Moons and Stars

 The latest yard art is moons and stars.It is based on this: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/moon-phases-garland

 

 

 

 

A blanket

The yarn was made from my Oma's sheep. The yarn is incredibly scratchy and would be terrible for clothing. It worked out for a blanket though. I don't recall what the pattern for the purple center piece was. The border is (I think) sc ch sc ch over and over. Then the next round the sc stitches go into the ch spaces.

Boden likes to snooze on this blanket during Lego time.

 

Potholder

I didn't have a potholder at work. People watched me struggle to carry my hot bowl from the microwave to my office. Kevin pointed out that since I do that yarn stuff I should make a potholder for work. So I did. Here it is. 

Here's a link to the pattern on the off chance anyone wants it (and also to acknowledge this isn't my design). https://ravel.me/mini-snail-sample-lfc

Luci is a taco model

The deal was that I'd trade a cat sweater for a painting with Kevin's sister. I decided that the cat sweater would be a taco. I didn't have a pattern for this. It came out ok. A little big for most cats. Actually, it came out pretty well. Yeah there's room for improvement, but for winging it, it's decent.

Bees, please

I have forgotten the name of the pattern, and consequently, the designer. I made this for the front gate. The colors are to let bees know they are welcome. I don't know that that's how the bees see it, but that's ok.

Croissants are not easy to make

I live in an area that lacks a really, really good croissant. It's been rattling around in my brain for a while to try and make them myself. I mean, I make lots of other good food, so this should be doable, right? Well, maybe with more practice I could get good at it.

These took 3 days to make. On day one I made the dough and got the butter ready. That went smoothly enough. I even kneaded the dough by hand! (Usually I rely on the bread machine to knead for me.) The second day was where things went wrong. This is where you laminate the butter in between the dough. It's a lot of rolling and folding and chilling. The first two laminations went ok. The second one went so well that I thought I had this DOWN! On the third lamination, I guess I got too aggressive with the dough. The dough broke and butter leaked out. That's not a thing I could fix. The 4th lamination went about as well as the 3rd. I considered tossing the dough and giving up. But reading other people's experiences led me to believe that the croissants would still taste ok, just not be flakey.

On the third day, all I had to do was let them proof for an hour and then bake them. They smelled right as they baked. And sure enough, they taste fine, but aren't flakey. They're more like croissant shaped biscuits. 

I haven't decided if I will ever try this again. Croissants aren't even a favorite food of mine. This was just something I had to try. At least I know what I did wrong, in case I do ever try again.

Wisteria wreath

 A few weeks ago Peter asked if I wanted to make a wreath from the wisteria vines that are sprawling all over. I liked the idea, and finally got around to trying it today. It's 8 or 9 vines, looped around each other. I deadheaded some flowers and stuck those in, since they still looked ok. I'm curious to see what will happen to the wreath as it dries. Will it stay intact? Will it unravel? If it stays intact, I can keep hanging things on it.

The wisteria had lots more vines. I might make another wreath, or find something else to weave the vines into.