I haven't written because nothing is new. It is the time of year I understand siestas. It is hot, humid, and so far, really dry. After our beginnings of rainy days, we are now in drought again.
I have my knitting nest set up exactly as I like it, and I am slowly progressing on my sweater. It is the softest yarn- a merino and cashmere blend. I am not sure that it will hold up to a lot of wear, but it will be nice to wear next to skin. The pattern is challenging, and I do about 1 or 2 rows a day. I am still plugging along with the lacy scarf. Surely I will have it finished by the October show in Greenwood. That is the goal. I am still out of love with it, and that makes the knitting tedious.
I finished one skein of the British Babydoll Southdown. Not my favorite wool to spin, but I wanted the experience of a new wool. I know I will not buy any more of that.
This coming weekend is the fiber show in Kellyville, OK-Fiber Christmas in July. I am going to make my annual trek for a day trip. I know that I DO NOT need any more fiber, but gosh! when did that ever stop me? I also want to network with some of my vendor friends.
I have a dreaded appt. on Friday to get my teeth cleaned. I HATE dentistry worse than anything. Yuck!
I am almost Netflix-ed out for a while. I know I am at a low place when I am watching Sherlock Holmes shows. Surely some time in my life I have seen these.
I am reading a lot lately, but I can't tell you what I am reading. Cozy mysteries, I know, but none of them that memorable. I finished the series of Shetland mysteries by Anne Cleese. They were good. I recommend them for mystery readers. The others are just little books that take a day or maybe two to read. I am back with the library since I am reading so fast this summer.
Another person stopped to "sell" me on sealing my driveway. This is number three. I am getting good at dismissing them. I must have a sign marked out on the road somewhere that says "Sucker lives here." At least they are creative about what their products do. Oh, well, winter will come and the grass growing in the cracks will die. One offered to spray poison on the grass for me. I told him absolutely not while I have birds and insects so active right now. He looked at me like I was crazy.
I do have a great variety of bees right now. They are loving all the good things to pollinate. I have a lot of butterflies, too, and I noticed there seems to be a lot of dragonflies this year. I saw lots of baby praying mantises about a month ago. Of course, I have the usual number of birds. I don't have so many hummingbirds as I have had. The downy woodpeckers seem to enjoy the sugar water more than the hummers this year.
So this is the monotonous time of year to stay indoors, avoid the heat, and just keep plugging along towards the goals for October.
Stay cool and drink lots of water.
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
What A Bizarre Week!
I decided to knit a color-stranded sweater for myself. I have been so good to focus on what I need for the fiber show in October, and I am glad to say that I am caught up with that. So now onwards with my own sweater. It is a long-term project, but I am so excited about it.
I can't read the damn pattern. It is printed in a very dark color and is a tiny print for the chart. I did enlarge it on the computer after scanning it in. That helps, but it is still hard to see.
Two of my friends have shamed me into buying the magnifying readers that the doctor prescribed for me last January. I can read better (with less strain, I should say), but any movement makes me nauseous and makes me tired and headachy. I decided that perhaps it is the movement that bothers me. If it is stationary, I can read better. If it moves (as in knitting) I can't handle it. I do one row around and that's it. At this rate I will never finish the sweater.
Of course, everyone tells me that I will adjust to it, and that it will make things so much better. Yeah, right!
And today I got attacked by a yellow jacket wasp. And then I discover that the nest is right by the back stairs in the cap of one of the support posts. And then I panic that Patty will get stung. And then I monitor her every move out-of-doors. It has not been a good day.
Everything that I read online tells me this is a serious situation, and I already knew that. My neighbor came over about 6:30 to check out the situation, and he bravely duct taped all the way around the tops. I am giving it another day to make sure that the surviving ladies that did not get sealed in the tomb go away. Then I am duct taping every one of the caps to make sure that it is safe.
I am spinning some English Babydoll Southdown fleece. I have never spun it before, but it is weird feeling. It is spongy feeling in the roving, and it is spinning rather tightly. It definitely is not a long, lustrous fiber, and it isn't very soft. I am thinking something like gloves from the yarn. I don't know yet. I think socks would be too thick and hot for me. It isn't a difficult fiber to spin, just different than what I normally spin. I wouldn't advise a beginner to tackle it unless a thick/thin yarn is wanted. I am trying to control the draw, but it is a bit troublesome.
I wanted to get some mowing done this morning, but I never got started after the wasp sting and all.
It is 85 degrees at 9:35 pm. We went from cooler to hotter real quick. Of course, the up side is grass doesn't grow in hot and dry conditions! Yeah!
Otherwise, we are doing our usual hanging out in the house during the day and avoiding heat. Noodles comes in about 1 pm and stays in until dark. Patty just sleeps.
My son turns 40 years old this Thursday! Wow! Isn't that impossible?
Have a good and safe rest of the week. I am ready to go to bed and read a while.
I can't read the damn pattern. It is printed in a very dark color and is a tiny print for the chart. I did enlarge it on the computer after scanning it in. That helps, but it is still hard to see.
Two of my friends have shamed me into buying the magnifying readers that the doctor prescribed for me last January. I can read better (with less strain, I should say), but any movement makes me nauseous and makes me tired and headachy. I decided that perhaps it is the movement that bothers me. If it is stationary, I can read better. If it moves (as in knitting) I can't handle it. I do one row around and that's it. At this rate I will never finish the sweater.
Of course, everyone tells me that I will adjust to it, and that it will make things so much better. Yeah, right!
And today I got attacked by a yellow jacket wasp. And then I discover that the nest is right by the back stairs in the cap of one of the support posts. And then I panic that Patty will get stung. And then I monitor her every move out-of-doors. It has not been a good day.
Everything that I read online tells me this is a serious situation, and I already knew that. My neighbor came over about 6:30 to check out the situation, and he bravely duct taped all the way around the tops. I am giving it another day to make sure that the surviving ladies that did not get sealed in the tomb go away. Then I am duct taping every one of the caps to make sure that it is safe.
I am spinning some English Babydoll Southdown fleece. I have never spun it before, but it is weird feeling. It is spongy feeling in the roving, and it is spinning rather tightly. It definitely is not a long, lustrous fiber, and it isn't very soft. I am thinking something like gloves from the yarn. I don't know yet. I think socks would be too thick and hot for me. It isn't a difficult fiber to spin, just different than what I normally spin. I wouldn't advise a beginner to tackle it unless a thick/thin yarn is wanted. I am trying to control the draw, but it is a bit troublesome.
I wanted to get some mowing done this morning, but I never got started after the wasp sting and all.
It is 85 degrees at 9:35 pm. We went from cooler to hotter real quick. Of course, the up side is grass doesn't grow in hot and dry conditions! Yeah!
Otherwise, we are doing our usual hanging out in the house during the day and avoiding heat. Noodles comes in about 1 pm and stays in until dark. Patty just sleeps.
My son turns 40 years old this Thursday! Wow! Isn't that impossible?
Have a good and safe rest of the week. I am ready to go to bed and read a while.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
The Heat Is On!
I find it much too hot to mow carefully this time of year. I have been using the riding mower in spurts. I can't do it all at one time. It is just too hot. I did not trim or use the string trimmer last week.
Noodles and Patty are finding all the stick-tights that are coming with the weeds. I pick them out as fast as I can.
I have wound down with the knitting. I did finish the socks, and I am still knitting the lace scarf. I picked up the UFO of a shawl that I put aside earlier on. I also decided in the late evening while watching Netflix on t.v., I can do a few squares on my mitered square blanket. I know I declared it "done" a long, long, long time ago, but I am going to do one more row while it is so hot. Easy peasy knitting.
Of course, I am still spinning yarn. I just completed a teeny skein of black alpaca. It is so lovely. Glossy and a true-black color. I have decided to put some odds/ends together to make a small skein of something. We will see if the colors look okay when spun. Right now that is iffy when I look at the color mixtures.
I decided I could sew strips together to make a strip quilt, but that hasn't been going too well. I keep getting distracted and I somehow got my strips twisted. I had to rip out a seam and untwist, and that did me in.
Otherwise I am reading a lot, and doing a whole lot of nothing. This is typical for summer when the weather is awful.
My friend SMH and I went out to eat last night to celebrate our birthdays. We had a good meal, and enough food for us to eat today as well. We had a good time, and it was fun!
I need a little fun right now. I have had one of my bouts of depression that hits me periodically. I have to wallow around in it for a while, which does strain friendships some. I call it going down into the well. After moaning around for a while, I usually pull myself out and move on. Thank goodness I never get bad enough to be concerned. It is just a cyclical thing I have done all my life.
Have a good weekend. July is upon us and we are moving into deep summertime. So far I have only had to use the a/c during the heat of the day. I can get by at night and early day without it. July is a test of endurance. There were times last year that the a/c stayed on 24/7. It is usually the time of long siesta. Do not move much or you sweat. Then August is the hot, hot month. Then it begins to wind down to Fall. Aren't cycles wonderful!
Stay safe and cool wherever you are.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
It's Almost Solstice!
I haven't dropped off the planet. Although it is a pleasant thought to know we still have a planet left, the conspiracy stuff is flying too fast for me. I am choosing to just ignore everyone that talks about it.
That means I do not listen to the news anymore. I watch the weather, but why is another question. It is hot, it is humid, and we have an occasional little shower that moves in. Mother Earth is pissed off at humans right now, so just get used to it.
My teeny potato crop is almost ready for harvest. I only had three plants this year.
I just finished winding the newest skein of handspun and it is in the bath relaxing. Then she goes to the yarn blocker for drying. Then suddenly there is a new skein of lovely Cormo wool and silk ready for someone to love her. It is a pretty yellow that is soft and looks like lemon custard.
I have been in a funk for about a week. Reading other peoples' blogs makes me realize that a lot of folks are in a funk right now. I am having a hard time being motivated to do much. I am reading a lot. I am not watching t.v. in the evenings any more, but when I do sit down I turn on Netflix and knit. I am bored with the knitting. Another cyclical thing, I know.
Peach season is starting, so I am gorging on fresh peaches. Somewhere along the way I get tired of eating so many and I put some up in the freezer. There are some fruits that I just prefer to eat in season instead of eating in the winter. One of them is peaches. Around May I start thinking about peaches, and then June comes and there they are. I think our local crops are going to be good this year with all the rain we had. Watermelon is another fruit I prefer in season, and I prefer local melons.
Nothing else of importance in my life at the moment. I am just plugging along trying to get everything completed that I want to put in the show in October. I am planning more yarn, but right now I am taking a little break.
Have a safe weekend. Keep cool.
That means I do not listen to the news anymore. I watch the weather, but why is another question. It is hot, it is humid, and we have an occasional little shower that moves in. Mother Earth is pissed off at humans right now, so just get used to it.
My teeny potato crop is almost ready for harvest. I only had three plants this year.
I just finished winding the newest skein of handspun and it is in the bath relaxing. Then she goes to the yarn blocker for drying. Then suddenly there is a new skein of lovely Cormo wool and silk ready for someone to love her. It is a pretty yellow that is soft and looks like lemon custard.
I have been in a funk for about a week. Reading other peoples' blogs makes me realize that a lot of folks are in a funk right now. I am having a hard time being motivated to do much. I am reading a lot. I am not watching t.v. in the evenings any more, but when I do sit down I turn on Netflix and knit. I am bored with the knitting. Another cyclical thing, I know.
Peach season is starting, so I am gorging on fresh peaches. Somewhere along the way I get tired of eating so many and I put some up in the freezer. There are some fruits that I just prefer to eat in season instead of eating in the winter. One of them is peaches. Around May I start thinking about peaches, and then June comes and there they are. I think our local crops are going to be good this year with all the rain we had. Watermelon is another fruit I prefer in season, and I prefer local melons.
Nothing else of importance in my life at the moment. I am just plugging along trying to get everything completed that I want to put in the show in October. I am planning more yarn, but right now I am taking a little break.
Have a safe weekend. Keep cool.
Monday, June 3, 2013
It Is Almost Summer!
I know it is so boring to just talk about the weather. But this is the weirdest Spring ever in memory.
Of course, my memory is shorter these days.
Who would ever imagine that on June 2 in Arkansas that I would be wearing sweat pants and a long-sleeved shirt over my t-shirt?
At least today the sun in shining! Wahoooo! When I sit outside I can imagine that it is warmer and nice and pleasant. When I get too hot, I stroll inside and cool off. Almost summer!
I am having a hard time focusing on knitting. I am doing too scarves and a pair of man socks. That's it. I dream of bigger and more complicated knits, but I am just not into it.
I have been spinning like a demon, though I have to get up and stretch periodically. I am doing a coupla skeins of BFL that I am going to indigo dye. The skeins spin fast and take forever to dry in the moisture-laden air we have. But I can hardly wait to get a dyepot going.
On Facebook I saw the cutest hat pattern-Wolves Will Be Wolves. According to the designer, you can put as many wolves in as you desire in the midst of the sheep. A cute little stranded knit hat.
I also found a cute pattern for a cardigan that has a flared bottom and cables. I like it a lot. But since I am only in dreaming stage, I just wrote the name down.
My friend CJE is back from her trip in China. They had a delay in Beijing that made her a little nervous. Other than that it was the running from port to port in the airports trying to make planes.
She surprised me that she signed up to vend at the show in October. I emailed the organizer and asked if we could have adjoining booths. She had already planned it that way. Isn't that a great thing! She said it would be a shame to separate the two of us.
If the yard dries a little more, I will mow tomorrow. I think more rain is expected the latter part of the week. Sigh! Saturday the yard was floating, yesterday it was soppy, and today it is soggy. So it is drying out little bit by little bit.
I had to spray my hollyhocks. They all had some little bug eating them up. I was afraid to spray, but I want to stop anything from eating the flowers. The hummers and bees love the flowers.
Well, time to put the clothes in the dryer. I did grocery shopping early this am, and am almost through with laundry. Then I can go back to spinning. Yeah! Who needs to do housework?
Have a great week. Hope you aren't growing webs between your toes.
Of course, my memory is shorter these days.
Who would ever imagine that on June 2 in Arkansas that I would be wearing sweat pants and a long-sleeved shirt over my t-shirt?
At least today the sun in shining! Wahoooo! When I sit outside I can imagine that it is warmer and nice and pleasant. When I get too hot, I stroll inside and cool off. Almost summer!
I am having a hard time focusing on knitting. I am doing too scarves and a pair of man socks. That's it. I dream of bigger and more complicated knits, but I am just not into it.
I have been spinning like a demon, though I have to get up and stretch periodically. I am doing a coupla skeins of BFL that I am going to indigo dye. The skeins spin fast and take forever to dry in the moisture-laden air we have. But I can hardly wait to get a dyepot going.
On Facebook I saw the cutest hat pattern-Wolves Will Be Wolves. According to the designer, you can put as many wolves in as you desire in the midst of the sheep. A cute little stranded knit hat.
I also found a cute pattern for a cardigan that has a flared bottom and cables. I like it a lot. But since I am only in dreaming stage, I just wrote the name down.
My friend CJE is back from her trip in China. They had a delay in Beijing that made her a little nervous. Other than that it was the running from port to port in the airports trying to make planes.
She surprised me that she signed up to vend at the show in October. I emailed the organizer and asked if we could have adjoining booths. She had already planned it that way. Isn't that a great thing! She said it would be a shame to separate the two of us.
If the yard dries a little more, I will mow tomorrow. I think more rain is expected the latter part of the week. Sigh! Saturday the yard was floating, yesterday it was soppy, and today it is soggy. So it is drying out little bit by little bit.
I had to spray my hollyhocks. They all had some little bug eating them up. I was afraid to spray, but I want to stop anything from eating the flowers. The hummers and bees love the flowers.
Well, time to put the clothes in the dryer. I did grocery shopping early this am, and am almost through with laundry. Then I can go back to spinning. Yeah! Who needs to do housework?
Have a great week. Hope you aren't growing webs between your toes.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
End of May-Waiting on a BIG Storm!
I finished a skein of plain BFL and it is on the blocker right now. I wanted to spin some yarn I can dye with indigo. I am not going to make a dye pot until I have consistent weather. This hot one day, cool the next, and lots of storms is not conducive to standing outside on the deck and dyeing.
I am having a terrible time with ticks this year. And my hollyhocks have some kind of "rust" fungus going on. According to the internet sites I looked at, I will have to dispose of the stalks and stems and debris around the sites this Fall. Then next Spring I have to start spraying a fungicide early on.
Other than all that everything else is good here. Aren't the flowers pretty? I love this kind of iris the best. The purple ones I found on the hillside and replanted them in the yard. The yellow iris was given by a friend and this is it's third home. The daylilies are getting buds, and they will be next. I got them in the same spot as the iris.
I am trying out a new pattern, but I am not in love with the yarn. I think after the scarf is finished I will overdye the whole thing if I don't like it. We will wait and see.
So end of May. Surely it will be hot and awful soon. So far it is pleasant and humid. I mowed the yard to get ready for the storms arriving. All I have to do is sit and knit or sew. Let it rain!
Enjoy the weekend. Be safe and keep looking up.
Saturday, May 25, 2013
The Last Hurrah for Weather! I Hope!
It has been an incredible week of weather here in the mid-south. Everyone knows that there was a HUGE tornado in Moore OK last Monday. On Sunday there were 30 tornadoes from Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Iowa-straight up tornado alley. Then the big one hit on Monday in Oklahoma. That same group of storms sent 4 small tornadoes to our little corner of the world. The closest to me was north of Siloam Springs, approximately 15-20 miles away.
Then Tuesday we had chilly weather and rain all day long. We got approximately 6 inches of rain. Then Wednesday it was hot and sunny and nice. Thursday it was cloudy and coolish-around 60 degrees. It was supposed to rain again, but never did. I just got out and mowed the yard just in case it did and things grew more. Then yesterday sunny and hot.
I got a surprise wellness-check from a young woman that I met at the Washington County Fair last Fall. She was concerned that I was ill and unable to mow my yard. I know that the untidiness of my flower beds is alarming, but really, I am able to mow most of my yard. The bachelor buttons have taken over and have dominated the whole mess. But as they fade away, the correopsis is blooming now, the verbena is starting to bloom, and the hollyhocks are putting on stalks of buds. So eventually there will be other color.
I did note that the bumblebees have been very, very happy during the last coupla weeks. I read online that bees like the color blue. Now how in the world can they tell the color blue? I don't know about that. But they are very happy out there in bachelor button land.
Today I ventured into the midst to check out some other things, and I did see 3-4 honey bees. That makes me very, very happy that they are there. I was so worried with that disease that killed off so many would decimate my little population.
I did see a really pretty ribbon snake the other day in the midst of plants. That also makes me happy.
Other than yard and weather, I have been busy finishing up my last skein of the pretty red wool/alpaca yarn. I sit with Netflix and spin away. I haven't wound the skein yet, but I am sure there is a lot of yardage in this one.
I finished the little Selbu hat, and it is really pretty. I like the subtle light gray and white combo.
I finished one of the Manly Socks, and have cast on for number two.
I started a scarf in a simple lace pattern by Anne Hanson, but I am not in love with this one. Something isn't right, but I am going to finish it. I frogged the first pattern I attempted. I don't think the yarn will hold up to another frogging.
I am decreasing on the shawl that I started early in the Spring. I don't work on it much since I don't need it right now.
I replanted two houseplants yesterday, and they will have to get over the shock of new housing.
I have plans for an indigo vat, if and when the weather settles down. I have to plan out what I am going to dye, and get all that ready. I have plenty of tansy right now to do a dye bath, but I don't think I will right now. Maybe I will do a solar dye bottle. That might do me.
My neighbors' grandson is getting married today. He is such a nice young man. I hope they have a long and wonderful life together.
Nothing else of note. It is just the time of year that is hardest. The transition from late Spring into Summer. Then the grumping begins of the heat and humidity, instead of the wet and cold. Oh, well, such is life in Arkansas.
No plans for the summer have arisen. I want to take a little trip, but nothing has come up for me. I haven't really put any thoughts into it, but there is a little desire. My biggest problem is I get all excited and want to do a trip, but the actually going is not a great desire. It is the planning or anticipation that is fun. Not the trip, for sure.
Well, have a safe and glorious Memorial Weekend. Enjoy the lazy days.
Then Tuesday we had chilly weather and rain all day long. We got approximately 6 inches of rain. Then Wednesday it was hot and sunny and nice. Thursday it was cloudy and coolish-around 60 degrees. It was supposed to rain again, but never did. I just got out and mowed the yard just in case it did and things grew more. Then yesterday sunny and hot.
I got a surprise wellness-check from a young woman that I met at the Washington County Fair last Fall. She was concerned that I was ill and unable to mow my yard. I know that the untidiness of my flower beds is alarming, but really, I am able to mow most of my yard. The bachelor buttons have taken over and have dominated the whole mess. But as they fade away, the correopsis is blooming now, the verbena is starting to bloom, and the hollyhocks are putting on stalks of buds. So eventually there will be other color.
I did note that the bumblebees have been very, very happy during the last coupla weeks. I read online that bees like the color blue. Now how in the world can they tell the color blue? I don't know about that. But they are very happy out there in bachelor button land.
Today I ventured into the midst to check out some other things, and I did see 3-4 honey bees. That makes me very, very happy that they are there. I was so worried with that disease that killed off so many would decimate my little population.
I did see a really pretty ribbon snake the other day in the midst of plants. That also makes me happy.
Other than yard and weather, I have been busy finishing up my last skein of the pretty red wool/alpaca yarn. I sit with Netflix and spin away. I haven't wound the skein yet, but I am sure there is a lot of yardage in this one.
I finished the little Selbu hat, and it is really pretty. I like the subtle light gray and white combo.
I finished one of the Manly Socks, and have cast on for number two.
I started a scarf in a simple lace pattern by Anne Hanson, but I am not in love with this one. Something isn't right, but I am going to finish it. I frogged the first pattern I attempted. I don't think the yarn will hold up to another frogging.
I am decreasing on the shawl that I started early in the Spring. I don't work on it much since I don't need it right now.
I replanted two houseplants yesterday, and they will have to get over the shock of new housing.
I have plans for an indigo vat, if and when the weather settles down. I have to plan out what I am going to dye, and get all that ready. I have plenty of tansy right now to do a dye bath, but I don't think I will right now. Maybe I will do a solar dye bottle. That might do me.
My neighbors' grandson is getting married today. He is such a nice young man. I hope they have a long and wonderful life together.
Nothing else of note. It is just the time of year that is hardest. The transition from late Spring into Summer. Then the grumping begins of the heat and humidity, instead of the wet and cold. Oh, well, such is life in Arkansas.
No plans for the summer have arisen. I want to take a little trip, but nothing has come up for me. I haven't really put any thoughts into it, but there is a little desire. My biggest problem is I get all excited and want to do a trip, but the actually going is not a great desire. It is the planning or anticipation that is fun. Not the trip, for sure.
Well, have a safe and glorious Memorial Weekend. Enjoy the lazy days.
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