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.

Several Evenings Project

A very kind lady, when her husband passed on, gave us several pairs of handmade socks she'd made for him. She wanted them to go to the clothing bank and they did and were snapped up very quickly. However, there were a few socks w/o mates and I wondered what to do with those. I decided to use them to make sock monkeys, which are a favorite thing of mine to make. The first one is close to being done--I'll post a picture when he's done. He needs earsl. I may have to knit those. I knit some to make his arms long enough, too, from yarn I unraveled. I love a challenge, and I love to recycle and reuse,; I like the phrase "reprised materials," too.

The Sewing Machine I Won by Accident

Oh, boy! I did it again!! I mean, I WANTED it, but I thought when I offered the seller half of what he asked, I'd get a note that he OK'd it BEFORE I actually bought it. Nope! That's not the way it works; if you offer them less and they accept the offer, it's YOURS.

I'm not SORRY! It's a lovely little Spartan, not much bigger than a Featherweight, but weighs about twice as much!! I have a "thing" with old sewing machines, can you tell?!

Screamer's Cute Baby Has Shoes

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Screamer's Cute Baby (sounds like the name of a dog with a fancy pedigree, or a race horse!!!) now has feet and a pair of shoes. Not just ANY shoes, mind you, but VINTAGE baby shoes--the kind I wore when I was in three cornered pants. I watch garage, rummage, and estate sales for these shoes, mainly for my vintage dolls, but also for the dolls I make. My friends make pretty art dolls but I make funky weird dolls that make people laugh. And I laugh right along with them!

The reason he is called Screamer's Cute Baby is that his face is made in a manner similar to Screamer's, but Screamer's head is a bottle gourd and Baby's face is a hollow plastic ball. But you can see a slight similarity between the two. Soon he will have hands, and then I will call him done.

Well, back to cleaning off the kitchen table; I'd take a picture of it BEFORE but I'd be too embarrassed. I DO have some pride, ya know!?!

Planting Sweet Potatoes

You can buy the slips, but why buy what you can make yourself? You take a sweet potato and put four toothpicks, equally spaced, around its "waist." Then put it in a jar of water, so that only half of it is in the water--the toothpicks will keep the top part of it OUT of the water. I painted my jar black, but you could just wrap it in aluminum foil--roots don't like light.
Soon, the potato will start to have little green sprouts. When they are about two inches long, take the potato out of the water, and carefully cut the potato to separate the spouts, but don't separate the sprouts from the little hunk of potato that it's growing from. Plant each "slip" in a pot of soil and let it grow until it's time to plant it outside--after all danger of frost is over.
I'll post a pic of mine when it spouts--stay tuned.