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scrappy crochet scarf

woven scarf

I’ve been sorting my odds and ends of yarn by color. I have this idea that a woven pattern might tie the different hues together with a subtle color change rather than stripey.

My first one is made up of greens and browns. The greens are blending nicely, but the brown is pretty dominant. I don’t want to rip this out and start over, so I’ll probably repeat the brown every five rows to keep some sort of balance.

I’ve left the ends hanging. Not sure if I like the fringe look or not. It needs to be a little wider before I can decide.

Are you working on a scrappy project? Share in the comments!

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ch-ch-ch-cherries: making some jam, freezing for winter

cherries

Last weekend our local grocery store was selling bing cherries by the lug. I think it worked out to $1.98 a pound. We LOVE cherries around here and I jumped at the chance to get so many at such a great price.

After giving them a good wash, my daughter worked hard at removing all of the stems. I love that she’s old enough to be kitchen labor! I pitted and froze two cookie sheets worth, which filled a one gallon freezer bag. Then I pitted and chopped up four cups and made low-sugar jam. I tried to get away with no-sugar jam, but my family looked at me like I had three heads.

cherries

The rest? All gone. In our bellies. They were so incredibly tasty. Yay for cherry season!

notes: I used pectin made especially for low-sugar jam and followed the recipe on the label. I used these freezer jars instead of canning in a hot water bath. I also use this olive/cherry pitter because I’ve never been able to master the paper clip method. (all links except that last one take you to amazon.com)

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finished: boheme sweater

boheme sweater

I’m excited to finally post pics of this baby sweater. It was a fun little knit, even though I had to rip back a few times in the beginning because of missed buttonholes. (I must be out of practice knitting and watching tv.)

The only thing I changed about the pattern was the picot bind off. I chose a picot hem instead, which lies flatter and feels more finished to me.

boheme sweater

My friend Lisa introduced me to Boheme and has knitted up quite a few of them. It really is the perfect three-season sweater: over long sleeves in the Fall, a turtleneck in the Winter and a tank top in the Spring. I’ll definitely be making another one. I’ve see a few feather and fan versions that are really cute.

What’s your favorite baby sweater pattern? Knit or crochet. Share in the comments!

pattern notes: You can find the pattern on Ravelry here. I used some Patons Rio from my stash. I love this yarn and wish it hadn’t been discontinued. I only have two skeins left.

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my daughter’s second art show

art camp lincoln childrens museum

You may remember the excitement of my daughter’s first art show last year. Well, this summer she did the full-day elementary art camp and had a blast. Once again, the campers exhibited their artwork, but this year they did so at the Sheldon Museum of Art. She was pretty excited.

In addition to showing us all of her work, she took us on a tour of some of her favorite exhibits that she visited earlier in the week. She was so excited and proud. It was adorable.

art camp sheldon art museum

I still need to write about the other camps she’s taken this summer. She came home from science camp exclaiming she wanted to be a scientist, or maybe an artist that draws science pictures. This week was insect camp. She brought home a jar of mealy worms, which I’ve been told are really dark winged beetle larvae, and tomorrow they are having cricket cookies for a snack. Oh, my!

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this week

crochet

fireworks

strategic air command

photos from instagram

this week I:

crocheted a gift card sleeve — It was a nice project to use up leftover sock yarn.

watched the most amazing fireworks — from my front lawn. My neighbors put on a pretty awesome show.

took lots of photos of fireworks — I’ve given up trying to capture the perfect nighttime explosion, so this year I focused on what happens on the ground.

spent hours sorting — legos, cars, beads, books, tinker toys, stuffed animals, etc. and put them back where they belong. The next day my daughter took them all out again.

took lots of photos of planes — visited the Strategic Air and Space Museum. I couldn’t fit an entire B-52 Bomber in my viewfinder, so I focused on details: wings, cockpits, engines, propellers.

made pesto — with kale, beet greens and italian parsley. It was awesome.

read I Remember Nothing — by Nora Ephron. Next up is I Feel Bad About My Neck. I love library e-books.

What have you been up to this week?

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csa bags five and six: recipe planning goes improv

csa cabbage cole slaw

week five: green cabbage, beets, kale, garlic, summer squash
week six: potatoes, beets, bok choy, green onions, parsley, basil

Planning how to use my CSA veggies has pretty much gone out the window. My kitchen faces west, and it gets too hot in the late afternoon to use the oven. I’ve just been grabbing things out of the fridge and making things up as I go.

  • I’ve been pan sautéing anything and everything: beets, turnips, carrots, cabbage, zucchini. I find you can’t go wrong with a base of red onion, garlic and lemon.
  • I’m still making kale chips in the mornings when it’s cool.
  • Extra greens are finding their way into smoothies.
  • The cabbage came just in time to make some slaw for a potluck picnic. I’m not usually a fan of traditional picnic sides, but this lime and peanut coleslaw was deliciously different.
  • Speaking of non-traditional picnic sides, I’ve fallen in love with this no-mayo potato avocado salad. I skip the chives and add lemon zest. It’s good either warm or chilled.
  • My favorite new-to-me veggie so far has been the candy-striped chioggia beets. I hope we get lots more of these. Aren’t they pretty?

csa candy striped beets

There’s no CSA pickup this week. I’m looking forward to using up all of our odds and ends with generous amounts of basil and parsley.