Here Comes the Sun

Back in March, which sometimes seems like ages ago now, I stuck one hank of crochet thread back in the avocado dye jar to solar steep in the living room window. I then tied all the worsted cotton I'd used to tie my hanks for avocado dyeing for years and years into a pretty decent-sized ball.

With all that happened in the next few weeks, I forgot all about the avocado dye jars. Even though they were always in plain sight.

One of my visitors as I was trying to heal and regroup after the sudden and dramatic April change in the Snowcatcher household asked what I was cooking in the window. I wonder now what the home hospice nurses must have thought about the dark-colored jars in the window. That brought back memories of giant pickle jar dyeing on the retaining wall in my backyard. When my then new neighbors moved in, they asked if I was steeping body parts in the sun. They quickly became my most favorite neighbors ever, and then they moved clear across country at the same time everything was happening in my house.

Washing and drying that final hank of thread after removing it from the solar dye jar required concentration, and I didn't shed too many tears.

Adding all the new worsted cotton ties was mindless, and it brought back all kinds of memories. I intentionally assembled the initial avocado-dyed yarn into a knot-riddled ball as Lizard peacefully slept in the recliner, just inches from me. My project then was soothing for me and quiet enough for him to continue sleeping. While I finished off the ball again last weekend, I found myself wishing he was sleeping in the recliner right next to me again.

I'm hoping the emotions I experienced will help inspire me as to what to do with this knotty yarn. It's definitely one of a kind.

After winding the latest edition of my avocado-dyed thread into a ball, I made another a micro amigurumi heart. I now have a complete set of hearts in every shade of my avocado-dyed thread. I don't know yet what I'm going to make out of them, but they are just too stinking cute.

Back when the amigurumi heart project began, which I think was last November, I also made discs and round beads of each of all my other solar-dyed crochet thread colors. I probably ought to do the same thing with the avocado shades. I made some great jewelry with the pink, green, blue and purple discs and a wonderful blue bead necklace. I've yet to use the crocheted pink, green and purple beads.

I'm thinking beads and discs might be a fun project for the avocado colors, too. It's very good to stay busy, busy, busy these days.

Linking up with Alycia Quilts.

Tweet

Wordless Wednesday

Tweet

Remembering

I spent nearly the whole day in the temple last Wednesday, then had dinner at a friend's. Everyone was so focused on making sure I was not alone last week. Two of my friends each brought over a bouquet on the day of my anniversary. I cried both times. Tears of joy.

Thursday, I finished up my next gift basket for Etsy, and then Friday, I finally got to go for another ride. Alone... I went up Waterton Canyon, one of Lizard's favorite trails. I saw a bear first thing, right off the bat, but he/she escaped quickly when I aimed my camera. All I got was bear butt. I can't help but giggle over that pun.

No great blue herons this trip, which was rather surprising, as I've seen so many of them on every ride I've taken in the last month.

I still feel like I hit the jackpot, though. An osprey posed endlessly for me!

Our temple anniversary is this week, and I plan to spend the day at the temple again. No better place to be.

Tweet

Snowflake Monday

It feels like it's been ages since I covered a rock with crochet. When I did it last week, I decided the center would make an acceptable snowflake, especially with the unintentional heart shapes on the edges. So I made a white version and wrote the pattern. The name is inspired by the heat dome that has trapped my whole state for the last month or more.

You may do whatever you'd like with snowflakes you make from this pattern, but you may not sell or republish the pattern. Thanks, and enjoy!

Finished Size: 5 inches from point to point
Materials: Size 10 crochet thread, size 7 crochet hook, empty pizza box, wax paper or plastic wrap, cellophane tape, water soluble school glue or desired stiffener, water, glitter, small container for glue/water mixture, paintbrush, stick pins that won't be used later for sewing, clear thread or fishing line

Flash Melt Snowflake Instructions

Special Stitches

Popcorn Stitch (pc): Work 5 dc in designated st, take loop off hook, insert hook through top loop of 1st dc and replace loop on hook, pull loop through top of 1st dc.

Make magic ring.

Round 1: [1 pc into ring, ch 3] 6 times, omitting last 2 ch of final repeat; 1 dc into starting pc. Don't pull magic ring too tight. (For the rock, I did 2 dc instead of pc, mostly just to save my hand-dyed thread.)

Round 2: Ch 2 (counts as 1 dc), 2 dc over post of dc directly below, [in next ch 3 sp work (3 dc, ch 3, 3 dc)] 5 times; in next ch 3 sp work 3 dc, ch 1, 1 dc in 2nd ch of starting ch 2.

Round 3: Ch 2 (counts as 1 dc), 2 dc over post of dc directly below, [in next gap between 3/dc groups work (1 dc, ch 3, 1 sc in 3rd ch from hook, 1 dc), in next ch 3 tip work (3 dc, * ch 3, 3 dc)] 6 times, ending * on final repeat; ch 1, 1 dc in 2nd ch of starting ch 2 to form 6th ch 3 tip of Round.
If you're not reading this pattern on Snowcatcher, you're not reading the designer's blog. Please go here to see the original.

Round 4, Snowflake: Ch 2 (counts as 1 dc), 2 dc over post of dc directly below, [ch 3, 1 dc in 3rd ch from hook, ch 3, 1 sc in 3rd ch from hook, ch 3, 1 dc in 3rd ch from hook, sk over next 3 dc, next picot and next 3 dc, in next ch 3 tip work (3 dc, ch 20, 1 sc in 18th ch from hook, 1 hdc in next ch, 1 dc in next ch, 3 dc)] 6 times, omitting last 3 dc of final repeat; sl st in 2nd ch of starting ch 2; bind off. Weave in ends.

Round 4, Rock Covering: Ch 7 (counts as 1 dc and [[ch 5), sk over next dc picot, in top of next sc picot work (1 dc, ch 3, 1 dc), sk over next dc picot, ch 5, in next ch 3 tip work (1 dc, * ch 3, 1 dc)] 6 times, ending * on final repeat; ch 1, 1 dc in 2nd ch of starting ch 7 to form 12th ch 3 tip of Round. (NOTE: I had to do Round 4 three times on my second rock to get the covering to fit around the more plump rock. The first rock was extremely slender.)

Round 5, Rock Covering: Ch 7 (counts as 1 dc and [[ch 5), sk over ch 5 sp, 1 dc in next ch 3 tip] 12 times, omitting last dc and last 3 ch of final repeat; 1 tr in 2nd ch of starting ch 7 to form 12th ch 5 sp of Round.

Rounds 6-?, Rock Covering: Ch 7 (counts as 1 dc and [ch 5), [1 dc in next ch 5 sp] 11 times; ch 2, 1 tr in 2nd ch of starting ch 7 to form 18th ch 5 sp of Round. Continue with Round 6 until snowflake fits snugly around rock, leaving about a 1- to 2-inch opening on the back or bottom side.

Final Round, Rock Covering:Ch 2 (counts as 1 dc), 1 dc in each ch 5 sp around, inserting rock after about 2/3rds of Round, gently stitching while finishing Round and closing up hole so as not to damage crochet hook; sl st in 2nd ch of starting ch 2; bind off, leaving 4- to 5-inch tail. Weave end through final Round of dc and pull tight. Bind off again, weave in end. Place in garden!

Finish: I've been stiffening my flakes with undiluted, full-strength water soluble school glue for quite a while now, and I've been squishing the glue onto and throughout each flake with my fingers (yucky mess!!!) instead of gingerly painting the flakes with glue. Yes, it's a mess. But it's faster. And stiffer.

Tape wax paper or plastic wrap to top of empty pizza box. Pin snowflake to box on top of wax paper or plastic wrap.

If using glue, mix a few drops of water with a teaspoon of glue in small washable container. Paint snowflake with glue mixture or desired stiffener. Sprinkle lightly with glitter. Wash paintbrush and container thoroughly. Allow snowflake to dry at least 24 hours. Remove pins. Gently peel snowflake from wax paper or plastic wrap. Attach 10-inch clear thread to one spoke, weaving in end. Wrap fishing line around tree branch (or tape to ceiling or any overhead surface) and watch snowflake twirl freely whenever you walk by! Snowflake also may be taped to window or tied to doorknob or cabinet handle.

Tweet

Friday Funny

Tweet

Too Hot To Sew

(affiliate links to my designs)

I can't remember why I picked this particular color scheme when I began my 2026 digital temperature quilts, but I am rather liking it now. The color scheme. Not the theme. The theme, broken hearts, absolutely breaks my heart now. I had no idea when I began this project I would be spending at least 11 weeks with a heart so broken, it has been difficult sometimes to keep going on the project.

I am so thankful I decided before February ever hit that I didn't like the broken heart temperature squares and didn't continue them the whole year. I would have abandoned this project all together if it had been 12 months of broken hearts in mid-April.

I thought adding in colors for the weather conditions would be interesting when I first began this particular temperature project, one of four, but the only one with sky conditions. (And I neglected to add a color for smoke, which we've had heavily for nearly a month now!) Before the end of January, I no longer liked the idea. Perhaps I need a different color scheme for this to work, or perhaps I was just too easily bored by the same daily sky conditions over and over and over.

Now that I have six months complete, I wanted to create a cheater quilt panel on Spoonflower fabric, but I didn't want to do the broken hearts AT ALL. I confess, I hate those segments now.

I decided to make a few changes going forward. I decided not to delete the original project yet. But I decided I liked some of my edit screens so much, I made Spoonflower fabric of them. I did a six month version with revisions, too. I like all the new designs so much better than the original.

I will finish the original. I actually like the September and December segments. I might convert the January and April segments to similar designs one day. But for right now, I'm going to finish what I started. It might get permanently filed away. But that would be better than later regretting never finishing it.

Linking up with Alycia Quilts.

Tweet

Wordless Wednesday

Tweet