do you like my hat?

here is another piece I have been struggling with for a few days

(what is up with that anyway?)

 I have some old tintypes that were my great great aunt's

they're round and edged in brass

on the back it says pocket gems

I think they were pocket sized mementos of friendship

do you like my hat?

( go  dog  go )

I was struggling with what to do with the empty space in the bottom half of the thing

then I thought of hydrangeas

... it came to me in the middle of the night ...

yes, my best ideas come when I am sleeping

but how to add hydrangeas?

... beeswax (I dreamed) ...

bees have the answer to so many of life's perplexing questions

(listed on etsy here)

drying hydrangeas

... now is a good time to get going on it!

{ blooms picked today and set to dry }

there are a couple of ways to dry them -

well, three actually

1. water drying

2. hanging them upside down

3. air drying (the easiest)

{ this is how they should look at picking time: leathery and thick }

guess which way of drying them is my favorite?

{ I picked these about 3 weeks ago }

the easiest way!

{ I love using the dried blooms in a wreath }

how to do it?

pick them, strip the leaves, plop them in a pot - no water added

 they will dry out in a week or so

{ they keep their color for about a year }

FYI:

all of my hydrangeas are of the Nikko Blue variety

(although our soil tends to give them a purplish color)

autumnal

this is me

setting out for my morning walk

(do you see the bad hair day under my hat?)

I love to walk on this trail

an old railroad grade converted into a walking/biking trail

(and the occasional horse - watch where you step)

this is the time of year to walk into spiderwebs too

apples are ripening

sunflowers are going strong

the maples are dressing up

 and dressing down

what are the signs of fall where you live?

and if you're down under - are you seeing spring yet?

waterfalls

this is a piece I made a couple of weeks ago

but it was lacking something

today I fiddled with it some more

adding loose thread and some words

thread

and

words

(they are a recurring theme for me)

above
distant
waterfalls

beach glass and pottery collected this summer
stitched onto watercolor paper
painted with watercolor paint
laid atop antique lace

it's not a knitting blog ....

... but I wanted to share this sweet pattern I came up with

all on my own (almost)!

baby crown (newborn size)

my cousins had babies just weeks apart

(the littlest one below was premature)

but he's doing great and will be coming home soon

baby crown (preemie size)

I was knitting away on a baby hat pattern that halfway through was turning out really wonky and strange. Happily, when I turned it upside down it looked just like a crown. So this is really just an adaptation of a hat pattern.

For both crowns I used Lily "sugar and cream" cotton yarn

(medium weight)

and size 3 US double pointed needles (4 needles)

Instructions:

Cast on 73 stitches (preemie: 63 stitches) and divide between 3 needles

Rows 1-3: knit

Rows 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13: purl

Row 4: k2, *yo, k3, sl1, k2tog, psso, k3, yo, k1; repeat from *, end k2 instead of k1

Row 6: k2, *k1, yo, k2, sl1, k2tog, psso, k2, yo, k2; repeat from *, end k3 instead of k2

Row 8: k2, *k2, yo, k1, sl1, k2tog, psso, k1, yo, k3; repeat from *, end k4 instead of k3

Row 10: k2, *k3, yo, sl1, k2tog, psso, yo, k4; repeat from *, end k5 instead of k4

Row 12: k2, *yo, k3, sl1, k2tog, psso, k3, yo, k1; repeat from *, end k2 instead of k1

Row 14-17: k1, p1

Cast off

this knits up super quick

one of them I knit while we were on a road trip this summer (about 3 hours round trip)

and the other I knit while we were watching a movie

... like I said ...

super quick!

celebrating a birthday

my youngest is eleven now

and all I can say is, "where did the time go?"

and I've been thinking ...

will the next eleven years fly just as quickly?

so I embrace the child and savor the day

the party garlands I made by:

folding squares of paper cut from magazines and attaching them to string

threading small pony beads onto ribbon

threading larger glass beads also onto ribbon

and the inimitable crepe paper garland I love so much

*

the wonderful birthday tablecloth is Restoration Hardware (circa 2001)

*

and the sky is last night's sunset 

the last day of summer

summer is ending and the school break is over

I made this piece to tell a story of the joy of summer and time spent together

an interweaving of color, image and texture

expressing thankfulness for such a wonderful summer season

and a sorrow at turning the corner

and in spite of the sorrow,

an absolute happiness for having traveled that way

sunflower love

good things ...

... come in small packages

I've been going a little bit matchbox crazy this summer

I collect early to mid-century photographs of anonymous people

the scenes and the poses really spark my imagination

it was the birth of the snapshot era

everyone had a camera

- just like everyone today has a smart phone -

it's been fun to make miniature theaters inside the matchboxes

they tell the beginnings of a story

this one is my favorite

it just makes me smile

ok, ok, ma'am, I'm pulling them up already!

:)

a cloud in my coffee*

my tea is not tea

and it's not tuesday - it's saturday

so what's up with that?

I've gained some blogging perspective over the summer

and want to keep blogging with joy and without obligation

so, tea on tuesday is no more

which is to say there's nothing stopping you from posting about tea and doing it on tuesdays

... and my morning cuppa is frequent inspiration for me ...

photographically and philosophically

... so you can still sip with me - it just won't be every tuesday like clockwork ...

*"Clouds in my coffee" are the confusing aspects of life and love. That which you can't see through, and yet seems alluring...until. Like a mirage that turns into a dry patch. Perhaps there is something in the bottom of the coffee cup that you could read if you could (like tea leaves or coffee grinds). Carly Simon 5/17/01