If I ever want to make myself feel a little cheery, it's flowers to the rescue.  Flowers seems to be the universal trick for cheeriness.  That, and hugging a dog.  Here are some zinnias I picked this morning.  Zinnias are just so bright, so sturdy, the embodiment of good cheer and the queen of our summer garden.

Santa's workshop has opened early this year.  I found these jolly vintage painted wooden bead clown heads at a church rummage sale, complete with little prototype for $1.25!  They look like they are from the 60s maybe?  Has anyone ever seen these before?  Too cute and silly for me to pass up.  I have a bag of yoyos left over from my girlhood when I once had the ambition to make a yoyo quilt.   The whole project consisted of gluing and adorning with tiny accessories that I've been collecting over the years, I have to say it was fun!

These yoyos were made from scraps of material used for clothing when I first learned how to sew.   The yellow houndstooth check was from a 2 piece suit I make in the 9th grade.  The purple rosebuds were shorts with eyelet lace ruffled trim.   Gotta love those 60s!

Next, to keep you in the holiday mood for a bit more, I'll take you for a quick peek into Solvang's famous year round Christmas shop, Jule Hus.  Whenever we drive through Solvang, I have to stop in this Christmas shop if only for a few minutes.  It's conveniently located right next to the needlework store.  My husband will put up with this pilgrimage if I am very fast. 

I'm delighted that jsdknits, commenter #26 is the winner of the skein of Angora Haze.  We have been Ravelry friends for years and it couldn't be going to a nicer lady!  I am emailing you right now!

Thank you to all who entered.  

It's fun to dream about knitting for the tiny new prince.  I hope he is swaddled in oodles of hand knits.  As a knitter, I will be on the look out for pictures of little George wearing hand knits, nothing is sweeter than a baby in a cozy knit.  If I were Aunt Pippa or Great Granny, I would get busy with....

First cardigan for baby must be the Owl Sweater by Janice Straker.  This pattern is my all time favorite for baby and I've knit quite a few.  Nothing edgy about this at all, it's all old fashioned and I just love it that way.  I am very traditional and love it in pale pink or pale blue.  My two versions are this one for a little prince, and this one for a little princess.  They were both knit in Rowan 4-Ply Cotton which has been discontinued and replaced by Rowan Siena 4 Ply Cotton.



Baby needs a pullover.  To honor the Royal Baby, Rowan offers Charles, a free download by Martin Storey using duplicate stitch for the motif.



Baby needs a vest.  I must go classic and go cable with this free pattern from Purl Bee, the Cabled Vest using Rowan Purelife DK organic cotton.  Perfect, right?

Babies have notoriously over-sized noggins so pullovers need to account for that by adding buttons at the shoulder seam.

One of the nicest things about knitting for baby is getting the precious modeled photos back.  Doesn't little Josie just look too adorable?  I adore her styling with her plaid skirt, denim vest and bare feet, so current.  This Louisa cape was designed by Sarah Hatton and knit with Rowan Baby Merino Silk DK.  Yes, silk and merino wool for baby, it's soft and machine washable, my new yarn for baby knits.

The BLT may be America's most well loved sandwich.  It's a diner favorite and one that we eat many times over the summer when the big slicers ripen.  For those not familiar with this sandwich, it's only 5 ingredients, bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiched between two pieces of toasted white bread spread with mayonnaise.  It's amazing and everyone I know has a weakness for it.

We love to host get-togethers, the garden looked so pretty and our tomatoes are big and ripe so we decided to have 30 people over for BLTs last week on a Thursday night, who knew Thursday night could draw such a crowd?  Making sandwiches sounds easy, doesn't it?  Not.  Not at all.  It took my husband over 2 hours to fry up 9 pounds of bacon and I could have used a hazmat team to clean up the grease that was EVERYWHERE.   While he was on bacon duty I made the potato salad, put out the flowers, set the tables, set out wine, beer and sparkly water, and decided to use paper plates and plastic cups thinking how brill I was to keep it simple.  But feeding 30 people is never simple.  Fun, yes, but simple, no.  I unwisely decided not to hire kitchen helpers of which I am forever cured, my new motto, no help, no party.   I enlisted a friend to pass the appetizers while I oven toasted 4 1/2 loaves of bread.  Pretty hectic in the kitchen, so it's a good thing I have a lot of lovely friends who are willing to pitch in.  We set up the buffet so everyone could make their own sandwich and I don't feel it took very long for each guest to get their sandwich assembled. We had cookies for dessert, if anyone had offered to help when they were responding to the invitation I asked them to bring a dozen cookies.  I wish I had taken a picture of the cookie table, very pretty with a dozen different types of cookies for dessert.   This was a great party.  The BLTs were so good, so perfect for summer and a definite treat.  Next day it took us a short time to dismantle the set-up and I asked my husband if he would have this party again, without any hesitation he said, "yes".  It was a fun night.


The zinnias on my header and the first two pictures above are a combination of the bi-colored Whirligig from Burpee that I grow in a little patch in my vegetable garden that I use for cutting.  The zinnias in the perennial border are the varieties Fantasy and Art Deco from Botanical Interests, also Berry Basket and Raspberry Sorbet from Renee's Garden.  I love the pink and purple border so much I'm doing the same border next year.