Carole Knits

october zinnia
october zinnia
martinis with a view
martinis with a view
gettysburg fence for
gettysburg fence for
germinate shawl on rocks
germinate shawl on rocks
field of flags 2
field of flags 2
color affection with edge
color affection with edge
cedar leaf shawlette 2
cedar leaf shawlette 2
3_27_2014
3_27_2014
3_18_13
3_18_13
2_24_2014
2_24_2014
1_11_13
1_11_13

Merry & Bright Pillow Shams

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One of the things I was super excited about when we painted our bedroom gray was that we would be able to have Christmas bedding. Seriously. Up until this spring our bedroom had blue and yellow wallpaper and that is just not a good combo with red.

Once I I had a neutral backdrop to work with I started gathering Christmas sheets and pillows. I found red checkered sheets (Dale says it’s like sleeping in a bread basket) and also red sheets with white snowflakes. (As an aside . . . can I just say how hard it is to find Christmas sheets that aren’t flannel?!? I get too hot for flannel so it’s not an option for me and I can’t be the only one who prefers percale. Don’t people in Florida want Christmas sheets?) I found red and white striped ticking to cover our big square euro pillows. But the one thing I couldn’t find was shams for our regular sized pillows.

Enter the Cricut.

I bought plain white pillow covers with pom poms on Amazon and then came up with a design for them. I went through a few iterations but finally settled on this Merry & Bright in red heat transfer vinyl.

I’m really happy with how they look with our other pillows, it’s cozy and just how I pictured it would be.

Christmas bedding designed by me. How ’bout that.

Unraveling

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I have some unraveling of a different sort today. Back on Black Friday, Harrisville Designs had a sale on potholder loops and I got myself the Bright Holiday Loop Pack. I love the other potholders I made so much and I thought some cheerful Christmas ones would be just the thing for the season.

And then they sat. And sat. And sat.

Finally, last weekend I realized if I wanted Christmas potholders for, say, Christmas, I’d better get cracking.  However, in the few months since I made the last ones, I sort of forgot what I was doing. I messed up the first attempt completely. I finished the second attempt only to later discover it was wrong. By the third time I was in the swing of it and moving along quickly and then, while doing the bind off (or whatever you call it in this instance) a bunch of loops sort of jumped off the loom. I tried my best to fix it but only made it worse. I texted Sean and told him the loom was stressing me the eff (except I didn’t say eff, as I’m sure you know) out. Of course he came over to commiserate but then he actually fixed it.

Hooray!

And I proceeded to make two more without any trouble. So, my unraveling had a happy ending. And now I have Christmas potholders.

On the reading side of things, I am really enjoying Mr. Dickens and His Carol. It’s perfect for the season.

Whatever you are knitting, reading, creating or otherwise doing, I hope things are going perfectly well for you.

 

Potholder Love

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Sean came over last Friday and he brought coffee and biscuits – and that was fabulous! He also brought his 10″ Potholder PRO Loom from Harrisville Designs. I knew this day was coming so I had already bought a few bags of loops in the colors of my kitchen. In other words – I was prepared.

Sean showed me how to get started and helped me through the first one. I had a few dicey moments but it (mostly) came out perfectly. And then he went on about his day but he left the loom with me. So I made another.

And then on Sunday, while watching football, I made a third.

They are BIG and all cotton and thick and just awesome as potholders and trivets, too. It takes about an hour to make one, which is way faster than knitting, and the Potholder Pattern Wizard makes is super fun and simple to create your own unique designs.

I may be holding Sean’s loom hostage for a while. Just sayin.

DIY TV Cover Up

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We have a flat screen TV on the wall in our bedroom. However, we hardly ever watch TV in the bedroom. Now, if this were up to me this TV would get regular use as I truly enjoying snuggling in bed and watching TV. Dale, though? Not so much. He’s a couch sitter when it comes to watching TV. And so, the TV in the bedroom only gets used on rare occasions. Late night football games. The Academy Awards. When one of us is sick.

In the interest of making our bedroom prettier, I decided to cover up that rarely used TV with a canvas print of one of my photos from summer vacation.

tv solution for carole knits

 

This print is just the right size for the TV and the wooden bar at the top catches perfectly on the TV. Sure, you can see a tiny strip of the TV below the print but mostly – it’s gone. And I’d much rather look at that picture of a beach umbrella than a black TV screen.

Pretty clever, eh?

Growing Herbs

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Last week I mentioned to Vicki that I was going to plant a container garden full of herbs. She asked me if I had a plan and here is what I told her:

My plan? I bought a ceramic pot at Ocean State Job Lot and I bought a few herbs at the garden store. Next I will plant them in the pot. That’s my “plan” LOL.

Here are photos of my plan, now come to fruition:

The pot is on my deck, in full sun. The container was reasonably priced ($14) compared to some that I saw.

There’s rosemary.

And oregano.

There’s lots of basil and plenty of parsley. I probably put too many plants in there but I wanted it to be full and I’m going to be harvesting herbs on a regular basis so I’m hoping it won’t be too crowded.

It smells so good and it looks beautiful and I’m rather pleased with the way “my plan” turned out.

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