Lately I’ve been working on a few easy knitting projects.

I bought this handmade Icelandic sweater (lopapeysa) when we visited Iceland.

In my knitting history I have made many sweaters but I now opt for smaller, simpler projects like hats and scarves.

The hat (on the left) I knit a few years ago goes well with the lopapeysa.

I’m trying to use up my old bits of yarn some of which are at least 40 years old.  I had almost a whole skein of bright turquoise blue but not quite enough to make a scarf.

These balls of old yarn were in my stash.

I checked my yarn bin for other colors that might augment the turquoise and found other blues, creams, and greys.

The leftover colors were separated by 6 rows of bright turquoise.

Using a seed stitch (knit one, purl one) on an uneven row of 33 I alternated colored stripes until I ran out of bright turquoise. One benefit of seed stitch is that the garment lies flat.

I added fringe also using leftover yarn.

I trimmed the fringe to an even edge.

After finishing the knitting I had enough leftovers to make a generous multicolor fringe.

The entire scarf is about 6 feet long.

I like a long scarf that I can wrap around my neck multiple times.

While it doesn’t exactly match the beautiful Icelandic wool of my lopapeysa, I wear them together to stay warm.

The striped scarf “goes with” my lopapeysa.

Jo

This is how the mats looked when I first purchased them.

In 2017 I bought polar bear welcome mats.

The mat on the front porch in December, 2020 still looked pretty good.

I have been using them on the porches at the front and side doors.

My poor white bear has succumbed to many foot wipings.

When I got them out this year they looked plain grungy — even after cleaning them as best I could.  They were still in substantially good shape but the design was wearing off.

I did not purchase paint — I have lots of colors in my supply cache. (These were not the colors I used.)

I decided to try my go-to rescue technique — spray paint. I already had white and turquoise on hand so there was no cost involved.

See what I mean by “carelessly”?

First I carelessly (not a typo) taped around the outline of the bear with masking tape. Then I sprayed the bear until he/she looked white again. ( I had to wait for a day above 50 degrees to paint in order to get best results.)  Before removing the tape I also sprayed the rest of the mat with turquoise.

I corrected overspray with a localized hit of the opposite color.

I removed the tape and, carefully this time, touched up both the turquoise and white.

I think the whole project took less than 10 minutes.

And voila!

The polar bears don’t know that their color supports the Aloha theme inside the house.

Now the mats are back to work keeping shoe dirt out of the house.

Jo

‘Aloha’ is more than a word of greeting or farewell or a salutation. ‘Aloha’ means mutual regard and affection and extends warmth in caring with no obligation in return. ‘Aloha’ is the essence of relationships in which each person is important to every other person for collective existence. ‘Aloha’  means to hear what is not said, to see what cannot be seen and to know the unknowable.” Pilahi Paki

The Aloha Spirit is everything we want at Christmas.

While in Hawaii I bought a sarong which Charlie thought I would wear as a beach cover-up.

I’m not really a sarong kind of gal.

My plan, however, was to use it as a tree skirt at Christmas. Since we might not have a large tree this year I’ll use it as table dressing in the dining room.  It’s predominantly red with a turquoise figure throughout. (I had recently used this color scheme at a party.)

I laid the sarong out on my bed and piled any Christmas items from the attic that seemed to go with it.

I decided to change up my go-to scheme of blue, green and silver to include red — bright red.

I was surprised by all the items that fit into this new color scheme from my stash of goodies.

Then I went to the internet for more inspiration.

Aqua, green, and red wreath.

Careful gift wrapping could make the scheme come alive.

My vintage winter wrapping paper in the aloha-theme colors.

This tree topper reminds me of a pineapple.

Christmas is almost here and the house is starting to get that Aloha look just in time to welcome guests.

The Red Wing stag on the mantel has his aloha colors on.

Also on the mantel is a small ceramic tree I “rehabilitated” a few years ago.

Turquoise and red in the conservatory adds to a whole-house Christmas.

I’m sure Charlie — a great lover of Christmas décor — will love the Aloha theme this holiday season.

Jo

Although my favorite color is blue and I usually have a blue theme going on in every room of the house, this fall I decided to make a temporary change.

I went out to the garden and found these dried-on-the-bush hydrangeas that had turned from pale pink to deep wine.

As I looked through cupboards and closets I found lots of warm — reds, oranges, and golds — objects to scatter around the house.

The small orange vase and large terra cotta fish platter anchor the warm palette — pale purple asters are from the yard.

I began with the living room mantel. An orange vase with purple hearts led me to a theme of warm colors highlighted with lavender.

Simple additions change the season in the living room.

An Asian-style coffee pot with warm and golden tones and a handmade pottery bowl in oranges and tans draw the eye around the room. I also covered a couple of throw pillows on the sofa with Hermes orange pillow slips I had made for this party.

Seasonal towels are an easy way to give a boost of color to the kitchen.

In the kitchen I pulled out dish towels that had been gifts from special friends.

Our food storage baskets tie into the color scheme as well.

The towels look nice with my collection of baskets that hold fresh produce, especially apples.

I know these flowers appear purple and yellow but they are deep red and orange in person.

Finally I bought a flat of pansies in 2 colors — deep red and orange — for Charlie to scatter around the property when a little color is needed.

Autumn colors are brilliant.

Mostly nature does its own thing outside and lights up the entire yard.

Jo

After moving our large art from the bedroom to the mudroom, and then from the living room to the bedroom, we had a large empty wall in the living room.

This photo of Paris used to be in the master bedroom.

This seascape used to be in the living room.

The living room before moving the large painting.

These moves meant that new, formidable hanging hardware was necessary in each situation.

The wall on the left needs a little something-something.

The large wall in the living room not only had a few holes that needed to be patched and painted but also wanted some art or decoration.

At first I hung them with the bottom edges level.

I moved two portraits from behind the lamps in the living room (see 3rd photo above.)  I had never really liked them separated nor partially hidden.

The eyes of the portraits are on a level line. (Forgive the reflections from the windows.)

The portraits, one of me and the other of my son drawn about 30 years apart by the same artist, are slightly different sizes.  When I hung them with the bottom edges level they didn’t look quite right.  I was fairly sure making the top edges level would also be unsatisfactory.

The size differential is less noticeable now that the eyes are in line.

Instead I lined up our eyes.

Pastel portrait by Margaret Schiavone-Hill

Pastel portrait by Margaret Schiavone

This technique probably won’t work with every piece of art but in terms of portraits — the eyes have it.

Jo