MOD HUMMINGBIRD KITCHEN TOWEL; Knit

I started this towel yesterday – and finished this morning, along with a matching dishcloth.

I'm pleased with how my kitchen towel design turned out.

I chose a hummingbird grid – drew it freehand … and chose my towel colors based on a pink fuchsia flower 😊

Now, with the tempestuous weather happening outside, is the perfect time to drink coffee and be creative 😉

Freehand Grid; patterns found on Pinterest.

Fuchsia plant.

Normally, I work my patterns in jacquard knit (knitting a pattern directly into the fabric of knit work), but cotton yarn is a lot stiffer than acrylic worsted and jacquard tends to look messy with cotton yarn; so when I use cotton yarn I usually opt to use the duplicate stitch embroidery for design purposes because it stays put when the damp cotton yarn “grows”. Cotton yarn is good for dishtowels because it wicks moisture off hands and dishes (if you handwash/hand dry dishes); but it tends to lose shape when it gets very damp with constant use. Even so – I prefer my handmade cotton towels over the recycled plastic fiber kitchen towels sold in stores that are basically worthless other than the cute designs stamped on them.

I’m not a fan of the duplicate stitch stich … but it seems the best technique to do a broad-span design on cotton yarn projects: it “sets” the pattern to keep it in place.

This pattern combines knit, crochet, and embroidery stitches.

Here’s the pattern –

MOD HUMMINGBIRD KITCHEN TOWEL

1 skein Cotton yarn in Pink, Green & White; small amount of contrasting color throwaway yarn; Worsted yarns in Green and White.

# 9 knitting needles

#I/9 crochet hook

1 resin button for towel topper

1 tapestry needle

1 set of plastic cone-shaped needle point protectors/stoppers

Terms used:

CO = cast on sts

St = stitches

st. st. = stockinette stitch

tog = together

sc = single crochet

dc = double crochet

EO = end off yarn

 

With pink, CO 70 sts & K 1 row.

Work 62 rows in stockinette stitch (knit 1 row = front side of work; purl 1 row = back side of work).

Keep sts on needle, and slip a point stopper on the tip end when row 62 is finished (this will be the purl side of work).

Lower end of kitchen towel finished.

With a small amount of throw away yarn, mark off the center 20 sts needed for the hummingbird embroidery design.

My pattern grid was marked like this: count 20 rows from the bottom – and 25 sts on each end of the center 20 design sts; there should be 23 top-end rows.

Once you have your st counts set up, start the Duplicate St embroidery using the tapestry needle and contrasting yarn colors: this online page describes it (https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/how-to-duplicate-stitch-2116380).

It’s pretty simple to do.

Using Duplicate St ...

Hummingbird finished.

When your design is finished, weave in the loose ends; and start on the towel topper.

Towel Topper – Row 63: With crochet hook, attach green yarn and sc across row as follows – *sc 2, sc 2 tog*, end sc 2. Ch 1, turn.

Repeat row 63 once more.

Next row and every row afterwards: Decrease one st EA end, until there are only six sts remaining to be worked.

Dc for 8 rows.

Button keyhole: Sl st next 3 sts; ch 6 and sl st in same sp; sl at to end. Turn.

Dc x12 in chain loop; EO.

Add a decorative loop edging of your choice (or leave plain).

With tapestry needle, sew button in place and weave in loose ends.

Trim your towel with a pretty edging, if that is something you want to do: I did, because I designed my towel after a frilly flower and a flighty bird. LOL

My towel looks stiff, but both yarns will soften with the first washing.

Knit kitchen towel with crochet topper & trim.

==KNIT DISHCLOTH

I’ve had this dishcloth pattern since the early 1980’s when it had been printed in the local newspaper; it’s easy to work up, and looks good either plain or 2-toned, as I am prone to do 😉

Knit Garter St Dishcloth pattern.

MOD Hummingbird Dishtowel Set completed.

Enjoy!

MOD Crochet Book Cover

New Cover Finished; shabby chic 😉

I enjoyed a hot mug of lemon tea this morning; and watched Pt. 2 of Jesus of Nazareth … and worked up another of my own designs: I wanted a new book cover since books have become my main companion since Bob’s spirit stepped off Earth – I’ll probably craft a slew of them to match seasons, clothes, purses, ect.

I’ve become known as ‘the Book Lady’ around restaurants in town … and just as I wouldn’t wear the same outfit every week, my latest read shouldn’t be seen in the same cover, either: told’ya I’m weird 😉

I designed and crafted this book cover about 25 years ago; but I am working on a new cover, so I thought I’d share the pattern 😊

Original, decades old, MOD Book Cover.

It’s simple.

It’s quick.

It’s easily adaptable.

This book cover can be finished with a sc page marker … or a satin ribbon marker, sewed in place.

I am using my original chicken scratch written instructions, so I hope it will not be too confusing. Let me know if you have trouble, and I will answer your questions.

Materials: #10 Aunt Lydia’s Crochet Cotton Thread, #0 Crochet Hook, trims (optional), coordinating sewing thread if using trims, 11½” satin ribbon (optional), sewing pins, sewing needle, small amount of contrasting throw-away thread, tapestry needle.

Sts Used:

Ch = chain

Sc = single crochet

CC = contrasting

St = stitch

Ct = count

EO = end off/cut thread.

 

Row 1: Begin by making an 85 st foundation chain of sc; ch 1, turn.

Row 2: Sc across row (84 sts); ch 1, turn.

Repeat row 2 for a total of 54 rows (or length needed for your book cover – some books are higher, some are lower). DO NOT CUT THREAD – loosely tie end, because you will be using it again.

With CC thread and tapestry needle; count 14 sts from each end, and fold those inwards for the cover lapels (to hold book in place).

If you plan on using trims, place a book into the cover – fold ends inward, and mark the fold with CC thread: also mark the front spine edge – being careful not to untie/unravel the loosely tied end-of-row thread: this will help you accurately place the desired trim where you want it (centered – or towards the front edge) without the trim being ‘off kilter’ when the cover is finished and your book is in place inside.

Shape markings ...

Once you are satisfied with the trim placements, if you use them, pin them in place and tack them down kinda loosely with a swing needle and matching thread – books tend to stretch the cover a bit, you want the finish to look tidy, not stressed.

Placement of trims.

Go back to the loosely tied end-of-row thread: pickup st, and sc through both top st’s of book cover … and the 14-ct. cover lapel sts.; then sc around entire cover (repeating lapel instructions for second lapel) – and making a **crochet marker** at the center, where the spine center would be: sl st back up the maker foundation, and continue to sc edging pickup point, and EO.

Weave in loose ends.

**Sew the satin ribbon marker to the center top of the book cover AFTER EDGING S COMPLETED, if using that option. **

Sc edging around entire cover: 2 sc EA corner edge.

Ta-da! All done: enjoy! 😊

MOD YELLOW ROSE COFFEE CUFF

I’ve been feeling pretty punk the past three days, but I braved driving into town this morning in the rain, to buy some Nyquil; there wasn’t much in the night bottle – and I’d finished that off last night, after finishing up another 15” baby blanket.

MOD Crcohet Angel Baby Blanket; finished last night.

I managed to drink a cup of morning go juice, polish off a decent breakfast, and finished the book I’d been working my way through since December 28^th: it’s a good read, life just kept interrupting 😉

Dressing, I ignored the punky bedraggled image staring back at me from the vanity mirror, and into town I went. I decided to forgo the backroad route because I wanted to get into town, and back home, as quickly as possible.

I was happy to see that the steel plates that had been strewn across Ocean Beach Highway last month, are gone this month 😊

The road is rough patched, but the tire eater plates are absent.

Steel plates gone ... but a significant 'dip' was left behind; Baker's Corner on Ocean Beach Highway.

While in town; I decided to grab a couple skeins of yarn, too, before heading back home. 

Even feeling drained and wrung out, I hate to let wasted hours pass … so, I unwound each skein of yarn (to eliminate tangles) and rolled them into balls for easier usage.

Skeins untangled, and rewound.

And while hail pounded the roofs, I watched a YouTube movie … and designed/crafted a Spring-themed coffee cuff based on a yellow flowering miniature rose bush Bob had bought me 21 years ago, for Valentine’s Day – the potted bush is still thriving, and still pumping out the tiny roses every year 😊

And, the first appearing bud always warms my heart; I noticed last week, that there is new growth showing.

The coffee cuff I worked up today is my own design – combining two patterns I found online: the cuff is at least 13 years old (could be older, I’ve had it a while); and I stumbled upon the rosebud pattern this afternoon. I have not seen another coffee cuff like the one I worked up today; therefore, it is MOD.

Crochet Coffee Cuff Pattern: https://cdn.accentuate.io/4679096008797/12378270040157/Crochet-Pattern-Latte-Cozy-90034AD-v1594159243793.PDF

Crochet Rosebud Pattern: http://www.deborah.ws/tag/free-pattern/

Hail around 2 PM - for about 16 seconds.

It was even raining in the movie I was watching ...

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyQ4MhT8wp8)

MOD Spring themed Coffee Cuff.

Yellow Mini Rose bush is filling out again.

Bob and I were friends, as well as lovers.

And just as those first yellow rose blossoms promised a new beginning of our life in Longview those two decades ago, the yellow rose blossom I crafted today also signifies a new beginning – in the unfurling of my new life in 2022.

I know whatever 2022 holds for me will be good; because my two husbands (Yeshua my spiritual Husband & Bob, the human Husband I was blessed with) want the best life possible for me … and they are looking down on me, looking out for me, and walking beside me every day 😊

RAINY DAY ASPIRATIONS

I visited with friends this afternoon.

When I pulled out of the carport, a misty rain was falling; I got a latte at Mr. Bill’s ... and was asked for some more coffee mug cuffs. There are only three left of the nine I had dropped off on the 9^th 😊

I had an enjoyable visit … and came home motivated: conversation had mainly been about adapting to newer life experiences.

I thought on that conversation all the way home; and by the time I had backed the Horizon neatly in place under my home carport, my mind was made up 😉

I have been procrastinating.

But, this afternoon, knowing a serious rain front was moving in … I knew today was the day to “get ‘er done!”

My Fall planting bulbs needed to be planted; which meant the planter pots needed drainage holes drilled into their undersides. The time was perfect to aspire to the task at hand.

I had bought the necessary tools weeks ago.

Last time David and I had breakfast together, he encouraged me to “just do it, Val” – and he was patient answering my clueless questions: even though he laughed occassionally. He is a true friend.

Hole Cutting Drill Bit; bought 15 days ago; I bought an electric hand drill, and a stud finder, about a month ago – to hang a mirror that is still tucked away, waiting to be hung 😉

I have been procrastinating.

It takes me a while to work up the nerve to try new things: I want to “get it right” the first time. So, I will research it to death, and ask my friends a lot of questions (and seek their input), before I actually get around to getting it done. Things take time with me.

Every time I looked at my hand drill, I would remember watching Bob using his heavy drills; and making it look so easy. But, when those memories tried to sabotage my nerve this afternoon, I countered back by reminding those memories that Bob did not exit his mother’s womb with a drill in hand … he had to learn the skill of using one.

Today, it was my turn to learn.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOpQjD-rX0g)

I can do this ...

I DID IT!

Giddy with success, I cut holes in the other six pots: transferred them to the carport patio, and got my bulbs planted 😊

The rains expected into next Friday, will water the planters well; and establish them for Spring blossoms.

5 square pots of staggered heights tulips - mixed variety, tete a tete daffodils, and puschkinia.

2 rectangular planters of Tete a tete miniature daffodils, & anemone.

The planters are being watered right now, by a soft, steady rainfall; the promising Spring color will be a welcome contrast against the ugly neighboring fenceline.

Now, I’m going to kick back in the recliner, and enjoy the warmth of the flickering fireplace.

And crochet/embellish another batch of coffee mug cuffs 😉

Fired up the fireplace this evening.

Working on more coffee mugs cuffs.

MEMORIES IN A MOVIE

Geese were flying low overhead and honking their arrival, and lawn mowers are in full-swing this afternoon as the neighbors get in the mood with the sunshine that almost convinces me Spring is on the breeze …

Neighbor across the way, mowing

… and the hired maintenance man is driving the streets; hauling his mowers, weed whackers, and garbage cans behind in his homemade utility trailer, mowing and pruning for those who can’t.

But it isn’t Spring yet. Daffodils and crocuses may be blooming, but here in the PNW, the weather is schizoid – it’s pneumonia weather. I’ll do my yard work next month when the weather will be a bit more stable.

Last year, today, the temperature was low enough that skimpy snowflakes fell with the ceaseless rain. This year, I woke up to a light snow dusting on rooftops that was gone before noon, on the 3^rd. I’ll do my yard work next month when the weather will be a bit more stable.

Tonight, I am working on a spring themed dust cover for the dehydrator …

… while watching this logger family movie on Youtube: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z4BOWoa5W4). This movie is not always available on Youtube, so tonight is a real treat even though I always cry towards the end. Bob always barked out a laugh at the end when the dead arm with the 1-finger salute went up.

Memories in a movie :-D

‘Sometimes A Great Notion’ is the first movie I watched with Bob when it was showing at the local Columbia Movie Theatre, here in Longview – everything seen in the movie was what Bob did for a living for 19 years of our married life. Bob was a logger, born into a logging family of a logging family – Bob’s grandfather was born in a logging camp on Salmon Creek, this side of Graysriver. The log rafts are dangerous, and no place to fool around – ALL of logging is dangerous, but the rafts are tricky because the logs roll, and they swell with water making them very, very heavy.

Bob told me of the time his Camero ended up on a log raft rounding a sharp bend on Puget Island – he even pointed out the spot it happened when we crossed the mainland bridge and touched down on Puget Island. I am glad I did not know Bob when he was a hell raiser. I got him after all the youthful fire and rebellion had run its course ;-)

Bob and his beloved car - that car was untouchable: it was a hotrod. 1967/Cathlamet

Bob (in jeans), his Dad/Bonnie & Merry & Kerry. 1969/Toutle, WA

Bob did just about everything there was to do in logging; and it was hard work. He started out helping his parents with their small private logging outfit in Eden Valley (his father did the cat logging and his mother drove log truck hauls – hauled logs in the back; and kids in the cab). Bob learned to cat log and drive his father’s truck when he was old enough to see over the dashboard. When Bob started working after he graduated High School, he drove log truck for Durrah & Martin Logging Company. He moved on to choker setting; then to shovel operator by the time we married (He was also doing cat logging, machine maintenance, and building truck roads/shovel-log stack landings on weekends). He drove the crew bus; it was parked in our driveway for 19 years. He could high-climb with a long, heavy, Husqvarna chainsaw slung across his chest and back; and top evergreen trees that reached high into the sky … slowly and methodically cutting that tree down piece by piece – that scared me while I watched him: I didn’t breathe easy at all until his feet were back on the ground; to him it was fun. To me, it was risky business. We burned a woodstove for heat most of our married life – and Bob could chop those cords of wood with one hand, while reaching for another chunk of wood to whittle down to stove size.

Bob was a manly man.

Handsome too; and magnificent in action to watch ;-)

When Durrah & Martin retired in 1993, we moved to Raymond, WA, where Bob drove log truck for 6 months while we waited for the birth of our daughter’s 1^st child – our granddaughter, Alyna. But Bob hated Raymond, so when he got word there was a job waiting for him back here in Longview, he came back to drive log truck for Taft Logging in September of 1995 – Alyna was born November 4^th in Grays Harbor hospital … and we were all living in Longview, on Eufaula Heights, before Thanksgiving 1995. Bob stuck with Taft for 2 years before moving on to drive chip truck for Lemmon’s Trucking: he drove for Lemmon’s for 17 years before retiring 8 years ago. Bob drove truck up and down the freeways, about as long as he worked in the forest; he didn’t particularly like driving truck because it was pretty monotonous, but he had a family to support, so he manned up and did what he knew to do. But he always preferred to be in the forest, doing what he did best on the landings.

And he always smelled so good when he came home: he smelled like a fir scented man because the saw dust and fir pollen came home on his clothes, on his skin, and in his hair. I will always associate the crisp, clean, pungent odor of fresh cut Fir with Bob. Always.

I finished the main dust cover just as the movie ended – but the trim will have to wait; I’m tired & I’m going to bed:

Waiting for trim. I haven’t decided what trims I want on it yet – maybe I’ll know tomorrow ;-)

Always ~ OX