Hydrangeas in April...with Ruffles

Blue skies! And a winter project finally done...hooray!

Seems that ruffles are very "in" right now....

so I am happy to have finished my hydrangea blue ....

cashmere scarf in time for the chilly spring days at the flea market.

                        

It was very hard to knit!

I am a "busy hands"-type knitter. I like to have something to occupy myself when I watch TV or have visitors  or  dull waits at the doctor or dentist.

And I am slow. The hard part was the increased 600 stitches at the end of the project, the stitches that create the ruffles. I ended up using three loooong circular needles to handle all the stitches. Still made my hands ache though. The resulting ruffles are, I think, very cute though, aren't they.

The result is nice but the scarf is also difficult to wear, lol. What does one DO with all these ruffles, anyway? I had picked up the turquoise cashmere-worsted blend, below in the bowl, to make another version as a future gift. But I think I will simply make a lovely long muffler with the ruffles at each end. Now that I learned how to make ruffles...which is a fun thing. (And short row knitting, a  popular technique right now.)

Oh are you wondering about the big blue sky at the beginning of this post? When I went out to the grocery store today, as I was getting in my car, I looked up and saw this very unusual flock of very large migrating birds.They were soaring and wheeling, high in the spring sky, fighting the strong winds from the northwest.  Eagles? Buzzards? (Unlikely.) Perhaps they are hawks....

love

           lizzy

                 gone to the beach :-)

PS The scarf was a download from Ravelry called Just Enough Ruffles, the link is on the original post from last summer. The yarn was ....? maybe not cashmere, alpaca? whatever...ask me if you want the info.

Lavender 'n' Lemon Bunnies

Oh man! Today was cold and grey and drizzly...tomorow it may snow?! Is March going out like a sad little old man? I decided to stay in and begin my spring cleaning---demented, I know, but the endless drifts of fine sand get to me after awhile.
And since it is supposedly spring, today I have lots of bunny hearts to share!

These cuties are filled with lavender and lemon verbena. They make your spring-cleaned closets smell so nice....

And of course they look so sweet in a prim bowl...

                   


or basket....

They make a fun gift for  your BFF who swears she is too old for chocolate (is that even possible?)...

And I used my very favorite vintage bunny buttons...

Treasures from the Cape Cod button lady's stash at the thrift shop by Luke's Fine Liquors on the marsh....Our Lady of the Cape Church shop?

Yes, it is a perfect set up there...you end your thrifting day at the shop (by 4.30!), pick up a bottle of wine at Luke's, and head to Paine's Creek Beach to relax in the late afternoon.

Soon!
(Just a few sips or mix with seltzer! Please drive safely!)

So...do you guys spring clean? This is probably non-pc but:  I wash every surface with Clorox! What about you?

love

                lizzy

~~~~gone to the beach~~~~~~~

PS Most of these hearts will be in my etsy shop or on eBay by the weekend, come visit? And if you love the hearts but aren't a bunny person, I can have antique MOP or vintage-y plastics instead......

First Flea Market!

Sunday was Opening Day...
Nope, not baseball---we have to wait a bit for that. But even better! The first flea market of the spring. I was surprised, usually the market begins on the first or second Sunday of April.

Gorgeous day! But chilly and very windy. I estimate maybe 20-25 dealers instead of the usual 200. Too bad, because there were a lot of customers and people were definitely buying. Everyone seemed to be in a cheery, spring-like frame of mind.

A drawback was that the dealers who appeared took the organizers' word a bit too much to heart: many tables of cast-off junk from granny's breakfront or grandpa's garage.

But some treasures to be found. All these adorable doll dishes were tossed into a crummy old Rubbermaid mini wash basket!

cheld's tea set items with full size white ironstone pitcher

And the tag said $3.oo for all!
I got a good grip the instant I saw the first little handpainted cup.

I smilingly elbowed aside a woman who wanted to rummage in my basket!

And I quickly gave the dealer my crumpled three dollars, not a bit of haggling.

Look what was there! Tiniest Japanese lusterware items ever...

I've never seen a covered tureen, maybe 41/2" long?

And all these tiny plates! Twenty five!

Some may be butter pats, I am not sure, but all measure 2-4" diameter. The yellow lustreware sunflower in the center is German, The blue and gold possible "butter pats" are unmarked, maybe English?

The little plate with the pink sky and girl canoeing is one of my favs!

And the best!

This partial set is handpainted with pink pussywillows sprigs, and on each branch one of the buds is a tiny pink kitty....to die for!

I'd have paid 3 dollars for the creamer alone.

Pussy willows with kitten buds was a popluar motif in the 1940s. I once passed up a crib quilt with pink pussywillow - kitten flowers [little play on words, lol. Get it? Yeeesh.]; also saw it both blue and later yellow. Below is a not-good photo of aqua barkcloth with grey "catkins"---kitties.

Later I decided to buy this ironstone platter or tray at $5.00. Nice prop for shell pix? Bigger than it looks, maybe 18" x 8". And stained a bit and crazed, just like I like them.

I'm not crazy about ivy and almost didn't get it, but looking closely, I realized the design embossed at each end is a line of Tinkerbell-esque fairies, each less than an inch high! How adorable is that!

What I passed up: at the only "real" antiques booth, a man who sells wonderful primitives had lovely flow blue china and a shorebird decoy that was rubbed a soft blue-grey-green! His eyes were neat numbered old nail heads too. Great price, but he was packed up by the time I paid for the doll tea sets, so...maybe another day. Otherwise, not much---some crochet lace?

I can't wait til next time! Did you get to the flea market yet this spring? What did you buy? Tell me....

As for my dolls' teas sets, I plan to keep a few pieces and sell the rest in my etsy shop, so let me know if you have a fav....and want me to share.

love

    lizzy

gone to the beach