Not Much Knitting Going On

I've been busy, okay? I'm not sure exactly what I've been doing, but I'm sure it was very important and needed to be done right away. Just in case you were wondering where I've been...

The big news this week is that David was hired by Big Sky Brewing in Missoula, Montana! Yippee! Hooray! Yay! Now that he's a married man, he needed a job to support his lovely bride and to stave off boredom. He and Abby are moving to Missoula, leaving Sunday, so he can start work on Wed. July 2. I know it's fast, but he's really bored and wants to get started. For anyone who has been out that way, he'll be making Moose Drool, which I'm told is a delicious, dark, chocolatey beer. We'll see. I can't wait to visit, but Don says "not in winter!" *sigh*

I have been doing some knitting. I made a promised pair of slippers for Abby's dad and started a Flamingo dishcloth that I've been wanting to make but didn't have the pink cotton to make, so I bought some. Pretty smart, huh? (The vertical lines 3 stitches apart are the legs.)

Planting! Planting and mulching is what I've been doing. Got the tomatoes in, and the herbs too. Well, that was a couple weeks ago, but I can't stop buying plants. I put in some Asian Lilies across the front because the rental side looked nicer than the owner's side. Don said, "It looks like poor people live here." So we spiffed it up, he bought the variegated dogwood and I planted it, now the ends of the house match. We bought the lilies and I planted them. I like getting dirty. There are buds on the Stargazer Lilies I got last year; can't wait until they open because they smell like heaven. Oh, I got offered a job at the plant place after I helped a lady pick the right kind of sweet pepper for her husband. The lady working there offered me a part-time job, just weekends or even every other one. I got the impression it's hard to find knowledgeable people. I'm thinking about it. Maybe. Oh by the way, I don't recommend weeding out nettles barehanded, stings like crazy for the rest of the day.

Have you ever planted Hens & Chicks or any of those rock garden plants? I always plunk a couple in some of Dad's old work boots for my front porch; I love the way they look. This year I got some that are BLOOMING. I didn't know they did that! Look!

Ahhhhh, Done. *Edited*

Finis! Done! With Patti's help at knitting last night I found the perfect buttons for the Striped Baby Hoodie and finished it today. Now, if only the baby's mama likes it, I'll be completely satisfied.

*The baby's mama liked the sweater just fine and there was a small amount of oohing and ahhing in the crowd. Mine was the sole handmade gift at a shower attended by at least 30 women. What is this world coming to?*

Knit! Knit Like the Wind!

Because I discovered yesterday quite by accident that the baby shower is this coming Saturday not the following Saturday. That means I have four days to knit the hood, add the button & buttonhole bands, sew it up, block it, and get it boxed and wrapped to give. Gah! Good thing I have today off and don't have any pressing chores or errands. I'll be sitting around knitting, probably getting cramps in my wrists from being tense about it, but I'll also be taking deep breaths to try and relax. I drive myself nuts.



Look how cute!

Getting There

In between planting the tomatoes, herbs, and flowers in pots I've been working on the Baby Hoodie. Nearly have the body done and then will cast on the sleeves & hood. There's 2 weeks until the baby shower so I feel I'm in good shape for finishing on time.

I couldn't resist sharing a couple of pictures of the poppies blooming in the garden. Aren't they beautiful? (Say it with me, all you Wizard of Oz fans, "Poppies!")

Cuteness Progress Report

Things are moving swiftly on the baby sweater, but then this is the first time I'm making something this tiny. In fact, yesterday I knitted an extra stripe of the Lime (4 whole rows) for the right front that I ended up tinking. *grrr* I forget how little babies are. Guess I'll have to hang out with them more (if I can find some without getting arrested). The left picture is the body with the right front all spread out and the right picture is with the fronts closed like they will be when it's done. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to finish the sweater by the June 28th shower, but I'm thinking it won't be a problem.


And I knit a few rows on my Red Licorice sweater back last night while watching Season 2 of Bones but the sweater back looks the same as it did in Monday's picture, only a bit longer. You don't really need to see that, do you? If you do, it'll have to be another day since I'm at work (I can't believe I'm here on a Saturday--and I have to work tomorrow too. Is there such a thing as employee abuse?) and I don't have the sweater back with me.

Ooh, This is Going to be So Cute!

When I got home from The Clearing a baby shower invitation for Kendall & Pete was waiting. I could go to wherever they're registered and buy something but that's too easy and impersonal. I searched online for a cute baby sweater pattern using this yarn and found this one. I checked it out on Ravelry and lots of people have made it and each one was cuter than the next. So I went to Michaels and got one skein of Violet, one Berry, and one Lime. (The pattern called for Stone with the Berry and Lime, too boring in my humble opinion. Stone's okay for grown-ups but not babies.) Pete said he made a girl baby so I was okay with the Berry. I couldn't wait to cast on. Love the colors, love the yarn.

Re-Fountain! *fun fact added*

Look! Look! I thought about it and thought about it, and I decided to resurrect the fountain that DH and I made last summer that scared the birds. I left the birdbath on the edge of the patio for the scaredy birds and nestled the fountain under the honeysuckle. And I also finally figured out how to put copper pipe together to cover the plastic tube the water pumps up in so it looks a bit less dorky. One little chickadee doesn't think it's dorky, he/she took a nice long bath in the top saucer almost as soon as I got it plugged in. *sigh* I love my fountain.

This morning DH was outside and saw a female hummingbird take a bath in the middle saucer! How cool is that? Wish I'd seen it.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity-Jig-Jig *edited*

Okay, I confess, I got home just after noon on Saturday and I've been doing stuff, not yarn-ish stuff, since then that kept me from the blog. My week at The Clearing was awesome in the poem writing sense, even though it was chilly (one night it got down to 29 degrees F!) and rainy. I wrote the 10 poems that were on the syllabus (sometimes I wrote 2 in the allotted 20 mins., not that I'm bragging or anything, but some poems just came pouring out) plus one freewrite poem each day, so I came home with at least 25 poems, some for shredding, some to be rewritten. It's my turn to submit at writer's so they're getting a wad of poems. Those mainly prose writers will be so thrilled. They're good sports though.

Knitting content! I finished another pair of Landscapes slippers



and I worked on my Red Licorice sweater back.




I wasn't the only knitter there. In the evening after supper, I'd take my knitting up to the Lodge where Judith would be working on her cotton sweater and Carol would be crocheting a chemo cap. Carol is mainly a quilter; she put together a Sudoku quilt top last week. She had 9 different colors of the same nearly-solid fabric, gave each one a number, and arranged her little squares according to the solution, then banded it and edged it with black strips. Very pretty and cool looking. I'm thinking that would make a nice summer afghan made in Cotton Ease. Hmmm, does that come in black? *Nope, but it does come in charcoal. That'll do. *sigh* another project in the queue