The Cat Minidress of ABBA

One of my favorite things about these dresses is how often they show up in ABBA performance videos, which I happen to know because I will stay up for hours watching them. Also, there is a detachable portion that, when added, makes it a long dress with a cat's tail wrapped around it, and their names are embroidered on the back. I am crying right now because I can't find the video where they rip the bottom off and cast it aside.

Falling Leaves

Pattern: Embossed Leaves Socks, Interweave Knits Winter 2005
Yarn: Mystery wool
Adaptations: I left out one repeat on each leg due to a fear of running out of yarn, but I needn't have worried.

After making the green ones (Spring leaves) I wanted to make some hat resembled Autumn leaves. Luckily I had this sock yarn in two colors.



Lace detail



I love the heel and gusset!



Off to their new life with my mom.

Not the best episode, but that charm bracelet really spoke to me

I found some style inspiration in an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (Season 3 Episode 10: The Diplomatic Corpse) because when you spend your time watching shows where all of the actors are already dead, you think it's a good idea to dress like it's 1957.



Shirtdresses will never go out of style.



Those glasses! And the pearls are perfect.



Charm bracelet, gloves, bangs, looking wistful.



Cute shoes, boxy purse, pop the collar, and seal the deal with a cardigan. Don't even put your arms through it! You can never have too many cardigans. At least I keep saying that because I have dozens of them.

Turning garbage into dinner

It's broth day! I keep vegetable scraps that are too nice to compost in a freezer bag. When I have a gallon, I cover the whole mess with water, and boil until the water looks like broth.


This is a pretty good representation of what usually goes in the veggie broth- Can you spot onion trimmings and skins, broccoli stalks, green bean trimmings, parsley stems, carrot peels, celery leaves and heart, tomato skin, zucchini and yellow squash blossom ends? Also good are garlic cloves, bay leaves from other soup, potato peels, and little servings of leftovers.

After straining the broth, I compost the veggies. I like to split the broth into several jugs, like from juice or V-8, and freeze the whole bottles, keeping one in the fridge for using right away. The only problem is you have so much you can barely use it before it's time to make some more.

Put a Button on it!

I got this top and after washing but before wearing there was a big ol' hole in it.





I went from "Why can't I have anything nice?" to "Put a patch on it!" pretty quickly.




I stabilized the knit fabric with trusty sulky (tear away after!).



Trying different button combos on flowers drawn with washable marker.




The finished cover-up- the hole was under the yellow button.

Happy Father's Day

By request, "Elvis" cupcakes (banana cake with peanut butter frosting) from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. Witness the extent of my cake decorating skills- piling high with frosting.

Before and After in the garden

Female blossom



Lemon squash



Little baby peppers


Emerald Giant Peppers



First little Dib Daub cucumber

All from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. Next year: plant everything earlier, like months earlier. I was sitting around this year, waiting for the last frost that never was. Now I'm fondling fetal cucumbers while everyone else is drowning in them. Oh to have enough food to share, or preserve, or even to make a decent meal with.