Marsha's Cottage in Oriental

I took a solitary bike ride this weekend and rode, as I often do, by Marsha's Cottage, a darling little boutique down by the town harbor.

Marsha's Cottage is housed in a snug little bungalow. What drew me to the shop immediately was their choice of billowing white curtains along their front porch. Doesn't that just say whimsy and charm? I always love to see these little "sails" filling with breezes from the river.

It's a ladies' boutique -- small, cozy, friendly, elegant but not pretentious. They sell clothes that a salt-sticky woman right off a sailboat would feel comfortable in, if she needed something to wear to a restaurant, and was tired of her boat clothes. I found their clothes perfect for my nearly-50 sense of style (such as it is - ha!).

Christmas tapers in the windows. Soft lamplight on little tables. Soft white blouses, soft billowing skirts, simple sandals, light jewelry with a nautical feel. Comfortable clothing for women who are past the busy, hectic time of life, and ready to close their eyes in the sun.

Yes, that's my bike :) Marsha's Cottage is a lovely local spot.

Jewelry Making with Daddy

A few days ago, Adam found some videos online about making metal jewelry. He and Julia particularly liked this Egyptian link jewelry. (Julia is fascinated by all things Egyptian.) It was easy and fun, so Adam tried it a little. And then Julia tried it a lot:

The links are made of aluminum wire that Adam had in the garage, and they used tools he had already. Julia loves it! (I don't know why the bracelet looks gold; it's not.) They're hoping to buy some silver, which will look better (less clunky) and be more malleable.

The ring took her about one minute. I like the swirls! She's such an artistic girl.

Sunday Shimmers

Adam and I biked down to the town marina to watch the boats slip around in the water. Late afternoon sun sparkled in and out of cloud.

A pair of shrimp boats sit idly with their booms up.

A few boats at anchor usually drift in the protected harbor near the dinghy dock. You can tell the wind's direction by glancing at their position.

I love the look, shape, design of this little rowboat. It reminds me of a perfect slice of fruit.

This is Adam's favorite little boat, just enough boat to dash over to Ocracoke for a few days.

Nice things to gaze at on a quiet Sunday afternoon. It was a long Saturday, and will be a very long week.

Bee Update

Just wanted to let you all know that Adam went to check on his beehives yesterday, and they are doing extremely well. He is so pleased! When we first thought we might move here, he examined the area and determined that he did not think bees would thrive here. The county has lots of salt and brackish water, and is full mainly of pine forests. Not the best environment for bees.
But we brought them anyway, and how wrong we were! I'm not sure what all is blooming in those woods out there, but the bees are loving it, the hive boxes are getting heavy, and the beekeeper is happy. He removed just a single frame about a month ago to get a taste of the honey. Next week, he'll pull off an entire box -- eight frames! I'm totally out of beeswax for my bee cream, so I'm pleased. Plus we'll get lots of luscious honey. Can't wait!

Cast-Offs

I went back to prayer shawl group today, and the boxes from last week were still there, tempting me. Hmm. Plus, Gretchen-Joanna recently posted pics of some potholders she's making with little quilted fabric.
I do not quilt. The idea of sewing all those seams, one inch long, over and over, makes me crazy. But just a few seams? For a potholder? "I could do that," I thought.

So I brought home some of the fabric pieces, little pieces. Nice fabric.
Two ziploc bags were full of neatly folded prints. It looks like the previous owner paid $4 per bag!

In addition, there was this pretty piece of smocking. What to do with it? I couldn't leave it there, languishing with the odds and ends. Hunter, do you want it?

This is pretty, probably the start of a quilt. I could cut it into a circle and turn it into a potholder.

This is interesting. Two pieces of soft white cotton, with a thin layer of batting in between. Then the fine stitching, and the color, shoved inside it all like sausage in its casing -- yarn! I have no idea what to do with it, but again, it looks at me and said, "Rescue me!'

And this! A nearly-finished church banner (a small one) for Nativity. Beautiful work. It only needs to be edged.

This is the kind of fine handwork that adorns this whole piece. Who could allow it to be thrown out?

But I confess, I put it all in a plastic bag and stuffed it under the bed. I can't think about it now; maybe later.

Running Out ...

I took two pictures to share with you, from today's crocheting project, but my computer just lost them! Bad computer! Ah well. Let me describe it to you ....

I'm making a pair of Smittens for a friend. I posted yarn colors for her, and she chose a speckled red/blue yarn. I thought I had 4 skeins of that yarn, but I didn't. When I looked closer, I realized that two of the skeins were the same, and the other two were of a slightly different red tint. Hmm.

Of the yarn she liked, I had exactly 77 grams. (I weighed it). Thus, each Smitten needed to use 38.5 grams of yarn, and no more! I wasn't sure if I had enough, but I began. I crocheted almost all of the first Smitten -- I had only 1 row left! -- and weighed it. It was 37 grams already!

So I unwound the rest of the skein, and I started the other Smitten  from the other end of the yarn. And I crocheted, and I got to the same spot on the second Smitten:  one row left.

You should have seen them. (This is when I took the lost photo.) I had two crocheted Smittens, with a solid 6 inches of yarn between them. They looked just like a pair of little-kid mittens, you know, with the long strand of yarn connecting them, running through the little-kid sleeves and around the neck?  But my yarn length was just a few inches :)  It was humorous.

In the end, I had to cut the string and complete both Smittens with one last row of the other red yarn that was so very similar. Handwork is entertaining!

I took some pictures after the fact. Although it looks dark, this photo gives a better impression of the real color of the Smittens.

 Then I tried with more light. Please note that the Smittens are resting on some books.

 Trying on the Smittens. I hope she likes them!

 The friend for whom I made the Smittens is an ardent, devoted, fully-committed lover of books. I thought she'd like to know that her very own Smittens rested on these books, before they were mailed to her: Milton's Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, and Scott's Lay of the Last Minstrel. Aren't they pretty? Adam gave them to me as a Christmas present the first year we dated.

 These are rather old books. The Scott was printed in 1806.

 And the set of Milton in 1796. That's very long ago, yes?

The Smittens are coming your way, MJ! The books, however, will be staying here :)

For Hands and Heads

For hands: I'm making my hand-warmers again. I'm trying to think of a clever name for them. What do you think of "Smittens"? (a take off on mittens, yeah.) This pair is made with some fun, very-chunky felted yarn.

The second pair has a little lacy edging on both top and bottom, and they're longer in the wrist.

I put two yarns together when I did this: a wispy black/purple and a thicker solid purple. I like the result. I'm selling these at the market on Saturday, hopefully. Maybe with fall weather coming, people will be interested?

I want to start selling little-girl flower headbands. Here's my first attempt.

I made lots of these flowers last year, but never put them on a simple band. I hope these really sell.

Now, back to the needles and hooks!