Have I mentioned that I do not enjoy these encounters?

But Spring is almost here – it actually rained yesterday, instead of snowing! – so I’m hoping these new friends move outside soon.  Where they belong.  Because otherwise, I will squarsh them.  Squarsh them dead.

Okay, I’m getting the heebie-jeebies just thinking about it.  Let’s move on.

Last fall, I planted over a hundred flower bulbs: tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths (my favorite!).  I have no idea how they’ll fare at 7,800 feet, but I figured it was worth a try.

And look!  Tulips!

They’ve been a little nibbled and they’re growing slowly, but they seem to be surviving.  I’m crossing my fingers that they still produce a flower or two.

And what’s that adorable little sprout-baby in the background?

Three adorable little hyacinths!  I hope they’re purple.

I planted an entire bed of daffodils in the front yard, so let’s go see how they’re doing.

Hmm.  Nothing. 

No wait, look!

Just two little sprouts, barely out of the ground.  It’s still early, so I’m hoping that the yesterday’s rain and tomorrow’s warm temperatures start to work their magic.  The trees will start to bud out, the lilac will bloom, and all these little sprout-babies will burst into color.

Unless, of course, it snows again. 

*On a completely unrelated note, take a moment to go read this post over at Hyperbole and A Half.  Sometimes, spiders really are everywhere, and Allie nailed the experience with her usual honesty, clarity, and humor.  Cheers, lady – hang onto the happy.

I have a small herb garden on a windowsill shelf, where I’m trying to grow the fresh herbs I use most often.  I’ve got a pretty black thumb, so no one is more surprised than me that right now, my little plants are thriving!  My plan for endless fresh herbs at 7,800 feet is working!

All except for the fruit flies. Seriously, where did these little buggers come from?  It’s still winter here in the mountains, and they’ve been around since mid-February.  My plants don’t seem to mind them, but they’re driving me crazy!

So what’s a girl to do?  Go check Pinterest!

There were a ton of fruit fly trap ideas on Pinterest, but I went with this simple tutorial from How Mom Did It.

First, collect your supplies.  You’ll need apple cider vinegar, some dish soap, plastic wrap, and a wide-mouth mason jar with a ring.

Pour a little vinegar into the jar.  You really only need about half an inch…but if you’re taking pictures for your blog and over-fill your jar, feel free to pour some vinegar back into the bottle like I did.  What?  The jar was clean!  it’s like the 5-second rule…but for jars.  Okay, then.  Moving on.

Next, add 2-3 drops of dishwashing soap to help break the surface tension of the vinegar.  Surface tension is what lets those little buggers sit on top of the vinegar, rather than sinking into it like we want.  Ha HA!  Just try to escape now, you little ruffians!

Next, stretch a piece of plastic wrap over the mouth of the jar and secure it with the ring.

Poke a few holes in the plastic wrap to allow the fruit flies to enter the trap…and you’re done!

Now, just stick that death trap in your fruit fly problem area and wait.  If all goes well, the little hooligans will be attracted to the scent of the vinegar and fly into the jar, ending my fruit fly problem forever!

Or so Pinterest says.

Update: People, this didn’t work at all.  I didn’t catch one single fruit fly.  Pinterest fail.  I’m not giving up, though.  Those fruit flies have GOT to go.

This:

Plus this:

Equals this!

I used my Silhouette machine to make a cute vinyl label for mine.  So easy!

I’ve wanted a food dehydrator for a long time…and yesterday, I scored this bad boy at Savers!  It’s old, but seems to be in great condition.  It even came with the original manual taped to the top of it.

Best of all, it was only $12.99 – plus, I had a coupon for 25% off!  Now that’s a steal.

I found it just in time for spring, when all those fresh fruits and veggies start popping up all over the place.  I know there are veggie chips, dried fruit, and homemade fruit leather in our future!

There are endless recipes and ideas for food dehydrators – here’s a few I want to try:

“Cheesy” Kale Chips

 
These kale chips use nutritional yeast for their flavoring – yummy and extra healthy!

Chai Granola

Oh, yum.  I love chai anything, and this sounds like it would delicious with some vanilla yogurt.

Applesauce “Cookies”

Use mason jar rings as dehydrator molds – what a great idea!

What else should I make?

The little girl got these boots for her birthday last fall, and since then, she’s worn them nonstop.  I wanted her to have a pair of boots to wear with thick tights and leggings during the winter, so we picked out this cute little pair for her.

She’s only seven and she’s growing so fast these days that we’re not about to splurge on the real stuff, so these are made of faux leather.  “Pleather,” she says.  “That’s what Dad calls it.” 

Well, whatever they are, after a few months, they’re looking a little…well, less than new.

The pleather is starting to fray at the edges, leaving these unsightly little white strings. And nothing screams “PLEATHER” like unsightly little white strings.

Fortunately, there’s a quick little trick that can save these boots from the shame of worn-out pleather. Faux leather, it turns out, is actually just a type of plastic…and it melts just the same!

Take the string and fluff them up – basically, try to make them stand out from the surface of the material as much as possible.

Then, very carefully, move a lighter towards the strings just until they start to melt.  Be very careful – it will melt very, very quickly!  Most of the time, the strings will start to melt and shrivel before they even come in contact with the flame.  But as they do, they’ll shrink down to nothing.  For extra protection against future strings, squish the melted plastic down into the seam.  It will create a hard plastic seam – and will virtually disappear!

Voila!  Much better, yes?

If your faux leather item is sewn with acrylic or polyester thread, you can fix loops like these in the same way.

Again, just use the lighter to melt the thread.  Threads like these may actually catch fire, but just blow them out right away and you’ll be right on track.  Again, squishing the melted plastic against the surface of the material will help keep the same seam from fraying in the future.

Can’t even tell where the thread was, can you?

Almost good as new!

Well, almost.  She is only seven, after all.

This technique will work with any polyester or acrylic based material.  Just test it in an unobtrusive place before you dive in.

So the next time you’re at the thrift store and you see a cute bag or shoes, don’t turn them down just because they’re frayed – just take them home and fix them up!

In hooping, breaks are when you quickly change the direction of your hoop while you’re hooping.  In this great tutorial, katiebug0376 explains breaks from a beginner’s point of view.  I’m still trying to get a handle on arm breaks while chest hooping, but this video helped a lot.

YouTube: Part 1: Beginner on Body Arm Breaks Tutorial

We all have our own opinions, but I’m a strong supporter of President Obama and his bid for reelection.   And after I heard about his staff’s homebrewing efforts, I knew I wanted to make him a beer cozy, to show my appreciation for all his hard work these past handful of years. 

To make the cozy, I first crocheted a red, white, and blue beverage cozy.  Then I cut the logo out of felt and hand-stitched each piece together.  The felt badge is attached to the cozy with flexible glue.

I mailed two cozies to the White House, so the President and Michelle can kick back and enjoy an frosty Ale to the Chief together.  I know it could take ages to get make it through the bad-mail-detection department, but it can’t hurt to send it on its way, right?

I can’t afford to donate much to Obama’s campaign, so I wanted to offer a couple cozies for sale as a fundraiser. There are only a few available, but you can find them over at my Etsy store.

However, if you want your own beverage to proclaim its support for Obama, you can make one yourself!  Just download this PDF tutorial for instructions.

Make Your Own: Obama Cozy

Go Obama!

A couple years ago, I went on a camping trip up on Guanella Pass.  It was Labor Day weekend, and at over 10,000 feet, it was pretty chilly in the evenings.  I was crocheting next to the campfire, and my friend Mike asked me to make him a mitten.

”Just one?” I asked.
”Yeah. My beer keeps freezing to my hand.”

So of course, I did my best to make him a mitten.  But I was just learning to crochet and had never worked without a pattern before.  After a few failed attempts, it dawned on me.

”Hey, Mike?”
”Yeah?”
”Can I just make the beer a mitten instead?”

And so, the crochet beer cozy:

After years of making these things, I’ve perfected the pattern.  It stretches to fit both a can and a bottle.  It protects your frosty goodness from the hot sun, and prevents frostbite on cold mountain evenings.  And best of all, it’s easy to make!

I think this is a great beginner project, and you only have to know a handful of stitches: chain (ch), slip stitch (sl st), double crochet (dc), and half double crochet (hdc). So let’s do this.

First, you’ll need to collect supplies.  I like to use worsted-weight acrylic yarn because it won’t shrink and it’s machine-washable.  This pattern is designed for a J10/6.00 mm hook.

An aside: do you say “cozy?”  Or “koozie?”  Or “koozy?” Or “mitten?”  I always thought they were called “cozies,” but Mike insists on “koozy.”  I’m going with “coozy,” in an attempt to please everyone.  Or no one. Hard to say.

Anyway, start by making a magic ring:

Double chain (dc) directly into the ring 10 times (10 dc + ch = 11 st).  Be sure to overlap the tail as you work.

Grab the tail and pull gently to close the magic ring.

Join with a slip stitch (sl st) to finish the round.

Chain (ch) 3 to start the second round, then 2 dc into the next stitch.

2 dc in each stitch around, and one additional dc in the base of the chain for a total of 22 dc.

Join the second round with a slip stitch and ch 2 to begin the next round. 2 half double chains (hdc) in each stitch around for a total of 22 stitches (21 hdc + ch = 22).

At the end of each round, join with a sl st and ch 2 to begin the next round.

At this point, you’ll be able to see the structure of the coozy take shape.  Keep going for 11 rounds up from the base.  If you forget how many rows you’ve done, just count!  In the center photo below, I’ve done 9 rows – 2 more to go! As you can see on the right, there’s only a small seam visible up one side.

When you finish the 11th round, join with a slip stich, cut the yarn, and pull through. Tug gently to tighten, but not too hard…you don’t want to cinch the top of the coozy too much!

Thread with a large needle and weave in the ends. Carefully off clip the ends closely.  And you’re done!

And that’s how you make a…

These things are super easy to make and you can customize them however you like. And of course, if you don’t feel like making your own, check out my Etsy store! In fact, you can even buy this neon green one!

Early summer, we blindly chose some neat looking plants at the nursery and plunked them in the ground in a bed that’s under our second story deck.  And they all survived the summer!

The poor bed is in a bad spot.  It gets blasted for a few hours of high-altitude sun for a few hours each morning before being abruptly plunged into deep shadows.

These little pink ones did pretty well, but I wish I could remember what they are!  Vincas, maybe?  I deadheaded them a couple times, and they’ve been in full bloom all summer.

The catmint did pretty well too, though it didn’t grow as tall as some I’ve seen down the hill.

Bruce was dying to get some coral bells, so we purchased this cute little “Chocolate Ruffle” variety.  We put in the ground, and immediately, half of its leaves withered up and fell off.  Seems to be doing okay now, though.

This lupine was the Boy’s selection.  It flowered once, and then sprouted a teensy second bloom later in the summer.

These bleeding heart ferns were the only thing in this bed before this summer.  I think the little one in the front is an off-shoot of the one in the back, but I’m not sure.

These hostas are in nearly complete shade, but they’ve been doing just fine.

Well, except this one.  The dog slept on this one.

And this poor thing is a mess.  But I think it’s supposed to look like that.

All in all, I’m calling this summer’s adventure in landscaping a success!  Now if I can only get some vegetables to grow next year…

In my new Guides section, I’ll share some of my favorite learning tools.  Check back often to see what’s new!