Knitting Project: Checkerboard Dishcloth

I'd meant to post this simple little pattern yesterday, but a collision of hormones and Asperger Syndrome intervened in the form of my 10-year-old daughter and I both having a melt down. :(

Anyway, a day late and a bit worse for the wear, I'm back. Here we go!

Knitted Checkerboard Dishcloth

Materials:
*1 skein worsted weight cotton yarn (I really like Kertzer's Coolspun cotton, but Sugar & Cream works fine too)
*Size 7 needles, or size needed to obtain the proper gauge.

Cast on 36 stitches

Rows 1 & 2 - Knit across
Rows 3-8 - Knit 2 (for a selvedge edge), *knit 4, purl 4* to the last 2 stitches, knit last 2 (for selvedge edge)
Rows 9-14 - K2, *P4, K4* to the last 2 stitches, K2
Rows 15-20 - Do as in rows 3-8
Rows 21-26 - Do as in rows 9-14
Repeat pattern until the desired size/length is reached.
Last 2 rows - Knit across
Bind off and tuck in ends.

If you elongate the boxes horizontally in this pattern (K8, P8x4, instead of K4, P4x8), you'll get more of a basket weave look.



If you give this pattern a try, I'd love to see pics of your work! Hopefully in the coming days, I'll have a chance to post the pattern for the other two dishcloths. Happy knitting!

Washcloth Winner!

And the winner is... lucky #7 - Samara!

Congrats, Samara! Please send your mailing address to me at pisceschick 99 AT gmail.com, and I'll send these babies your way just as soon as I get my little rear over to the post office.

Tomorrow I'll post the patterns that I used (read: winged) for these dishcloths for the potential enjoyment of my fellow knitting knerds.

Stay tuned for more contests & giveaways in the near future! Canning season is upon us and I will soon be awash in jams, jellies, salsa and sauerkraut, all of which I will be more than happy to share with you all. Thanks again to everyone who took the time to enter, and please pop by again soon! :)

Acrobatic Slugs?

Has anyone else witnessed this bizarre phenomena?




This dude was not only just hanging there on a string (ew) of his slime (ew!), he was blowing around in the wind and the stuff was bouncing like a bungee cord! I have seen this twice in my yard so far this year, once hanging from the wisteria, and once from a paper birch. I knew that the slugs were out to get me but wow - paratroopers?

It's a sup-ah beet, sup-ah beet...

...it's sup-ah beet-tay, YOW!


Scarlet, threatening to eat our mondo beet.

Why is it always the crop that you kinda like, but don't love that always grows like gangbusters? What am I going to do with all of these beets? The kids won't eat them. I tried selling them on the old "They'll make your tinkle pink!" angle. No takers.

Kids & Critters

So... I've been meaning to post, meaning to upload pics, meaning to do a whole lotta stuff that I haven't gotten around to doing. And now I offer you just one word in defense of my slacking - kids.

When I'm not running them from birthday parties to saddle club and all points in between, we're at home where they are hanging on me 24/7. Scarlet has been my little, very curious shadow. The isolated life of a hermit suddenly has an incredible amount of appeal...

Anyhoo, lots of things have been happening. The garden is starting to crank up, the "baby" chickens are growing like weeds at almost 8 weeks old, I've been knitting like a fool and I'm trying to physically and mentally prepare myself for the onslaught commencement of canning season.

Finally some new photos of the "babies" -

Scout, the oldest, then and now.




Scarlet, holding Snowflake, who we suspect might actually be Mr. Jeffries


Livy holding the soon-to-be renamed, Wilbur, our only Americauna chick, who we believe is a pullet.


Rocky, the original wiggler, who will also probably be renamed shortly, as he appears to be a she.


Can you believe how much these little stinkers have grown in 8 weeks? They are voracious little beasts! They finally graduated from the brooder to the coop after a very scary near-fire in the garage, involving the heat lamp and the pine pellet bedding. It wasn't good, but luckily everyone came out of it unscathed, if a little traumatized.

We still have not introduced/mixed the babies with the "big girls", as our 1-year-old hens are now known, since the babies are bantams and roughly the size of a fat pigeon, and the big girls weigh in the neighborhood of 5 to 8 pounds each. I'm curious about how much the babies weigh these days, but not curious enough to lose an eye trying to wrangle one onto the scale.

Bill says that it is time to start finding homes for some of the babies, seeing as this whole buying-a-farm business has gone on much longer than anticipated, and our backyard can only take so much assault in the form of scratching and pooping. I know he's right but I just don't want to let any of them go! I want to build my laying flock from (in as much as it will be possible) chickens that I have hatched and hand-raised myself. You know, that whole "provenance" thing. Oh, the trials and tribulations of being the Crazy Chicken Lady.

Lucky & Thankful

Holy mackerel! I step away from the computer for a few days and all sorts of awesome stuff starts happening!

Firstly - I won a contest! :) Megan, at Tomato Tots chose me as one of the winners of her Pay-it-Forward foodie giveaway. You might remember that I had one of these little giveaways myself a while back, but part of the deal in winning a pay-it-forward contest is that you have to offer a foodie giveaway of your own, featuring food and other kitchen goodies from your local area. So keep your eyes peeled, peeps. I'm in the process of plotting my prize package now!

And, as if that weren't cool enough, I also won not one, but TWO blog awards from the lovely Miss Michelle over at All Home Cooking, All Year Long!




Thanks, Michelle for the shout-out! And now for a few of my blogging homegirls who I'd like to acknowledge by passing on an award. Not all of them are into the award thing, but they are awesome gals all the same and being singled out for their awesomeness right here and now, whether they like it or not! ;)

Suzanne at Chickens in the Road. She's living the dream out on a secluded little farm in West Virginia. Suzanne is a romance novelist and occasionally treats her readers to a Harlequin-style romantic description of goat courtship. Awesome.

Jen at Knitters-Knitters. Jen is the tireless mom of 6 incredible kids and the most skilled knitter that I've ever known. And she's teaching me Hebrew, one word at a time. ;)

Kris at Quilted Simple. The woman NEVER STOPS. Knitting, washing cows, bailing hay, quilting like a madwoman, you name it, Kris does it all!

This is but a small sampling of the many amazing ladies (and a few gents) who's blogs I read on a regular basis and from whom I'm learning a ton about farming, parenting, cooking, knitting and just enjoying life. Thank you all for putting yourselves out there and letting folks like me share in your lives!

And thanks again to Michelle & Megan for making me feel so loved and lucky. :)

Where I've been and a lil' sumthin'-sumthin' for my peeps

The girls have been out of school for two weeks, as of tomorrow, but let me assure you, that it feels like much longer already. Just another 8 weeks to go! Oy...

So, as is my habit during the summertime, or any extended break from school, I try to keep the girls moving and entertained, lest they should drive me bat-poo crazy with their clinging and whining. So far we've gone to the drive-in movies, swam at the Y, played at the park, gone to the beach, the library, etc. We just got back from spending 6 days up north at Cama Beach State Park, on Camano Island, and since coming home, I haven't had two free seconds to myself to do much of anything, let alone catch up on reading and writing. I've missed you all and in case you've missed me too, here are some pics of what I've been up to with the fam.

Here we are at Cama-


In front of our little cabin


Hanging at the beach


Catching little shore crabs by the dozen


And dungeness crabs by the half-dozen


Just grill and add butter - YUM!

While the hubby and kids pursued crustaceans and played cut-throat games of Sorry! and go-fish, I preferred to partake of the simple pleasures of knitting in the sun and drinking shocking amounts of sangria. Ah, the good life...

Anyhoo - I so enjoyed my semi-drunken knitting that I decided to make a lovely assortment of cotton dishcloths for one lucky reader to enjoy. Oh I know - just what every woman wants, new dishcloths! But you must admit that these are pretty darn cute -



In addition to the dishcloths, I'll also include a few coordinating kitchen towels that I had no part in making, but scored for a steal at Le Costco. You don't need to do anything fancy to enter to win, just leave me a comment expressing your interest in showering yourself in dish washing accoutrements, and bingo, you're in.

If I can overcome my innate laziness, I may eventually post the patterns that I improvised for these dishcloths, if anyone is interested.

Thanks again for reading and good luck! :)