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Tuesday, July 21, 2020

A Yoke, a Diversion, and a Pathetic Harvest

It's another hot day here in Western Pennsylvania, and I'm trying to psych myself up for a run in a little bit because we're supposed to get some thunderstorms this afternoon (and I really hope we do -- we need the rain badly). I'm feeling a little blah about my projects right now, but I'm still working on them.

My Torbellino (Ravelry link) is now ready to be split for the body and sleeves. I ended up having to work quite a few more rounds than specified for the size I'm making due to my different row gauge, so I also added a couple extra colorwork rounds as long as I was doing it. As you can see, I'm now alternating two skeins of the main color.


Rainbow's blanket is getting closer and closer to being done. Yesterday I joined the second skein of the second-to-last color, so I have three balls of yarn now left to crochet (provided she doesn't then decide she wants it to be even bigger). Though I missed a couple of days in the 100 Day Project, I have officially worked on it for more than 100 days, so it would be nice to finish it by the end of the month. I've been a little distracted, though, by another crochet project:


Can you tell what it is? Probably not! This is the start of an amigurumi alpaca that I'm attempting to make for my nephew for his first birthday. I have a feeling it will look a bit better once I stuff it and give it a face (that white thing off to the side is the face piece that gets sewn on), but I'm rather proud of myself to being able to follow a pattern with shaping. I've discovered that using a locking stitch marker is key to helping me keep my place because I'm not very good at reading my work yet. I'm sure there are some mistakes here, but I'm equally sure a 1-year-old is not going to care. I'm using Knit Picks Dishie from the Giant Dishie Acquisition of 2019 -- the colors are Verdigris and Swan. If I get this done soon, I might try to make a second one in the orange I pulled last week, but I'm trying not to push it and will be satisfied with the one.

As to the pathetic harvest, I present the first edible thing our garden has produced this year:


This is the first tomato from our one surviving plant, which thankfully seems to be doing okay -- it has two others growing and a bunch of flowers. This one looks good, even though it's small (about the size of a clementine orange). Our peas were looking like they were doing well, but it's been a challenge to keep them from drying up in the heat. So I don't have big expectations for the garden this year, but anything we do get will be a welcome bonus. I'm so glad I don't live in a time where I need to rely on my garden to feed my family!

I'll be back tomorrow with a reading update -- unlike my garden, my bingo card is flourishing!

4 comments:

  1. My garden is really sad. But we are just starting our summer weather so there is hope.

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  2. Look at you with the shaped crochet! I think the one-year old will love it. I hope your tomato is tasty and that you get others from those blossoms. Gardening is always a struggle with the soil, weather, bugs, and other critters. My SiL and I always joke that it's a good thing we don't have to keep our families warm with our knitting. She likes to knit pillowcase lace and I could produce maybe a pair of socks in a year. Looking forward to hearing about your reading!

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  3. What cute little alpaca you have going there! At this point, it sort of looks like a knitted trumpet :) I can't wait to see how it turns out.

    Your tomato is beautiful! I hope you sliced it up and enjoyed it with your family. Our peas are also drying up, which is disappointing to me. And I'm also glad that I don't need to rely on my garden to feed my family. Even though it's flourishing, we'd still be starving!!

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  4. The Llama will be so cute once it's done - and I absolutely adore the colour combination of your sweater. (I admire you so much for your garments)

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