Category: Happy Marriage Lace

Story of Double Happiness

Marie Haigh6 Comments

Do you remember this pillow front I had blogged about earlier this year?

From Double Happiness

The yarn weight was too heavy for the design. Plus, I had made a slight error in the portrayal of the Chinese character meaning Double Happiness. So, I revised it.

Here is the new and improved version:

From Double Happiness

My original plan had the back side of the pillow being an exact copy of the front version. The plan was scrapped for three reasons. (1), I hate knitting something twice, which is yet another reason why I don’t knit socks. (2), more important than my silly quirks, the plan didn’t allow for the removal of the pillow insert. (3), I wanted a way to embellish the pillow after having such a blast decorating the tree skirt.

The redesigned back with ribbons woven through the eyelets:

From Double Happiness

As you may remember, this entire crazy idea of mine came about from a framed Chinese paper cutting art piece that my cousin bought for Dan and I.

From Double Happiness

All I did was take the Chinese symbol and turn it into lace.

The pattern is now available on my website, on Ravelry and on Samantha in Stitches website: http://sisyarn.terapad.com.

A Block Party

Marie Haigh6 Comments

I am hosting a Knitter’s block party in my basement today. It’s a BYOUFO (Bring Your Own UnFinished Objects).

Such parties are necessary when a Knitter has failed to block the items as they are completed, preferring to pile them in a drawer, unseen. When the drawer will no longer close or when knitting is interrupted because the bits need to be seamed together first, then a Knitter must grudgingly participate in a block party.

I have only accumulated three such pieces and can still close the drawer, but I don’t want to waste time knitting a second Happy Marriage lace block until I ensure the 1st came out to spec. Here is a pic of the Happy Marriage unblocked.

I will upload revised pictures on Monday after it has been blocked. But, can you see the design? If you recall, a Chinese symbol was my inspiration.

In related fiber news, I am approximately halfway through spinning my first 4oz of Corriedale roving. There have not been a lot of baseball games to spin in front of, since my team (Go Phillies!) is on the west coast right now. Games typically have been starting at 10 pm. I’m a loyal fan, but I also treasure my sleep. Hopefully, they will be home soon and I can get back to my spinning schedule.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

A Vegetable Garden planted

Marie Haigh6 Comments

There is something besides just dirt in my raised bed!

The following seeds or seedlings were planted on Saturday:

9 Roma tomato seedlings
2 Big Boy tomato seedling
3 store-bought Strawberry seedlings
3 wild strawberry seedlings from the patch growing in my backyard (I’m not sure how this patch came to be, but it is starting to take over a large swath of land behind my Sweet Gum tree. I may have to do something about it in the next year or so).
Several bulbs from 1 onion set
1 seed packet of Anise
1 seed packet of Mint (Ostracized in the small container to the right of the raised bed because mint has a nasty reputation)

Though I wanted to plant pumpkin squash (Neck pumpkins), Dan was adamant that I not plant pumpkins of any sort in the bed. He said it would ruin my garden, since they are a hearty and invasive plant. Determined to have enough strawberries to make jam, I opted to forgo fresh pumpkin. I won’t have any other plant undermining my jam efforts.

The amount of tomato plants may seem large, but I have yet to plant enough to make one large batch of homemade tomato sauce or tomato soup without supplementing the recipe with store-bought canned tomatoes. Three years ago, I had dreams of canning my own tomatoes. I assumed that tomatoes were a very prolific plant, similar to a zucchini plant. Alas, it’s not so. Part of the problem, perhaps, lays on my head. I love tomatoes. I am a firm believer that tomatoes make everything taste better. Of course, some of the tomatoes don’t even make it into the house. What sort of a cook would I be if I didn’t sample the ingredients? Rather than try to eat fewer tomatoes, I decided that my only option was to plant more tomatoes. Here’s hoping 11 tomato plants is enough to quench my appetite.

Every morning before I venture into the garden, I have been knitting a few rows on my Happy Marriage lace design.

It is slowly starting to take shape.

Bees and Yarn

Marie Haigh4 Comments

Yesterday was Earth Day. So, of course, I had to plant something … anything. I chose to plant my new Columbine flower seeds. My original plan was to plant them underneath Henry’s tree (an Eastern Red bud tree given to the woman who used to live here by her son Henry).

 

While uprooting the few weeds, I noticed that there were several holes in the ground. My first thought was that a mole had taken refuge underneath the tree.

Miffed with his/her real estate choices, I started to fill a hole in next to the hosta plant, since the tunnel was causing it to lean over. That is when I realized it wasn’t a mole’s tunnel. Instead of frantic digging, I heard buzzing. Then, I saw a bee enter one of the other tunnels. I admit, I started to get a bit nervous. Normally, if you tamper with a bee’s hive, it gets a bit irritable. Yet, these bees did not.

It seems poignant that on Earth Day I learned something new about Mother Nature. Ground bees or mining bees are solitary. They are harmless to humans and extremely beneficial to the environment (my garden). So, I plan to do absolutely nothing about them. Even Dan, who is deathly allergic to bees, asked me if I knew how to invite them back next year. Alas, I don’t.

Rather than spend the day eradicating bees from my yard, I finished a new lace design instead.

The design is based upon the picture. I translated the Chinese symbol, which means ‘happy marriage’ to the best of my knowledge, into yarnovers and decreases.

My only problem is that I can’t decide what yarn to use to try out my new design. I have pulled out almost everything from my stash. I narrowed it down to the two skeins you see sitting on the red table. The vibrant red is sheep’s wool by Briggs n Little. This truly reflects the color used in the picture. My devil’s advocate would note that the feel of the red yarn is a bit course. The other skein was given to me by my wonderful MIL. She purchased the yarn at a fair in Maine. It is hand dyed and hand spun. It’s softer than Jake’s lovely fur. So, naturally, I am leaning toward using the sumptuous yarn. I hesitate because my MIL instructed me to use the yarn to make something wonderful. A lace pattern that I will probably never use, except as a centerpiece for our dining room, doesn’t constitute as “something wonderful”.

Fine, you talked me out of it. I’ll cast on with the true-red.

PS. Doesn’t everybody keep a Tigger on their work desk?