Hand me ups and my new favorite smell

All my new clothes lately have been items my kids have outgrown or old things re-fashioned into items I will actually wear. Luckily, my son has a thing for Hawaiian print shirts, which I love wearing. Never worn pants turn into smashing pencil skirts in an afternoon. Presto! Brand new outfits with vintage flair and minimum effort.  At some point I will succeed in forcing my hair into a vintage style, if only it would hold a curl for longer than two seconds.
Darling Daughter has contributed some wonderful basic shirts in lovely colors and capris that are a bit long on me, but quite comfortable, replacing similar items in my closet that had been starting to disintegrate.

These lovelies are paired with a limited (sadly) scent from ZOMG Smells that makes me keep sniffing my own arms so I can get a whiff of it!

There's also been a lot of stash pillaging for all the sweaters and socks I think I need to knit right this instant for the precise moment the temperature drops into the semblance of Fall-ish-ness.  Maybe just enough of a weather change so I can wear my lighter shawls without feeling like a sweaty sausage in a pretty wool casing?

Gold and Gooseberries

I got some proper metallic gold yarn to make flashy accessories for the upcoming holidays, probably a snood and a pair of lacey things to put on my hands, because if I start now, they may be done it time.
We found gooseberries at the store this weekend! Having never tried them before, we bought a basket.

Once you pop them out of their papery outer shell, there's a lovely citrus/floral scent.

The boys weren't very fond of them, so Daughter and I had to eat them!
I over-dyed three shawls worth of yarn a couple of weeks ago, remembering to take pictures for once, only to be so otherwise occupied that I haven't put the post together.
The summer weather around here hasn't exactly encouraged activity.

It was a good idea...

I knit a beautiful button up vest from the Sinnesfrid pattern on Knitty.  The color is wonderful. The fit is outstanding.

The buttons I picked are vintage reproductions. I adore them. They are perfect for the top.

Except for one minor detail.  They are too heavy for the piece.  So much so that it radically distorts the entire top.
It now stares at me from the table, taunting me until I can get to the store to buy new buttons.
To deal with the frustration, I cast on a new sweater.

I figured it was time for a trim

My hand is seven inches, from wrist to fingertip.  My hair still comes to the middle of my back.  My lower back feels naked!

Peppers and a blanket

I had been trying to grow some hot peppers this spring, only to have the downpours in May drown my poor plants.  So, I re-planted. 

Chocolate and purple sweet peppers. As well as some black chile peppers I picked up the seed for at the local botanical gardens.

The rest of my poor potted plants look a little sad, or empty, thanks to bouts of heavy rain and high temperatures.
The other thing consuming my summer, aside from the outings we go on that I consistently forget to take pictures of, is working from my craft stash.  Inspired by The Knitgrllls and their Stash Dash knitalong, I decided why of course I could knit 4375 yards of yarn by August!  It would clear some stuff off my needles, maybe make some room in the storage bins.
So I knit a blanket.

The picture doesn't do the color justice. It glows like fall leaves hit by the sun.  And I kind of adore it! At about 4 feet across, it will make a lovely lap blanket when it gets cooler.  A heavier gauge wool blanket probably wasn't the best choice for a summer project, but it's 1100 yards out of my yarn stash.

As part of the work from the craft stash, I also pulled out and washed fabric enough for seven dresses, several skirts (a combination of pencil and a-line), and two or three aprons. The patterns Hawthorne and Ceylon over at Colette Patterns were really responsible for the sewing re-boot.  Paired with a need for new clothes, a true dislike for what the standard available (and worn), plus a shape that requires me to tailor store bought items anyway, may as well make my own right? 
Crash course in advanced and couture sewing techniques here I come!

Cake and Dishcloths

Husband and I celebrated our seventeenth wedding anniversary a few days ago. We decided that that meant we needed cake. And wine.

Homemade German chocolate cake, at Husband's request, and a bottle of red with a label that made us both snicker.  It wasn't fancy, but we honestly couldn't come up with much else.  We had gone out to lunch and done a little shopping earlier in the day. After the hordes of weekend shoppers, cake and wine on the couch together sounded outstanding.
During said shopping, I picked up a ball of dishcloth cotton.  Something a bit louder than the standard. I absolutely adore it.

It's more vibrant in person. Darling Daughter called it clown barf. Husband and Darling Son, raised eyebrows and shrugged, forbearing actual verbal commentary.  I have cheerful washcloths to wash my face with. What problem?
The thing I've been most in need of lately is a bit more exercise. So I took up burlesque.  In my living room.  For now.

Breakfast, Books and Bat wings

In this case, breakfast goes on your face, though you could readily eat any leftovers.

I've found several face mask recipes using variations on these ingredients lately, this is my personal concoction.  I mashed up a few (4 or 5) fresh, slightly over ripe strawberries with two tablespoons Greek yogurt, a tablespoon or less of honey and a couple tablespoons of oat flour (chuck rolled oats in a coffee grinder you don't use for coffee. Presto!)  I tasted it first, quite yummy, then proceeded to smear said goo on face, neck and shoulders, trying to avoid being seen by other members of my household for about twenty minutes or so.  I washed off the glop with skin that looked smoother and I felt better, but that could be the result of sitting still for twenty minutes so I didn't drop strawberry yogurt stickiness all over my house.  Your results may vary(like if you have allergies to any of the stuff in it, avoid it!)

As for the books, well, they are honestly a bigger addiction than yarn for me, plus you can get  books about yarn which gets me coming and going. Luckily for you, I don't just read about yarn. I also read about plants and booze and even sometimes a little fiction. ;-)
Tequila Mockingbird  by Tim Federle is quite funny if you are into literature and drinks. I am, so I giggled through the whole thing.
The Drunken Botanist by Amy Stewart is wonderful! Fun to read while being quite informative and not feeling like you are sitting in a lecture. If you like plants and booze, this is for you.
Wicked Plants  by the same author, is what I am currently reading.  It's rather audience specific. If you like reading about the histories behind poisonous plants and their effects, it's probably for you. I happen to be enjoying it quite a bit!
The last book for now is one that was loved by the whole house. We are eagerly awaiting the second book! It is The Rook by Daniel O'Malley. It's just awesome!

And as for the bat wings....well, I realized all the tops I plan on making/wearing this summer are sleeveless and quite honestly bat wings sounded better than bingo arms. It did make me re-work my weight lifting routine, so I hope to be just batty instead of be-winged. :-)

New freezer and new shoes

We got a new freezer! It's been about two years since the old one died and the extra food storage has been sorely missed.  A decided upgrade, as it easily holds more than our current fridge/freezer combo in the kitchen.  Fewer grocery store runs, yay!

I also got a new pair of shoes I totally adore.

They aren't flashy, but wow are they comfortable!  I have rather narrow feet that tend to slide in standard shoes, so ballet flats that feel like slippers and don't give me blisters are an amazing find. The fact that I got them out of Payless Shoes was another bonus.

I'm starting to think I might be easily entertained.

In Preparation of a Plum Summer

This is the first top to come off the needles for this summer. It is the Laresca pattern, considerably shortened.  The yarn is a silk/bamboo blend that had been languishing in the yarn stash for several years in a color described originally as cassis(blackcurrant).  There is another tank top on the needles that is a soft cotton in an antique lavender shade. 
The new lip stuff I am really adoring right now are courtesy of Neutrogena in shades of plum and berry .  I have even dipped my toe back into plum eyeshadow territory, with far better success than my earlier experiments with outright purple more than two decades previous, which resulted in something that could be described as a purple panda after a fistfight.
I figure it must be my subconscious trying to rebel against Pantone's color choice for this year, especially with my current ability to wear some shade of green every day for two weeks without repetition.
Till another color takes my fancy, I will just dress like I'm celebrating Mardi Gras all summer. :-D

Mother's Day Around Here

Is not a big occasion. This year even less so as Husband had to work.
The kids did bake me an awesome cake.

When Husband came home, he walked in with these:

The roses went with the wonderfully classy shirt that I wore the rest of the day:

It ended up being a lovely, relaxing day.  I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it!

A little productivity

Last weekend all other knitting projects were put on hold so I could make the baby socks Husband requested for a co-worker.

And then I decided I needed to join, at least in spirit, the Orange KAL dreamed up by Amy Beth over at The Fat Squirrel Speaks.

I just happened to have this yarn sitting in my stash, all ready to go.  It has tried to be several other things but the Spiral Blanket of Awesome by Sharon McMahon is apparently the perfect pattern for it.
Monday I decided it was time to rearrange my closet and bedroom, to make all those projects in waiting a bit more accessible of course.
Worn out with all the, "yay it's finally warm for a whole week" cleaning, I decided to do the finishing work on the Octopus Bag.

With it's happy shrimp lining. ;-)

Which means back to work on lace shawls and new summer tops for awhile.  At this rate I might actually get them finished! :-D