No Knitting Here

It hasn't been a very knitter-y weekend. I played in the dirt, played with watercolors, talked with Durwood, visited Mom, and grubbed through a few bins of fabric scraps. So I don't have any knitting to show you, but I do have pictures of the flowers I planted (the yellow snapdragons made me think of DD & DIL2)...












I hauled up my watercolors and goofed around a bit on the back patio,









but I got an early birthday gift from Mom. It's a fancy computerized one, the first one she bought and no longer uses, so she passed it along to me. I anticipate spending a bit of this afternoon with the manual and a few fabric scraps.











Last night I went to the fireworks with DS but first I got a peek at Henny and Penny who had already roosted up for the night. The fireworks were excellent, loud and bright.

Holiday Weekend

I didn't seem to accomplish much this week so I don't have much to show you, but I did knit on the Bandwagon Afghan Block #6 at work. See?





We're both enjoying the fruits of my lettuce planting. We figure this is about 3 more days' worth of salad before we'll have to wait for the next batch of leaves. Look at the bottom of the picture to see the little pale green leaves starting. Next time I think I'll plant spinach in the pot too, or maybe I'll dig another pot out of the shed and plant spinach in that one. I want to go get some annuals to plant in some pots, bet they'll have seeds on sale now that it's July.






Today I got to go diving with a couple friends. (They said to say "hi," DD) It was a perfect day--hot, sunny, and with just a bit of breeze. We went up to Gills Rock at the tip of Door County for a couple of dives, then back to Garrett Bay (my favorite) for a third dive. They've done some remodeling at Garrett Bay, DD. They spread out the big "sitting on" rocks, there's a rubberized launch area (for all the kayaks that launch there, I think), and they've made a little park across the road with a real Port-a-Potty! No more peeing in the woods!!!! Yay! Still got the biting flies, tho. We got Subway on the way up this morning and sat in the dappled shade after our last dive and enjoyed the perfect day before driving home to rinse and hang gear. If I didn't have a 10:30 AM haircut tomorrow I could go with
them again. Oh well. Maybe next weekend.

Grand-Chickens

Henny and Penny have been in their new home for about 5 days so we got to go see them today. They're still getting used to the coop and to being away from all the other chicks, so they tend to hide in the corner. DS & DIL1 stretched some chicken wire (oh, that's what it's for) around some stakes so that the yard service chemicals don't get on their grass and they're not allowed out into it yet. Henny and Penny are teenagers in the chick world. They were born around Easter and won't be laying until September. Most of the time they peep like little chicks but if they're startled they'll let out a cluck or two. Henny is smaller and darker but is the bravest one. Penny has more copper on her throat and she's a bigger chicken, in all senses of the word. But they're pecking around in the grass and one of them captured a worm earlier but didn't know what to do with it beyond pecking at it. DIL1 said the worm was putting on speed to escape, but really, how fast can worms go?






















A bunch of lilies are in bloom. The red-orange and yellow Asiatic lilies are in front










and the pink & white "Lipstick" lilies are on the edge of the yard in with the milkweeds that draw the Monarch butterflies all summer.










The spiderwort is blooming its little purple flowers all around the tiny, struggling red rose in the garden. Soon there'll be a sea of daisies there. This year I'm determined to move some of them around before they spread and take over the garden.












The Early Girl tomatoes are making fruit and my yellow bell pepper is too. The baby bunny is nibbling on the Brussels Sprout so that's getting a chicken wire cage today.











I've been working on Bandwagon Block #6. It's easy to knit this red-orange colored yarn, and I'm sure it doesn't look it, but I've added more to the sock too.

Socking It

One good thing about sitting in one after another clinic waiting room over a day is that you get a lot of sock knitted. I'm enjoying the colors, the pink, green, and purple all together please me no end, and remind me of Easter eggs.

The ride home on Sunday from Goshen was good for knitting on Bandwagon Block #5 and I finished it once we were home.

Next comes the second red-orange block. I'd have made the whole afghan out of blocks this color if I'd have had it on hand.

So, The Wedding (lots of photos)

Last weekend we went to Goshen, IN for a wedding. You know that. We drove through Chicago and I bought some souvenir yarn. You know that too. It was amazingly hot and humid, especially to we who dwell in the cool and rainy tundra that is Green Bay, WI this season, but we adapted. I thought you might like to see a few photos from the wedding. FYI--they put this all together in 3 weeks.

Here's the tent where it all took place...







here's the important stuff happening...









I think they might be in love...















Mom (she's barefoot) & Groom dance while Father of Groom looks on...




Parents of Bride with 10-month-old twin grandsons Atticus & Joachin...









Mom of Groom tries out the grandma thing...









On the way home I was thinking about living in a big city like Chicago. I love the idea of walking to shop and having interesting things around every corner, but then I thought about how much it'd cost to live in one of these towers and how it's never quiet and how you'd never see stars because the city lights never turn off...








and I'm glad I live in poky old Green Bay where this rose that Dad planted in my front yard 25 years ago is there to greet me when I come home.

Souvenir Yarn!

While Durwood napped this morning I investigated the local yarn shop, Ewe-Nique Knits. Look what I found! And brought home with me, of course.


This is Dragonfly Fibers' Dragon Sock in the Baltimore Oriole colorway. Since we've finally attracted a few orioles to the feeders in our yard, I had to buy it. Had. To.




Hanging on the edge of a display was a Knitting Pure & Simple Bulky Shrug. I've been wanting to make a shrug and, wouldn't you know, there were 4 skeins of Cascade Magnum in the 30% off bin in a pretty green. That came home with me too, along with the pattern.

Car Travel is So Good for Knitting

We drove from Kenosha, WI to Goshen, IN today. I knitted on Bandwagon Block #5.








It was hazy when we were driving into downtown Chicago on the Edens but I think the silhouetted buildings look kind of interesting.













I worked on the Easter Egg Ankle Sock toe. It's going very slowly and I can't figure out why, but I'm going to keep knitting and it'll grow.







When I wasn't knitting I took pictures from the Skyway Bridge over Gary, IN and caught just the edge of Durwood with Lake Michigan far in the distance. On the other side of the bridge is the glory that is Gary. Hey, don't knock it; that stinky, gritty city and a bunch like it built this country. I like seeing the rusting evidence of all that capitalism. Besides the Jackson 5 came from Gary.