Christmas 2009

Yeah, Christmas knitting is finished!! I finished the last project, the hat for RED that you see below, on Friday morning and off to the post it went. I hoped to put a brim on this hat but wasn't able to work it all out for this one. I do have some more yarn though and I'm determined to figure out the brimmed hat. I've been looking at the Son of a Stitch and Bitch Half Pipe Hat in order to get a better idea about how to add the brim. I think I'm going to try and get a copy from the library and see if I can dig up instructions for this. Meanwhile, RED gets this hat without the brim. This hat is a simple K3,P1 rib with decreases based on the Jacques Cousteau hat I found on Ravelry. I made this with Paton's 100% Wool in a nice heathered gray that I like a lot.

Next I made some gift sets for my aunts. Each sister got a handtowel made with a modified version of the Victoria Dishcloth, a small face towel, and a pretty soap from our local Asian Market. This yarn is some 100% Organic cotton I got from Elann that used no pesticides and such when growing and then they don't even use any dye to get the colors. It is actually grown in the colors they sell. The cool part is when it gets wet,the parts that look sort of gray actually turn a pretty shade of green. It's also super soft.

The next item up didn't end up making it to the gift stage. I decided to steal them for myself. I made these lovely socks with Colinette Jitterbug handpainted sock yarn and by the time I finished, I was so in love with the yarn that I just had to keep these for myself. I adore the colors in these socks and they are just so soft and squishy. I am now thinking I need a pair of socks out of every colorway of this yarn. I am definitely in love.

For my cousin, I decided to send this cute little felted purse. I was practicing some mosaic patterns and decided to make something purposeful out of the swatch. I think it turned out really cute and I hope she liked it.

The other pair of socks I finished were for Mom. She has been the most appreciative of the hand knit socks so I guess I better keep up the good work. These socks are made with Araucania Ranco Multi hand dyed 100% wool. I feel in love with the colors in this yarn since they made me think of Monet's painting Water Lilies. I decided to try out the Basket Check socks from my Little Box of Socks gifted to me from a friend. The pattern was easy to memorize and adds some really nice texture to the socks. The colors of the yarn are simply beautiful but they did play a bit of a trick on me. When you just look at these socks, the blue/purple color seems to be the dominate but when you put them on your feet, the red really comes through and changes how they look.

I really like the heel flap on these. They use an "Eye of Partridge" heel that basically means you slip alternating stitches on every other row. With this hand painted colors of this yarn, it made a really pretty pattern on the heel.

Next up, another hat for Eva. This is the Toasty Topper pattern from Knitty, Winter 2007. This was a fun one to knit and while it looks kind of weird just sitting there, the pictures in Ravelry of this actually on cute little baby heads are adorable! I hope to get a picture of Eva in it to prove how cute it really is. :)

I also knitted a bunch of Coffee Cozies. This was the Eco-friendly stocking stuffer of choice this year, at least in my book. My mom gifted a number of these to her friends and I gave out several to mine. This was a great little project to play with leftover scraps of yarns and different stitch patterns. I think I will continue to make these just to play with these scraps and see what comes out.

And finally, a hat for Brenda. This is made with Bernat Alpaca yarn and it is so very soft and warm. I had actually intended for this hat to be a men's hat but as it grew in length on the needles, it grew in appeal to me. As soon as it was large enough to try on, I knew it was meant to be worn by a girl. I loved the way it looked with my hair and I figured if I added a flower of something, it could be just "girly" enough. I am really pleased with the result and I decided to send this to Brenda for Christmas since she has a similar hair style and I thought the look would suit her well. I hope she likes it.

So, that was my Christmas knitting for this year. Overall, I am pleased with the results and I hope everyone likes their gifts.

So what does one do after the obligatory knitting is finished? Well, copy what the Yarn Harlot is doing of course. I read her November 25th entry about the Noro scarf and could totally see myself in the same situation. I often find myself knitting more just to see the colors changing in the yarn than to finish whatever I am doing and the idea of doing a scarf like this seemed quite appealing. Well, last week my two things happened to make my thoughts turn into reality. First, my everyday scarf disappeared at work one day. One minute it was hanging on my cube wall and the next minute, poof, all gone. So, new scarf required. Now, the Noro scarf is beautiful and all, but with the yarn running somewhere around $15 per skein, it was simply not going to happen. I needed a good knockoff yarn. And thus the second thing that happened. I went to JoAnns and they had their Debbie Mumm line on sale. This line has a pretty yarn called Traditions that has nice long repeats in color and is soft and has a nice sheen. The yarn is a wool/acrylic blend with a black core and a colored outer layer. It's not as nice as Noro, but it's a darn good low cost substitute, especially when it's on sale. :) I cast on this scarf for ME and I am loving watching the colors change. So pretty!

Another One Bites the Dust

Since I'm pretty sure this particular co-worker doesn't read my blog, I've decided to go ahead and post a picture of her completed present. I just finished my second Elizabeth Zimmermann "Baby Surprise Jacket." This one moved along quickly and was certainly easier to knit since I understood how it all worked up front. I was also smarter and I used stitch markers to indicate the increases and decreases and so they were a lot easier to keep track of. I really like the way EZ gives her patterns with just some basic instructions and then makes you figure out the rest. I find that my brain seems to work in a similar manner in that I can follow her instructions by instinct. I certainly don't have her skill with putting these things together though. Her ability to manipulate the knitted fabric in three dimensions in her mind and come up with something like the BSJ is truly astounding.

I've also decided my niece's mom probably doesn't read my blog either and so I'm posting Eva's holiday present, so far. Momma asked for a hat with earflaps and so that is what she's getting. I have this great Bollicine Revolution yarn that I got on clearance from Web's for my birthday that is 100% wool but it feels like fleece. The knitted fabric is great. It's soft, smooshy and seems like it will be really warm. I just used the Yarn Harlot's basic hat formula and made it sized to fit a one year old (wow, does time fly). Momma also asked for mittens so those are next. I've been doing a lot of research on hats and I have a bunch of others I want to try out so I see Eva getting a pretty fair collection of hats over time. I'm intrigued by EZs Bonnet from the Opinionated Knitter and also the Maltese Fisherman's Hat for The Knitter's Almanac (which I have). These both have earflaps too and EZs fun geometry. Hmmm, what yarn do I have that I could get these started right now?

I've also started working on some Coffee Cozies for stocking stuffers. I've been using a bunch of leftover pieces of wools and novelty yarns and just having fun with different combinations. These knit up quickly and they are pretty darn satisfying. The hard part is finishing the one I'm on because I'm usually staring at the container of yarn and imagining the next yarn/color combination. I expect to get a bunch of these done over the next couple of weeks.
Lastly, a gratuitous photo of the socks I knit for S, modeled with a pair of mocs she made for herself. Very nice pair, if I say so myself. And don't forget, you can get your own pair of mocs in our store at BuckarooLeather.etsy.com.Beyond all of that, just knitting other gifts and dreaming about the next project for myself. I'm thinking about starting a shawl or wrap as my holiday present to myself and I'm looking for the right pattern and yarn. I'm open for suggestions...

I'm Working on...

Gifts. Pretty much working on all gifts right now. Whatever gifts I give this year, they will be ones I am making because buying gifts is just out of the question. I've gone into my stash for all but one of the gifts and so far they are moving along quite well. I will take pictures of them all and likely post after the holidays.

In the meantime, I can show you the one gift I am working on that I actually purchased yarn to make. That gift is S's Poncho that I talked about briefly in the last post I had with any knitting. :) It's moving along quite splendidly except I'm running out of yarn. This is a pattern from my head and so I completely guessed at how much yarn and considering my lack of experience at doing this, I apparently need more practice. I am also knitting this with two strands held together for extra warmth and that also means extra yarn. I have less than half of one skein of the lighter brown left and I have 4 more rows of it in the body and I have planned to add a border on the sides with this color too. I really need to purchase at least two more skeins of this color. I know the store doesn't have the same dyelot either because I bought every skein she had of that dyelot. But...since it's really just the border left, if the dyelots don't match exactly, it won't be obvious. So here's a picture from early last weekend.I have now made it to the color change on the back side and as I said before, I've got 4 more rows with the light brown color. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I have enough yarn in the other colors.

Oh, a few details about what I'm doing. This poncho is using Plymouth Encore yarn; 25% wool, 75% acrylic. I'm working on 13s with the yarn held double. I have used 3 mosaic patterns from Barbara Walker's Mosaic Knitting book, which I am currently completely enamored with. As soon as I get the yarn I need, it should wrap up pretty quickly.

I'm also working on some more co-worker baby gifts. These women just keep getting pregnant and so I keep knitting. This is obviously another Baby Surprise Jacket to all those knitters out there. This is being made with some baby yarn from the stash and it's turning out pretty cute. It is really nice and soft too. I only have the button band and two seams left to finish this one so maybe I'll get froggy and get it finished today.One last work in progress below. Knitters and non-knitters might be able to figure this one out but I'm not going into details. It's turning out nicely and the yarn is really pretty, as you can see. Yummy.Lastly, Spot has been sitting on my lap as I try and type this entry, which isn't easy since that's where the laptop is sitting too. It's not like I have a huge lap, I just have a really persistent cat. So, because of his persistence, I figured you all should get to see him too and the expression I usually see, "Hey Mom, don't you want to pet me?!?!"

We BARACKED the Vote!!

I am so excited by the results of the election yesterday! I am amazed it turned out the way I hoped and it was nice to have finally voted for the winning candidate. Thanks to everyone who got out and voted! Of course, here's my favorite little supporter. :)

I've also spent some time admiring some amazing fall colors this year and so here are a couple of pictures from our street. WOW, who knew the city could have colors like this?

I'll work on a knitting post over the weekend. Hopefully this will suffice for now. :)

Go Obama!! Vote on Nov 4th!

See that picture below. If you look really, really close on the far, far left and squint really, really hard...you still won't see me. But I was there Dammit! This past Saturday Barack Obama came to our humble city, St. Louis, MO and we showed him there are just a few of us blues in this oh so red state. Wow, boy did we show him. From what I heard, they are saying there were between 80-100K people, more than any previous rally, and I was one of them. From where I was standing, right at the south leg of the arch, just outside the security fencing, I couldn't see the stage directly but I could see the screen. Here's my view.
It wasn't the best view but it was a truly amazing experience! Mr. Obama says so much of what I've always wanted to hear from a leader in our government and for the first time I feel like I will be voting for something better than the "lesser of two evils." The coolest thing about the rally was the diversity of the crowd. On the walk up we saw Jaguars, BMWs, Chevys, big Ford trucks and everything else. Once we got to the Arch grounds, the people were not any different. There was just a little bit of everything in the crowd. For those of you not from St. Louis, this is NOT typical. While I like this city that I have grown up in, it is fairly racially segregated and it was nice to see an event like this cross those boundaries. Thank you Mr Obama for giving us hope and I hope this country gives you a chance to prove your words.
Just as a little blog fodder, I wanted to share this one last photo with you all. We have a flood wall along the Mississippi River and along this one part of it, the city allows graffiti artists to do their best. Well, some of these artists are really amazing and this particular piece really caught my fancy. The colors are really great!

Holiday Kal-Cal 2008

If you're a knitter and you haven't heard of this one yet, go quick like a bunny to the link above (the picture) and sign up before October 31 for this years Holiday Kal-Cal. It's great motivation for finishing all those holiday gifts, inspiring to see everyone else's amazing creations, and lastly, they give away cool stuff at the end. As a matter of fact, our shop will be donating a prize to some lucky member. So, check them out and sign up and then follow the link to our store and get that special someone something for the holidays!

A Poncho in the Villa

If you live in the United States, today is Columbus Day where we all revel in the fact that a man got lost, ended up finding some land, and within a few years managed to kill the majority of people on the land through enslavement or disease. This is not a widely celebrated "holiday" in my house and I think it unfortunate how so many people know the cute little Nursery rhyme about 1492 but they tend to forget about the people side of the equation. Well, maybe now a couple more people have thought about it. So, on to our regular programming...

I've been working in earnest on gifts for the upcoming season. First is the one that isn't a secret, the aforementioned Poncho. S requested a poncho with a western flavor that she can curl up in through our cold St. Louis winters. Since I have been obsessed with Barbara Walker's Mosaic Knitting book, it was only natural to go to it to find some pattern motifs. This is the first thing with any complexity that I am totally design on my own. I searched for a long time to find the right combinations of colors in a washable yarn and I finally settled on Plymouth Encore. I'm using two shades of brown, red, and white and I'm using a couple of different techniques to move through the colors. After knitting a gauge swatch, I got started and below is what I managed to finish over the last couple of days.

I gotta say, I am thrilled with how this is looking. I'm working with two strands of yarn held together and it's making a really nice, thick fabric. S is thrilled so far and at the rate its going, I should even be able to finish it on time. :)

I'm also working on another sweater for Darla. She gets so cold during the winter and I haven't quite gotten a sweater to fit her just right. However, I've learned a lot over the last 9 months and I have a good feeling about this one. I bought some wool from Web's and cast on about a week ago. Of course, now I've been obsessed with the Poncho so I haven't made any more progress than you see in the picture.
Another gift I've been working on is shown below...well, sort of. I made some good progress on this one during a work trip last week and I expect to make some more in carpool this week.
Another gift under way shown below. It's turning out cute and very soft.
Now, garden update. I've still got a bunch of watermelons on the vine. Saturday we finally went out and cut one off to see if it was ready to eat. As you can see below, it was a little under ripe but I still ate a piece just so I could say I have eaten a piece of my own homegrown watermelon. Next year, we must plant the plants earlier in the season.
I've also got a ton of green tomatoes on the vines out there so I decided to pick a bunch. I set them up on the window sill but I'm afraid they just wouldn't be likely to ripen very well.
So, what's a girl to do? Well, naturally...make Fried Green Tomatoes. I've never made them before and I've only ever eaten them once, but I was determined to do something with these darned tomatoes! So, I looked up a recipe on the net, sliced my tomatoes....

And viola, Fried Green Tomatoes. They actually turned out darn good. We had a couple of friends over for dinner (my how domestic of me) and we ate homemade chili, cornbread, and fried green tomatoes. Yummy!

Invasion of the Tampods!

A long time ago, I posted about a little project I was working on but I didn't want to give any details until I made some progress. Well, progress has been made and I would like to introduce you to the amazing "Tampods."
As a woman, I've always hated that "special time of the month" when I would have to conceal my "feminine hygiene" products as I walked down the long hallway at work to use the restroom. Or, I would have to carry my entire purse down the hall which isn't exactly discreet. Once upon a time, I had a simple little plastic case I would use for the trip but it was lost long ago. So, I decided it was time to see what I could knit for this function. Now I have knit a bunch of what I am fondly naming "Tampods." Each of these little cuties will hold 2-3 tampons and they'll look cute while doing it. The green one at the top of the picture is fully loaded. :) So far the people I've shown these to like them and I think they'll make cute little stocking stuffers for friends.

We've got more babies on the way with a number of women at work pregnant so I've been busy working on baby gifts. Baby projects are really the perfect little projects in my opinion. They are small, quick to knit, colorful, and so darned cute!! I dug into my stash and made this cute little hat with some Vanna's Choice leftovers I had. It's just a simple rolled brim hat that doesn't even have shaping, based on the formula form Knitting Rules by the Yarn Harlot. I just knit it straight up in the round and then pulled all the stitches together at the top and added the Pom Pom. I had a little trouble with the color changes in a couple of areas but the mom is a new knitter and I think she appreciated it. I did get requests for three more hats from some of the other women so I guess it was well received. : ) Lastly, a quick update on the garden. I have proven I am not a gardener because this thing has just overwhelmed me I think. It just went totally crazy. Grow, brown up and seem to die, perk back up and grow a bunch more, brown up and seem to die...well, you get the picture. I just didn't know what to think. Well, today I went out and I've got 6 watermelon of decent size growing on vines that don't even look alive. And the tomato plants have dozens of green tomatoes. I'm so confused. One of the watermelon came off of the vine so I decided to see what it looked like inside since I have no idea how to tell if it's ripe or not. So, I grabbed the machete (yes, we have a machete, you would too in my neighborhood) and hacked the watermelon right in half. It was really kinda fun. :) Imagine my surprise when I saw the tinge of pink on the inside. It's really giving me hope for the other 6 still attached to the vines. Who knows, I might be eating my own homegrown watermelon sometime this year after all.

Gifts are Growing

I've been planning ahead this year and I'm getting a real start on my holiday knitting. The tricky part is I know that at least a couple of people, namely family, who I will be knitting for might actually read this blog occasionally. This puts me in a bit of a sticky wicket, as they say. Because really, what do I do? Do I post pictures of the projects and therefore potentially ruin ALL of the surprise. No. OK, then I won't. But then, what will you look at for the next 3 months. I don't know how often I'll update but shouldn't I at least have some knitting to show. Well, I'm just gonna try and be creative when I show things I'm knitting for gifts, but for those of you related to me, you just might get a preview of your holiday presents. For those of you on Ravelry, you can see better pictures and more info on my projects page. :)
So, on with the show. First I knit this. Now, this yarn was bought with a very specific type of project in mind and a very specific recipient for said project. I cast on and within a few rows I noticed my feelings towards this yarn changing. Now when it was purchased, I thought it was pretty, but nothing overly special. As I knit along and the colors started to reveal themselves and the yarn revealed how nice it felt in my hands and what a springy fabric it was making, I couldn't help but feel a little smitten. I started thinking maybe this present didn't need to be gifted. Maybe when it was finished it would remain mine and I would make something else for the intended recipient. I started to feel like I simply couldn't give it up. The "gift that may not be" was taunting me with every stitch. Well, I still haven't decided if it will be gifted and thus only the sneaky photo. I am in love with this gift and so I am now feverishly knitting a replacement so I can keep it and enjoy it guilt free. By the way, the yarn is Colinette Jitterbug and it is AMAZING!!
Next, I've been knitting this.

OK, so this one won't be too hard to figure out if you read the last post but I'm getting creative with some gift ideas. I like the pattern and the yarn and I'm having fun kicking it up a notch.

I'm also knitting this. For you avid knitters out there, you are likely to recognize this, even though it is just started. This is my second of these and it will probably go to a co-worker.

Lastly, I knit this.

Now wait, I know you can see the whole thing, but that doesn't necessarily tell you what the finished object looks like. This is actually my second test of Mosaic Knitting because I finally got my copy of Barbara Walker's Mosaic Knitting. I really love this technique and I am working on a Poncho pattern for S. It will have several different uses of Mosaic knitting pieces and I wanted to play with it a bit. I knit this in wool scraps from my stash and then I felted it just slightly to firm it up some. This might be a good way to use up some of my wool stash and make cute little stocking stuffers.

So, that's the update I've got. I hope you liked the previews.

Waiting to Exhale

And together now, breath in...hold...exhale. I have embarked on a new journey over the past couple of weeks and it entails adventures beyond my imagining. I have started something amazing in two very different ways. First, I have started my first full size human sweater. This is the real deal. It is made for a human who has lived on this planet for many many years and has reached her full growing potential. Secondly, I am making this sweater for myself! For those of you out there who might actually know me, you probably just took a big breath of your own in surprise. You see, I just don't spend too much time doing things for myself for a number of deep rooted psychological reasons which we won't get into and this is a fairly monumental event. You see, although I haven't been updating my blog lately, I have been spending a fair amount of time knitting. I have also spent quite a bit of time thinking about knitting and one thing I'm starting to figure out is; I want to knit because I want to knit, not because I feel like I have to make something for someone else or to make money or the like. I am working on knitting more just because I want to knit. So, my first project to catch you up on is...the Deep Breath Sweater.
I've been wanting to make a sweater for a while and I've been trolling for patterns and just not finding something that inspired me enough to spend the money on the yarn, but didn't scare me with its complexity. Well, I got my new Webs catalog and while flipping through the pages, I found the Deep Breath Sweater pattern. I was drawn to the ease of the pattern, the pretty feminine look, and I could knit it with some yarn I had in my stash. Sounds perfect! I bought the pattern and got started. So, I did my gauge swatch and of course I'm not getting gauge, but I really like the fabric, so I've rewritten the whole pattern for the 5 sts/in that I'm knitting. I think I'm a glutton for punishment. It's a Raglan style knit from the top down in one piece and I'm about 6" away from being finished with the first sleeve. I really like it so far!

I've finished a few things too. I finished the Roundabout Socks for S. They fit perfectly and they were quite nice to knit. I knit them with Plymouth Happy Feet and it's got a nice feel to it. My only real complaint is the two socks are two different colors. One looks faded compared to the other and yet they haven't been treated differently and they are the same dye lot. I don't know what's going on there but I'm hoping it becomes less apparent as they are worn and washed.

I've also been working on some dishtowels and such using the Organic Cotton I bought from Elann. I really like the way this yarn feels but it does split quite a bit. The colors are supposed to get more intense as it gets washed and I'm interested to see how it behaves. I love the overall feel of the cloth and I plan on using the rest of the yarn I have to just make a series of these. They may become Christmas gifts. The really cool part is I'm using the buttons from my garage sale button stash which I just love.
It was also my birthday last month and I was given some money and I bought myself some stuff. Again, I went to Webs and I just got myself a bunch of cool stuff. I finally got a swift and ball winder, which I used to wind the cotton in the dishtowel above. And I got a bunch of other stuff to make I-don't-know-what stuff. I see lots of potential.
I already made another Urchin hat, see below. It turned out pretty cute even if this one is actually a bit big. I have to get some pictures taken with it on my head to show how it fits. I think it looks cute and it won't mess up my hair too much. :)
Lastly, the garden. Well, the garden has been a little disappointing. It's gone absolutely insane with growth and the bugs just went after it. The aphids went in and overnight half the plants were dried up and dying. The watermelon got a fungus and died and I found three other ones dead off the vine. There's one more out there that may or may not make it. I can't really tell. The tomatoes are mostly dead but I've been pulling off the tomatoes I can. Here's the motley group. They ain't pretty but the actually taste pretty good. Next year, I'm kickin' this garden's butt!

Holy Amazing Watermelon, Batman!

I don't want to spend too much time on this tonight because I'm tired and I haven't taken pictures of the knitting I've been up to. I've been working on a few different things but I'll save those for another post. For now I just want to show you all my first WATERMELON!!!

Isn't it beautiful! This picture was taken last Sunday, July 20th. I really wasn't sure we were going to get an actual WATERMELON from this plant so that's pretty darned exciting. It's about the size of a small egg in this picture and it seemed to appear overnight. Now, I figure watermelon probably grow pretty fast because they get kinda big. However, I had NO idea they would grow this fast. Check it out!

This is the watermelon this evening. Of course the vine decided to grow up the fence instead of along the ground. And of course when it finally decides to make a watermelon, it does so in the highest point of the vine. So, of course we had to figure out something to hold up this monstrosity since the little bunny guard fencing just wasn't going to do. A what better to come to the rescue than an old Cat Litter bucket. Hey, don't laugh, it's called recycling!

I'll work on a knitting update for the next post. Sorry! :)

Oh, Darn It!

There was a near tragedy in my house last night. A crisis I did not feel prepared to handle, but I was determined to muddle through. I finished the Sunflower Hat for my niece about a week ago and decided to add some little ties to it to help keep it on her head. So, I knit little ties that ended up being about 6" long and it wasn't until I really look at them finished that I realized they just would not do. They needed to be longer. Well, I figured I had enough yarn so I would just cut these off and knit new ones. I grabbed my little scissors and snipped twice and...yep...you guessed it. I snipped right through the yarn of the HAT instead of the straps. If you look below, you'll see the hole on the right hand side and the straps I cut off.

This just about broke my heart. I simply couldn't bear the idea of ripping this out and reknitting it. But I wasn't really sure what to do to infill such a large hole. Because, I don't do things part way, I cut TWICE and created a hole over about 6 sts over two rows. I've never fixed a hole before, but I was going to figure something out, dammit!So, I have a copy of Vickie Howell's new book, Knit Aid given to me by a friend and I decided to check and see if it had anything on fixing a hole. Nope. Darn it. While it's a cute little book, it didn't have what I needed. What I needed was something to tell me how to Darn. Wow. I've been listening to KnitMoreGirls Podcast and they've been talking about the merits of darning and I just wasn't sure it was something I would ever do. I mean, I know I want my knit socks to last as long as possible, but I haven't had any get holes yet and so the idea of darning anything was still rather daunting. However, I guess it's true what they say about having the proper motivation. I did not want to reknit this hat. I did want to have something to give my niece when I meet her for the first time. She arrives in about 4 days. Yep, I was gonna learn to darn.
Well, I ended up remembering on of the podcasts I listen to talked about darning and said basically you thread a needle and hand sew in the knit stitches. So, I thread the needle, duplicate stitched about two rows above the hole for the size of the hole plus one additional stitch on each side. Then I worked down the column of knit stitches making new stitches as I went. Then I stitched up the next row and so on and so on....I don't know if I did it "right," but I'd say it looks darn good (pun intended).Even the inside of the hat doesn't look horrible. There are a couple of tiny pieces sort of sticking out but I just couldn't figure out how to do it any better. The good part is, this is against her head so no one will see it.I'm pleased with my first darn attempt at darning. And I just might do it again, darn it.

Groucho would not move so he is a bonus feature for your viewing pleasure.

Oh, right. The Garden. Well, the watermelon continues to brown along the tendrils and has lots of new green growth in the center. I have no idea if we'll get anything from it but I'm hanging in to see what happens. However, things are looking good with the tomatoes. I am so ready for these to get nice and ripe so I can go to The Hill and get some good Mozzarella and fresh Basil, pull out the Paul Newman's Balsamic Vinaigrette and have me a yummy salad. I can NOT wait.