One of the things that sprung up this week was a pest. Something took down one of my Scarlet Runner Bean plants over a two day period. I asked around and many told me it was probably a squirrel. So, Paul helped me build this cheapo wooden frame, to which we stapled lots of netting. I can still get in and out of there quite easily, and so can the bugs, so I think it will be ok. I’m also using it to tie up my vertical supports, which the three remaining bean plants will be relying on very soon!

Another thing that screams summer to me is our clothesline. I may have mentioned this before, but we’re living in my grandma’s house, which doesn’t have the modern convenience of a clothes dryer, dish washer, or a second bathroom. But I really love it, living small. The Texas sun can dry my clothes as fast as any commercial dryer, and it gets me outside and moving around, which is always a good thing. If you have a clothesline kicking around in your back yard, why not try replacing the wires with plastic clothesline (won’t rust)  and bringing it back into use? Your electricity bill (and mother earth) will thank you.

Meanwhile in crafty news, I’m trying to do some sprucing up around the inside of the house. There is so much work to be done that it’s hard to even want to get started. The perhaps-plan is that eventually we might just move out, get the whole thing remodeled, then move back in. That makes it hard to want to spend too much time fixing things that will eventually get replaced, but, as I’ve moved around a few times in my life, I know that I want my home to nice no matter how long I will be there. So I started off by sewing some new curtains for the kitchen. I used a yard of  fabric I bought at Ikea  which was nowhere near enough, and paired it with solid green and a graphic black and white print. It’s a happy mix of organic yet not overpoweringly girly, so Paul can live with it too. I sewed a smaller set of  curtains to go over the kitchen sink, which was a mess at the time this photograph was taken. Who am I kidding, it is still a mess! Currently the kitchen is a faded buttery yellow with faded minty green cabinets, and black and white appliances, and these curtains are my happy way to tie them together.

And finally, in news not having to do with the house or the yard, I started a new crochet project for myself (ravelry page link). We had a slow day at the store which always gets my brain going about what to make next. I’m hooking Dora Ohrenstein’s Kristy Cardigan from the Spring 2010 issue of Interweave Crochet. I chose Arucania’s Ruca (viscose made from Sugar Cane) and it’s *so* soft and drapey. Word of warning, the yarn is a little splitty, which can get frustrating when you are working the post stitch patterns, but otherwise doesn’t bother me. I chose this light blue color which I almost never work with or wear. I think it’s going to end up looking great, but it was hard to step out of my usual purple palette. I’m hoping to finish it for TNNA. I can’t actually imagine wearing a sweater, even a short sleeved one, in Texas during the summer except maybe in an air-conditioned restaurant. Or maybe next year, when I’ve adjusted.

What’s going on at your house? What are you working on, and what are you looking forward to?

It’s fun to play with the colors for this pattern, since I have quite a few different cottons in my stash. Although, as far as stashbusting goes, let’s just say you’d have to crochet a heck of a lot of these before you bust much stash. But- since you can toss these in the wash (unline a sponge), it’s good to have a few around anyway.

After making so many of these I have a few suggestions/additions to my pattern.

*For Lion Cotton (Or Sugar’n'Cream) switch to a size H hook and ch 17 or 19 stitches to start (reducing the dc in each row to 6 or 8), to get a smaller or slightly smaller tawashi, respectively. I also only crocheted 21 rows instead of 24.
*Add a ch-15 hanging loop at the beginning of one row (before you make the first sc)- this will help you hang it up to dry if you use it often.
*Leave the first end long (to sew up one end of the tawashi) and the last end very long (to sew up the side and other end of the tawashi)– you can crochet over all of the other ends as you go to save some time. You don’t need to sew the top gathering point to the bottom one, either– you can, but it will lie flat without that step and it gives you the option of using it as shown above, which might be good for a bath scrubber.

These are addictive to make because there are quick. And of course there are lots other cute and fun tawashi patterns to knit or crochet out there, so have fun with it! I figure I’ll stack a few together with some nice dish soap and have a start on holiday gifts. If you end up making a tawashi or two, I’d love to see a photo–whether on Ravelry, Craftstylish, or via a link in the comments! Get hooking.

My two favorite projects have to be the crocheted crafts. First there was a simple striped tawashi:

I see more of these in my future. They’re quick, fun, and a great way to use up scraps.  I’m going to add a hanging loop to any further renditions  (just chain 10 at the end and sew the loop in place) so that I’ll have an easier time making sure they dry. I like the idea of filling my drawers with these– I use them in conjunctions with rags to almost eliminate paper towels. I admit, I still use paper towels for occasional things (mainly blotting bacon grease and pizza) but remember: any step you take, no matter how small, helps.

I also whipped up this swiffer sock, which was born out of my need to not pay for swiffer covers. And my need to actual sweep the house once in a while. It works remarkably well and holds up to the washer and dryer. This is the project for your stash acrylics, friends! I happen to think both this and the tawashi would make great little gifts.

In addition, I sewed some simple produce bags,  a recycled baby bib (from jeans and corduroy pants) and a clothespin bag made from old jeans (this would also work well to store the plastic grocery bags that do make their way into your home). Check them out, and remember, do whatever you can to celebrate Earth Month all year! There are tons of awesome projects by everyone on the site.

In other news, I just finished my Scrap Swap project (you can see all of the resulting projects here). It’s not my best work, but I did it. I wasn’t really sure how to incorporate the white sheen-y fabrics into a cohesive something, so I went for applique and made this shoe bag for traveling. The rules were to use all of the scraps and that I did, I just went along with my current love of the house shape and had some fun with it. It has made me think about my scraps again- I have a huge never ending bucket. And I mean Never Ending. Last night I dug into it to make a project I’ll share later if it comes out well. And I used a lot of scraps. And it still seems just as full. Dang! I am going to sew up some more patchwork blocks eventually- I haven’t made a quilt yet but they come in handy for other projects where I want little patchwork pieces at the ready.

I also wanted to share my new crochet project in Craft:, which is on newsstands now. It’s a crocheted bottle cozy, and it buttons up so that you can remove it. It always bugged me that you’d never be able to launder most of the bottle cozies I see (I’m no neat freak, but if you wanted to use it as a vase, surely it would get gross after a while) so I decided to make my own. I love the way the buttons look! This might be crazy, but you could even make these in different colors to use as beer cozies at parties (just make them a little shorter). I’m a wuss, and beer bottles are cold. Check out a sneak peek of the page in the digital edition and rush to your newsstands to see all of the other fun projects in the Green themed issue.

As a present to you, dear readers, I’m giving away one Crocheted Hat gift certificate and one Button Necklace gift certificate to my etsy shop. The winner can pick anything  they like  from the current stock–there’s still a bunch of cute stuff in there. Just leave a comment on this post by Friday at Midnight mountain time (that’s 2 am NY time) and I’ll randomly generate the winners! Yay! If you like, you can say which thing you’d prefer, in case it randomly works out that you can have your cake (hat) and eat it too.

Also- I finally joined Ravelry. I’m still finding my way around and haven’t uploaded many projects, but I’m over there as Lindamade, so feel free to add me.

And, for photo goodness, here’s my finished wonky recycled bathmat. I love it! (Full photo here for scale.)

I added a section of one to the bottom of another. I repeated with a second two shirts (above). It was much easier the second time. I don’t always take the time to do something twice, but lately I have been, and it’s working out for me. All I did was turn the main shirt inside out, match the raw/cut edge of the wrong side to the main shirt  wrong-side hem, sew, flip inside out, and resew the  right side bottom hem of the main shirt (encasing the raw edge). Super easy. And now I don’t have to buy new shirts, nor worry about my unintentional midriff shirts. Seriously, what’s wrong with clothing manufacturers?

After that, I made some chicken tikka masala.  Did you know there are no Indian food restaurants in Bozeman? And no Thai places.  And just so-so Mexican food.  So when I saw Nancy’s post, I was inpsired. But even more inspiring was finding the already made sauce in the ethnic aisle of the grocery store. It was pretty good for not having been made from scratch. Thank goodness for shortcuts.

Friday I will be posting my patchwork swap makings (I just can’t wait any more!) and also giving away a second batch of scraps, and possibly something else.  Stay tuned!

Little by little I’m making all of the things that’ll make this apartment feel like home to me. Saturday night (yes, I am a dork), I made six cloth napkins to complement our placemats. They are the simplest sewing project ever. I just cut them to size (about 15″ by 18″) then pressed each edge under twice. First, I pressed a .5″ hem, then folded half of that under for the second pressing. After that, all that’s left is to stitch around all of the edges. Voila! No more paper napkin waste.  I might be a little eco-crazy, but at least I’m in good company here in Bozeman. We actually got 15 cents back for using our own bags at the grocery store. Yay!

I wanted to share a little craftiness, since it seems like so long since I’ve posted a project. First up is this cute owl pillow I crocheted before I left New York. He’s made up of several fingering weight yarns, and I had a lot of fun playing with the stripes. Here he is on our futon, with fantastic company (pillows from the Fall ‘07 Adorn).

And, while I was at my Mom’s house in Texas, I whipped up a tube for my plastic bags. I wanted to sew on her Bernina since I think that’s the machine I’ll end up getting. It was a breeze! Basically, I sewed a tube with elastic on either end (one end with a very small opening for the bags to come out, one large for the bags to be stuffed into). I sewed the hanging strap down on one side and sewed a snap to the other so that it can hang around the pole in our pantry/closet.  Afterwards, I found this tutorial from Dioramarama, if you’re interested in making your own. Bonus green points for using stash fabric from your mom.

I also took a fabric dyeing class with my mom, and hopefully I’ll be posting some of the results here soon. I wanted to do some overdyeing, but we’ll see if I get around to it.