Garden Week

"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need" -Marcus Tullius Cicero


This post is a little late in coming, but it is has been a rather hectic week. Last Friday, I had a notionthat I must have a garden. It took an hour to plan what I was going to grow (flowers; quick germination, early to bloom, perennials so they keep growing year round). I went to Home Depot to get seeds, thinking they'd have a wide variety of perennial flowers to choose from. Not so much there. I ended up getting a wildflower mix with annuals and perennials in it. The amount of seeds was estimated for a 25 sq ft. location-- my little patch is 10 sq ft at most. 

 It's a cute little patch, and I'm excited for the flowers to grow. :) In addition to the wildflower patch, I also transplanted some Marigolds from my Mema's garden. 


Some things I learned about transplanting flowers: love water, hate direct overhead sun. 


They were wilting almost to a brown colour almost every afternoon while the sun was on them. 


Quick fix solution? Make a tent! 

Something had to be done, so I made do with what I had on hand. Thus, this particular tent is made of old window screen, bamboo sticks, knitting needles, and rubber bands. 


Alas, it did not work. The Marigolds were still as wilted as ever come the Afternoon Sun. 

At that point, I was told that they needed more water. (Doh!) 


--They seem to be much better since then. (Can you see them through the curtain?) 


Now, a week later, the wildflower patch is full of little teeny tiny little seedlings and the Marigolds are growing and not wilting! 
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Irony: When your air conditioning unit falls apart on the first "official" day of summer. 


Being in Arizona and not having any air conditioning while the temperature outside is a whopping 108F+ is not exactly the most pleasant situation. Frozen compresses, ice water, and limited sleep reigned. As of right now, a window air unit has been installed, cooling down half the house. On the hunt for "portable" a.c. units now, for the bedrooms.
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In my little Crochet World, there are manymanymany things going on. Firstly, I was lovingly given an addi Swing Crochet Hook. Size J. This makes my total addi Swing count: 2!

I wanted to do a Serious Crochet Project with an addi Swing, so I could really get to use it and decide if I want the full set as much as I think I do. 


I hold my crochet hooks "knife style", and this hook is amazing! It makes it so easy to crochet for an extended amount of time. 


The pattern I've dedicated as the "Serious Crochet Project" is Red Heart's free pattern Corner-to-Corner Throw. It's a really fun pattern, and I'm excited to see the finished project! 


As for the blanket mentioned in the very first post, it is still a WIP. The border is all that's left. Working on a full blanket while sitting in a non-air conditioned room is just not going to happen, though. So it's been put aside for the time being. 


Now, it's time to get back to moving the sprinkler around the lawn in an attempt to keep the grass from dying. :) 


Happy Garden Week! (I self-proclaimed it Garden Week-- I have no idea when "Garden Week" usually is, but I'm sure there is one) 

Granny Bag Tutorial

I made this pattern a few weeks ago, and found I had some troubles figuring out the mouth/sides, so I set off on a mission to make a picture tutorial on how I did it. :)

Firstly:

  -The pattern can be found here. It's Pierrot Yarns 29-210-44 Striped Bag.

  -I honestly have no idea if how I did it is how the pattern calls for. However, it worked for me, and I'm hoping it'll work for you! 

 -Any crochet terms are written in US-terms. 

And on these notes, here we go!

Start off with a granny square. I did 20 rounds to get my desired bag length.

To make things easy, line the bag before working on the mouth/sides. The bag was too big to use a fabric square, so I completely destroyed creatively used a yellow pillowcase that's been sitting in the hall closet for quite a long time. 

Now, lets get started on the mouth part! sc once in each ch-1 space on one side of the granny square. The stitches are very loose, they become puffy, but it works, trust me! 

When you get to the end of that side: ch-1, turn, sc in each sc across. Keep doing rows until it's long enough to wrap around your handles. I did 6 rows. 

Next, make the mouth side on the opposite end of the granny square. So, you end up with this:

 Onto the sides! To start, crochet down the rows we just made. Once you get to the granny square part, sc in each middle dc of shell and ch-1 space. 

 Over, and over, and over again until it's long enough. I sc2tog during the tan round, to help pull the sides up, but that's completely optional. Repeat on the opposite side. 

 Then, for added cohesive-ness (yup, just made that a word!) I single crocheted all the way around.

Attach your handles, and there you go! A granny square bag! 

Happy Crocheting! :) 

(Edited: 1/26/2013) This used to be atadplaid.blogspot.com and I just changed the blog name. Tutorial is still my original one. :)