a slice of summer yum

From the June 2011 issue of Martha Stewart Living Magazine.

Yum, this picture makes me crave a cold, juicy slice of watermelon. Nothing says "summer" better than watermelon! These are crocheted watermelon potholders highlighted in my most recent issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine. According to Martha people collect them, but this just makes me more motivated to re-learn crochet! Once upon a time I knew how, but as time progressed my focus switched to knitting, and that knowledge got pushed aside for new techniques. One more thing to add to the never-ending list of crafting "to do somedays." :-D

day five: week of red (and FO Friday)

And to finish the week of red (and orange), some final glimpses of red from my backyard ...

my bottle "bush"

Poor birds -- they need a refill!

one of my favorites, the dahlia

And here's an old finished object (FO) I realized I never blogged about! The last time you saw these guys was in my post on MacGyver knitting ... These are basic socks, using Ann Budd's simple sock pattern (Rav link), that I started knitting for myself right around Christmas. I had them ready for the kitchener toe graft at New Year's but then they stalled out due to how much I despise kitchener-ing. And then my cat discovered them and I ended up ripping back to fix the damage she inflicted ... grrr ... but now they are ready for this year's holiday season! The yarn is a self-striping colorway called "Kinetic Energy" by String Theory Colorworks. This yarn base, Continuum, has just a touch of cashmere in it. The verdict? Totally addictive yarn!

day four: week of red (and orange)

day three: week of red (and wip wednesday)

More from my garden! Serendipitously, it is my red asiatic lilies that are blooming first--perfect timing for Project Spectrum!

And moving to the darker side of red for my WIP Wednesday ... this is my Making Waves Cardigan (Rav link) in Madelinetosh Sock in Oxblood. There's a lot of black in this colorway. In some light it looks reddish, in other light a little purple. It's progressing quickly despite being sock yarn!

day two: week of red (and orange)

day one: week of red (and orange)

It's baaack. Project Spectrum, the awesome celebration of the color spectrum founded and led by Lolly, has commenced! It started as a way to explore the use of color in knitting, but has expanded to so much more. This month starts with two of my favorite colors, red and orange.

May :: Red/Orange
June :: Green
July :: Blue/Indigo
August :: Pink/Purple
September :: Yellow/Metallics
October :: Cyan/Aqua
November :: Black/White/Grey

I'm a little late to the festivities, just getting back from a trip to the west coast. So I'm kicking off my activities with a week of photos celebrating red and orange. I invite you to join me! Post a comment with a link to your blog so everyone can enjoy your photos. For now, please enjoy these gorgeous reddish orange tulips courtesy of my parent's home in Washington.