On a More Positive Note

Last night I made this Crochet Flower Hot Pad:

This was made using this free pattern. 

It was completed in just a couple of hours.  It's are really easy project that looks more complicated than it actually is.    It's a great way to use up extra cotton yarn from past projects.

Mods:
Did an extra round of sc to make it flatten out a little bit more.

Next time I make this, I will figure out a predetermined chain from the center point to connect the petals at. I didn’t do that on this one and it’s very noticeable.

Where did my comments go?

Dang it.  My comments section has disappeared.  The code seems to be missing from the new template that I put up on the blog.   I'm working on it now.  Keep you fingers crossed that I can get it back.

ETA:   It spontaneously showed back up for this post, but now all comments from every post I've ever made has disappeared.  I'm very upset about this and don't know how to fix it. Can anyone help?

Edited again to add:  Yikes!  Somehow, Blogger changed every post that I've ever written to not show the posts.  In order to get all the comments back up and running properly, I'm going to have to go back in and edit each and every one.  Why doesn't Blogger have a batch edit option?!!!!! 

Anyway, I'll ask you again and now you can actually respond.  :)   What do you think of the new look for the blog?

Milestones of A Four Year Old Boy

Today's been an eventful day around here.

First there was a yard sale where The Youngest found something that was right up his alley.  He's into vampires, ghosts, skeletons, anything macabre really.  He's weird.  He's also heavily into Mickey Mouse and friends.  So what does he find at a yardsale for .37 cents?  A 12 inch tall Vampire Mickey!

Then, The Youngest sold his soul to the devil.  We made an agreement.  For his entire life he's been dependent on a pacifier.  Over the past several months I've been helping him work towards getting off of it.  Scaled down for a child, it's akin to an adult giving up cigarettes.  His breathing quickens, his hands clench, his stress level soars and he starts shaking.  It's been incredibly traumatic for him, but the "papper" has to go.  It's disgusting and germy and I refuse to buy him another.  He's past the age of consent here.

Don't think I've been heartless over it.  It's been rough on all of us and watching him go through it has driven me to tears several times.  It's heartbreaking to watch your child go through something like this.

But he made a big decision today.  He decided (through some sneaky bribery on my part) to throw it away for a new toy.   He went through this:

To get this:

A real milestone for the little guy.

Changes

Notice anything different around here? 

Please be patient with the changes being made around here.  I'm far from being finished and will be tweaking periodically.  If you notice anything going all wonky, just ignore it cause I'm probably tinkering with it.

Like the new look?  Hate it?  Don't really give a hoot?  Let me know in the comments.

Thanks!

Shea

Plants!

I'm still hobbling around here like an old lady.  My hamstrings have never been very flexible.  I guess that happens when you're a geek couch potato that likes to read, knit or play on the internet all day.    But despite the hamstring issues, I decided that I must not have been quite tortured enough because today I went and got these:

 

I'm pretty certain that after tomorrow's digging in hard Georgia clay, I'm going to need a boatload of ibuprofen.   Like I've said before, I do not have a green thumb.  I don't have a clue where I'll put any of this yet or if it will even live once I've touched it, but I'm going to try anyway.  I do know that this is the only time of the year that I get the gardening bug.  It's not a permanent hobby for me.  Once it gets really hot around here, the plants will be in God's hands alone.  Hope they're tough.  :) 

I've also finally gotten all the wax and goo off of these babies and will be doing something to them late this afternoon:

That's it for me today.  Have a great afternoon!

Really Perfect Green Apple Tank

I finally finished the Perfect Green Apple Tank!

And I finally like it too.  Way more sporty now and it fits like a dream. 

Pattern:  Perfect Periwinkle Turtleneck Tube Vest by Stephani Japel
Yarn: Hobby Lobby's Love This Cotton! in Sage
Needles Used:  US sizes 5 & 7

Modifications:

1. To avoid the Here Come my Boobs effect and make the tank more sporty, I only did the ribbing on the sides and left the front and back stockinette.
2. Changed to smaller needle where the ribbing should have gone.
3. Also added waist shaping at that section by decreasing one at both edges of the stockinette on both front and back. Knit for 2.5 inches and then increased one at both edges of the stockinette on both front and back.
4. I-cord bind off to add a neat straight edge to keep the sportiness of the tank.
5. Used cotton instead of wool.
6. Only did the neck for 3 inches.
7. Took photo with my camera that matched the project. :P

Here's another slightly less blurry shot (sorry, the pics were taken at night and indoors) where you can also see the neckline:

I would not recommend this pattern for the beginner knitter, but only due to the amount of incomplete errata that comes with pattern.  Otherwise, this was a fun knit.

The Flying Plague

Yesterday I got the brilliant idea to work in my flower beds, which is laughable really, cause I'm so not the outdoorsy, green thumb-y kinda person.  I did have an ulterior motive though.

We have been plagued with mosquitoes this past couple of years.  I'm talking the seas turning red and first born dying kind of plague.  The kids are trapped inside the house all summer long because these big mean SOB's will attack and then suck you dry before you can even blink once.  Evil.  I'm still not sure why God created these little buggers.  They're one step away from snakes and spiders on the scale of evil creepy crawly flying things.

So, in an attempt to drive them out of our yard or at least to prevent them spawning in our yard (do mosquitoes spawn?) I decided that every bit of ivy in the back yard had to go.

I could have taken the easy way out and sprayed Round up all over it and walk away, but that would have been way too easy and made too much sense.   Instead, I got my gardening gloves on and began pulling it all up by hand.  This ivy went all the way around our back deck, under the deck and was climbing the trellis on the deck.  It took me four hours to get rid of it all.  During that time I found one ball, two bubble blowing sticks and my rose bushes.  I still have thorns in my body from the bushes.  I also weeded and mulched the beds that go around the deck.  We got smart on the ivy covering our privacy fence and used the round up spray on it.  We were afraid to pull it and then have our fence come down too.

Most of the ivy in the neighborhood is in our neighbor's yard.  It's hopeless to get them to do anything, but that's a rant for another day.  So all we can do is try and make our yard a mosquito free zone and hope that they don't come drifting over the fence.  Fat chance.

Today, I am hobbling around like a little old lady.  Aching back, hamstrings and hands.  I sound like a little old lady too.  Don't ask me how I'm doing, you might get a complete list of complaints.  Did I mention that I was allergic to exercise?  Yeah, I got symptoms galore.  :)

I did bang the heck out of my right hand while dealing with ivy and rose bushes yesterday and it's led to knitting complications today.  Couple that sore hand with knitting with cotton and you won't get a whole lot of progress.  I am putting (very, very slowly) an i-cord bind off on the tank sweater.  I'm hoping to get that finished by tomorrow.  Keep your fingers crossed.  I'd do it myself, except the fingers on my hand are rebelling at the very thought.