Mr. John Deere Monkey is Almost Done

Mr. John Deere Monkey, the prototype for a pattern is almost done. He now has arms, as well as legs, and ears. When I write the pattern, I will need to make it a little smaller than this prototype, as I had to buy more yarn just to finish the second arm and the ears. I want to make one that will not require more than one skein of the yarn.

Six Free Balls of Pretty Purple Yarn, Gardening

At a rummage sale Saturday, there was a large purple sweater in the FREE box. I took it, w/o looking at it carefully, thinking if there was some small thing wrong with it, maybe I could fix it and donate it to the clothing bank where I volunteer. We are always short of clothing for large people, both men and women.



Anyway, on getting it home, I saw that it was badly faded (to a bright blue color) along the side--looks like it had been in a place where the sun shone through a window onto it. So it was no longer usable as a garment and I went to work unraveling it. I didn't try to cut out the damaged parts--I just rolled all into balls, and if the faded parts don't work in my project, I'll just cut the damaged parts out then--I mean, it just MIGHT work.



You just can't beat FREE yarn! And the landfill was saved from yet another piece of clothing.



Went out to my garden during a brief dry period today and killed many, many baby slugs. They had not partaken of the yeast bath I'd left them last night. I think maybe it's too early for them to want to have that....I guess. (Who knows?!) But I went after them with my 50-50 Ammonia/water mix--it dispatches them w/o killing your grass--use this, not salt! They also don't melt into a disgusting slimy mess either--they just dry up. They say for every slug you kill in April, you save yourself from 35 more in July! Considering that I LOVE animals, it pains me a little to have to kill them, but if I don't, I think they'd overrun my garden. I've seen them eat little sprouting plants right down to the ground. So I kill them to save my garden. Do slugs have souls?!

Oops!!!

The grey body of the John Deere Monkey was NOT wool like I thought. And his socks WERE wool, because I made them to match what I thought his body was. SOOOOOOOOOOO, it was back to the drawing board to make a John Deere monkey that is all the same kind of yarn. He is coming along nicely and will go to my friend Karla's grandson. I will take the wool socks off the grey acrylic sock and make a wool monkey that I will try felting.

Sadly, Jessie Lee, the lady that made the (stray) grey sock I was using, and the brown sock from the earlier monkey, died last week. She lived a long life, taught Home Ec, and made many, many beautiful quilts. I didn't get to show her what I was doing with her stray socks. I was going to send her a picture of the one that's almost done. Darn! Some things you just shouldn't put off, you know?

John Deere Monkey!

Tried to post this yesterday, but Blogger wasn't cooperating. Went to a forum and everyone was having problems, so guess it wasn't just me--you never know if it's YOUR computer or a problem with the site, until you check the forum. My computer is off the hook this time.

I decided this time, with this monkey from a stray sock, to take a little more time and unravel the sock to the point where I wanted the legs to begin, separate the stitches into two legs, and reknit the legs with gray for just a short time (not much left of it--used a big hunk for the previous monkey's sweater), and then add extra long socks so the legs wouldn't be TOOOO stubby.

Then decided, I would put REAL socks on this monkey's feet--rather, his feet ARE socks. That was fun! I just used some old green wool yarn I'd picked up at a garage/estate sale, and it looked like John Deere when I added the yellow stripes. Working on the second leg now--stay tuned.

Offloaded a few more things this morning to the ABATE garage sale that is coming up this month--it feels good to get some stray junk out of here; wish I was done with that, but, alas, there is more; they may get another box or two from me before the actual sale. Included were a few small electrical appliances (coffee maker, crock pot, hair curler, hair dryer) that were turned into the CB (clothing bank) as we don't give out those--liability issues; usually those go to Sally Ann, but ABATE is a good group and I want to support them.

I made a Creamy Pea Salad this morning for a funeral and just arranged for it to get a ride over to Hoquiam where the church is. Planted some tomato seeds I'd germinated from a tomato I put in my salad earlier this week; sometimes I do that and then forget them, finding a yucky moldy mess when I finally remember them. So this time, I left them where I'd see them and checked them every day. No telling what kind of tomatoes I'll get from these, because it was probably a hybrid; but I don't care--I've never met a tomato I didn't like.

It's still gray and cold today, but not as rainy. In last 24 hours we had .32 inches of rain; previous 24 to that, we had 1.33 inches. Eventually, the sun will shine again, and until then we just have to tough it out in the gloom! Such is spring in coastal WA; makes one glad to have a warm, cozy home!

STILL working on clearing the kitchen table, but my half is close to done; the other half has a computer on it--that's DH's task: to take it down to the CB. It was donated to them and why it is on OUR kitchen table, just sitting there, is beyond me. I think maybe I was supposed to reacquaint myself with this IMac, but I haven't felt the urge to do that--I figure it'll all come back to me, and it may as well get used to being at the CB. I haven't yet found software that will do what we want; not even sure I know what I'm looking for, either. Sadly, I seem to be one of the folks with the most knowledge of computers among our CB workers, and that is not saying much for us. I''m no software expert.

Green Knitting, Green Monkey

This monkey is GREEN because he has been made from two mismatched, handknit wool socks. A dear lady gave us a dozen or so pairs of wool socks she'd knitted for her now-departed husband, to pass on to the clothing bank we work for and at. However, there were four stray socks, and even very destitute people like to have their socks match just like everyone else's do.

What could I do with those four socks? I could always use them for dusting and polishing, but I wanted to give them a more dignified task than that. Knowing and honoring the work that had gone into them, I wanted them to be seen, not stuffed into my ragbag.

I had made many sock monkeys, but none from handknit wool socks, and so this little guy was an experiment, as is much of what I do. I wished that there was more contrast in color between the two socks I used for him, but there wasn't, so I tried edging the "shirt" he is wearing with turquoise, and I was happy enough with the result.

This picture is a bag of yarn of various fibers, all gleaned from unknitting/frogging (rip it!) items from rummage sales/ thrift stores. It takes a little time, but can't be beat for the price, which is usually a dollar, sometimes much less than that, for each garment. I highly recommend doing this and will continue doing it myself.

Green Knitting Project is Finished

And I was only a couple days late mailing it off, too, which is VERY GOOD for me! I worked hard to get it done, too; I am trying to be better at FINISHING things; I am already good at STARTING things. I paid $2.15 for the sweater pictured above, and used most of the yarn to knit the bag at right. Because it was for another knitter, I lined the bag so the knitting needles wouldn't poke through so easily. I designed the bag myself--it actually started to be a scarf and then I decided it was WAY too wide and thick for that. So I changed in midstream and decided it was a bag. The swap was with The Green Knitting Club at SwapBot.com I haven't received my package yet, but I am very much looking forward to getting it. I hope Sara likes the bag and that the USPS delivers it safely to her!

Green Knitting

I'm making progress on my Green Knitting Club project for Swapbot.com. I think I will be able to mail it on Monday, only one day past the deadline. This is MUCH better than I usually do with swaps. Maybe I really AM getting more organized. My knitting group helps me stay on task, too.
What is green knitting, you ask? It is buying a knitted item at a thrift store, unraveling it to produce several balls of yarn, and reknitting it into something new. Grandmothers in China have been doing this since dirt was invented, unraveling a grandchild's outgrown sweater and reknitting it in a larger size. I swap with Swap-bot!

Taking apart knitted garment, making something new

Last night I cut apart a cotton (knitted) sweater, planning to make it into a bag. Previously when I did this, I unraveled the entire sweater, however this sweater had lovely diamonds knitted into it and I didn't want to destroy them. So, I cut the sweater at the arms, so I had a straight piece of knitted fabric. Then I sewed a seam at the side and unraveled one arm's worth of yarn. The ribbing end of the piece(formerly at the bottom of the sweater) will now become the top of my bag. I attached my yarn at the raw edge of my bag and picked up the free loops; I began to knit, to make my bag deeper. That is where I'm at now-see picture.

Next, I plan to begin decreases to make an oval bottom to the bag. After that I will knit an eyelet row above the ribbing, and knit a strap. Then the bag will be finished, and it will have cost me just a couple of dollars.

A word of warning about purchasing used sweaters to unravel: many sweaters these days are not knit per se. The pieces are cut from large pieces of knit fabric, much as you would cut the pieces for a shirt from cloth fabric. You DON'T want to use these sweaters for unraveling as all you will get is one yard long pieces of yarn! (Ask me how I know!) You want to buy a hand knit sweater; these sweaters will be sewn together with the yarn they were knitted from, and they will have very finished-looking seams, unlike the seams from the former sweaters which will have seams with little short pieces of yarn kind of poking out. You may get some of the wrong sweaters at first, but you can still use the yarn from them to crochet little amigurumi toys, etc. You don't need to waste it. Good luck and happy hunting and knitting!

My First Knitted Rainbow Baby

This is my first Rainbow Baby, made from Jean Greenhowe's pattern: www.jeangreenhowe.com/Images/Rainbow_Babies.pdf -
I used number two needles and worsted weight yarn, and at first it was difficult to knit with that thicker yarn on those thinner needles, but I was pleased with the finished result. I might try using number 3 (US) needles next time, but I DID get used to the twos. The main yarn in this toy was gleaned from a thrift store vest I unraveled.