It's Almost Here!

My 4 days off.  Oh, yay!!

I will be fixing the man and I's Thanksgiving dinner this year.  The turkey is thawing and I only have to go to the store right after work.  I am sure that won't be much fun, but I need orange juice for the cranberry bread.

I got my birthday present from myself today.  A Kindle Fire.  It's really cool.  It's everything but a phone to me.  I don't use my cell phone very much, so this will be fun.  I already have a ton of books from Audible, music from iTunes and will have to see how the video thingy works too.  I can access my email via WiFi along with the web really, so it will be great to carry around for entertainment during the day instead of hitting the internet a little during the day at work when we really aren't really supposed to be using it a lot.  I can't check my email from there and some other sites as well.

No pics today, but I promise later this weekend.  :>)  The gray handspun sweater grows every day.

Happy Holiday
J

Ok then

I can't believe I am starting my 4th week at work.  Time flies during the week.  Somehow though, my weekend days seem longer.  On those weekday evenings, I get home, eat, watch a bit of tv and then off to bed.  Up at 6am, to work by 7 and then drive home in the dark at 5:30.  sheesh  The cat velcros herself to me more.  She was way used to having me home all the time.  She doesn't know what to get me to do first when I am home.  I will have 4 days off for Thanksgiving.  That will seem like a huge vacation!

I have been knitting a bit though, now that the shock of working is over.  I finished the first front of the long gray sweater and have a few more inches on the flax colored sweater.  And,  I am also just finishing up another bird block for the Whimsical Garden quilt.  I will post a pic of that for sure when I get it done.

We have definate fall here.  The tree in the front yard dropped most of it's leaves yesterday.  But, it's raining and snowing today, so raking is out.  <sigh>

So, done for now, more later...
J

The Calm Before the Storm

The man and I travelled to Bryce Canyon for a few days.  We did actually drive through the park and took a short hike to see the Bristle cone pines.

It's easy to see for 40 miles to the Paria Plateau.  Every picture I took is beautiful, there's more:

Coming to the end of the trail.  Live bristle cone pines.  Some weren't so lucky to make it for more than a few hundred years:

The one above had rings that were almost touching.  Probably a couple hundred of them.  This stump is about 2 feet across and had grown around a branch.

This is a natural bridge about halfway to the point which is around 20 miles from Ruby's Inn where we stayed.

That new project has been progressing nicely.  Fatter yarn makes for faster projects.  This sweater is very long, but it's still fun to knit.  I have the back done and am 2/3 of the way up the right front.  Sorry for the blurry picture.  I need to find a way to take pictures of it with more contrast.  Maybe take it from a lower angle and to the side so the flash will make shadows?  The bottom of the sweater is to the left.  The pretty Celtic pattern is at the waist.

Alas, I won't have so much time to knit from now on.  I am back to a real job tomorrow.  10 hour days, 5 days a week.  Yup, 50 hours a week, includes 10 hours of overtime at time and a half.   I have a feeling that this will kill me for awhile but hopefully will make me stronger in the long run.  :>)  It's doing my favorite thing, document control and a big enough company that I am getting paid very well indeed.  woohoo!!

later, friends
J

Ut oh, another new project

This is the last fleece that I spent time spinning.  It's Romney-Corriedale from Knowltons Farm.  It's soft and warm and this sweater pattern will keep my butt warm this winter.  I love sweaters that do that.

It's knitting up fast and the pattern is very easy to understand.  I did add more rows of garter stitch on the beginning edge to help it hang better than shown in the picture on the pattern.

The sweater shawl continues finally.  I have to be very careful when I crochet.  I did so much around 20 years ago that I started having carpel tunnel problems and tendonitis in my thumb.  Having a death grip on the hook really aggravates this problem so have to think about holding the hook like a little bird.  Nice and loose and relax!

You can see the first sleeve taking shape at the top of the picture.  I haven't sewn beads on the crochet yet.

Our weather is changing today.  Snow forecast for the mountains above 7000 ft.  Rain down here.  We received a wonderful downpour yesterday for about 10 minutes.  Love that.  The sun will be back this weekend so can get one lawn mowed and start cleaning up my perennials around the yard.  Yarrow will be cut and moved and especially cut back the Jupiter's Beard.  These plants got really tall this year with all the rain and are now blocking all of the walkways.  It's very annoying.

I will stay busy today inside and most of tomorrow, gloom outside gets me down sometimes so working on colorful stuff in here will help with that.  :>)
J

Too much to do and not enough play time

No pics today.  I know, I know, bummer.  I have been bored silly and finally made a list of things that I really need to get done and that fixed that boredom.

I have been production sewing my spinning wheel bags to get orders finished.  This week I am working on the last 4 orders that I have.  I will finish one today, whew!

The soft orangey/purpley sweater that I have been working on is sitting here staring at me.  I ran out of yarn and this is the beauty of spinning my own yarns.  I am spinning more.  Gotta love that.  I knew on some level that if I made the longer tunic length, I might run out of yarn.  I did.  Thanks, little voice.  I do love spinning the Blue Face Leister and did have some left over after Great Basin.  I might spin more than I need to.  :>)

I received the new set of Drops patterns the other day and one or two in the same issue grabbed me and fast.  They don't name their patterns so here are the numbers, 134-1 and 134-55.  Oh!  Maybe I can find pics on the web to post here.  Hang on....

Ok:

Is that not a wonderful pattern?  This is 134-1.  I have a bunch of gray handspun that will work very well for this sweater, in fact, I have it all set up in a bag already.

Here's 134-55:

And, I just happen to have some brown handspun that will be perfect for this pattern.  hmmmm.  It's that not enough time thing slapping me in the face again.  Just gotta knit faster.
J

Two not just one!

Fun huh?  I do say that a lot too.  The next one won't be so fast to do.  Another blue bird, yay!!

So, that's pretty much all I have been doing.  I did finish the front of the San Fran shirttail though.  Now I am on to the sleeves.  I will do those first before I put the whole thing together.  I am going to love wearing this one just like I love wearing the other one that I made.

The next spinning project that I have lined up is to spin some custom thrums that I had carded a bunch of years ago.  After that, a brown Knowltons fleece.  mmmmmmmmmmmm

Tomorrow the man and I are off to the Gem Faire.  Neither one of us have anything in mind.  ha!  He gets sucked in to the chunks of fabulous stone and who knows what will grab me.  There is this guy who sells bronze chains and findings and charms oh my.
J

Software is strange sometimes

I changed over to Internet Explorer and got my pics to load today.  I don't know why Safari wouldn't cooperate yesterday.  I have never had to change browsers to get this to work.  Smoke and mirrors.

I have more pics to show:

The San Francisco Shirttail is growing.  I have the front almost done now.  The next step is to join the back to the front at the shoulders and then finish the neckline.  Then, on to the sleeves.  I have more of Jill Vosberg's patterns and will probably work on another one soon.  The gods know how much yarn I have in my house. 

This is what I am spinning at present.  Gorgeous, no?  I have enough for socks or maybe a small shoulder warmer, or fingerless mitts, or ??

I have gotten back to my stitching.  These are the first two blocks of twenty for "My Whimsical Quilt Garden".  I love this project.  I just finished the third one, but will show that tomorrow.  So cute.  It's a blast to throw crazy, bright fabrics together.  Piece O Cake is having a sale on their fabrics so I couldn't resist a few of their scrap bags.  Can't wait to see what I get.  I have been out searching for more dots and turquoise for the birds and was successful, so I have a great stack to choose from for the rest of the project.

This should probably be on LOL Cats.  She was laying down and was looking up at me and the camera didn't function like it was supposed to.  She finally got tired of me telling her to "look" and got up to give me this WTF look.  She has been sneezing for 3 days and congested.  I don't know what was in that last storm, but the both of us have been all allergied up this week.  Sick of it.

Show and tell is over for today.  Well, almost anyway, WWH meeting tonight with a huge show and tell, so will drag some stuff there for a change.  :>)
J

Peaches and surprise

The surprise is mine when I read the last post.  ha!  I did get the lawns mowed plus the dog run (large) that day.  I am still all about moving railroad ties and moving the black soil.

Aren't they gorgeous??  What I do with them is peel them, remove the pits, then I go back and slice them up (like each half into 4 or 5 pieces).  Then I mixed up some acid, today I used a bit of citric acid in a quart of water.  I used a quarter cup of acid, but it might not have needed that much.  It's very concentrated so maybe a couple of heaping tablespoons in a quart of water would have been enough.  I have used lemon juice in the past and it really doesn't take that much just to prevent discoloration.

I then load the peaches into zip lock bags, say enough for a pie, so half the bag is full.  Then freeze them.  I also put about a peach worth into sandwich size bags to try on cereal.  I will let you know how that works out.

Doing peaches this way lets them taste just as fresh as the day they were picked.  I just don't pack stuff in sugar anymore.  I may use Splenda Half and Half, but don't do that until I have the peaches into the pie crusts.  I add a half cup of either the Splenda or sugar, dot some butter (2 tablespoons or so) and some flour sprinkled on (1/4 cup) to thicken the "gravy" sauce so it won't drip out of the crusts when it bakes.  I use Pillsbury or Kroger (acutally better than Pillsbury but they could be made at the same factory for all I know, cheaper is sometimes better).  I bake them for 10 minutes at 425 degrees and then turn the heat down to 350 for an hour.  Perfect.

Still spinning and knitting and sewing but will wait until tomorrow maybe so I can add pics.

Sunny skies all week.  yay
J

Lots of work to get done before winter!

Today, mowing of lawns, moving of soil, start to move railroad ties.

Railroad ties were such a great idea, but if I had lined them with heavy plastic, it would have been a better idea.  The problem is that they leach creosote into the soil and the dampness encourages ants to tunnel and eat the ties.  The creosote discourages plants.  So, my plant production has dwindled to nothing over the years.  I will cut up and discard the damaged ties and move the others to the perimeter of the yard in front of vines.  I have silver lace vines on my west fencing in the back yard and then grapes on the west side.  And, also, Virginia creepers on the back that are getting a great start and a couple of Trumpet vines as well.  Beings the ties won't be touching the vines and a bit away from the roots, they should be fine.

I have also been working in the garage to rearrange and organize all of the stuff that accumulates out there.  I have had some yard sale stuff under a tarp for a few years and it needs to go someplace else.  A lot to the Thrift Store.  I hope all this activity today will make my 2 pound weight loss for the week.  :>)

So far I have lost 10 pounds in the last month and a half.  It's kind of hard for me to wrap my head around because my thyroid deficiency has stopped all weight loss for the last 5 years and caused a lot of weight gain in the mean time.  It's been so frustrating to try to lose weight and it just     won't      go.   Finally!!  I feel like my metabolism is back to my normal.  whoohooo!!

The knitting continues.  I have been working on the new mitered squares sweater and the dark blue sweater.  And, I finished the new green blocks for the 2011 civil war quilt.  I picked up the new month edition from last month and will get started on those blocks today.  I am now 3 months behind on the 2010 civil war version, but will take a look at that today as well.  And get the next block of the Whimsical birds quilt going.  It's so nice to have traveling and fiber fairs over with.

I don't have any new pictures of anything.  The yard is messy and there isn't much progress on anything else.  Maybe next week.  :>)
J

Festivals and Fairs are over for the year whew!

Well, the last two weeks have been very busy.  The first weekend I spent at the Helper Arts and Music Festival.  The event was a little different this year.  More vendors, less noise.  No damn train going around and around bothering all, not much music at the main park or at least we couldn't hear much, no Helper Arts Idol contest, so only a few bad singers or bands (these were very close and did include karaoke type singers), and not many hurricanes blew through.  We did get cloudy afternoons which were wonderful.

I picked up a couple of vendors who came to Great Basin Fiber Arts Fair.  A very nice Navajo couple who came from Arizona and were on their way to Reno to another Fair, and a couple of great ladies who made drums and glass objects and also painted kids' faces.  The latter were already signed up to do the Magna Arts Festival (I know, an oxymoron for sure) which they did do, but they came to our Fair to check it out.  I think they will sign up with us next year.  :>)

I have been working on a new sweater.  I know, another new project.  doh for me.  But, I almost have the front done already.  Isn't it cool?  I have made this pattern before and am loving doing it again.  I have it folded in the picture.  This version is a tunic length (I made the shirt length before).  It's one of my Wasatch Watercolours colorways Ophir Creek spun in Blue Face Leister.  Oh, yummy.

Great Basin went very well indeed.  We had a grand total of 29 vendors this year!  wowsers!!  Everyone said they had a fantastic time.  I did well as a vendor and I think everyone else did.  I am so proud of my Board of Directors.  yay for them, oh, and me!!!

I have been continuing to work hard in the yard and have now lost a total of 20 pounds in the last 6 months.  10 around 6 months ago and 10 in the last month and a half.  I am feeling it too.  So much better.

This week?  A busy one.  Today I attended a steak dinner for my Father-in-Law Jay.  All the family was there except for my man and my BIL LareLare and his partner Jeff.  I miss them.  Tomorrow is a short trip to Kamas to spin and knit with friend Deb.  I hope all the birds up there come and see us.  Tuesday I am judging all day at the Utah State Fair with friend Janet.  My hair appt. on Wed.  sheesh.  By then, I should know if I got a job or not.  This job sounds fun, so am trying to not think about it.  My luck hasn't been very good this time of being laid off.  

I have got quilting to do too.  Oh, my.
J

Silly bird

I finished the first block of the Whimsical Quilt Garden.  Of course my favorite part are the silly little birds.

Is that not the funniest bird?  The flowers are quirky too.  I will have to start loading the pics into Photoshop to correct colors and crop the pics.  doh.

Lots to get done now that I am back in town, gotta go
J

Great weather for a road trip

Sunny days and cooler nights.  Crickets.  Hummingbirds.  Ah, late summer.  I am looking forward to peaches and fresh tomatoes.

Tomorrow I am heading to Helper Arts and Music Festival  Another opportunity to stay with friends, eat good food, spin all weekend (both at the festival and at their house) and shop a little.  The people watching is supreme too and we will get to talk to the characters who live around Helper.  Always entertaining.  It looks like this year is a Zumba Festival on Saturday morning at 8:30.  I think we will be eating biscuits and gravy at Marshas around then, so might have to Zumba to work that off.  heehee

I did another grueling day in the front yard putting the recycled redwood under the fence for weed control and to make it easier to mow next to it.  But, it's done, at least all the 4 foot pieces.  I have two more pieces to do on the other side of the front yard and then the short pieces on the front step-down panels.  Next job out there is to empty that black soil bag.  That will be that for the front yard for this year.  whew!

Back yard is another thing.  I am going to be taking the railroad ties from my veggie garden.  It's just not producing anymore and will just have a flat garden, maybe that will help.  I have added tons of manure, compost, fertilizer, etc.  Nothing has helped very much.  I think the drip system leached a lot of minerals from the soil.  I can see an iron problem in other areas of the drip system areas.  So, now I water with sprinklers or soaker hoses and things are starting to look better.  Odd problem.  I will remove all the drop system stuff as I feel like doing it.

The first thing to do back there is clean up the area for the future covered patio and get the footings dug and poured.  I will be adding the post holders into the concrete, so have to do some research on how to do this.  The cover will be free standing.  I don't want to attach it to the carport slab (now enclosed as a garage) because any more weight on that will keep pulling it away from the house, that's not a good idea.

Lots to do next summer I hope.  I have my fingers crossed to get a job this summer/fall and maybe the universe will agree.

J

It is tomorrow, just not tomorrow

I have a lot of pics today.  Finally!  Quilting first:

This is the first block of My Whimsical Quilt Garden .  I chose the brown colorway shown at the bottom of the webpage.  I did order their fabric pack for the backgrounds, but it wasn't quite enough for the 20 blocks that I want to do, so will find more chocolate fabric later.  I am working each flower or bird, etc. at a time.  This first block has 42 unique pieces.  It was overwhelming, so decided to take smaller bites.

My birds will be turquoise with most of the flowers bright pinks in dots and stripes and plaids.  The colors are much brighter than they are showing in this pic and the stuff on the carpet came from another quilt shown below.  This is the current civil war fabrics reproduction quilt that I am doing as a block of the month.  Lots o piecing.  Lots.

This square measures probably 5 feet.  It's been fun to sew the pieces together as we go.  Now I have new blocks to do and don't know when we will be adding them to the big piece.  Here is one of the next blocks, I have 3 more to finish.

I also finished all the red blocks from Aunt Millies Garden .  Our applique group started this one awhile back and after I got the first block of pink carnations done (wow, what seemed like hundreds of little points) it was a blast to work on.  I have been working on the diagonal sashing and yesterday, I started putting the blocks together.  I haven't gotten all the little centers pieced and added, but will get that done.  I have the borders to work on now.  Isn't it fun?  Who knew everything would look great on red?

The last picture is of the antique quilt top that I am hand quilting for friend Deb Mc.  She was given two quilt tops, one not quite finished.  She also had a Baby Wolf loom that she was willing to trade to have the quilt tops finished.  I could not resist.  Baby Wolf looms are wonderful things.  It's sitting in front of a closet and won't be used until I fulfill my end of the deal.  So, the quilt is on the frame and it took me awhile to figure out how I wanted to quilt it.  I am not an expert at this, but will be one.  I have quilted before, but not for many years.  This quilt top was appliqued and completely pieced by hand.  Tiny, tiny stitches.  The fabric is sheeting.  It doesn't seem to have been used, or at least very much, I don't see any worn spots.  The backing I chose is sheeting to match, with a cotton batting.  The other quilt top is all pieced and also was entirely pieced by hand.  It's the one that I will be finishing.  Just one corner to do I think and one border.  I will machine quilt that one.

That's it for the quilting stuff.  I have loved working on all of it.  Now for updates on the knitting:

Here's the sweater/shawl.  I ran out of yarn and decided to put beads on the edge.  I have the beads and a little yarn left so will continue with that.  This color shows up way bright, it's more subdued than this.  You can see the armholes.

This last picture is of the navy/purple-y sweater.

It's still a mystery to me why the color shows up so blue.  But, this way you can see the shaping pattern.  The sleeves are done and in and I am just finishing with the little cables, so it's smooth sailing from here on.

Whew!  I have been busy.

I am also continuing on with yard work.  Today, it's cooler out there this morning, so will see if I can get the rest of the redwood put under the fence on the west side of the front yard and also move the rest of the black soil out of the bag and onto the roses.  I did get that little garden bed done with it's red hot pokers planted.  The quails loved it.  They have made little dirt bath places in the freshly dug soil.  That being said, I need to get myself out there.
J

Lame

Um, not me physically, but probably mentally.  I have been so tired this week and it's probably from sitting around.  duh.  I              can't                 stop                    knitting.

I did get my butt outside this morning though and got the new garden section dug and planted.  whew!  I have been working on doing this for a couple of years now.  What was the final push though was finding 3 all red Red Hot Poker plants at the local nursery.  They have been sitting in the back garden beds being watered by rain and sprinklers and growing in their too small containers.  Now they have new homes and will grow very well.

This part of the front lawn never stays wet enough to keep the grass looking good, so I fixed that problem.  Now to finish edging the lawn and weeding a bit.  Oh, yeah, and getting more recycled redwood put under the fence.  Now that I figured how to do that, it won't be so bad except for the heat.

Pics tomorrow of a lot of stuff.  I promise.

J

Off to see Mumsie

Today I will drive to Logan to see my Mom.  She has had her hands full with my niece and her 3 kids living with her in her mobile home for the last year and 8 months.  They finally got a low cost housing grant and have moved out.  woohoo!!  Now she is beginning the cleaning.  I can help with that for sure.

That whole thing has been really hard on Mom and it's such a relief for her to have her life back again.  She was trying to help by giving them a home, but what an ordeal.

I have been trying to catch up with my DVR after being gone for 5 days for retreat.  whew!  Much knitting has been accomplished though.  I need to take more pics of the sweater/shawl because I am at the crochet edging.

 I did get some sewing done today.  I am trying to get the sashing strips done for the Aunt Millies Garden quilt.  This meant sewing strips together and then cutting them on a 45 degree angle.  They said to use 9 strips and so I did that, but they didn't come out long enough to trim them to 14 1/2".  I am sure it was my fault somehow, but I finally got them finished this day.  I will be taking pics of each of the 12 appliqued blocks and then starting to sew them all together.  Then....I have to start the borders which have more applique on them.  I really love the look of the whole pattern as done by the Piece O Cake ladies so am doing it just like they did.

So, off trippin' again.
J

Nice Drive

My last official job for Park City Retreat this year was completed this morning.  Driving up the canyon to the quiet and very moist meadow to get the rest of the camping gear and get it safely stored away until next year.

The pasture was full of robins hunting.  Both older adults and the almost full grown speckled babies.  There were 4 balloons over Kimball Junction too!

The meadow?  Quiet except for the birds and the occasional bike rider or jogger on the trail.

Home again and now to get all the stuff packed away and get some spinning and knitting done today.  Maybe some plumbing to finally finish the bathroom sink installation.  Just the pipe between the sink and wall and silicone around the sink.  Sounds easy, but after the drama of trying to get all the right parts to get the installation done, it was another plumbing adventure and several trips to Lowes.  I think 20 minutes should do it.  :>)

J

Back to the Valley

Retreat is over (almost) for this year.  I just have to make one more trip to get the Woolpack stuff loaded and back into it's storage unit.  Wow, it was a lot of fun this year.  It usually is a lot of fun, but this year was a smaller group and I think every one to a person had a great time.

I loved the weather (sunny with cooler afternoon clouds that rained very rarely), the workshops (I have a new basket almost made and am determined to finish it this week if it ever stops raining in the valley-sheesh), the prizes (wow, some amazing things won), my two new spindles (one bought and one won), I finished the gray fleece that I was spinning and have more than half a bobbin of some Blue Face Leister that I actually dyed (I hardly ever spin anything that I dye to sell), I relaxed (yay), I got some reading done (Echo in the Bone, Gabaldon), I got an amazing massage by master Justine, two great fires in the mornings, my business did well (thanks everyone), the hot bath when I got home, my kitty so over the moon happy, and a happy man to have me home.  What more did I need?  Nothing.

Oh, pictures?  I got em...

This is the view from my chair under a 10x20 canopy in 4 views.  This one above is my business canopy and the Woolpack welcome canopy on the right.

This is the view up the meadow (it's not really that steep, but pretty much level) This is the kitchen for retreat. We have volunteers that plan the meals and then they are prepared in the meadow.  yummy.

This is the view down the meadow with all the kitchen stuff piled on the tables ready to move to the kitchen.  The next day, there were canopies all the way down the meadow and up past ours.

This is a little dark, but it's Barb on the left and Justine on the right.  It's the only other picture that I took of people during the weekend.  You can see the prize tent (with the blue) and the food tent just beyond that has always been raccoon proof.  

The loot.  A silk Chinese bag with Suri Alpaca in it from Adrien, silk hankies (Carolyn), little skeins (Carolyn), top row brown alpaca from Esther, The Parker spindle, carded purple batt (Carolyn), the Greensleeves spindle, and finally gorgeous green top (Jennifer).

What I traded Justine for after she picked 2 necklaces that I made.

3 of the leftovers ($35 a piece, just a gratuitous ad fpr me)

Two more of those necklaces.  The dark pendant is a fossil.

This is what I am spinning now.  Ophir Creek on Blue Face Leister.  Spins like butta.

Well, what's this?  That sweater/shawl that's growing!  I am past the sleeve openings and moving towards the crochet stuff.

Oops, I forgot this prize.  Blue Alpaca/pink wool from Robin.  It's really soft so will be yummy to spin.  

Oh, I also got a great book from Wendy T, Textured Knits.  Love the simple, elegant patterns.

Well, I had better get back to the pies in the oven (peach).  And get ready to cook dinner for me and my man.  Pork steaks, mashed potatoes with gravy and peach pie for desert.  I just realized I am starving.  Had better have a snack now.  

J

Park City Retreat!!

Well, all the planning (late this year for sure) is done, I am doing last minute work for my business and tomorrow will start packing up my stuff to take on Wednesday early, I hope.

No news on the garden front except I will have some grape tomatoes when I get back this weekend.  That will be so nice to finally have some fresh tomatoes.  I have eaten a couple of spicy yellow peppers and they were delicious.

I have been doing some dyeing yesterday and this morning and it's hard work for sure, but the results are fun.

It looks so murky and diabolical, doesn't it?  I didn't know the steam would show up.  This dyepot is gorgeous.  Burgundy, gold, green and navy.  yummy.

Just then, the camera decided that it didn't have enough breakfast to do more, so I had to change batteries.  But, and this is shocking, I am going to take it to retreat.  I have so many pictures of past retreats, I don't know who's pics I will be taking or of what, but it will be interesting.

So, more stuff to find and more stuff to get ready, ta until next week.
J

Yellow

Yay!  Yellow!

I was thinking it looked yellow last night and am so pleased to see it this morning.  It's visible from the kitchen window so I can admire it until it fades.

I have been knitting.  And knitting.

 The shaping continues.  3 more inches to the armholes.  woohoo!  I did take a picture of the shawl/sweater but I guess it didn't work.  I have gone through the greens now and am heading back into purple.  Love it.  Picture soon.

I have had several orchids blooming this spring.  Here's a couple from my kitchen.

They are so happy looking.  :>)  I did have another striped moth orchid blooming but it just decided to drop about 5 blooms at once the other day.  

Kinda show and tell day.  The weather has been wonderful this week and then it got hot again today.  I did get most of my really heavy work done this spring.  Now I am down to weeding and putting in one more little garden addition.  I hope I can work on that tomorrow morning before it gets too warm.  

May I vent a little about the job hunt?  This week I sent out multiple resumes, some of them were for my favorite position, Document Control.  They almost all called me and asked for a short phone interview.  One of them called at 8:30 pm last night!  I find that more than a little odd.  I called right back and got the message machine and then no pick up twice more this morning.  The same thing happened the other day when a guy called and I tried to call him back several times like he had said to do.  Finally he emailed and said that the job had been filled.  This is more than frustrating.  They ask really mundane questions like is 8 to 5 five days a week ok?  I have my fingers crossed for one job that I think would be a perfect fit for me, but it's been a week since my in person interview and nothing.  Keep me in your thoughts.

I am thinking that most job hunters out there are getting as depressed as me.  It's hard not to feel that way.  sheesh. <I am mumbling bad things about GW Bush.>   Back to my knitting.....

J

Happy Monday

I can say that because I don't have to get up and go to work.  :>)  I sure hope to have a job soon, the search is so very frustrating.

I was just out in the garden and got some more pics.

This lily was gorgeous last night.  It opened up and was so clear and the color was so nicely salmon.  Today though with the heat and looks like a few bugs, it's a little bit shabby.  There are lots more blooms though.

Looks like pink day.  Most of the flower pics today are pink!  This is a big bee balm plant.  The flowers are an interesting color, not purple but not pink either.

Hen and chicks.  Purple version.  These flowers are so long lasting and smell good!  I don't think I have ever smelled them before.  My mom had some of the green ones growing at the back of our house while I was growing up.

Goldenrods are just starting to bloom.  Love them and they are a great dyeplant!  I will have to wait until they start spreading though.  I can see that I need to get the lamb's ears under control.  They have spread too much.

This is Birdie and she is wondering what am I doing?  You can see her back feet ready to leap if something is going to jump out of the camera at her.  Yes, she has her very own chair to sit and catnap and dream every day.  She loves it out there until the sun starts hitting the chair.  She also has 3 catnip patches to lay in and munch.

It's clouding up and I am hoping for thunderstorms tonight.  Love them.  The louder the better.
J