Everything's Coming Up Orchids

Did you know that orchids are the second largest family of flowering plants and have between 21,950 and 26,049 species? Did you know that the vanilla we use to flavor all of our wonderful baked goods is an orchid genus? Me either!

I was recently given this beautiful orchid as a hostess gift. I don't think I've ever had an orchid to kill before.

Many other varieties of plants have given their lives up to my black thumb, but this will - eventually - be my first orchid fatality.

I've actually had it for four weeks now and it's still alive and looking healthy as you can see by my photos. Keep your fingers crossed -- maybe this one will make it!

I've finished a project with orchid colored yarn as well. I am donating a shawl to a local charitable organization for their annual fundraiser next month. I knitted the body of it on the knitting machine, only using every other needle to make the stitches looser and lacier.

Then crocheted a border around it ...

Fringed it and blocked it to open up the stitches ...

It's so soft and pretty ... and it's ready to go.

Hope it brings in a few bucks for the organization.

Fair Isle Purse

Finished the Fair Isle purse for the granddaughter this morning. She is so cute and so excited to use her purse. There isn't a lot of Fair Isle stranding in this purse, but having done it on the knitting machine makes me happy.



I have a Bond America Ultimate Sweater Machine (although I have yet to make any sweaters with it) and have been really pleased with the finished objects produced on it. Another thing I learned on this purse was how to knit in a hem on the machine. Very cool! This hem is the inside front of the purse above the button and, per the directions, I bought a sheet of plastic canvas at the craft store, cut a piece to fit and slid it into the hem to provide stiffness.



I did, as usual, make some of my own adjustments to the pattern. I felt the purse flap was too floppy and curly, even after crocheting an edge and blocking, so I knitted another flap in just the brown yarn and stitched it to the inside of the flap. I like this a lot for two reasons -- it adds weight and stability to the flap and it covers the floats so she won't accidentally catch them.

The original pattern also calls for a strap and stitched on trim of braided yarn. Aaaaaannnhhh! I decided to hand-knit a strap in one of my favorites, moss stitch. It creates a dense, textured, heavier fabric and looks very nice for the strap. Something I hadn't done before but had read about many times is slipping the first stitch of each row for a prettier edge. It really works! Chose a pretty ivory colored 1' button and chain stitched a loop for the closure.

 

Saturday Chat

We had a big thunderstorm Friday evening with lots of lightning. The rain smells wonderful and cooled things off a bit. The high temperature today is only supposed to be 98 degrees, which is an 11 degree drop from yesterday. Went to one of our favorite farmers' markets this morning. Have to support the local farmers and get great fresh produce!



Got some nice vegetables. Planning to make stuffed bell peppers next week and found some beautiful red ones. Going to do an herb roasted chicken with roasted veggies for hubby's birthday dinner tomorrow. It's one of his favorites. Got russet potatoes, sweet potatoes, baby bell peppers, onions and mushrooms to roast. We'll also be doing one of the cholesterol laden southwestern breakfasts he loves in the morning with maple bacon, eggs, a pot of pinto beans, tortillas and, yes, more potatoes.

Went off on a tangent yesterday and decided to start knitting a Christmas gift. All I will say is this is the softest boucle yarn -- absolutely yummy!

Also decided I want to learn Fair Isle knitting on the knitting machine. Working on a purse that was one of the learning projects in the book that came with it. I think it went well, although I had a few tense cuss word moments. Will put on a photo of it once completed, but here it is on the machine -- the back of the knitting shows where you can see the floats of yarn.



Have a great weekend, everyone!

Prayer Shawl Ministry

Another prayer shawl is completed and I will be sending it to someone who recently lost her husband in an auto accident. She was injured as well and I'm sure the physical and emotional healing will require much strength and support.

I include a card with each shawl given that is appropriate to their particular situation whether it be illness, a new baby, a birthday, bereavement, etc. Following is a sample of the card given to someone who was going through chemotherapy:

This shawl was made just for you

To bring comfort

To know you are loved

To share in your joy

This shawl is to wrap you up

When you're cold

When you're hurting

When you need to snuggle

This shawl was knitted

With Blessings

With Love

With Prayers

 Another verse I like to use:

This is a prayer shawl

but it’s also a hug

Thousands of stitches

each made with love

 So wrap it around you

and let yourself feel

the love of your friends

every day of the year!

This prayer shawl is a combination of lace rib and stockinette stitch stripes on the knitting machine and the border was crocheted by hand.

If you are interested in a prayer shawl ministry or how it came about, click here. Many churches and charitable organizations are now embracing the prayer shawl ministry. It's a beautiful thing!

Knit Cotton Dishcloths

I love to knit cotton dishcloths. In fact, that's what got me started knitting again a few years ago. I was flipping TV channels and came upon "Knitty Gritty" and they were knitting bar cloths. It made me absolutely yearn to knit something so I ran to the store and grabbed some needles and cotton yarn.

There is a very cool website of free patterns for all kinds of clever hand-knit dishcloths/washcloths at Knitting Pattern Central.com. In fact, they have patterns for many things available -- if you haven't seen it, you should check it out.

I've made a bunch of these cute dishcloths for gifts. The apple, knit in red, is a great teacher gift and the pear in green is adorable. I've made the cowboy hat for my sister who loves all things western. My other sister, who has been to Paris, got the Eiffel Tower. The duckie and teddy bear are wonderful little washcloths as part of a baby gift. I've given the dragonfly to my mom and the butterfly to my mother-in-law for Mother's Day. I've made the bunny and used some fuzzy white yarn for a pom-pom tail at Easter.

Dishcloth on the knitting machine

Just recently, I've started knitting a square on my knitting machine (27 needles, 35 rows), then crocheting around it; first single crochet, then double crochet, then another row of single crochet. They are so fast and easy and look beautiful -- love the variegated yarns. I've been able to get 2 dishcloths from each skein.

I've made a bunch that I use myself. They really are functional and work well in the kitchen, wash nicely and wear like iron. These two I am giving as a hostess gift next weekend.

I was trying to come up with a way to present these dishcloths to our hostess without just using a gift bag and thought this was fun ... tied up together with a ribbon to look like a bouquet.

Bouquet of dishcloths

Knit Naked

Lace Rib Panel on my Knitting Machine

While I love to hand-knit, a few years ago my husband got me a knitting machine for Christmas. So far, it has been great for large panels of stockinette stitch but I decided recently to learn a new stitch. I wanted to make a prayer shawl for a friend and settled on the Lace Rib Stitch.

Everything was going very smoothly -- I had the stitch down and probably had 100 rows finished. Now let me set the stage. I have my machine set up on my kitchen counter, which is bar stool height rather than table height. I prefer to stand while I run the carriage back and forth. Then I sit when I'm working the stitches, which puts me at eye level with the needles.

I had on a terry cloth swimsuit cover up that I wear around the house as a robe. As I ran the carriage across the needles, it crunched to a stop. Oh yes, I had caught the front of my robe in the needles! Because I was leaning over the knitting machine, it was impossible to unhook the robe from the needles while in it. So I had to wriggle out of the robe, pulling it over my head. (Here is the TMI part -- send the children out of the room.) I was completely naked underneath the robe so I am standing in my kitchen, pulling it off over my head while attached to the knitting machine.

Had to run to the bedroom, put on another robe, then go take that thing apart and save the knitting I had done. Fortunately, after laughing, crying and a few 4-letter words, I was able to get back on track and resume knitting.

When I told my mom about this, she said the knitting machine company should probably put a warning on the product that suggests you not wear loose clothing or just knit naked!

The prayer shawl is beautiful. I single crocheted, then double crocheted around it for edge stability. Will gift it to my friend on August 1st. There was a lot of praying done during the making of this prayer shawl!