Muse Breaks

Hiya!

I injured my hand a short while ago, leaving a lace project of mine sitting on the table unfinished.  In the meantime, I decided to pick up a big hook again and do a project with actual yarn for the first time in quite a while.  I settled on a table runner that will eventually look like this:


Nifty, isn't it?  I thought it would be the perfect thing to bring to Christmas dinner in Iowa, when my fiance's family get together.  It's working up very quickly, is a very simple pattern, and is really easy on my hand.

You can probably knock it out in a day of crocheting, but I'm moving a bit slower than normal.  I'll post a photo when it's complete and blocked out.  I'm making it with a 5.5 mm hook in white Bernat Softee yarn, which will hopefully be able to handle stains and washings provided it's done so gently.

The pattern is available for free PDF download here.  I might be making a more delicate, lacy version if I get bored of making lace doilies once my hand heals up.

Enjoy the early burst of Christmas!  I normally don't get started this early, but the pattern was just so cute I couldn't help it.  Fall is my absolute favorite time of year, though, so you can bet the coming weeks will be full of fun autumnal inspiration.  :)

-Miss Mouse

I've been having the most frustrating run-ins with plant problems lately.  Just when you think everything is going perfectly, your peppers start curling over themselves.

It's only happening to my red chili peppers.  They're coming in curled and wonky, seamed and lopsided.  It looks like they took LSD.  The best I can figure is that they've hybridized with my cayennes, much to my dismay (thank you, fruit flies, now get the heck outta my house and stay out), and the worst I can figure is some sort of disease of which I'm totally unaware.  I'll cut one open at some point and see if I can glean any information from its insides, or perhaps from the interwebs.

The good news is someone told me they heard deformed shapes meant hotter peppers.  Not totally sure if I can trust that or not, but would it really be so bad if it were true, or if they had hybridized?  They'll likely never leave my kitchen, so they aren't a risk for other peppers.  Meh.  At the very, super, absolute least, it's frustrating.

My basil also took on spider mites, and my organic pesticide does not seem to have the oomph needed to run the little guys outta town.  Good news?  I can fight them by keeping the plant watered frequently (something I have slacked off on these past two weeks unfortunately).  This, and these bizarre and to this day unidentified yellow-white spots on my parsley kept a perfectly excellent harvest from hanging up to dry.  I'm disappointed, but I look forward to turning my little kitchen garden around again.

The best part about indoor gardening is not having to end the seasons when the weather feels like it!

On a happier note, I've gotten back to lace at last after crocheting a baby blanket for a friend's shower.  I'll post a picture of the blanket if I think of it later on, and the lace when I've finished it.  I'm making a collection of glass doilies to experiment with some 30 and 40 weight lace I picked up a month or so ago.  :)

Alrighty, I've got to get back to business.  See you around!

-MM