And here I was...

...thinking that I was only one week behind in posting to my blog. Man, how time flies. This morning I went to the SC Native Plant Society Sale and bought Darrow's Blueberries, Coral Trumpet, PeeWee Hydrangeas, and Crested Irises. Only the weather is supposed to get really cold at night for the next week. So I will have to make DH help me on his BDay weekend next weekend to plant them all then. I hope that my blueberries really do grow. I recommend trying to find organizations such as this in your area, so that you can learn to landscape your yard with more native plants. Not only will you be working to preserve local wild beauty that is often destroyed by urban growth, but the plants will be much more tolerant of severe weather, frosts and drought in your area. Also, many of the plants are lower maintenance, which is nice if you have a busy lifestyle or physical limitations. Okay, enough of that PSA.



I am also taking a beginning scrapbooking class today. I know a little, but I figure I need to be schooled before the baby gets here. I want to do things right so that I can print out all of these digital pictures I have accumulated in a form where I can actually share some of them with people in a nice format.



Right now I am drooling over the following Fuzzymitten patterns, because I am such a fan of Little Cotton Rabbits. But, I can never seem to get in on purchasing any of Little Cotton Rabbits' productions. My husband is a huge fan of bunnies, and I don't know if you have noticed, but these days EVERYTHING in the baby store that has a bunny on it MUST ALSO BE pink. It is sexist. So anyway, I am drooling over the little floppy-eared bunny (because again DH loves floppy-eared bunnies) to knit it up for our (expected) baby boy.

In the comments to my last post, Tiffany asked if this was my first Baby Surprise Jacket. Yes, it is. And I honestly have not picked it up again for the last two weeks. Bad momma, bad momma! What little knitting I have been doing has been on my DH's sock. Admittedly, I am reading a lot of baby books and doing GRFB chores. So maybe I am not such a bad momma. :) In one book I am currently reading, I actually read a story where one set of parents did not even realize they needed to set up a changing station with all of the supplies, and the crib with all of the bedding, before their baby was born. I can't believe that. You would think some things would be so basic and intuitive. But maybe they work at jobs that take up all their time and stress them out, like I used to. I should pat myself on the back for having two changing stations set up already (on both stories of the house), and all of the same supplies in the bathroom to be used for bathing. And the crib has been ready for a month. I just installed the carseats last week, and will get them inspected this week. I am trying to be ready if the baby is premature. Because that has happened to two of my friends.

Well, I better run and eat something before my scrapbooking class.

Daisy love...

I love gerber daisies. This is my first summer growing them, and they last a week when you cut them.

Movin' along...

I am so happy....I have finished my first Christmas 2007 present...the modified Father Daughter Hat for my dad. I just hope that it really is big enough to fit his head the way he wants it to.

Pattern: Father Daughter Hat

Yarn: Alaskan Alpaca, sport weight
Source: I can't remember, my mom
Needle: Size 5 16" Addi Turbos

My lovely model, Bruce, decided to model it for me. It is not blocked, but I don't think that would make a huge difference in how it photographs.

I have also finished the 5 swatches for my Basics course. I still need to block them, label them and do their write ups. So, there is much work to be done still.

And I have given in to the guilt trips. My DH is so sad that I have still not knit a pair of socks for him YET. He says he has been so patient waiting for me to knit something for him. I am a bit of a selfish knitter...So I *had* to cast on a pair. I could not find my Lorna's Laces to knit the boyfriend socks for him. I don't know where the heck that yarn is...usually my stash is pretty organized, so I don't know where it is. So instead, I casted on the Mountain Colors Bearfoot in the Sweet Pea colorway and am doing the garter stitch rib from Sensational Knitted Socks.

I feel like my knitting progress is unimpressive (which it is! :) ). I may break down and hire my old PT as a personal trainer for a few days a month. Because I feel a little desperate after the last few weeks. Since my hives, I have been consistently working out, but the lower back pain is persistent. I have even made a cranial-sacral therapy appointment. If anyone has experience with cranial-sacral, let me know. I hear great things about it from several friends.

And now some time for viewer mail.....

Fiberitis said...
Beautiful roses. Are you still planning to do the Master Gardener program?

Yes. I have so many interests, that some other schooling may either overtake or be squished in with the master gardener program. So I am going to have to see how things develop here. Either way, it is still on my mind.

Oh, and of course, the japanese beetles are still attacking my roses. Fortunately, only one at a time. So I go out there and start wacking my poor rosebuds in effort to get the beetles off. So I cut one of my new white ones early. I hope in a few days to take a picture of the white rose bush with a few buds in bloom. Then I cut them and take them inside to protect them from those pesky beetles!

A bird has made a nest in my crepe myrtle. So I don't know if I can spray it for the beetles without getting an aerial attack. It got a little risky a few days ago just spraying the myrtle with soap water! :) I heard enough fluttering and chirping that I decided I better head inside before my head got pecked. I love birds, but they can be a pain when one is trying to maintain their trees.

I heart rainy days...

Today is a lovely, gorgeous rainy day. You know, the kind of slow, long, drenching, drizzley day. I like days like this because the plants get the nice rainwater they need to really make them perk up and bloom, and I get to stay inside drinking coffee and tea and organizing my messy house. :)

On the Father Daughter Hat, I just need to draw the last 8 stitches together and weave in the ends. Yes! I will have ONE Christmas Gift done.

And I need to get back to my Basics course. I need to finish the second swatch. I am a little miffed at myself. I think because I am using the old straight needles, my knit and purl rows are uneven. I have already frogged it once, and might do it again. Why is it this uneveness only turns up when you are doing it "for a grade?" :)

I received the latest Sundara Yarns kit. Such gentley variegated blues...I am in heaven. It is gorgeous and she is amazing.

It is hard to not start knitting socks with all of the sock yarn I have been receiving. But I really need to get that Basics course done. I need to maintain discipline!

And my Tiffany Roses are blooming! This picture is from yesterday. I cut about 5 of the blooms off since then. I like to do that so they mostly bloom in my bud vases, and it keeps me from having to run outside to battle japanese beetles.

Long time, no blog...

I am so sorry you guys. Seriously, all this illness and traveling has worn me down. And now, all of the antihistamines I am on really make me tired all of the time. I wake up at 7 am, have two hours of energy and then feel like crashing everday. I will try to do a short catch up on some things today, but I think it is going to take awhile for me to catch y'all up.






I had a lovely time on a knitting getaway down at Isle of Palm, SC. Really, our only trips away from the beach were to go eat and to go to the lovely Knit yarn store in Charleston. The owner, Gay, and her staff are lovely people. Seriously. Gay takes time to sit down and talk to her customers, knit with you, help you, whatever. And so does her staff. One of the women in the shop actually made coffee and gave me some when she heard me whining about a headache and my needing to find a coffee shop while everyone shopped.







(Y'all, I honestly thought it was a caffeine headache. That is, a lack of caffeine headache. I am famous for getting these because my cardiovascular system is 98% liquid caffeine. And you other consulting engineers out there know what I am talking about needing to drink copious amounts of caffeinated liquids. But it turns out the headache was really due to the pressure dropping since Tropical Storm Barry was deciding to visit us. Which is now a new type of headache I am becoming famous for, as do many other people in the Greenville area. There is something about this geography that gives one hurricane headaches. But we didn't know that Barry was coming to see us at the time, because honestly, WHO watches the TV when you are at the beach. If you do, your beach priveleges should be revoked!)







My mom and I have an ongoing joke about taking pictures of our toes in different oceans around the world. You can't go to the beach without at LEAST sticking your toes in the water and sand. :)









Anyway, Knit has a great selection of books (so many books!), needles, and yarns! I *finally* picked up some Schaeffer Anne Sock Yarn that seemed worthy enough to be purchased. (When I saw it at Stitches East, it was not as impressive as some of the others I needed to allocate my limited funds to.) I also picked up some addi turbo needles (I can't find sizes 4 and 5 circs in this town to save my life so I must travel to find needles.), and a Lantern Moon Molly bag in red silk. But I can't show a pic of the Molly bag...the piping started fraying on the first day I used it. So it is in a box so it can be returned for a new one.


We had such a fun time at her store. Sitting with local knitters and talking about all things knitting. You can't beat that, ever....And a word of advice: if you ever go on a knitting retreat, make sure someone packs a ball winder and swift (as I did).


The night I got back from the beach, I tried on some aikido uniforms that I had ordered. About 4 hours later, I broke out in a serious case of hives...I won't go into why I had to order polyester/cotton blend uniforms as opposed to the usual 100% cotton ones...but lets just say I suspect the blend and chemicals used on it as the culprit. I am also going to spare everyone the gory details about the progression of my hives. I went to my dermatologist the next day, and they swear it was all the seafood that I ate. But after speaking to a family member who worked in allergy medicine, and other friends, we are more sure it was the uniforms. But I am going to plan a trip to an allergist sometime soon, because my allergies may be getting ridiculous. I think I AM turning into my mother. I am getting more sensitive to things, and that is no fun kids.


So, the irony is like a freakin' hammer. I had to cancel going to my aikido camp because I broke out in hives from trying on aikido uniforms that I had ordered for camp. Not only that, my hands hurt so much that I could not knit for 3 days. And even after that my hands would itch whenever I used them. Ugh. I guess I needed the rest anyway.


I think the final thing today is that I have signed up for Stitches East classes a few weeks ago. I am going to be taking alot of design classes, as that is where my area of interest is in right now. I need to push myself to learn more, as I always have ideas but need to get off my butt in putting them to paper more. Anyone else going to Stitches East this year?

No, I am not a hypochondriac...

...there are just a lot of weird little things that happen to me.

For example, my finger is now infected. Really badly. Near as I can tell, it happened at a hangnail site while gardening. Yes, I did clean it with alcohol and use antibiotics and bandaids, but all of a sudden overnight, it became worse. I feel like a pathetic weirdo. I mean, there are people out there alot worse off than me, and for that I am thankful. It seems I get all these strange little health problems and not big ones, thank God. But, it is now an obstacle to golf and knitting. But not bad enough to really put me down. So I feel like I should be doing much better things than sitting around with my hand elevated. The finger feels hot and the whole hand aches. I had to turn down driving range practice with my neighbors, and no aikido tonight. I hope I can get well enough for our golf lesson tomorrow morning.

About the only thing I can do is show you some flowers in my garden. Oh, and I might just be a touch crazy because I bought two hybrid tea roses to grow in my back yarn. I never stop taking on challenges.

Dahlias

Daylillies

Penstemon



















And I was so happy to meet Isis in person, finally! We (my Simpsonville Knit Group and I) may have scared her off.... :)....No, I doubt that. She seems to be pretty funny herself. Anyway, we all met at the Yarns Forever 50% off sale. There were at least 6 group members there. Lily bought enough to make an impressive stash on its own. The rest of us did pretty well ourselves. :) I will try to post some of that later, since I won't have alot of project content until my hand heals.


I look forward to having lunch with Isis tomorrow. :) I love making new knitting friends.

Wordless Wednesday

Just like some other blogs....pictures of my latest daylilly blooms.

There is alot to be excited about today...but also some sad news

Bovidae Farm Trip, FO, new sock yarn, Stitches East signups, and I think some more....

On Saturday I trekked up to Bovidae Farm in Mars Hill, NC with some members of our local knitting groups. It is best to visit Bovidae Farm in a group, because they like for you to call ahead and arrange a visit since they are a real-working farm and have alot of work to do! Anyway, we all made lunch dishes and drove up there and ate lunch on their wrap around porch, and petted their corriedale and merino sheep. Most of the flock is corriedale. I forgot my camera, so I will post some pictures when one of the other ladies on the trip sends some to me. They process and dye their own wool, as well as sell some other yarns in a little yarn shop in their cabin. Very nice people...what else can you say about people who let a group take over their house and knit! Hey, at least we brought food! I picked out some worsted weight in their Lichen colorway (dark sage greens and brown to match my eyes) for the rogue sweater. I will have to wash it first because the lanolin in the yarn will drive my allergies nuts.

It is funny, but in this light it looks more of an emerald green. Anyway, it will look great on me no matter what the lighting is.

We decided to leave Bovidae early to visit a yarn store up the road called Yummi Yarns in Burnsville, NC. The ladies in the store were very nice (I think they let us take over their shop for two hours), and they have an impressive selection of yarn, from high end to more modest yarns. Louisa Harding, Rowan, Noro, Hanne Falkenberg Kits, Colinette, Lamb's Pride, etc.. Too many to remember. Anyway, I had fun playing fashion model for the Hanne Falkenberg Trunk Show. I am glad it was there, because I got to try on many styles and narrow down what Iwould really buy if I was ever lucky enough to do so...some day I will own Diva or Mermaid. Man, am I a sucker for scandinavian designs. I will really need to save up for them, as they run ~$250 per kit!

They don't have a website yet, so I will post the info here: Yummi Yarns, 7 So. Main Street, Burnsville, NC 28714, 828 678 9890

I also finished my Inside Outs yesterday! Finally! It took forever since I have been working on many projects and traveling too much!

Yesterday, I also received my Sundara Yarn Petals Collection for May. It is gorgeous! Let me tell you, this girl has an eye for color you won't believe. And this kit is modeled on Dahlias, which I love. I have even planted some this year. I am so tempted to jump into this right away.

And last but not least, I signed up for my Stitches East classes this morning! And I got all of my first choices!! squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!! I am going to take alot of design classes this year, to work on my New Years Knitting Resolutions. It is time to take off the training wheels and dive in. I know I can do it and already understand some design. But I have not really done much of that yet. Mary and I also have already reserved a hotel, so we are good to go!

We found out last week that our best local yarn shop, IMO, Yarns Forever, is closing its brick and mortar doors. I am saddened by this, but realize that this is also an opportunity for the owner. She is going to instead focus on expanding her growing wholesale and retail hand dyed yarn business, and on starting an alpaca farm. Have no fear, she will keep selling yarn through her websites for Yarns Forever and Creatively Dyed. It is unfortunate, but the local market is not enough to support the overhead of a bricks and mortar store. So, to all of my local readers, please go by and support her while she closes out the store. I know that many of you have not had the time to go there yet, but please make the time. She is open for a few hours on Saturdays, so please try to fit it into your schedules.

My red daylillies are totally in bloom now. Each has about 3-4 flowers per plant, and more buds waiting to bloom. I am excited. It is time to go and feed them some liquid fertilizer, and to plant my tomatoes and herbs.

I think it is time to slow down and spend some time at home. I have been on the road way too much. I need to feel a little more grounded. :) Plus, DH is starting to forget who I am!

MDSW

Disclaimer: Dang! This post is long. So go grab a cup of tea or coffee, take a deep breath, and dive in.

That means Maryland Sheep and Wool to the non-fiber obsessed.

My travelling buddy Mary and I headed out of our burg at 9 am on Friday morning. We (I should say I since I rented the car and did all the driving but I don't mind that) drove 9 hours to get to Frederick MD. There is something special about two people who can talk so much that they never need to turn on a radio for 9 hours. Scary, isn't it? We stayed at a hotel with other knitters from SC, as well as from NY and NJ. I really have to love those Courtyard Marriots. The one in Frederick and the one in Greenville BOTH let us completely take over the lobby and knit away for hours on end. Being the obnoxious, crazy knitters that we are, you would think they would eventually take the free coffee away from us. But no, they have not learned their lesson. We should come with a sign "DO NOT FEED THE KNITTERS CAFFEINE. WE WILL NEVER LEAVE."

Muggles stop and gaze in horror at a group of ladies and men of all ages sit around and knit and, dareIsayit, laugh? Can people who knit really have fun? I mean, there must be SOMETHING wrong with us. Because thank Gawd to some peoples' learned perverted sense of feminism, the domestic arts JUST AREN'T DONE ANYMORE, right? We have been saved from them, haven't we? I do have to say, that fortunately on this trip we left the wine alone. However, (as mentioned in my last post) we would have been WAY outperformed in this regard by a wedding party. (And another aside: Young ladies, if you think you are way sexy and bold when you are stumbling drunk, and that everyone loves you...please think twice before accosting strangers on an elevator. Especially those with needles. We are friendly sorts, but don't be rude. Oh, and lay off the tanning booths/sprays. It does not look natural... :) )

Anyway, fellow knitters, do share the love and stay at Courtyard Marriots since they love us. So please give them your business.

We woke up at 7 in the morning both mornings, left the hotel by 7:45 am. I mean that rocks, doesn't it? Two women who can shower AND eat breakfast in 45 minutes? I am so proud of us...all those 2 minute showers in the Army have paid finally paid off! No, I did not take 2 minute showers, now that I am a civilian I can handle like 5 minute showers...ooooooh, the luxury! Because we were then able to drive the 30 minutes to the fairgrounds and have no problems parking. We even had parking right up front on Sunday. Amazing.

On Saturday, I headed straight for The Fold's booth. Well, honestly not straight, since I stopped to look at some yarn at the entrance. But then Mary reminded me of my mission and obligation to a friend back home in Greenville. Must buy Socks That Rock. Must buy Socks That Rock. So then I headed straight to their booth. I was something like 20th or 30th in line before they opened. Thank goodness I had my choice of all of their colors since I was so early. Ladies, I was the one making a megaphone with my hands asking for two skeins of Fire on the Mountain to be handed back in line to me. Truly, I love you all, but I was getting worried that it would sell out on me before I could even reach it...even though I was only 3 people away. I know it is hard to make a decision on what colorway you want when one is truly overwhelmed by the choices...but it was totally SLOW GOING. I am thankful though that we were able to avoid the STR grabbing frenzy that happened at Stitches East. No mosh pits. Some of us were saying that they should only allow a few people in the booth at a time and to give them a few minutes to choose and then bing! you are done. I honestly think that would be the best approach. Because there are some people out there who kept wandering back and forth to the point that they never left the booth and others couldn't come in. (I know I am exaggerating here.) There is a point where you should figure it out and it is only fair to others that you have a time limit or some other system...maybe those later in line would have a prayer then of getting a skein...just in case you forgot to get one under the time pressure. :) Anyway, I think the people who took the longest were the ones who were toward the front of the line. I guess if you think you earned the right to be there first, you can be leisurely. But, understand y'all, leisure and STR DO NOT GO HAND IN HAND!

Anyhoo, I have often been told I am too much of an optimist, and care too much about sharing for the greater good of the community. Which explains my comments above.

The STR for the friend, Seastone and Fire on the Mountain.

STR for sale to friends: Little Bunny Foo Foo (sold!) and Cracked Canyon. I tend to go a little bonkers on STR, so I pick a few colors and sell at cost to my friends.

After The Fold, I was left to the rest of the festival on a more leisurely schedule. I wandered through everywhere at least twice I think. And then again on Sunday. I had a few shopping missions that I was on:

MISSION #1: Try not to go crazy buying sock yarn for self.

Yeah, right. Well, see below. Not too bad.

From L to R: Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Wild Raspberry. STR Fire on the Mountain. Cloverhill Yarn in Cloverhill. I did buy a Tess' Yarns baby Lace Leaf Cardigan pattern that uses sock yarn. It is one of my plans to use up all this darn sock yarn.

MISSION #2: Yarn for sock yarn swap pal.

First I choose the Cloverhill shown above, but then thought better of it. I mean, really, you are thinking that sock yarn is more my taste, right? Right. You are so right and thank you for pointing that out to me. So now this sock yarn is MINE.

So now here is the real sock yarn for the swap. She says she hates pastels but likes lavender. Unfortunately, lavender is not a popular sock yarn color this season. Don't ask me how they decide what is IN season. I am sure the dyers look at fashion magazines as well as follow their own muses, but lavender is NOT IN. This was the only real other choice other than KPPPM. And anyone can find KPPPM, but who can get their hands on Sheldridge Farms? Not many on the East Coast. Plus it is super soft and quite heavenly. The swap theme is May Flowers, so I hope it is flowery and bright enough.

MISSION #3: Find yarn for a Rogue pullover.

I was auditioning Green Mountain Spinnery Mountain Mohair since I had read online that it made a beautiful rogue. And they were going to be there at MDSW. But honestly, after I felt it and looked at it and the yardage vs price, it was just not rocking my world. So I shopped around. I probably should have picked up some Peace Fleece worsted at $6.20/sk sale price, but by the time I settled on that, they did not have enough yardage in colors that I liked. So I figured out that I will probably do it in some Lamb's Pride Worsted, which I totally adore as a yarn. Since I need a wool with a touch of mohair, it should work. And it comes in so many colors, one can be REALLY picky as to what they can choose. So I left MDSW empty handed, but with a better idea of what I will do.

MISSION #4: Find yarn for another Clapotis.

I have already finished one Clapotis this year. And I loved it so much that I decided to step it up a notch and buy more of a luxury yarn that the pattern originally called for. The answer: Tess' Yarns Cultivated Silk and Wool (50/50). I really wanted more of a white to grey to black colorway, but this is the closest she had. I will say it cost me a pretty penny, but I think it is slightly cheaper than the original Lorna's Laces the pattern calls for.


MISSION #5: Try not to go crazy buying something other than sock yarn.

Oops.

Honestly, I had a coupon for Morehouse Farm, one of my old favorites from my days in NY. Who can resist a coupon? This Melody's shawl is knit in the round with a steek. Too cool. It is Morehouse Merino variegated laceweight. I was torn between this colorway and another with navy blue, forest green and rust. It was too hard, but I could only afford one.

And this yarn was a steal at $6 per hank, normally sells for $16/hank. Gorgeous. By Terra Yarns, called Blue Spruce, 60% merino, 20% Baby Alpaca, 20% silk. It reminds me of home. It will make a lovely scarf or something for me.

MISSION 6: Buy artisan jewelry for Mom's Christmas present.

Durn camera. Sorry. That is two swan heads forming a heart with a celtic knot in the middle. By R.E. Piland.

BONUS MISSION: Buy a present for DH.

C'mon, we all know what this is. To distract him from the fact we bought way too much yarn. Appease him with chocolates, food, yarn for him, or whatever. This time it is in the form of a mug, cause he loves bunnies!

One side of the mug.

The other side of the mug.
Pottery by Greenbridge Pottery. Supernice people with the cutest pottery. Go visit their website for good presents. They let their daughters help draw the designs, like the one above.

Oh yeah, and I only remembered that I had a camera for a brief period. Below is a pic of the crowds on Saturday...the weather started to look stormy and there was a cold wind so it thinned out a bit. Hah!...it never rained. I guess all of that NW upbringing paid of there...knowing when the rain is just trying to psych you out. That and knowing to always pack a raincoat. :P And lots of lambies being sheared.I forgot to take pics of the 5 new lambs. I am sorry. I will remember next year. They wanted me to bring them home with me, but I just couldn't take them from their mommies. :)

We left the festival around noon on Sunday. I managed to make record time driving back. We were back home in Greenville around 9:30 pm. Even with a big dinner stop at an Outback. I think I drove 85 mph most of the way home. It was weird, no cops! Not even in NC, where they tend to set up camp on I-85.

I present to you a picture of one of my first daylillies of the season.

I am spent.

Sad, sad times...

I finally did hear back from Brooks Farm today. They do not have any more of my dyelot. C'est la vie. They do so many shows, I knew not to hope. My choices are:
1. Continue knitting and pray I have enough yarn. Then frog if needed as described in step 2.
2. Try on garment, mark where I can eliminate extra middle section repeats. Go ahead and frog and rip back middle section repeats. Pick up dropped stitches and rock on.

Husband is an advocate to #1. If I do #2, I would probably want his help on marking the garment with stitch markers anyway. I think I will think about this and wait until tonight.

Inside Out sockie is progressing. I have to go to a stinkin' homeowners association meeting tonight, and I swore to DH that I am bringing my sock with me, I don't care what people say. Because we all know that I will be stuck there for hours in some uncomfortable folding chair, hoping to successfully fight the desire to self-lobotimize with my DPNs. I will have flashbacks to high school where I fought that same urge, only with pencils. Ugh. My neighbor (bless her heart) is trying to get me to run for the board because of my numbers background. I say nay. I have enough drama in my life. I made some excuse about needing to take more classes to get ready for graduate school (partly true) and that I am working on some business ideas (partly true too). I do not need to serve on the board with my neighbors whose dog keeps pooing in my yard and they never pick it up, etc., etc.. Okay, enough with that but you get the idea. I don't want to be a slave to people who are miserable and petty. If I wanted that, I would still be working as an FA in some silly pressure cooker company.

Oh, and a warning, the next statement may offend some: The assumption that a person who does not work a "regular" job and who does not have kids has all the time in the world to take on all the other crap in the world that others do not want to do annoys the crud out of me. And that I don't have enough other very important stuff going on that I am really into. I can draw two parallel situations, one of which I have been in:

1. The single person working for a company gets asked to work through holiday vacation plans, nights, weekends for any emergency that comes up because your personal time is not as valuable as those who are married (with or without kids). This applies no matter how many years of experience you have and where you are in the pecking order.

2. Mothers with children who get asked to take on all sorts of stuff at school, church, whatever (whether they work or not). Because it is assumed they "wouldn't mind" helping out, or taking on just a few more kids other than your own for an afternoon. As if you have a ton of free time yourself. (I've seen this happen to my mom and friends.)

Enough said. (You can feel free to submit your own rants on the same topic to me. I will appreciate all views.)

The Project Spectrum colors for the next two months are:
April / May: Green, Yellow, Pink
And Sundara's Bird of Paradise Yarn fits perfectly. Only I am not on gage. So I will have to frog back and start again. On socks, you can see a trend. I love to live dangerously and check gage as I knit. :)

The weather is supposed to dip much colder the next few days. I am not happy about that, but I knew it was a possibility. I just planted some dahlias, daisies, daylillies, basil and impatiens. The dahlias, daisies and basil are in pots and can be brought into the garage for refuge. The daylillies should be okay. I only planted two impatiens, so no biggie. But still. I knew I was living dangerously, but I don't want to wait till next month to plant in that heat.

And now for some viewer mail:

Beverly said...
" Not only do you have a lot of gardners in your guild, there are several master gardeners. I was definitely impressed."

I agree. I am going to go to the garden organizations with some of them. I am going to see if I want to go through the master gardener program myself or not. Growing up where I did in Alaska, the soil is so rich all you have to do is plant something and fertilize it. Here, it is much tougher and I feel I could stand to learn alot more. I also have friends and family who will think I have lost my mind undertaking such a thing; they will think I am wasting my time. I don't care. I defy stereotypes and expectations all the time as it is. :) And I have always had a natural green thumb, even for a city girl. There are also some other areas of interest I am going to pursue this year as well, but I am keeping those to myself. :)