An envelope made of pink yarn really does look a lot like the pink pussy hats that were symbols of protest a few years ago.
I made a trivet to go under it, too.
It’s my first trivet/coaster and it isn’t perfect. And the cozy’s a little loose. But, it’ll work for what I need it to do.
The cozies at the tea room had little flowers in the corner. That may get added later. But, it’s beyond my skill set right now. And I have a couple of afghans to finish.
I’ve wanted a cozy for my tea pots for a while and the patterns I found on line were more complicated than my present skill set. Top Hat Special-Teas in Florence, SC uses cozies that are rectangles folded over and stitched together on each end with a flat square placed underneath. I really liked how easy it looked to make and they were very functional. So, I decided to make at least one for myself.
One of the patterns in my most recent afghan kit is called a seed stitch. I like it because it’s easy and it makes a nice, thick weave. (I used it for Jeff’s infinity scarf.) It alternates single and double crochets with the other one going into each when you go the other direction. So, you start with an odd number of stitches.
I have a couple of skeins of pink that I bought and changed my mind about and I decided to use the lighter one for a cozy (Micheal’s Loop & Thread, soft rose). I can do that more thoughtlessly than some of the bits of the afghan I’m working on. So, it’s a fallback project when my hands want something to do and my mind isn’t into it.
I got my white teapot down to estimate how big I think it needs to be. But, I think I’ve made it larger than necessary. I didn’t really feel like ripping it out to start over because I’m fairly far along.
But, looking at the size difference again is going to change my mind about that. It’s not like I have a schedule for getting it done and I think I’d rather redo it now than be unhappy with it later.
I’ll use the dark pink to learn to make a round to go under it once this is done. And I have some leftover red if I decide I want to learn to make a flower for decoration.
How girlie is this? Pretty damn girlie.
We had 6 yards of mulch delivered on Tuesday. I had them dump it at the end of the roadside bed closest to the road and hustled to get the edgers for that end of that bed out of the way before it arrived.
My intention is to let the mulch kill the grass between the bed and the silver maple at the end of the driveway, expanding the bed. I’m also hoping it will cut out some of Chuck’s annoyance with mowing around jutting branches.
But, before that, it’s going in the beds I’m finally shaping up.
This is yesterday’s accomplishment. (You can see where I moved the large pot that kept the unused garden hose out of sight.)
I moved an abused “circus” canna down to the end next to another purple-leaved-red-flowered canna I planted there in May. (A share from my brother-in-law.) There are yellow irises down there, too. I’m hoping those 3 will fill that end up with spring and summer color. The bushes are camellias, one ornamental and one tea.
This is what I did, today.
The whole end was being swallowed by dayflowers. More cannas are at this end, same colors, and the iris is purple. There’s a patch of ice plant that was being swallowed up and has now been freed.
Both sides have flame callas, blackberry lilies (which are really irises), and tigridia planted in front and between the bushes. And I’ve tried to get some ice plant going on the other/north side. There may be too much shade over there though.
And the stoop is being swallowed by cypress vines.
We have a bit of a battle with it because it is happy to cover everything it can reach. I’m getting better at managing it and the camellias aren’t covered with it this year. And the hummingbirds really do love it.
I planted a mixed package of red, white, and pink seeds several years ago and it reseeds itself very effectively. Now, it mostly blooms red, but we do get occasional pops of the other 2.
I believe that once I get it cleaned up, this time around, again, it will be easier to maintain. It really does feel like trying to save energy for work was my inhibitor. Going out to pull weeds and move mulch, knowing that I don’t have to go do 8 hours of fluorescent lighted labor in a little while just makes it easier.
Oh! The circus canna is a Phasion I got from Plant Delights when I first moved into this house. I have moved it, shared it, killed it and asked for a piece back for over 2 decades. It has dark purple leaves with red and yellow veins and bright orange flowers. I can’t wait for it to get lush again. And I really hope it doesn’t crowd out the gorgeous purple and red canna Mark gave me. I want them to fill up that end with color.
The other day, Chuck said, “I can never remember when the tea bushes bloom.”
It’s now.
I have added 2 dwarf, holly-leafed tea olives to the the front beds in place of the ‘Super Sochi’ tea bushes that died last year. And I got a bicolored heather at Trader Joe’s last night. I intend to keep it inside until the end of April and put it off the patio when I’m not worried about its roots freezing. It may be fine now. But, its blossoms won’t be and they’re cute.
We moved another of the 100 gallon raised beds. So, there’s only one left to shift. The asparagus bed is just going to stay out in the middle of the yard by itself. If we move it, it will be another 4 years before we get a good crop.
I am the Audience 