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A Lovely Crochet Backpack

When I was in High School I went on a missions trip to Honduras.  While there I purchased a woven backpack that I used and loved for years.  Over time it ended up getting packed away with other sentimental items.  When I recently had a need for a small, lightweight, and flexible carrying sack my mind immediately thought of my well loved Honduras pack.  When I dug it up I was dismayed to find out that some hungry moth larvae had GONE TO TOWN.  While I do have plans of stitching up the original backpack, I thought, why not make myself a new one in the meantime?!  

I used this opportunity to improve on the original Honduras backpack design.  I did not like having to tie and untie a drawstring to open the backpack so my husband and I came up with a unique drawstring design with the straps that automatically closes when you put the backpack on your back!  Soooo handy!  I customized the straps to be a little shorter too so the bag didn't sag down too far on my back.

I was able to use some wonderful Noro yarn that I had in my stash.  To help stretch it out a bit (I only had 2 skeins of the yarn and I don't know if they still offer it for sale), I used a neutral color fisherman's wool yarn that I had in my stash too.  I love the way the neutral color makes the multi-color Noro yarn pop even more!

When I posted this original photo I had several people comment on my lovely basket (since I didn't say I was making a backpack).  I LOVE the idea of making a basket like this!  I might just have to make a little matching set! :)

Mason Jar Cozy

I'm so excited to show off my mason jar cozy!  I love the way the colors came together and not sure if you noticed, but there is a cute triangle pattern in the bottom 3 layers of the tan color sections.  Isn't it cute?!  It stretched out a tad after several uses but I put it in the washer and dryer and it shrunk right up again...good as new!  :)

Happy Independence Day!

Handmade Crochet Hooks & Succulents ♥

This past weekend I had a little photo session with my two loves:

Crochet & Succulents

Thought it might be fun to share. ;)

BTW, the hooks in these photos were carved by my awesome hubby.  Whenever I'm feeling in-need-of-love he surprises me with a new hook.  He takes first prize.

Monster Cucumbers!

It's too bad these giants turned out bitter!  Aren't they just so fun to look at though?!  Oh well, off to the compost pile they go... I couldn't help but make a little Instagram collage too. hehe

Today's Harvest: Lemon Cucumbers & A Tiny Bell Pepper

It seems like every day I get to pick a few more goodies out of our garden.  

Today I found 3 beautiful lemon cucumbers just asking to be cut up and thrown into a delicious salad.

I also found this little green bell pepper.  

According to the label on the plant, this guy is supposed to be red.  

Upon close inspection this pepper was telling me it was ready to be harvested...I think.  

The skin was getting slightly wrinkled on the bottom and the body of the pepper felt hollow and pliable.

Aren't they so pretty?!

Steph's Summer Crochet List

1. Croshades...too fun!
2. Who can resist the bold summer colors of these crochet shoes?!
3. I love this simple crochet clutch!
4. Just love this vintage crochet cover-up!!

Six Links You'll Love

1. Love this printed tea towel by Yao Cheng!
2. Isn't this lion softie the absolute cutest?!
3. Concrete planter....♥
4. Curious little sloth hanging out on my collar.
5. Lemon cucumber grown in our self-watering garden!
6. I can't wait to get started on this vintage-inspired crochet potholder.

For The Love Of Corn

Sweet Cuddly Bunny

Ohhhhhh isn't this cuddly bunny so sweet?! She was a special order from a brand new Grandpa. I think she will look beautiful in her new home and be a loving companion to his granddaughter.

In The Garden Today

Lemon Cucumber

These are so pretty when they are ripe.  The skin is a pearly white where it's been stretched out with little strips of yellow shining through.  

Bell Pepper

I was so excited to find this guy hiding between the giant tomatoes.  I wasn't sure that we would get any this season because their leaves are all deformed from being blocked out from the sun.  They are survivors.

A dead bat in the house....wait...still, worth mentioning.

Willy: "Mommy, I have some really sad news.  I found this dead bat on the stairs."  Holding this tiny dead bat in his sweet little hand.

Not pictured but also worth mentioning:

Coyote chillin' in our front yard (driving the dogs nuts), and a mouse in my car...literally IN my car...as I'm driving.  Yeah.

Veggie Garden Harvest & Tomato Worms

Ahhhh Saturdays.  To me Saturday means coffee in the garden, extra time to search for tomato worms, inspect strange bugs, and dote over my succulents.  Glorious.

This morning I harvested some Snap Peas that the kids started at school.  They put a paper towel in the bottom of a plastic sandwich bag, added a little water and dropped a seed in.  I was amazed at how quickly they germinated with such little sunlight.  We brought the seedlings home and planted them in the garden and they took off!  They are definitely going on my seed list for next year's garden.

I squished about eight tomato worms this morning.  Five to eight seems to be the daily average.  Since tomato worms are the same color as the leaves they can be hard to spot.  So, rather that searching for the worms, I look for their poo!

See the little black dots on that leaf?  Those are tiny tomato worm poo!  After you spot those, just look up.

Do you see him standing up on the leaf?  He knew I was looking for him so he got in his defensive stance.  When they get bigger they actually start making a clicking sound (with their teeth?).

Don't forget to shake the poo off the leaf below so you can find fresh poo the next day!

Daily Garden

Well, I failed miserably at the daily photo challenge. I'm not too broken up about it though because a new daily activity formed rather organically in April.

Will and I dream of being completely self sufficient some day. We try to implement things in our lives that either make us more self sufficient or provide an opportunity to become more self sufficient in the future.

Growing our own food is not something that is necessary right now (we can just go to the store and buy what we need for less than it takes to grow our own) but gaining the experience in doing so is invaluable.

So, this year my super awesome and amazingly talented hubby decided to test out a self-watering, raised bed garden planter.  After some research he grabbed a few ideas from some different sources and came up with his own plan for getting it done. He tweaked it a bit more and then went for it using materials that we have on hand. This is the absolutely beautiful garden that he came up with.

"Why is it so cool?", you may ask. Let me tell you!!

#1: I only have to water once a week. Yes, once a week!! I could probably go longer when the weather cools (we are hoping to use this garden year round since our winters are so mild). From what I've read, sub-irrigated planters can save up to 80% water. Love the sound of that!!

#2: No rodents snacking on my veggies. We have are big problem with squirrels and cotton tail rabbits about this time of year and I haven't seen any nibbles yet.

#3: Virtually no weeds. I pulled ONE weed (we think it came from a bird poo). We added the cover option to help with that (those criss-crossed pipes).

#4: Using the principles of Square Foot Gardening we were able to fit a lot of plants in a compact space (our garden is 4'x8').

#5: Having the planter raised makes gardening a fun task. I find myself wandering out to check on it at least a couple times a day.

I'm sure there are a bunch more reasons why sub-irrigated planters are a superior for of gardening. I just can't get enough and have begun my own small pot versions too!

I've started a Daily Garden Journal on Pinterest. If you want to see my garden grow from Day 4 (I missed day 1-3!) Click here and follow my board for daily updates.
This is what I pinned this morning:

"Waiting Patiently" (Photo #2)

Waiting patiently for warm bodies and warmer days.

"A Romping Hike" (Photo #3)

We love to go on adventures in our front yard.  Willy brought snacks (leftover mac & cheese from Mar Mar's house) and Molly grabbed her video camera.  The dogs love showing us their favorite play spots way out front where the squirrels like to hide.  In this photo Willy is marching closer and closer to Molly till he finally crashes into her....punk.

2014 Photo Project...Dare I Take The Challenge?!

365 Inspiring Photographs

I follow a lovely little knitting blog called Polka Dot Cottage.  Her most recent post was about starting a 365 day project revolving around photography.  She is starting her 6th year-long photo project (Wow!) which has inspired me to give it a shot as well!  Her project will be structured, taking specific shots per day based on a monthly theme.  I think I'm going to be a little more generic and take 365 photos of things that give me inspiration.  

"Stripped Away" (photo #1)

This photo is such a great depiction of Winter.  Everything is bare and exposed.  You can really see all of the intricacy of the twigs, bleached by the sun, twisting together and around each other.  Reminds me of beautiful lace.  Dare I say...I'm feeling inspired! ;)  As Google puts it, inspiration is "The process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative."  Bring on the inspiration!!