Julie's First Dishcloths

My friend Julie just closed on her first house and of course I had to knit something for the occasion. I found some Sugar'n Cream Twists yarn on clearance(!) at Michael's and thought that taupe was a great neutral color for her kitchen. I fell in love with the soap dispenser/sponge holder when I found it at Target and knew that one of my friends *must* have it--lucky Julie! Add to that a few brightly colored accessories and you have one well-planned housewarming present.

Dishcloth 1: Box Stitch

Rows 1-2: *k2, p2; repeat from *

Rows 3-4: *p2, k2; repeat from *

Repeat rows 1-4

Dishcloth 2: Seed Stitch

Row 1: *k1, p1; repeat from *

Row 2: *p1, k1; repeat from *

Repeat rows 1 and 2

Dishcloth 3: Moss Stitch

Rows 1-2: *k1, p1; repeat from *

Rows 3-4: *p1, k1; repeat from *

Repeat rows 1-4

I cast on 40 stitches for all three dishcloths and knit on size 6 needles. The finished cloths were approximately 8"x 8" (and oh so adorable!!!)

Honey Nut Cheerios

"Friends are the little prize in the cereal box of life."

If that quote is true, then what does it mean that my usual cereal of choice is Honey Nut Cheerios? Am I a bit nutty? Is it my friends who are the nutty ones? Or are friends just sweet and good for the heart? And what does it mean since now so many cereals *don't* come with prizes in them? Are friends rare finds in the cereal box of life? I'm amazed at all of the thoughtful questions that can come from one simple quote...

Molly Weasley's First Scarf

HistoryDiva has a good friend who taught herself to knit (not me--two former co-workers are responsible for my fiber corruption). This friend's first project was a scarf in the colors of Gryffindor, which she gifted to HistoryDiva upon its completion. You know how they say that it's the thought that counts? Well, the running joke was that this particular scarf must have been Molly Weasley's first attempt at knitting. I took pictures using my paperback volumes of Harry Potter to demonstrate the scale for the proportions of this garment. It was approximately a foot and a half in width and just a bit longer than four feet in length.

At some point in time, I volunteered myself to reclaim this yarn and knit it into a functional scarf for HistoryDiva. Since I had nothing better to do tonight, I decided that it was finally time to get going on this project instead of allowing it to continue collecting dust in my craft closet. I don't own a ball winder, so my chosen method (the poor girl method) of rolling yarn is to literally roll it--onto toilet paper rolls. Garfield didn't seem too thrilled about this.

"Mama, aren't you saving those tubes for me?"

Garfield will just have to live without a toilet paper tube chew toy in his cage until I can get this project onto needles. In the meantime, I have run out of tubes to unravel the last two stripes, and I'm feeling a little bit like Rumplestilskin with all of these rolls of yarn laying around my playroom...

The Last Knit

HistoryDiva emailed me this little gem from YouTube called The Last Knit...

I think that she is trying to imply that I am obsessed with knitting. Sure, I've knit my fair share of scarves, but lately it's been dishrags, baby bibs, and baby burp cloths. Sadly enough, I have joked about knitting my own hair into a project, but at least I have *not* blogged about hamsters wearing little knit hats!

I Cock-A-Doodle-Do!

Another one of my college friends is getting married this weekend. I have fond memories of Heather (AKA "Big H") during college... sharing all of them here would take too long, so I'll just focus on one of my favorites: the night we rolled her car!

It was the night before finals, and all through the campus, not a creature was stirring, not even a bored bunch of Alpha Gams with a stockpile of toilet paper from the dorm bathrooms... Okay, so we were stirring, and since we knew that the back door of Heather's car did not lock, we were going to roll the outside *and* inside of her car. In the back window, Heather had this random assortment of stuffed chickens. Each one of them was wrapped in toilet paper as well. The best part of this was that it rained that night, then froze (after all, it was December). In the morning, the toilet paper was frozen to the car, and of course, Heather had an 8:00 am final. That was an unintentional bonus, but we still laugh about it now!

So what does that have to do with today's blog? Well, for the bridal shower, I cross stitched a 'Welcome to my kitchen' sign, personalized for Heather in a chicken frame that my mother had found at the thrift store where she volunteers. And for the wedding, Heather and Mike are getting the rooster teapot from Target along with two knit Rodney the Rooster dishcloths. I won't tell you how long ago I bought that tea kettle because it will just make me seem like a dorky over-eager friend, but I will tell you that as soon as I saw it (before Heather was even engaged), I knew that she must have it!

The Ice Cream Man Returneth

The creepy ice cream truck returned today. Foster just laughed at me when I said that I must take a picture and blog about it...

A Hot Day in Athens

This past Saturday two of my college friends took me on a road trip to Athens to visit the State Botanical Gardens! The three of us were absolutely melting in the sun in the outdoor gardens, but they were beautiful. The best parts were the shaded parts, and that was where we saw all of the little garden critters like lizards and squirrels. One particular squirrel (click on the picture above to see it in greater detail if you can't spot him) was laid out on a rock, and I thought that the poor thing had lost its tail somehow (in a fight, to a carnivorous bird, to a weed whacker...). As soon as I got too close, he sprung up and we could see that he did indeed have a tail, he was just hiding it behind the rock at such an angle that it created the illusion of tailessness.

Anyways, after attempting to give ourselves heat stroke just by being outside, the indoor gardens were mercifully air conditioned. The indoor plants are confined to a smaller area, mostly lining a meandering walkway down to the cafe with a water feature and an assortment of tropical plants. My favorite was the pineapple plant :-)

The gardens are free to the public, and I plan to go back when the weather cools off in the fall. They're supposed to be finishing a flower garden expansion this summer, so it would be nice to see that addition, provided the drought doesn't get too much worse and kill everything that isn't related to the cactus.

Hide the Children!

So I'm sitting at my desk, trying to work despite a nasty sinus pressure headache, and I swear that my cell phone is ringing. I know that this is impossible since I remember turning it off this morning after talking to my mother on the way to work, but I pull out my purse anyway and double-check.

Then I hear the noise again, and that's when I see it--the ice cream truck. Chugging through the parking lot. At a college in the middle of backwoods North Georgia. While the students are gone for summer. Scary!!!!!

I suppose I should explain my adversion to the ice cream man a little better. While HistoryDiva and I shared an apartment (the same one she now shares with LibraryDiva), there was this creepy ice cream truck that would come through the neighborhood behind our complex. It would play music and then interject a creepy girl's voice saying "Hello!" in random pauses. When HistoryDiva or I would hear him, we would inform the other that the "Child Molester" was coming. Why did we settle on this prejudicial moniker? Think about it: Why else would an adult male drive around in a creepy little van while blasting ringtone-like music to attract little children with sweets? If you couldn't tell, I think it's positively creepy.