Look what came flying up out of my garden the other day!! A Red Tailed Hawk!! Maybe he was huting little critters in there! He is so beautiful!!

And so close to our house too!!

Well I made a plan Thought it would really work. Thought I had a great idea!! Then it didn't work. The last two nights we have had a frost. So yesterday morning I pulled the sprinkler out to my garden to sprinkle the tomato plants and wash the frost off of them before the sun touched them. You can save them a little longer that way. SO... I left the sprinkler out there Because there was going to be another frost last night. So I got up at 5:30am in my housecoat and turned the water on, and went back to bed confident that it was taking care of the plants for me. Got up at 6:30am and realized it was not sprinkling the plants. So there I went in my housecoat and found that the hose was frozen. So there was a joint where the hose was not frozen but it doesn't reach quite to the garden. My dear Hubby connected the sprinkler to it but the sprinkler was frozen. So we connected the spray nozzle to it and sprayed them by hand. By that time the sun was pretty much coming up. I don't know if we saved any of them. We will have to look later. We may be picking lots of green tomatoes. We really didn't get any ripe ones this year. It is like the dream I have had in the past where it snowed on my tomatoes before I got any. It is a crisp 33° out this morning. So we had an early morning get really cold trying to spray off the tomatoes morning! :o)
I am still working on Alligator scarves. I have some that I need to take pictures of. I am making one that is black with bling. I will make a hat to go with it.
Have a great day!!
God Bless You!!
Mary

I got the gray alligator done, and now I am working on a sort of Sage Green one. I actually got this gray one done in 2 days. It went really fast. But now I have a band-aid on my index finger from the pointyness of my knitting needles.
When I knit a lot that finger gets sore. I made a little cloth thimble kind of thing to protect my finger when it gets sore but it does get in the way of my knitting some. But then band-aids wear out too soon.
We actually got a lot of rain yesterday. It has been a looooong time since we have had any. the only green thing left is my garden because I have been watering it. I have lots of little green tomatoes coming on the vines. We had some fried green tomatoes yesterday for lunch.
Have a great day!!
God Bless you!!
Mary

I am working on more Alligator scarfs. People that see them seem to be amazed by them. I have just about memorized most of the pattern now.

These pink ones have Bling in them. There is a silver thread in the yarn. I saw some of this yarn in black and I am wondering what an Alligator scarf in that would look like. I am thinking this will be an alligator Christmas this year. I can make one up in three or four days. They are easy enough to knit while watching my favorite NCIS shows.
I really like NCIS mostly because the setting and the towns that they talk about is in the area where I grew up!
On the garden scene. We had two nights with frost already. It is early. The frost damaged the cucumber and Cantaloupe plants. So parts of them are dieing off. But it didn't harm any of the tomato plants and they have a lot of green tomatoes coming on. Hope they get ripe. I am really ready for a lot of nice ripe tomatoes. Haven't had hardly any all summer. I picked a canteloupe today. It was small but seemed to be ripe. We have had some heated weather this week. It was back in the 90's. But a cool front is supposed to come in tonight and we will be back in the 70's.
Have a great day!!
God Bless You!!
Mary

Well I got the E-Monster hats done. One has already went to the person that wanted it. The other one may go to another person that is interested in one.

I am now working on my sweater that I hoped I would have done before cold weather. But it has already been cold enough for sweaters the last two days.

We even had Frost the last two mornings. My cucumber plants got some damage. I think they will be OK maybe for a little while. It didn't seem to damage the tomato plants at all. I hope I can get some tomatoes from the plants before the end. There are quite a few green ones coming on. In fact there are more tomatoes on them now than there have been all summer.
Have a great day!!
God Bless you!!
Mary

I got the Alligator Afghan done!! I will take it to Hope Circle this next Thursday.
I'm also working on an E Monster Hat. I will be making two of them because my first one is more orange than red.

So one will go to Hope Circle and the other one to a friend that wanted it for her grand daughter.
I will probably be making more Alligators but they will be for scarfs this time. I am finding that my knitting may become a little source of income. I enjoy knitting a lot. It would be great to get paid to do it. Knitting is a nice relaxing thing to do when I get up in the morning and at times during the day. When I go out and work in the garden and get too hot and sweaty, the knitting under a ceiling fan is a relaxing way to cool off. I am also glad that our weather has cooled off a lot. The temps are 20° cooler than they were. Now instead of the 90-100° temps we are in the 70° temps. We however have not gotten any rain, so I am having to water my garden to keep the cucumbers coming in.
Have a great day!!
God Bless You!!
Mary

I have the Alligators done for the Afghan I am making for Hope Circle. Now to get them crocheted together. I think they will make a very interesting Afghan. I have a little hat to work on next for a friend.


On the garden scene. I had some Cantaloupe come up volunteered. They have about a dozen cantaloupes coming on. The cucumbers that I planted are now starting to produce. So now we do have something fresh from the garden. The tomatoes didn't make anything but they look like a flower garden again. So maybe this fall we will actually get a crop of tomatoes. I can only hope. I canned pickled banana and Jalapeño peppers. So far we have tasted the Banana ones and they taste great. Just like the ones you get on your sub at Sub-Way!!
Have a great day!!
God Bless you!!
Mary

I got my granddaughter's Shawl done! Here is a picture of her with the Shawl and the hat that I made her on.
I also finished an Afghan for Hope Circle. It was a granny square one. I used up some yarn in it that I considered ugly. But it came out good in the squares.
Now I am starting a new Afghan for Hope Circle. It is an Alligator one. I am making different color Alligator scarfs and putting them together to make it an Afghan. It will be nice for a little boy that needs cheering up. I may end up in our local newspaper, because they came to the Hope Circle group last night and took pictures of all the ladies making things for the terminally ill patients. She took a lot of pictures of the alligators. I think she was intrigued by them and their texture.

On the garden scene. My tomato plants look like a flower garden again. Hopefully they will make a few tomatoes before frost. We have gotten very few tomatoes this year so far. I planted some cucumber seeds and the plants are growing good. Hopefully they have time to make some cucumbers before frost too. My newspaper with grass clippings on top are doing a good job of keeping the weeds at bay. Much better than trying to keep up with them otherwise.
We haven't had much rain this summer. but I think last night made up for it. We had torrential rain. I was knitting at Barnes and Noble when it hit. I figured it was the best place to wait out the storm. At least I was dry!!

Have a great day!!
God Bless you!!
Mary

I pickled my Banana Peppers from the garden today. I got 6 pints out of them. It is much more than I was expecting. They seem to have all sealed. Now to wait a few weeks for them to pickle good.

On the Crochet scene. I started a Granny square afghan for Hope Circle. They give blankets and hats to terminally ill patients. They run out of the blankets all the time. It is also something to use up some of my stash on.
Have a great day!!
God Bless You!!
Mary

Here are the two items I made for my granddaughter's birthday!! The shawl is my Queen Sarah Shawl pattern made smaller for a girls size.
I am in the process of writing and making the pattern available in Ravelry. First I need a picture of her modeling it. So I have to wait for the birthday.
I am working on an afghan for my friend Anthony and his new wife. I am halfway done with it.
Have a great day!!
God Bless you!!
Mary

I have 2 projects on the needle right now. An Afghan for my friend Anthony who has gotten married, And a Hat for my granddaughter Kaylee, for her birthday. I will probably get the hat done in a day. It is such a cute little pattern. The Afghan should be done in the next couple of weeks. They go really fast.
We picked tomatoes and peppers from the garden yesterday. I also picked some Blackberries. I think the Blackberries are about done producing. There are only a few left, that are reachable anyway.
I need to think about my Christmas projects. But it is hard to think about it in all this heat. Still I don't want to be the last minute trying to get things made.
Have a great day!!
God Bless You!!
Mary

I have gotten the Queen Sarah Shawl done!! I am working on another one for my granddaughter for her birthday. She picked out the colors. We are celebrating her mommies birthday and she had to have me make this Scottie dog quilt for her. So we spent the last three days making it. My granddaughter is modeling it.
Have a great day!!
God Bless You!!
Mary

I couldn't get my pictures to come up in my other post so I put them in this one. The green one is the Queen Sarah shawl that I made for my daughter's birthday. The white one is one that I am doing to test knit the pattern. I think I will use it at Church when they have the air too cold for me. The blue shawl is the one I finished for my other daughter for her graduation.
Have a great day!!
God Bless you!!
Mary

Well it has been a while again.... I have been so busy with garden and crocheting lately. I'm working on another shawl. I'm calling it the Queen Sarah shawl. I'm writing the pattern. I made one for my daughter Sarah for her birthday. Now I'm test knitting the pattern by making one for me. There was a lot of mistakes in it. So I am going to have to make another one to make sure there aren't too many mistakes. My grand daughter wants one. So I think I will include a little girl size into the pattern. That way it will be test knitted again. It is a crochet design with Pineapples in it. I need to get a more recent picture of it.

The blueberries are pretty much done and I have been picking blackberries like mad. I wear some gloves with plastic palms, so that I can avoid some of the stickers. I still get all stuck on my arms though. But the berries taste great!! I pulled up all the multiplier onions and chopped them up and froze them. I replanted the tops for new growth. I started weeding in my herb garden this morning. It got hot fast so I will do more in the morning. I have tomatoes coming on my vines, but they are not ripe yet. I can hardly wait to get some ripe ones. There are so many flowers that I think we will be overwhelmed with tomatoes this year. I have picked a couple of banana peppers and some Jalapeño peppers. I had a volunteer cucumber plant come up and it has been giving us an abundant supply of cucumbers. My zucchini are just now blooming. two of the plants bit the dust and became dust. So I put in a couple of more seeds. I don't know if they will make anything. I do hope for some zucchini. I like it in kabobs.

My daughter is graduating from college with her Masters in Engineering. I am making her this shawl for graduation. The pattern is in Russian, but it has charts. This is actually my first time using charts to do Crochet. It seems to be going well. I have made doilies before and this pattern seems a lot like them. It probably helps some, the fact that I have been crocheting for more than 40 years. I know the stitches well. I just hope I can get it done before May 8th.
Have a great day!!
God Bless you!!
Mary

Here are the projects I have been working on lately. I finished another Afghan . This one for my niece who is getting married in June. I started another prayer shawl using a leaf pattern and an ivy leaf pattern in lace. Then there is the Raglan sweater that I finally got started. Hopefully I will have it done before next winter, so I can wear it. My other sweaters are getting thread bare.



Have a great day!!
God Bless you!!
Mary

What would you call it??

I saw the neatest scarf shawl thing. I want to design a lace one but I don't know what to call it. It looks like a scarf in the front, as if you flipped the ends of the scarf over your shoulders. BUT in the back the ends are connected and knitted all the way across. So it is like a shawl. With a hole for your head. Anyone have any idea of what to call it?

Have a great day!!
God Bless You!!
Mary

I have been busy Knitting and Crocheting this week. These are for my grandchildren for Easter. The kitties are from an Alan Dart Pattern. And the little purse is from a Scalloped Pot Holder pattern that I found in Ravelry. I adapted it into a purse and put a lining in it.

We have the web page with Yarn and Project bags included! My son helped me get the Pay Pal connection so we could sell them.
I have been busy knitting. Have a couple of projects done and started on a couple more.

I finished Father Son mitts , and an ear-flap hat for my dear Hubby.

Now I am working on a prayer shawl for Church with a candle flame lace pattern on it and a from the top v-neck sweater for me. My other sweaters that I made some years ago are now wearing out. So I need some new ones. I have some yarn and projects that are hibernating. I think this year I am going to make it a goal to get them started and out of hibernation.
Have a great day!!
God Bless You!!
Mary

Sock Blockers for sale

We have Sock Blockers to sell!!
I am also looking into selling some Yarn from MIB Fibers like the ones you see in the picture, and some project bags too!! I don't have a sample picture of the project bags yet. I am working on that. I will update things when I get them up online!
We do have several sets of Sockblockers done and ready to go. I use them to display finished socks for pictures that I put in my finished projects in Ravelry.
I got my Icarus Shawl finished blocked and all!! I started with the little gray blocking pads then I found out very quickly that a set of 9 of them is not nearly big enough to block a shawl. So I went looking at the big ones that my grand-kids play with and added them to the gray ones and with a little putting puzzle together I figured out a way to have enough blocking pads to stretch it out on.
It may be an Idea for me to go to Sam's and get their nice big package of the pads that cost about the same as the little set of 9. I am definitly going to keep my eyes open for those ones at Sam's.
Have a great day!!
God Bless you!!
Mary

It has been a while since I have posted.
We have been making Sock Blockers to sell.
They are made out of wood and have a hook shape on top so that you can hang them up.
I use them to display my finished socks, so that I can take pictures of them.

I am working on a couple of monster socks, some fingerless mitts and the same old Log Cabin Afghan. When I get the socks and the mitts done I want to start on a sweater and maybe another shawl. I got my Icarus Shawl done but I still need to block it. (Maybe today)

You all have a great day!!
God Bless You!!
Mary