ECF - Reader's Choice Edition

Yellow Gladiola...



Or Pink Crepe Myrtle.



You decide!

Sneaky Reaper

It was a little weird around my house last week. I'm not talking about the quiet. I'm talking about being watched. At first I thought it was the turtle. She has been known to give me the evil eye on occasion - usually when she's hungry. But she was just her usual ornery self. She even bit Bruce! But it wasn't her this time.

For a while I kept looking over my shoulder, sure that I'd see someone there. But nobody was... until I finally caught a glimpse of a pasty white face in a black hood hiding in my golden mops. I went to take a closer look but he was gone.



The next day I cought him again. This time he was perched in my dogwood tree with no easy way to escape. I had him.



So I went to take a closer look.



And I was surprised to find the grim reaper except that he really wasn't all that grim. He was more sneaky than grim and actually kind of cute. Creepy cute!

As cute as he was I still wasn't sure that I wanted him skulking about the house. Goodness knows what kind of trouble he and the turtle could get into. So I sent him to Stinkette at camp with strict instructions to lay off the ghost stories. He can keep her company until I return to pick my girls up ONE WEEK FROM TODAY!!!! Let the countdown begin.




*This is actually the Grim Reaper from Creepy Cute Crochet and I made him out of a bit of Lion Brand Cotton Ease with a size F crochet hook. This is one of about 5-6 figures that Stinkette requested from the book by tabbing all her favorites as soon as the book arrived, so I know just what to do with the rest of that yarn.

July Potholder

I've been finishing stuff lately. I guess that's what happens when there are fewer people around to distract you. Not that my girls are distraction but, you know what I mean. More me time can mean more productivity. Anyway, the bottom line is that I've been finishing stuff so there's a backlog of stuff to share. Good for me and good for the blog.



This is the back of my latest creation for the Dazzling Dozen Potholder Swap. The person receiving them in July said that her kitchen was olive green and I liked that as a jumping off point for the colors. They're a little retro but in a good way. More olive than avocado if you know what I mean.





For the back I went with the Scalloped Potholder pattern again. It's so easy and it's become my go-to pattern for a simple balance to the more involved patterns I seem to gravitate to for the fronts like the Snail Shell pattern from the Harmony Guides Crochet Stitch motifs: 250 Stitches To Crochet. I was inspired by some that I saw on Ravelry. They were so beautiful that I had to try them myself.





The yarns were mostly Elann Sonata except for the dark brown which id Tahki Cotton Classic. I've amassed quite a collection of these and it's given me a nice palette to chose from.



On to the August potholder.