we decided of course, for starters ------> you just pinch yourself with excitement!
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This is my very own case of 'just pinch me'. I was recently contacted by FaveCrafts to do a guest feature/tutorial on their craft website.
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(pinch)
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So I wracked my brain as to what to do?.........
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I got out my hairpin lace frame and decided to make a very simple rosette.
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And with help from my lovely assistant --a.k.a. younger daughter who so patiently held the frame and stood still while I took pics --
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I constructed a hairpin rosette.
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The complete feature/tutorial is here.
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.....and yes, I am still pinching myself.

granny squared

I have a great-aunt who is so lady-like in her dressing (she would never been seen in pants -- dresses only!) and unfortunetly has become wheel-chair bound. Being self-conscious about some changes in her legs, she feels the need to cover them. But she still wants to present herself as very classic in her attire.....what to do?

A lap-sized, dainty, crochet afghan sounds like just the answer!

And I have the perfect pattern from this book from Annie's Attic:

"I "hook - Hospitality Garden Pattern - Caron Simply Soft & Bernat yarn

So the granny squares begin. There are buttery-yellow flowered blocks.

And plain whisper-white blocks, crocheted into a pattern that just says ---> a great-aunt lap quilt!

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And just look at what I 'inherited' this weekend. While I was working on the above granny squares, my mother-in-law looked over and said,

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"Oh, I have some granny-squares that my mother was working on a long time ago."

"And I think there is an afghan somewhere around here that she was putting together, too."

"........would you like it?"

Whaaaaaaaaat?? I had to remember my manners and not race her to the basement stairs.

After rummaging through an old chest of drawers in their basement, she found it!
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Don't you just love the vivid colors of these blocks?

I just wanted to drape it around my shoulders and wear it everywhere.

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(Yes, that *gasp* you just heard -- is from my husband & children...)

So instead, I will drape it on the chair.