flag bunting in progress

featured

 









I love my flag bunting so much. It's so festive! There was a lot of interest in how I was going to display my little knitted triangles, so now that I'm a seasoned bunting pro and half way finished, I have some tips:

The pattern is free: Summer Bunting by Julia Marsh. My one modification was to switch the decreases--k3, k2tbl, k to last 4 sts, k2tog, k3. I just prefer that look.

My Ravelry project page.

I'm using worsted and dk weights as is, and fingering weights knit with two stands held together. Size US 6 needle. I also added a few thicker weights, aran and chunky, but cast on 31 or 33 stitches instead of 35. They all ended up to be of similar size.

Outdoors screams for brights, and even though this was meant to be a scrappy only project  to use up my leftovers, I had to purchase a bright green, yellow and purple for color pop. Nothing seems to be too bright for outdoors and I mix them in with my more muted colors.

You'll need to make a lot of flags. An astonishing amount. It surprised me how many I need and I'm only half finished with my patio. 

Block and weave in ends as you go.

I used low-sag nylon twine to string together. For reference, the twine is about as thick as a toothpick.

I hung them by piggybacking them onto the same cup hooks we are using for our lights. This makes them easy to hang and remove. Because our California sun is so bright and fading is a problem, these will be hung for special occasions only, which for us, will be often. 🎉

Each strand is bagged and labeled because the nylon strands are cut to fit a specific spot. They take just a few minutes to hang.

If you are looking for an easy breezy summer knit that gobbles up those leftovers, this is it!

Best travel knit ever. Add an extra set of needles and teach someone how to knit (some for you).



Check out Ravelry! So many adorable free patterns.

Rett's Flower Bunting by Loretta Grayson


Garter Stitch Bunting by Faye Reed



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my eden

garden

It's time to show Eden, our magnificent climbing rose that heralds the entrance to our compact vegetable garden. Every year Eden is beautiful, but this year it is a show stopper. It's breathtaking! Let me sing the praises for Eden because it has it all: beautiful bud and long lasting bloom that continues to be gorgeous at every stage. The color stays strong and maintains its fragrance throughout. As the bud opens, the bloom unfurls with what seems like a hundred petals. It also has healthy, glossy foliage, is disease resistant and a rebloomer through fall. Each bloom will get successively smaller, but always so welcome. While Eden is our most beautiful and best performing rose, a contrast on the other side of the bower is Joseph's Coat. It rarely performs well and this year it has petered out already. We have decided to remove that rose this winter and replace with another Climbing Eden.

Our vegetable garden is coming along. We've harvested some early tiny summer squash and the thinnings of the dill, onions and lettuces. It looks like I'll be picking radishes soon. The tomatoes have little green tomatoes, a little late in setting as we've had uncharacteristically cold nights and tomatoes like to set their fruit when the evenings are milder. Warm weather is here and by looking at the tomatoes I think we'll have a good crop.


















And inside the home we are busy too! The oranges just keep getting sweeter and juicier. I'm so glad we still have some for my brother. Yes, my brother is finally visiting! I haven't seen him in three years! Good thing he is here for ten days because we have a big project. We have six bankers boxes of memorabilia from our family--mother, father, aunt, six uncles, two cousins and our grandparents, and even tidbits from our own childhoods. My mother had been safe keeper of all. Her method of keeping it safe was to stuff it into boxes in absolutely no order, then giving to me to store in my attic. My brother and I cannot leave these boxes for our children to deal with; it's just not a nice thing to do and the buck must stop here. So right now, while we still can, my kind brother and I going through each box, taking out each paper one by one, then deciding what to do. We have a process and I promise in another post to let you know how we are going through sentimental family items. Our plan seems to be working very well so far. 

I don't want you to think I am cracking the whip and putting my lovely visitor to toil non stop. Not at all! We set the timer for 1 hour and get as much done as we can, occasionally stopping to go down memory lane and have some laughs. When the timer goes off, we stop where we are and do something fun, like lunch. Seriously, I have planned some good dinners and let him pick our menus-- tacos and mom's pinto beans (we grew up in Southern California and love our Mexican food), also shrimp risotto, Thai stuffed poblanos, and mom's spaghetti bolognese plus plenty of dinners and lunches out.





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match marvelous scraps to fabulous projects (and donate the rest)

knitting

 


Hello knitting friends! Today I have some solutions on how you can turn your scraps into something you'll truly love--something you'll love knitting and also love having. This post is important because I'm sure that you, like me, have drawers and bins of leftover yarn. Sure you do! And no matter how well you try to maintain the oddball situation in your yarn storage, it ends up a mess. Yes? Well, I'm tired of it. I'm tired of the jumble and tired of storing and sorting and then rarely using those precious scraps. I had to fix this. 

Problem: Five drawers of tangled oddballs, loosely organized into weights.

Goal: Find projects for the best scraps and donate the rest. 

First things first: I dumped the drawers, all five of them, onto the floor. I thought if I saw it all in one place I'd have a better chance with being honest about what I would use and what would never get used. I wish I had taken a picture of that holy mess; it covered the entire floor of my knitting room. One by one I picked up each ball, gave it a good hard look and decided, worthy or unworthy? This is where I had to be honest with myself, but I kept in mind my last years of decluttering and how great it felt going through my house and removing the excess of the first world problem of having too much. I dropped the unloved balls into a large bag for donation, then organized the rest into projects. I promised myself I would start on the projects right away and honestly, I'm loving knitting through memory lane. 

Projects Number One and Two: I picked out the primo pieces and squirreled away two bags for future stripy sweaters for my grandson. One bag is wool and one is cotton. He adores his yearly striped sweaters from Grammy and this brings me much joy! Status: not started.



Project Number Three: The Hudson & West Weld, Rosie Green Wool Manx Merino Fine, Brooklyn Tweed Peerie, Quince and Co Chickadee and a few other of the loveliest fingering and sport weights in my collection are in a basket with the fun and free Mini Christmas Stocking Ornaments pattern from Little Cotton Rabbits. In my queue forever, my goal is to make one a week to have it finished by December 1. No problem, I love making them so much, I'll be finished long before then. The wood advent buttons are from Katrinkles and finish the project beautifully. Status: 25% finished.  Click here for my project page.



Click here for Katrinkles Advent Buttons.



Project Number Four: Bunting! I used a free pattern, Trellis Bunting, using dk and worsted weights as is, plus fingering weights doubled. The pattern is easily memorized and a great travel or car knit. This is a project for my patio and I think I need about 100! Gulp. But the thing is, I don't even know if I will like the look of bunting on my patio, so I'll stop soon and hang a few strands up and decide. I hope I love the look because these are super fun to knit and they're gobbling up yarn. Each one takes approximately 23 yards dk or worsted weight, double that amount if using fingering doubled, and 30 minutes to complete. Status: 30 finished. My project page is here.



Block as you go, and commit to using up even your tiniest bits.


Below is my basket of oddballs that I'm using for the bunting, but I confess I had to purchase a yellow and a purple to round out my colors. 


Project Number Five: I'm picking yarn from the same basket above to make the new Painting Bricks afghan from Stephen West. Love making this one too, totally addictive, as in, just one more color then I'll stop! You'll have the pattern memorized after a few rows. The pattern comes in two sizes but you can easily customize your size and my project page tells all. Status: half finished.




In the end I have moved from five drawers of oddballs to two and I have a growing bag of donation yarn. Plus I'm making some projects that I love. Win win! Here's the big thing to take away, don't let any yarn you don't absolutely love stay with you. You know in your heart that you don't need it and it's doing no one any good sitting in that bin. Give it away, now. FYI, I have turned into my grandson's preschool principal's favorite grandma, just by donating unused yarn and craft supplies. The school goes up to 8th grade and she says the teachers have numerous yarn projects for all ages. She'll take anything I give her. Yay!


I took this picture just before dusk. My feet were up and I was knitting a tiny stocking and thinking how much I love to combine knitting and gardening. You can often find me in this spot all spring and summer. Sometimes I'll listen to an audio book but often I just listen to the quiet--the birds, the rustle of the leaves, and the click of my needles. My husband often joins me and it's a pleasant way to end the day and a good place to sit and admire our hard work, which reminds me, garden post soon!

If you'd like to make a comment, please click here or scroll down. I reply to each comment and that response will appear directly below your comment. If you would like a personal reply, please know that I use the Blogger platform and they do not give me your contact information when you comment. If you would like a personal reply you can contact me using the contact form on the right side at the very end of my website. If you would like to receive Knitionary posts by email, please subscribe here.  




May Day Roses

roses

Happiest May Day to you! In honor of May Day I filled my house with roses and took a ton of garden pictures because the roses are at their peak! I hope you find a moment today to sit down with a cup of coffee and enjoy. 

My favorite garden shot is when my beloved greenhouse is peeking out from behind
a lovely foreground of foliage.

Climbing Blaze






wash day

This unknown David Austin is so fragrant. Luckily it's not too far from our
bedroom door and often I can smell its fragrance wafting into the house.

Climbing First Prize



Climbing Eden, above and below


unknown David Austin

unknown David Austin

The roses against the fence in our veg garden.

Graham Thomas

The patio off our bedroom, and the gorgeous view I wake up to every morning.


unknown David Austin

A good picture of Climbing Eden. 





Last week we got a new, much needed counter, sink and faucet. Totally thrilling for me.

Above and below, a close up of the olive branches with flower buds that I used as a filler.


We're having a dinner party tonight and this is the reason.
I found this hidden away when I recently did my deep cleaning.
It's sealed, and the big reveal will be tonight to find out who, if anyone, got it right.
This would have been written in 2019 or early 2020, before the pandemic
and when we had a dozen or more Democratic presidential candidates. 
Should be interesting!






My adult son made this Lego Typewriter and I fell in love with it and confiscated it!
Maybe it can be my Mother's Day gift?


This post has affiliate links. If you purchase something from an affiliate link, I will receive a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you so much for supporting the blog. If you'd like to make a comment, please click here or scroll down. I reply to each comment and that response will appear directly below your comment. If you would like a personal reply, please know that I use the Blogger platform and they do not give me your contact information when you comment. If you would like a personal reply you can contact me using the contact form on the right side at the very end of my website. If you would like to receive Knitionary posts by email, please subscribe here.  



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