Good Morning to Sunshine! Yay!

Mother's Day was glorious! Sun and blue sky and it hit 70!  

Today it looks like it will even be warmer, and "mostly sunny" in our area.  I'm stoked.  I am able to sit out at one end of the back yard on the concrete garden seat and toss the ball to the other end of the new grassed in yard! :o)  

The doggie is thrilled again to have a place to run, AND no rain.  Me, too, as cleaning up the dirt and mud is never ending.  Now with grass the mud and dirt are at a minimum!

This is the original side yard.

First I had a fence built on top of a wall and brought up the level a bit…still mulch, though. Wasn't finished across the front part off in the distance.

Then I added grass and took out some plants that kept getting mildew from too much shade. Brought the level up about another foot at this end which was lower..

Across the back fence there were three planters.  That's where the ball kept landing when I would toss it for Maggie!

Now no planters, the blue berry bushes transplanted toward this end of the yard where the garden started….deck on the right which was at one time dirt and slate.

Added the concrete seat at this end of the yard so I can toss the ball to the side yard…and sit on my duff doing it!

And now Maggie doesn't have to leap tall buildings in a single bound when she chases after the ball! She is happy and I am ecstatic!

Now for crochet….I finished my slippers a few weeks back and forgot to post.  These are super comfy, super warm, and I can walk on the damp grass and not get my feet wet if it is a quick dash.  Made with double yarn, and then two layers of soles.  Make for a cushy step!

These are adult Mary Jane Skimmers by Sylvia Schuchardt at HookCandy.com, and on Ravelry. I used Vanna's Choice in Cambridge so the dirt would not show so much.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL THE STEP-MOTHERS, SURROGATE MOTHERS, GRANDMOTHERS, AND MOTHER-MOTHERS!!!

WISHING THE LOT OF YOU A WONDERFUL AND GLORIOUS MOTHER'S DAY!

Scarf for Nancy - in the Rick Rack stitch

Nancy sent me some Noro yarn to whip up a scarf for her.  At first it was hard for me to use, but then realized my tension on the yarn was making it "untwirl" a bit thereby making the yarn coming up somewhat twisted.  After I had the tension right it was a breeze!

The scarf turned out to be about 5+ feet long. I don't what happened to the last photo I took as it seems to be missing my set…but perhaps you can get the general idea from here.

The finished product, taken by Nancy on her deck. :o)

Pretty Textured Stitch - Scarf

The pattern isn't hard…just a little uncomfortable until you get the hang of it.

The pattern is based on 6 stitches, plus two.  So in the case of this scarf I am making, I chained 32 stitches.  It will be a full scarf as is in Waverly and an H hook, making it a little dense. I plan on making it quite long so it can be wrapped if the wind blows! I think a smaller hook and some sport weight would make a very nice scarf….and you could even use the stitch pattern on an afghan of your making.

The stitch is s follows:

Begin by chaining desired pattern length:  6, plus two.

Row 1: Sc in 2nd stitch from hook, sc across.  

Row 2 and 3:  Sc across as in row 1 (3 sc rows).

Row 4: Chain 4 which will be your first tr now and always.  Skip three sc stitches, dtr in next three stitches.  Now complete 3dtr, going behind the last three stitches, into the 3 skipped stitches starting with the first one skipped.  Continue in pattern until the end, and after the last dtr in the skipped stitches do a tr in the last sc at the end of the row.

Row 5, 6, 7:  Sc across, and be sure to count your stitches to make sure you are not skipping any.

Pattern:  Repeat rows 4 - 7, ending the project with three rows of sc.

If you have any problems with my writing up of this pattern, please let me know.  Have never been great at good at writing up patterns!