Heat Wave?! Not So Much in the Puget Sound

While all over the midwest, southern areas, and eastcoast, there have been record highs and heatwaves; here in the Puget Sound we are experiencing what we would typically experience in the early spring or fall.  Yep, you heard right, we barely have been breaking 70 degrees here. I'm not complaining, as long as its not raining and the sun is out I'm pretty happy, because I have family who live in upstate New York, Texas, and Maryland who are scorching right now.

But I was pretty stoked today, it was finally a warm enough day to actually pull out the patio furniture and the grill, sit outdoors and enjoy the sunshine. I pulled out the furniture and gave them a quick wipe down, because they sit outdoors all year round collecting dust, dirt, and spiders.  I cleaned off the tabletop grill and got to cooking some hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken, and boneless riblets.

I went into my storage closet and pulled out the patio umbrella I got last year at the end of the summer.  I'm quite proud of this find because I only paid $11.00 for it! Yep, you read right, it was only eleven bucks! Ya see all last summer I searched and searched for a reasonably priced patio umbrella and just couldn't find one. Until I happened to be in Rite Aid picking up a prescription and saw that they were having an end-of-season sale on their patio paraphenalia. I saw an umbrella with a tag that read $49.99 with a sign - 20% off all patio furniture, so I figured what the heck, I'll buy it because it was the cheapest one I'd seen all summer.

Well you could have knocked me over with a feather when the cashier said $11.00. I of course was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, I quickly paid my eleven bucks and rushed out of there before they could stop me, saying there was a mistake on the price! I only got to use it for a short time last year before I had to store it away for the winter, but I'm happy to be able to pull it out again!

Here you can see my set-up:

I live in a 86-unit townhouse development, one the main features that drew me to buy in this particular development was the cute little water feature that is right outside my deck.  It was a perfect day to sit outside to enjoy the waterfall.

I often like to sit out here on the weekends, in the mornings with my first cup of coffee of the day and just relax.  Its funny when I first moved here, I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to sleep with the constant running water, but now if the waterfall is shut off for maintenance, I find that I have a hard time getting to sleep without the soothing sound of the running water...weird huh?

After getting the patio cleaned up, furniture set-up, and the food started, I decided to finish up one of the many UFO's I hadn't worked on in a while; the Big Bag from Lion Brand Yarn.

I added a darker brown lining for finishing - had to hand sew it in because I of course wasn't thinking ahead; I sewed the wooden dowels in before I added the lining! I learned my lesson, if I ever make this bag again, I will machine sew the lining before sewing the wooden dowels in.

Brown fabric lining for finishing. Used Lion Brand Wool-Ease
Thick & Quick in Wheat #402

18" w x 12" h x 6" d with 25" handles - It truly is a big bag!

Well that is one more UFO from the neverending WIPs bag that I can put on the finished list.  Still have a few more to go, I'm hoping that I get most of them done this summer.  One other such project is a sockless sock monkey I named Cecil, that I started almost two years ago and poor Cecil is still missing his body and head.

Sockless Sock Monkey Knitting Pattern (Rav link)
by Anita M. Wheeless (Rav link) from her blog: Mumble-Jumble2
Cecil is made using Cascade 220 Tweed and Cascade 220 Wool

 Doesn't he look so pathetic, that he's been hanging out for over a year and I only got this far and haven't finished him yet?  I think Cecil deserves to be finished and when I'm done, maybe he will find a home with my grandniece.

Well the sun has gone down and its starting to get a bit nippy on the patio, so I think its time to go inside.  It was so nice to be able to sit out here and cook on the grill, blog, knit, and just plain relax.

To all you heat wavers out there, try to stay cool and to the knitters, happy summer knitting!

Welcome to Knitter Mama



Small Market Bag

Welcome and thank you for joining me at Knitter Mama.  Here you will see many of the wonderful handmade knit and/or crochet creations that I knit for family and friends.  I learned to crochet nearly 20 years ago and have made crochet blankets for almost all my nieces, nephews, second cousins and friends' babies.  But crocheting was a luxury I couldn't seem to keep up with, so I had put away my crochet hooks and yarn for many years.

But a few years ago, I joined a knitting circle at work and after a lot of trial and error taught myself to knit, with lots of help from the wonderful group of knitters.  Within my circle I had over 50 years of knitting knowledge - and you can bet I tapped that knowledge every chance I got.

One handle market bag
with honeycomb pattern
center

Now four years later I have made many wonderful handmade items for friends and family and I was convinced recently to sell some of those items.  I thought to myself that selling my creations would turn it more into work rather than the relaxing stress reliever that it has become over the years.  But some friends just refused to take "no" for an answer and insisted on paying me.



So here I am wanting to share with others my passion and hopefully you will enjoy the handmade items as much as I enjoy creating them.



The market bags you see here are my first attempts at making these and as you can see they came out great.  The are great for shopping, library books, or just about anything you need them for.  I've used them at times as a purse when I go to the Farmer's market and don't want to carry a purse and a market back.  They stretch quite a bit and you can fill them with so much, you will really enjoy their versatility.



Felted slippers - ladies fun fur & orchid
men's dark purple

Now the felted slippers were a big hit last year for Christmas, all my nieces and nephews got a pair and they loved them!



Personal bath set: towel, washcloth, &
soap/bath salt pouch

The personal bath sets are great as birthday gifts - which I gave to two of my sisters and if you pair them with some handmade soap and bath salt you have a great gift basket idea.