Friday, November 9, 2012

Towels for Stash Reduction

 I recently bought a fairly large number of cones of bright colors 20/2 cotton yarns.  As I looked at my yarn cabinets I came to the obvious conclusion that if I am going to find any place to put this yarn I am going to have to use up a bunch of the partial cones of various things I've got lying around.  Two very good sorts of project for using up bits and pieces are scarves and tea towels.  As a lot of the yarn is medium sized cotton I am currently in a frenzy of weaving tea towels.  The above pastel ones use up three cones of pastel 8/2 cotton that I bought to make baby blankets.  The weft is some white cotton flake that I got on ebay a while ago.

 The ones right above are made with fairly heavy 3/2 organic natural colored cotton.  These are going to be a lot coarser than the pastel ones or the ones below but I think they will do for hard work.  I love the natural colored cotton colors and they will darken as they are washed.  The pattern is a huck lace.




The above are still on the loom and are made with a bunch of 8/2 cotton I bought at the fair From some one else's stash reduction.  The orange, yellow and red yarns called out for a windowpane type of plaid outlined with black.  All three batches are really different.  I'll have them for the 2 big Thanksgiving/Christmas crafts fair this year and the leftovers for Christmas presents.  And, yes, I am also making scarves out of other sorts of yarns.  And my waste baskets are getting full of empty cones.  I love it.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Halloween Traditions

Halloween has come and gone.  With no kids around the place we don't do much to celebrate and there is no trick or treating here.  But we do have a tradition of carving 3 pumpkins and putting them out at the end of the driveway at dusk with candles in them.  They're just for anyone driving by.
This is followed by Halloween tradition #2, roasted pumpkin seeds.  We get this treat just once a year and so we enjoy it while it lasts.  We clean the seeds from the pulp and put them in the oven until they are crispy.  Some friends add a bit of oil and salt or herbs.    I can't believe it but we've already eaten about half of them.