Category: Other Crafts

Summer Crafts

On By happygingerhomeIn knitting, Other CraftsLeave a comment

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The dish towel set for my brother’s birthday is zipping along nicely. This is towel number three (out of four). The lunchtime knitting has been making an impact and I’m getting through this project a lot quicker than I thought I would. True to my sci-fi knitting heritage, I knit the majority of towel #2 and started towel #3 while watching V For Vendetta on TV last week. For some reason, that movie has been making the rounds on cable television lately. It’s on again tonight on IFC, which probably means it will be shown with no commercial interruptions, unlike  some channels out there *cough*BBCAmerica*cough*.

Today I did nothing but read knitting and spinning magazines in bed, directly underneath my ceiling fan. Has anyone read the summer issue of Spin Off? I thought it was fascinating, with its emphasis on historical spinning.  I particularly enjoyed the article on the unusual spinning wheel that was restored and is displayed at a Jane Austen museum.  All the while I was eating a bag of Fruit Rolls–fruit-flavored Tootsie Rolls.  They pop up around Halloween and the holidays packaged along with other Tootsie products, but I haven’t seen them bagged by themselves since I was a kid. So when I saw them at the Special Thoughts Outlet today, I bought two bags.  Does anyone have any childhood favorite candies that are out there but hard to find today? Share your stories with me!

Last week I was complaining that it was unseasonably cool. Now we’re having a heat wave and it’s been 90 degrees every day since Tuesday. And I’m still unhappy. So I guess that means I’m just never happy, weather-wise. What can I say, I’m a complainer! Knitting with cotton is fine for warm weather, but what should I make when the towels are done? I have Ann Weaver’s Partition Cardigan on deck, but I’m not sure I want to knit it during the summer. Yet I want to wear it in the fall. I’ll probably end up casting on for the cardigan next anyway, with thoughts of cool autumn weather and walks in the park among the changing leaves to keep me cool while I knit.

I popped into Beadworks today because I haven’t been there in a while. I wanted to find starfish-shaped beads. Now I have a quick little project shaping up to put me in an a cool ocean mood.

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The One With All The Flowers

On By happygingerhomeIn Life, The Universe, And Everything, Other CraftsLeave a comment

Sunday was hot and sunny and gorgeous, so I made my semi-regular pilgrimage to the urban Mecca known as Home Depot.  So did a boatload of other people. I like Home Depot. I’m a crafty gal, but I’m not the type of person who can build a deck or redo their kitchen by themselves. No, I like to dip my toes into the kiddie pools of DIY, if you will: such as the paint section, garden furniture, and the gardening department.  For a year my goal has been to dog-proof my deck (on the 2nd floor) so my dog can’t slip under the gap under the railing. Mine was a simple no-frills solution involving 16 2-ft. sections of plastic picket fencing and a bunch of plastic zip ties. I just turned the fencing upside down so the spikes normally stuck into the ground were facing up, with the inverted fencing covering the gap.  I tied it to the deck railing with a zip tie on either side of each fence and voila! Spike can relax and enjoy the deck along with his humans.  I love a good reason to go to Home Depot, and since I needed to make a trip anyway, I decided it was time to give the whole deck a makeover, Martha Stewart-style. That is, if Martha Stewart lived in a triple-decker and had champagne tastes but a TJ Maxx budget. 🙂

Please enjoy my how-to guide for creating a beach cottage-themed deck fairly cheap.  Start with these wooden assembly-required Adirondack chairs. They retail at $49 each but the price seems to steadily decline as the summer wears on. I paid $30 each for them last year late in the summer.  I went back to HomeDepot a week later and they’d been reduced to $20 each. I started the makeover last year with these chairs. I LOVE Adirondack chairs and always wanted to own some.  They were cheap and, a year later, are starting to wobble a tiny bit when I sit down in one.  I may need to invest in some good ones someday, but for now, I’m living the dream.  The pastel mint paint I bought at the same time never made it onto the chairs, and I don’t think it’s ever going to at this point.  I added the cushions later on.

Do you like my coffee table? It’s an old lobster trap. Yay for upcycling! Oldies Marketplace in Newburyport, Massachusetts usually has a few lobster traps in stock in the summer. Mine already had a wooden tabletop put on top of it. All I need to complete the theme is some brightly colored bouys, and most antique stores from Mystic to Maine have them.

The pansies and two of the flowerpots are from Home Depot. The pot with the bees on it is from a local indie florist who has since closed up shop. Here’s a closer look at the plants I truly hope I don’t kill:

Finally, I couldn’t resist this lovely clematis plant:

I love my new and improved deck. I never used it last year but I’m going to really enjoy it this summer.   My finishing touches will be a wind chime and a small outdoor rug. I want my summer reading/knitting nook to feel like an outdoor living room.  This will be a wonderful place to read, knit, spin and just relax.  I have a lot of spinning fiber to work through, so I think I’ll be spending a lot of time out here.