Gardening - At Last

The weather has been absolutely glorious this week. So, in spite of a sprained ankle and wrenched knee (long story involving skis, Lutsen Mountain and poor judgment), I got out into the garden this week and started a long-delayed, much anticipated project of adding some new flower beds.

I decided to be extra lazy efficient and do a lasagna layering method to get rid of the grass the new bedding area. I had harvested 30+ bags of maple leaves last fall and had them stored in black plastic bags over the winter. So yesterday, I spread the leaves over the grass, covered them with black plastic and spread wood mulch over the black plastic. The photo above shows the three different stages. Fortunately, the wind was not too strong, so I was able to tackle the job largely on my own.

In knitting news, I have started a baby blanket for a dear friend who just had their 5th baby. They had thought they were finished and had donated all of their baby stuff years ago. Then God blessed them with a miracle and they are starting all over again. I can hardly wait to see their newest son. Alas, I do not have a picture of the knitting progress but hopefully I can get one before I give it away this time.

Well, back to the garden. . .

Winter Sowing

My first venture into winter sowing is now underway. I used this booklet as a guide as I prepared my containers and sowed the seeds. As you can see, I made a bit of a mess but with the rain we had over the weekend, the mess is now all gone.

You can also see in the background that we will have snow on the ground. In some parts of the country, it is too late for winter sowing but, alas, in Minnesota, there is still time.

I have located a few more containers lurking in my stash of recycleables, so I may be adding to the collection. And since we have more snow in the forecast this week, it seems I won't be running out of time to winter sow for awhile yet.

It may sound like I am complaining about the snow but it is providential, actually. We took a chance and booked a ski vacation for spring break. The snow this week ensures that we will have good skiing while on vacation.


In other news, I have another great experiment in the works. I found a potato in the bottom of the pantry that was sprouting. So I cut it into a couple pieces and potted it in a container to see what would happen. Well, it is growing like gangbusters. I doubt I'll end up with any new potatos but it was fun to see what a potato plant looks like.

On the fiber front, I have recently resurrected an old passion for cross-stitch. I've been working on a small project in my spare time. I am also plugging away at cotton wash cloths. After listening to numerous complaints by my Hubby about the state of most of my kitchen linens, I've decided to replenish my hand-knit washcloth stash.

I've chosen a new pattern from Lily's Sugar'n Cream pattern website (you have to log in to see the pattern but membership is free) called Feather & Fan Dishcloth. It has a lovely ribbed texture that will work well for all the scrubbing we have to do around here.

Well, off to finish school with the girls and check in on all my little seedings in their various and sundry locations. Ironic how homeschooling and growing seedlings are so similar. They both require almost constant attention!

If a picture is worth a thousand words . . .

Here are a 8 thousand words for your enjoyment.

Seeds are growing well. This weekend I plan on winter sowing more, and transplanting the bigger plants into real pots. With the warm weather this week, spring fever is reaching a peak.

Come on, snow, MELT!

Trellis follow up

Sorry about the delay. Life - you know - ummm, well, anyway.


Here is the next step. Now, the book tells me to glue the joints with pvc cement. I bought the supplies to do it but I am thinking about not gluing the pieces together. Just drilling some holes and screwing them together. The advantage to me is that I can disassemble them later. If something gets damaged, I can easily replace the broken part.

However, living in a climate that is prone to severe thunderstorms, tornadoes and blizzards means these should be very sturdy to stand up to strong winds. Would the joints be strong enough with just a few screws through them? Then again, nothing will stand up to a tornado anyway . . .

Any thoughts, friends?

Finally, the trellis sheet will be screwed to the frame. I am making four of these so far. I have several ideas on where to put them. I do need some vertical growing space in my vegetable garden this year, since I plan on growing peas, beans, ornamental squash and cucumbers vertically. However, these are so cute, I thought about lining them up along the side of my garage and training some flowering vines up them instead.

I am excited to get these finished and in the garden. Just got to wait for the ground to thaw enough to dig the holes.

Oh, and I found a plan for pvc garden furniture. The old grey cells are percolating away . . .

Easy Garden Trellis

The Garden Fever 2011 continues to dominate my waking hours. And with the unseasonably warm weather this week, I was actually able to get out in the garage and start working on a new pet project.

I found this project in Easy Garden Projects to Make, Build and Grow. I purchased the supplies in early January, when the gardening bug was just too overwhelming to resist. The total cost for four 8 foot tall/2 foot wide trellises will be under $100.


I had the local lumber yarn cut the 10 foot pvc pipes down to 8 foot lengths. I then cut down the 2 foot lengths at home to accommodate the elbow joints and still fit within the 2 foot width of the trellis material.


I then used some fine grade sandpaper and removed all the print from the PVC pipes. Everything is now prepped and ready for gluing and assembly. Stay tuned for the next installment of Building o' the Trellis.

In weather news, we have had several days of above freezing temperature and little bits of grass are starting to appear around the edges of the yard. However, I am not getting myself too excited yet because the weather forecast for next week includes a significant (i.e. plowable) snow event.




Which is probably okay, since we have scheduled our spring break trip to a ski resort here in Minnesota and snow will probably be a good thing to have around.

Can't help but brag a little!

I just happened to attend an epic, historical event at my son's hockey game last night. If you happen to be into hockey at all . . .

Yup, my boy is a member of that varsity team.

Oh, and yes, I am very hoarse today

More Gardening Projects

Yup, gardening fever shows no signs of abating. I've been starting seedlings, transplanting, making new biodegradable pots and reading every gardening book or magazine I can get my hands on. I've made lists, drawn layouts for the vegetable garden and researched ways to recycle, upcycle and generally repurpose stuff for use in the garden.

At left is a picture of my new mini greenhouse hard at work sheltering my first transplants. After the little seedlings have developed their first set of true leaves, I move them out from the big germinating grow light set up and move them to the transplant set up. I purchased this inexpensive shelving unit from The Greenhouse Megastore for under $50. It is not the sturdiest shelving unit in the world but I bought it mostly for the three covers that came with it: A clear plastic cover, a black mesh cover and a solid black cover. I plan on moving this unit out of the basement and onto the deck later this spring and use it to harden off the seedlings before planting. I figure I can always find a sturdier shelving unit (or make one) later that I can still use the covers on. I bought very inexpensive florescent fixtures and hung them from the wire shelves to provide light for the plants until they are sturdy enough to bring upstairs into my 4 season porch. Having kitties means I have to protect these babies until they are too big for bratty cats to uproot.

My other big project is making more biodegradable pots for transplants. With a family of 6, we tend to accumulate more grocery bags than we can reuse. So I've been cutting them up and making little square pots out of them. Each paper bag yields 8 three inch pots or 24 one and a half inch pots.

I carefully open the bottom seams of the bag, and then cut down the side seam to open the bag up. I carefully peel away the handles, if the bag has them. I cut the bag in half lengthwise once and widthwise twice to make 8 nine inch (approximately) squares.

Then I fold the 9-inch squares in thirds in both directions. I cut one crease on each side to make flaps that can then be wrapped around the outside of the pot and stapled or taped. I'm not too fussy about these, since they are going to be filled with dirt and eventually rot away in the ground, so rough edges and uneven sides don't bother me. I use little staples from a tiny stapler that I figure will rust away very quickly underground. They are so fine, I am sure they won't last more than a year.

I set these pots in aluminum catering pans I bought in bulk at a party store. Then I can just pour water into the pan and let the moisture wick up into the pots, to keep from disturbing the little seedlings. The aluminum pans reflect the florescent light up and around, so it magnifies the light somewhat. I may end up adding some tin foil tents to the set up, just to further magnify the light from these low wattage florescent fixtures.

Well, there you have it. How to get a gardening fix when you live in the frozen tundra of Minnesota and your vegetable garden is still 3 feet under snow and the outside temperature is 3 degrees Fahrenheit.

Eureka! I have seedlings!

I'm so HAPPY! The ol' green thumb is alive and thriving underneath 60" of snow here amongst the Chosen Frozen.

It looks as though I have nearly 100% germination so far. Some of the pansies are still popping up and I have a few onions that haven't quite broken the surface but everything is looking FAB - U - LOUS!

I am knitting a little (new washcloths) but mostly, I'm playing around on my new toy, Nook Color.

Back to mooning and crooning over my itty, bitty, widdle seedlings.

Another long gap

Well, my well-laid plans have gone the way of those of both mice and men. But I am still here and kicking. I know I promised some pictures of FO's but everytime I pull the camera out, the battery is dead. Lacking any initiative and drive, I simply put it back, instead of plugging it in. Blame the grey, gloomy weather . . . blame the deep cold that has settled around here . . . blame whatever. I am just too blase' to care.

What is more, the knitting mojo seems to headed south with the birds. Instead of dreaming of cashmere and alpaca, knitting cozily way in front of a warm fire and sipping hot cocoa, I find my waking (and a few sleeping) hours consumed with plans for spring gardening. Yes, folks, I am completely backwards in the hobby mojo department.

However, I refuse to let the 40" of snow in my gardens deter me when I'm in the throes of garden fever. I have been pouring over the seed catalogs online, ordering flower and vegetable seeds willy-nilly. I've set up the grow light and ordered my sterile seedling mix. I've purchased and potted some new houseplants. I purchased and set up a little greenhouse unit in the porch to house the future seedlings. And I started a little herb garden for use in the kitchen.

And today, I filled some trays with potting mix and started the first round of seeds for spring planting. I have a flat of Giant Pansies in purple and gold all tucked up in it's black plastic tent and warming nicely in the dark. I have Marigolds and Zinnias and Lobelia set up under the grow light in their mini greenhouse and I even started some peppers and tomato plants to get a jump on the harvest season this year.

I also joined the American Horticulture Society, with the thought of becoming a Master Gardener someday.

Yes, I feel triumphant because I am overcoming winter. Yes, there may be 4 feet of snow on the ground. Yes, there are months before the first blades of spring bulbs pierce the frozen tundra. Yes, it is colder than a witches nether regions outside. But I will have flowers soon.

Mwahahaha! Who knows, maybe I'll feel energized enough to actually charge the camera and take pictures of the new baby plants.

(Any bets on whether the knitting mojo strikes right about the time I should be transplanting stuff outside?)

Christmas Gifts Part 1

Still a busy little beaver around here. I managed to finish my Starter training for USA Swimming this past weekend so I am now officially a Starter. Thank you very much.

Thankfully, our homeschool academy wrapped up it's Fall Semester and we have one less activity on the calendar for the time being. I taught Beginning Knitting and it was a blast. This group of young girls was an exciting group.

Finally, still frantically knitting away on Christmas gifts. Alas, the FO I have to show today has been long anticipated and will NOT be a surprise on Christmas morning. But Airman is very happy with it. In fact, he is sleeping under it nightly.

Nothing like having a knitted gift be thoroughly appreciated by the recipient. One down, 6 or more to go. Yikes!

Meet Airman 1st Class Hockeyman

It has been an eventful start of the school year. Obviously, the big gap between posts should have clued you in that things have been a little busier than usual. One of the biggies is that Hockeyman is now a senior in high school. College visits, PSEO classes, hockey practices and a burgeoning popularity of his rock & roll band have all had me running around more than ever.

However, the biggest news is his enlistment in the Air Force Reserves. He officially became an Airman 1st Class this morning. He will leave for basic training right after graduation in the spring and, if all goes according to plan, will be a loadmaster within the following year.

In other news, I am furiously trying to finish knitting up Christmas gifts. I am still working on TUSKAUFOFE as well.

Oh, and by the end of the weekend, I hope to be certified as a Starter by USA Swimming.

See, I told you I have been busy.

Gah! Record-breaking gap in posts!

I knew it had been awhile since I posted but I had no idea it was almost 6 weeks. I am so ashamed! What a loser blogger I am!

Okay, I'm not that upset. Life just has a way of getting in the way of the fun stuff. After all, even Super Mom can't juggle absolutely EVERYTHING.

I have been crafting. Not as much as I'd like. Not nearly enough. But in the dribs and drabs of time that the kids' crazy schedule will allow. And I've been learning some new skills as well - like canning. All the fresh produce at the farmers' markets around here has inspired me to try and capture some of it for winter. Anyway, here is a synopsis of what's I've been working on.

Finished Objects: Diagonal Lace Socks (#6 in TUSKAUFOFE), canned 5 pints of strawberry jam and 5 pints of Zesty Salsa and 4 trays of peach puree ice cubes (great for the morning protein shakes) and 5 pints of frozen peach puree.

Almost Finished Objects: Drop Stitch Pleated Tank (about 10 more rows and this baby is off the needles) and Easy Drop Stitch Scarf (the latest UFO to be resurrected for TSKAUFOFE).

Newly Started Object: Shetland Pi Shawl for KAL on Wendy Knits. I've been a follower of Wendy Knits for years and when this little KAL popped up, it was just the thing to get my knitting mojo back on track.

I also warped my little mini loom to make some coasters for the family room. More on the weaving progress later.

Well, it's pretty hard to sum up 6 weeks of insanity in just a few paragraphs. But I need to go get Peeps from dance studio now and you all will just have to stay tuned for more details.

(Whooosh - Super Mom wisks away for another dramatic rescue of a Damsel in Distress {i.e. Peeps, who is STARVING after 2 hours of dance class}.)

So long, for now.

Heading out on vacation, so I'll be out of communication for awhile. However, couldn't resist updating a few things.

First, Arwen for Peeps is done. She asked for a belt to tie the sweater (not shown), so no button shopping for me.

However, after seeing all the nicely wound balls of singles on Turkish spindles on Ravelry's Tour de Fleece, I've decided I just have to get me one of those things.

In the meantime, I'm still spindling away on some purple sliver I've had in my stash for several years. I know I got it from Detta's Spindle but I have lost the little label that came with it, so I have no clue what breed of sheep it came from. But it's spinning up beautifully, once I got past the dropping stage of drop spindling.

Well, I'm off to finish packing. Have a great week, all!

Tour de Fleece Day 1

Well, the race has started and I've managed to get in 1.5 hours of spinning on a spindle today. Since I'm going camping next week, figured I might as well spend the first full week getting reacquainted with the ol' spindle. Since I got my spinning wheel several years ago, I haven't even seen the spindles, much less used them. But there just won't be room for the spinning wheel in the van when we leave to camp, so spindling will be my camping activity.

Other goals during the Tour de Fleece:

• Bust Stash! Going to use as much of my stash as I possibly can during the Tour de France.

• Learn to spin silk! I have several sets of silk hankies that I've been too scared to touch. But during the mountain stages of the Tour de France, I'm going to challenge myself to learn to spin silk.

• Attempt at least 3 different novelty yarn techniques I learned over a year ago at Shepherd's Harvest. I haven't decided which ones, yet, but I will as soon as I get back from vacation.

• Finish washing and carding the Coopworth fleece I've been working on. Of course, since this work will have to come after the spinning, it may or may not get done. But nothing ventured, nothing gained.

In other news, I managed to get a 26 mile bike ride in this morning. My Hubby and I have a favorite trail we like to do on Saturday mornings. It starts in St. Bonifacius and runs all the way to Wayzata. Since Hubby has a rode bike, that is much lighter and faster than my trail bike, he takes off at his own pace and proceeds past the end of the trail as far as he feels like going, then comes back. So he squeezed in a 40 mile ride this morning. So we both get a good workout but I don't hold him back and he doesn't push me to go faster than I want to go. Win/win, wouldn't you say?

On the knitting front, I'm nearly done with Arwen for Peeps. After trying it on her, I decided to add a couple more inches of length to the sleeves. She's apparently grown some since I started the sweater. Fortunately, the body is more than wide enough and plenty long enough. I've knitted the cabled cuffs for the sleeves, so once the sleeves are long enough, I'll sew the cuffs on and call it done.

Except for the closures. I haven't decided yet how to do the closures. It will probably require a trip to the yarn shop to look for buttons. After all, buttons are not yarn, right? So a yarn diet wouldn't preclude the purchase of buttons, right? And the fact that there is a new yarn shop within 20 minutes of the campground I'll be at next week means I just have to stop in and check it out, right?

(Hint - This would be the perfect time for all those enablers out there to lead me on!)

New Season - New Look

I spent some time re-designing my blog today. It is the first day I've actually been home for more than half an hour at a time, so I decided to take advantage of it. Hope the new design is as bright and happy for you as it is for me.

I started a new project this week, called the Drop St Pleated Tank. I figured that summer is the time to make and wear some summer tops. So TUSKAUFOFE notwithstanding, I decided to spend a little extra time revamping my wardrobe as well.



I'm using Ella Rae Silkience, which is a 41% cotton, 39% Modal, 12% silk and 8% rayon yarn. It has a silky hand and significant weight, so it should drape beautifully. The pattern is from the Early Fall 2010 Vogue Knitting magazine I just picked up. It was the back detail that really sold me on the pattern. I love little design surprises like this.

As usual, I'm a little nervous about the amount curl the bottom hem is exhibiting. However, I have a couple of redesign ideas to take care of that if strenuous blocking doesn't cure the curl. (Mwahaha - evil knitting genius laugh). I have also revised the pattern slightly by using a twisted knit stitch on the upper ribbing. This yarn has no memory, so I figured it would fit a little snugger and keep it's shape better if the ribbing included a little extra twist.

In other news, I'm just in one heck of a joining mood this summer. Not only am I in training for the Tour de Fleece on Ravelry (a group of teams who are spinning their way through the Tour de France in July), I also joined the Knitgirllls group and am participating in the 50 Skein Stash Down. The goal is to use up 50 skeins of yarn over the 3 months of summer. I joined a little late but am hoping to catch up with the group in a short hurry. The Ella Rae yarn has only 119 yards a skein and I'm using up a skein a day right now.

Well, I'm rather alone this morning, having 2 of my kids off at a camp, Hockeyman at hockey and Eldest Sister up in her room communing with all her friends via Facebook, so I'm going to head back out onto the deck to enjoy knitting, listening to a book on CD (Magyk by Angie Sage), and the temporary, blessed solitude I so seldom get to enjoy.





Ahhhhh! Bliss!

Still Drifting About

Life still seems very disjointed. First of all, with summer comes a total change in schedule. Kids have camps, lessons and fun activities galore, which keeps me hopping from place to place. So far this morning, I've dropped Peeps at drama camp, picked up Eldest Sister's best friend and dropped them both off at community center to exercise, driven Bubba to and from piano lessons, taken Hockeyman to and from hockey camp, as well as gone to the pool to do my own work out. All that before 1 pm. I still have to pick Peeps up from drama camp, take Bubba to swim team practice and hopefully make it to my knitting group this evening. Gah! And I thought summer would be more relaxing.

Anyway, knitting is still happening in the little snatches of time spent waiting for various and sundry kidlets. I managed to start and finish one of those spur-of-the-moment projects last week.

Meet Annis from Knitty.com. After visiting The Yarn Garage and seeing a lovely shawlette, I was suffering from "Didn't Buy The Pattern, What Was I Thinking" remorse. So I did a little searching on Ravelry and came up with this pattern to knit instead. I used some Tofutsies sock yarn I had in my stash and whipped up this little baby in 5 days.

What is even better than an instant gratification project like this is the fact that I conquered my fear and/or aversion to nupps on this little beauty. I simply pulled each stitch of the nupp a little longer to make them slightly looser. This made purling all the stitches together on the following row much easier. SWEEEET!

Also, I am making gradual progress on carding the Coopworth wool. Granted, I have a long way to go, but every rolag I make is one rolag closer to finishing up the carding and getting to the spinning. Whilst I'd love to finish washing the entire fleece and have it all carded before the Tour de Fleece, that is beginning to look like a long shot at this point. But it is still moving forward, which is for the best. (I have a very pretty picture of the basket of fluffy rolags but Blogger is giving me a some difficulty posting pictures. So you'll just have to wait for that little photo.)

Also on the needles is the 6th installment of TUSKAUFOFE - The Diagonal Lace Socks. Still not totally burned out on socks yet but looking forward to some of the more complicated patterns. I'm in the mood for something more challenging.

On the UFO front, I'm trying to finish up Arwen for Peeps - still. It's just one of those "yawn" projects that I have a hard time getting the gumption up to work on it. Again, I'm itching to tackle something really intense.

Well, off to pick up Peeps at drama camp. Then I'll actually have a couple hours at home to do laundry and chores before the evening running begins.

Doh!

Rollin' along

Lots of little steps forward on multiple projects. Sometimes I feel a bit schizophrenic because I am working on so many disparate projects at the same time but it just seems to be part of my personality. It drives my loved ones crazy sometimes but I do eventually get things done.

Finished Objects:

The Go Green Sock Knitting Tote is finally finished. I had all the components done but it required a little hand sewing to finish, which I managed to put off until today. I'm nothing if not a champion procrastinator. But 'tis finished at last.

The Lacy Rib Socks are off the needles as well. These took a little longer than they should have, only because I've been working on so many other things at the same time. However, they were still finished in under 20 days. Again, the yarn pooled in a very annoying fashion at the gusset/ankle area. This tendency in hand-painted yarns ticks me off sometimes but they are still very soft and comfortable. They should be just fine under jeans or inside boots.

In Progress:

My big gardening project is actually a furniture refinishing project. I've been stripping and sanding our patio dining set. Once I started the project, I found that all four chairs were very wobbly and some of the joints were damaged. So what started as a simple refinishing process ended up being a reconstruction project. All four chairs had to be disassembled and rebuilt with new dowel joints and stronger glue. Hubby did most of the reconstruction (I'm better at destruction) and I finished painting all the furniture with primer and a base coat.

I'm trying to decide if I'm going to go for a crackle finish/distressed finish or just polyurethane the paint finish and leave it bright and light. The advantage of a distressed finish is that this furniture sits outside all year around and is likely to get distressed all by itself. If it starts out that way, the subsequent wear and tear will look intentional. But I have to admit, I like the buttery yellow color I concocted from two cans of leftover paint. I may just do a little stenciling, age it with a little tinted wax and let it weather from there.

Finally, I am still carding the Coopworth fleece, little by little. I took it with me to our homeschool beach day last week, and to our little knitting group at Dunn Brothers Coffee on Monday night, and it is always a conversation starter. Everyone who is new to this process is just fascinated by the carding process. I get lots of questions and even more requests to touch the finished rolags. I have a long way to go to finish all the wool but I feel good about the steady progress I am making.

Well, that's it for now.

Going to go work on the TUSKAUFOFE #6 intallment - Diagonal Lace Socks.

Ta-ta.

Washing o' the fleece

Since this is my first fleece washing experience, I had lots of mistakes to make and things to learn. This post is not an all-inclusive how-to about how to wash a fleece. It is a post about my misadventures one hot, steamy day in May.

The yellowish blob of fiber tucked in the blue sheet was the Coopworth fleece in such dire need of a bath. So early one morning, I girded my loins, rolled up my sleeves and dove right in. With my handy dandy Spinning Bible in hand, I heated the water, added the soap and plunked a lingerie bag full of fleece in the water. It was sent through two baths with soap and 3 or 4 rinses (I can't remember how many now), all according to the proper procedures and instructions in the Spinning Bible.

Mistake number one: Must open up the fleece and fluff it up or it won't all come clean. This first bag of fleece was washed and rinsed completely, then taken out to the deck to dry when I discovered all kinds of VM and dirty tips hiding out inside. So a good half hour was spent fluffing it up and picking out the debris before sending it back to the tub for a whole new cycle of washing and rinsing.

Since subsequent rinse water is not as dirty, I was sending bags of fleece through in a train. Basically you just add soap to mostly clean rinse water and start the next batch through before draining the tub, refilling and rinsing the first batch. With organization, you can train quite a few bags of fleece at a time, draining and refilling only as needed. This conserves water and energy because each tub of water is used multiple times.

Mistake number two: Don't try to wash too much fleece at once. Bag #2 was bigger than the first and it didn't get clean the first time through, either. So it had to be divided into smaller bags and be sent through the process again. So much for saving energy and water because two batches were now having to go through double washings.

I eventually had a good system down to get everything through the washing and rinsing cycles. I'd learned my lesson on the first two bags of fleece and was making steady progress.

Mistake number three: Don't over agitate the fiber, trying to get it clean. After having to rewash the first two bags of fleece, I got a little more aggressive with my swishing and the last few bags came out slightly felted. Not so much that it is not usable but enough to make fluffing it for the drying rack more difficult. So much for saving time by getting it clean the first time.

In spite of it all, I was pleased with my progress. Approximately half of the fleece made it through the first day and now that I know a little more, the second half shouldn't take quite as long, nor as much water and energy. I guess you could say it was well worth the effort in the end.

And isn't it so pretty and white now?

Now to get it carded up before July 3. Yikes! Guess there will be a few mistakes lessons in that little process, too.

Yipee-Skippee

I'm just having so much fun here. So many fibery things going on so I'm going to play the random paragraph-ish/bullet post thing (with pics).

*TUSKAUFOFE #4/Dead Simple Lace Socks are now done. These are going to be gifted to a dear friend who is battling ovarian cancer and is starting an intensive round of chemo on June 1st. I figured some lovely socks would be just the think to keep her tootsies warm while laying around in a hospital bed.

*TUSKAUFOFE #5 is on the needles and going strong. Another super simple lace pattern, already memorized, so I don't need to refer to the book. However, I am mulling over the idea of re-printing the basic heel shaping instructions onto 3x5 cards and laminating them. The only time I have to refer to the book at this point is to memorize the chart and to turn the heels. Since I don't like carrying around books all the time (I already lost one copy of this book and had to buy a second), it would be a sweet and simple solution. Still mulling though. Haven't followed through. Too much other stuff going on.

*The Go Green Recycling Project has become my UFO project of late. I started cutting up old sheets a long time ago, with the thought of using it as yarn and making rugs. Well, I loved the Beach Bag I finished so much that I've started a Go Green Sock Tote. I'm nearly half way done now (further than the picture shows) and loving it, loving it, loving it. I have a huge pile of sheets to recycle and am on the hunt for more pattern ideas to use even more of this recycled yarn.

*I even have a few ideas about how to spin these strips into some fun and funkier yarn. Stay tuned for more later.

*I have also signed up for my first Tour de Fleece competition on Ravelry.com. From July 3 through July 25, you spin every day (except for 2 designated rest days). I have pulled out my full stash and started making plans so I'm ready to go on July 3. First step is to scour and card the fleece I bought at Shepherd's Harvest last year. Then I need to finish plying some bobbins of singles I have on hand so I can free up all my extra bobbins before July 3.

*I've joined 4 teams so far: Rookies, Stashbusters, Knitgirllls and Knitter's Palette. It's a lot of spinning to do but July will be the perfect time to do it all. I am so excited, I can hardly stand it.

*Besides all this fibery activity, I'm working on a plethora of other creative projects. I'm currently sanding and painting some old cedar deck furniture, planning on building a headboard for our bed with Hubby and preparing to create yet another huge flower garden bed in my back yard. And I'm trying to train for a Sprint Triathlon in my spare time.

*On a sad note, The Girl Formerly Known as Dancing Diva Who Has Yet to Find a New Passion So Will be Called Big Sister For Now participated in her last dance recital as a backstage helper last weekend. It was a highly emotional time as she said goodbye to her life as a dancer. She is still wrestling with the ramifications of the arthritis diagnosis and struggling to find a new passion into which to pour her very considerable talent and energy. Whilst I would love for her to share my passion for fiber arts, she is very different from me in temperment and personality. I am encouraging her to pursue acting and singing and music in some form or another, she has yet to latch onto anything yet. A few prayers sent in her general direction would be greatly appreciated, so she can move through this dark time into a new life path.

Am I a bit insane? Probably but I've decided that after the crazy year we've had that as a family, we are going to go for the joy this summer. Do what is necessary but find the time to go above and beyond the mundane and have a fabulous summer.

Shepherd's Harvest Swag

Woot! Had a great time at Shepherd's Harvest again this year. I didn't take any classes this time and spent most of my time volunteering at the information booth in Building B and manning the Ravelry.com table.

I did manage to pick up a few things, though. The red yarn was on sale for $10 a hank. I got enough yarn for a short sleeved top for $40 dollars. Silver Creek Cabin was the booth where I scored that little bargain.

The buttons are hand-made buttons by Jennie the Potter, as is the yarn bowl. I've been eyeing the yarn bowl for several years. It has a curved channel carved in the side to thread the yarn through. She was featured in Knitty.com last summer, if you want to see more of her work.

The bag of fleece was purchased from Dakota Carding & Wool. It is called Opalescence and the color is Caribbean Blue. It has just a touch of glittery angel hair carded into it, so it has a very subtle sparkle. I can't wait to free up a few bobbins and spin this lovely stuff up.

The braid of wool was a gift from River's Edge Weaving Studio. I volunteered to organize a Ravelry Bingo/Vendor Crawl for Ravelry.com members who were attending Shepherd's Harvest. The lovely ladies from River's Edge not only generously provided gift certificates for the prize basket but also gave me a personal gift of Hand Dyed 100% Bluefaced Leicester wool. What a sweet thing to do!

The line up of little finger puppets was picked up at a vendor in the back corner of Building D, next to the Yarn Garage booth. I forgot to pick up a card but I knew the little girls would be thrilled with these little guys. Bubba is especially fond of putting on shows and often makes her own puppets.

The black headband was a gift for Elder Sister (formerly known as Dancing Diva), since her new passion is snowboarding. It is an alpaca headband from Alpaca Treasures. They show a website on the Shepherd's Harvest Vendor list but I can't get it to work right now.

The Sea Turtle was purchased from Saori Free Style Weaving Studio, mostly because the packaging was entirely in Japanese. Hockeyman has been trying to learn Japanese on his own and I knew he'd get a kick out of trying to translate the packaging. Again, the Shepherd's Harvest Vendor list shows a website but it doesn't seem to be up and running at the moment.

I also managed to finish my Go Green Tote bag just before leaving. It was very helpful as a shopping bag at Shepherd's Harvest. I inherited a bunch of double bed sheets from my mother in law. Since all our beds are singles or queen, I decided to recycle them into "yarn". I cut 1.5 inch strips on the bias and then crocheted them into this extra sturdy tote. It will be perfect for beach days because it is porous enough to let sand filter out of it and yet large enough for numerous beach towels.

Well, it is time to get back to the normal routine of life - sort of. We have our home swim meet this weekend, so I'll be working hard at that from Friday through Sunday. Then next weekend is Peeps dance recital weekend. THEN, only then, will things slow down a bit.

Then again, there is a new garden bed just begging to be laid out and dug up. And all the wonderful fleece to spin. And of course TUSKAUFOFE which is in full swing.

Guess "slow down" is a relative term, eh?