Back to the grind

Vacation is over and its back to work....
In the end, I didn't knit a stitch on the big purple shrug. It was really just too hot to even think about aran weight.

But the cropped cardi got a lot of attention and as a result...

 

It's looking like a real cardigan already. For this one, I'm knitting until the skein of Alley Cat run out (only a few more inches now) and adding 10 rows of bottom ribbing.

This one will also be a cap-sleeve version, so once the body is done, it's just 10 rows of ribbing to finish off the sleeves, and then front bands! Easy-peasy!

More Kwestions from KathyB

*Ice cubes or fake cubes?

I like real ones. Even if they water down my drink. Dave loves ships, so a few years back I found an ice cube tray that makes frozenTitanics an icebergs. It’s fun to see them floating/sinking in your drink. 

*Shawls or Stole? 

To knit, I prefer a shawl. To wear, I prefer a stole.

My Magpie shawl/stole
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/magpie-3

 *Campfire or fireplace fire

That’s a tough one. Let’s go campfire in the summer, and fireplace in the winter.

*Blanket: fringe or border?

Border – the fringe always gets up my nose when I’m snuggling – and it’s just one more thing for certain kitties to play with and pull the blanket apart faster.

Who me?

 *Suet or Seed?

Both. Suet for the blue jays and woodpeckers, and seed for the finches.

*Mt. Rushmore or Statue of Liberty?

Never been to either (though I’d like to see both), but I’m guessing I’d prefer Mt. Rushmore just for the non-city location. 

*Beret pattern or headband?

Beret all the way. I got enough of headbands in the early ‘90s.

My Twyla beret
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/twyla-4

 *USPS or Fed Ex?

Well it’s Canada Post here, but I’m not particularly a fan of FedEx. Service might be fast, but they don’t seem to care where they drop the parcel (i.e. in plain view of the street where anyone can just come up and grab it)

*Knit on a screen porch or knit on a beach?

The beach is nice once in a while, but for me the porch would be more practical and comfortable.

My fantasy porch

 

Winding down

Vacation is coming to and end. Thanks to my bum knee, I didn't get much done in the gardens, but I had a nice, lazy week, so I won't complain too much.  I did get out to photo some of the latest garden happenings.

The most exciting thing is this pretty foxglove.

I actually picked it up from the grocery store before vacation. It's not as showy as the purple one I had last year. But I'm hoping this one will survive the winter. I'd love to have Foxgloves year after year.

The replacement Black-Eyed Susans are showing off.

I didn't think I'd get flowers the first year (the plant isn't very big), but I'm happy to be wrong.

The Blanket Flower has made itself right at home and is bushing out all over the place.

In fact, all my Rudibeckia (coneflowers) have done fabulous this year. I'm not sure if I'll be adding more plants next year, but if I do, you can bet there will be more coneflowers. They are such happy, consistent bloomers.

Speaking of consistent...

Tournament of Roses is putting on quite the show again.

Not to be outdone,

Chicago Peace isn't far behind.

In fact, all the roses are blooming again

 Blue Girl is much more demure than Chicago and Tournament - she only has a few blooms but they are so delicate.

The new kid on the block, Crimson Glory, seem to be small, but mighty.

Right now she's covered in buds too.

Even Navy Lady is getting in on the action.

 Last year, I'd thought I'd lost her. And this spring, it looked like she was just barely hanging in. But these last couple of weeks she's started looking more robust, with quite a few new branches. And now blooms!

Elsewhere, the garden continues to surprise. When I got the white delphinium, I figured it was done blooming for the year..

Apparently I was wrong. It won't be long now...

Same with the double blooming Campanula

I moved it from the tree garden in the spring. It didn't look like it was going do much of anything but then all of a sudden it go covered in buds. It's going to be truly spectacular when it blooms.

And remember those dollar store bulbs I got? All have done really well, but no flowers. That wasn't surprising with the irises, anemones and sparaxis... they are spring flowers...

but then look what's trying to bloom now. Such a sweet little Anemone.

And it seemed like I'd never see flowers on the dollar store Dahlias.... but...

 Boom! Such a statement. The pink one has still yet to bud, but this dark beauty has lots more blooms-to-be.

And one last surprise.... in the back corner by the big oriental lily...

A surprise sunflower! Two actually. I have no idea if these were from the seeds  I planted (I thought the squirrels got them all) or if the birds left me a present. Either way I'll take it. I do so love sunflowers!

Friday Felines

The other day Dave came home with a fuzzy blue blanket (that looks disconcertingly like a skinned Cookie Monster).

Of course the minute it was in the house, a certain ginger kitten had to put his stink all over it. He snuggled right down and he looked so good on the blue, I decided to do a little photoshoot. Of course, as soon as I got out the camera, he's demeanor changed completely...

While he wasn't the most cooperative beast, we managed to get a few decent shots...

 

He's certainly photogenic when he sits still long enough.

Trash to treasure

There's a project I've been working on the background for a few weeks now. Thankfully, I finished it up before I injured myself (and thanks for all the kind words - it still hurts but I'll survive!), and now have a chance to unveil it.

Back in spring, I marked my fifth anniversary with my company. As a gesture of thanks, I was allowed to pick a gift from a small catalogue. And I chose something that I've wanted for a very long time...

A BBQ! It's just a little portable one, but since it's just me and Dave, it's the perfect size. But there was one small problem... we didn't really have anywhere to put it. For a while we made do with the patio table, but it wasn't ideal. I wanted to make something like this...

 ... and had been on the lookout for discarded pallets ever since. There are quite a few places around here that throw them out for scrap. A couple months ago, I was driving by one such place when I spied something. It wasn't a pallet.....

.... but I saw it's potential right away. Dave thought I was crazy (and much hilarity ensued when I enlisted his help to get it in my car.... no one ever believes me when I tell them you can carry almost anything in a convertible when the top is down.) It needed to be stripped of all that useless chipboard.

 And then Dave set me up with some googles and a sander, and I set to work.

It took a while, but I was able to get rid of most of that nasty orange paint.

Dad, who also thought  I was crazy, was kind enough to hook me up with some salvaged plywood he had kicking around. With that, and a couple coats of a pretty apple green latex....

She was really starting to live up to her potential. (Also, I forgot to mention -she's on wheels!)
So... a few hours of work, and half a can of paint later....

I have the perfect, mobile work station. The top is the perfect height for BBQing, and the middle shelf stores it all away nicely when not in use. It also hold my spare pots and garden tools, and provides a great work surface for potting and other gardening chores.

Not so crazy now!!!

Bump in the road

Vacation has taken a minor turn for the worse... after returning from the Studio and a pretty productive dye session...

Look at all that pretty Alley Cat!

 ... I stopped at the bank to make sure there was enough money to pay my rent... and some how managed to tangle myself in my purse strap and trip over the curb.

The result...

 ....bruised, bloodied, and generally unhappy (and a super cool limp!).  That left knee is even worse in person. In fact, it's probably the worse skinned knee I've ever had, and I've had some doozies.  (And at least I didn't break it like Mom did.)

So it has put a damper on quite a few of the thing I had planned (especially the garden stuff). The last few day have mostly been a whole lot of laying around...

Not that Rupert minds.

Of course, I prefer to be a little more productive. And I know I said I planted to work on the purple cardi, but dyeing up that Alley Cat made me realize have nothing in our yarn on the needles (okay... I have two projects... but they are in hibernation at the moment so they don't count.)

So I cast on something new. Another cropped cardigan. This one in Alley Cat. The colourway is Firestarter. It's one of those skeins that I've tried to turn into a million projects, but it just wouldn't play nice in with any stitch pattern. I was resigned to making it into a pair of plain ol' vanilla socks, but it was so pretty, it deserved something more.

I had a part ball or burnt orange that matched perfectly.  I'm doing cap sleeves this time, so if I keep my feet up, and keep knitting... it should be done in no time!

Garter surprise

I know you've heard me say many times that I really loathe garter stitch. I know some people who just love it, but generally, it bores me to tears. So I'm just as surprised as you probably are to see this much progress on the dishcloth blankie

I don't know what it is, but I just can't seem to put it down. It makes fantastic TV knitting. And maybe it's the fact that I can knit a full ball in just a few hours. Then I'm onto a new colour, and it's fun the see the stripes progress.

It may seem like stripes are just random at the moment, but I do have a sequence, and you'll see it more as the blanket grows.  I'd say I'm probably close to being about half done. I'm knitting it 36 inches wide, and plan to go about 60 inches long... but we'll see how long this garter love lasts.