Thursday, March 28, 2013

This Has Been A FULL Moon!

I have had a very frustrating electronic week.  I will not go into details right this minute.  I think I will take something for the headache and go to bed.  I think a good cozy mystery is what I need more than anything.

I am really, really close to finishing the green scarf.  Yeah!  I have had a little trouble with my aches with the really cold weather we had.  Now that it has warmed and a little bit of sun appeared, I am fine and dandy.  My knitting slowed tremendously, and now I am in catch-up.

I am spinning some bison/silk blend and it is heavenly.  I am still watching my BBC soaps on Netflix, and enjoying them.  Occasionally I turn to Miss Marple to take the edge off reality.

I will catch up with my blog tomorrow.  Just felt I wanted to vent a little bit of my frustration.

It is getting close to my show in April, and I am almost ready for that.  I am nervous about putting my toes in the water again after so many long years ago.  But I am feeling good about this one.

My friends seem to be having so many problems.  Mine seem so small in comparison. 

Oh-Patty found another decomposing vegetable pile behind my neighbor's house.  YUCK!  STINK!  She had to have a bath yesterday.  And I watched her like a hawk for any pancreas problems that she is prone to.  SIGH!

Okay-now I have to go lay down and forget the electronic world-except for my Kindle, of course. 

Sunday, March 17, 2013

I'm Green-Are You?

Happy St. Patrick's Day.  I actually seldom think of it any more.  But I am knitting green.  This is some handspun yarn I did last Fall.  It is Polworth, and is very, very squishy.  I love the feel of the wool and it seems that everyone who touches it squeezes it. 

Well, we had two days of Spring with temps way above normal.  It was in the 70's and sunny and wonderful.  I actually was able to start cleaning up the winter mess in some beds and I cut back all the dead seed heads and stems.  Today is cold and windy and rainy.  Gray and dreary!  I know March is still technically wintertime.  It just is wonderful to have the warm days to get out and do yard work.

I finished the two bobbins of yellow wool.  Now to plying.  I guess it is good to work on some not-really-soft wool for a change.  I am spoiled by the merino and other luxury yarns I make.  The yellow is a Romney-cross that is a tiny bit rough.  At least compared to the others.  On its own it is lovely.  I dyed it with marigolds. 

My friend GK just had her gallbladder removed.  I hope this is all she needs to get better now.  She had been vomiting for two weeks when the doctor finally addressed the gallbladder.  The surgeon who consulted slapped her in the hospital because her potassium levels were life-threatening low, and she was dehydrated.  So hopefully she will get better and start feeling normal again.

CJE just went to Santa Fe to visit with friends.  She is feeling less stressed and rejuvenated. 

Patty just woke up.  I had to take her out into the yard to start her day.  It is very windy, cold, and I didn't notice the mist until I took my hat off.  It was damp and I hung it up to dry.  Ugh!  Bring the sun back.

There is a major uproar right now on a pig factory farm being on the Buffalo River.  It is always a concern for the quality of recreational water.  I think the people were able to buy land cheaply in Newton County.  It is not just the pollution to the watershed, it is pollution to the air quality.  I am sure the owners used the "jobs and money to the local people" card. 

Well-on to plying yellow.  Have a good day.  Please don't drink green beer.  YUCK! 

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Wandering through March!

Yes, it is March 10.  We are stoically marching on through March.  It has rained two good rains.  Last night we actually had thunder and lightening and wind.  It was lovely.  Thank goodness, Patty has had a hearing deficit for a while.  She does panic when she sees the lightening strike nearby, but I don't think she hears the thunder as much as before. 

It was lovely to dig out the umbrella and push Patty out the door and take a little walk in the soppy ground puddles.  The ground was quite mushy and verging on muddy. 

Spring is popping up in odd places, as it always does in March each year.  My yard originally had been a pasture.  So I don't really have decent grass, and I have a lot of pasture weeds.  Chickweed, henbit, wild onions, plantains, etc. are popping up everywhere.  The teensy-weensy bluets are blooming.  When I bought the house the yard had been mowed carefully to make it appear there was yard. 

One year later I discovered that I don't have a yard, but a pasture.  And in the pasture are pasture daffodils.  They are the kind that were not planted by anyone, but suddenly there they are blooming away.

I am watching the forsythias carefully from now on.  They are the forecasters that tell me that it is time to rejoice.  It is over.  We will still have cool days and evenings until May.  When the forsythias are blooming, winter is over.

One of our weaving guild members died last fall.  Her sisters are trying to sort through her studio and mountains of stuff.  Several guild members have helped them along the way.  Yesterday they held a sidewalk sale for the weaving guild members prior to our meeting.  It was astonishing how many bags of yarn there were.  I am seriously trying to limit mine, and it hurts to see how her stuff was sorted and pawed through.  I know Sally would have wanted us to do just what we were doing.  We honor her by taking good care of her things.

I am on the second bobbin of yellow yarn.  I have switched today to watching Miss Marple.  It isn't something I have to think too much about.  She is so clever with her logical observations.  I love to watch the actress knit.  She has an interesting style of holding the right hand needle.

I am knitting a beautiful scarf with the green Polworth wool I spun. The pattern is in the book One Skein Wonders.  The pattern is easy and I don't have to think too much. I am also knitting on a pair of fingerless mitts-just plain and simple-no pattern on the mitts.  The yarn is enough interest with the dyes.

I guess that catches me up to date.  It has been cloudy, windy, and chilly all day.  By week's end we are supposed to be 70 degrees!  Unfortunately, it is time for me to clean up the winter debris out of the flower beds and do some weed control early.  So my short reprieve from the yard is coming to an end early.  I like working out in the yard.  For some reason, I never can see an end to it.  It goes on and on and on.

Enjoy the winds of March.  It blows out the old staleness and brings in the freshness.