Old and New

Cotton Candy...new multi-colorway.

 Blue Raspberry...and old favorite.

 Arizona Highway...one of my most popular colorways.

Mineral...think crystals, new multi-colorway.  Purples and peachy-pinks.

 Vampire Toes...oldie but a goodie.  

Rocky Coast...always popular and never lasts too long in the shop.

Ten for Tuesday

Ten on Tuesday

10 things I like to do outside:

1.  I love to sit outside and watch the neighborhood.  I listen and watch...nothing much happens, but the birds sound nice and neighbors who walk by wave hello.

2.  I love to walk outside.  I usually don't plug-in while walking.  I like to hear the sounds of the world while out in it.  I like the sunshine (although I always wear a hat these days).

3.  Gracie and I enjoy our daily walk around lunch time.  When the weather warms up (if it ever does), we may change it to morning.  Either way, it's fun to watch her.  She's a dog so lots of sniffing and marking, of course.  She'll notice a squirrel every now and again, not as much as she used to though...she's getting older.  She's so much better at greeting other dogs in this neighborhood than our old one.  We still stay away from the big dogs though...she's not too fond of them.

4.  I love riding my bike.  As soon as the weather warms, I'm going to make riding a routine.  There are plenty of neighborhoods to explore and I think, a short cut to the Baltimore-Annapolis Rail to Trail, too.  A nice way to enjoy the sunshine and get a work out too.

5.  I have working in the garden to look forward to this year.  Mike built three garden boxes this past weekend and I've ordered some stuff from Burpee.  We'll get some starter veggie plants from the local nursery (in a few weeks) and the garden should be on it's way.  Another frost still coming, so we'll be planting closer to Mother's Day, I think.  The "dirt" is coming this weekend so I'll be outside filling the boxes.  We also have work out front we're doing too.  Pics will be posted, don't worry.

6.  I love walking down the street to our neighborhood beach, sitting on the bench and watching the water.  I can't wait to do that this summer, wine spritzer in hand, husband by my side.

7.  One the coldest days of winter, Mike and I love to go to historic Annapolis, get a hot drink from Starbucks and walk the old neighborhoods.  I have plenty of woolies to keep us warm so we really don't get too cold (plus we're walking not strolling).  We have to streets to ourselves because of the cold so it's kinda nice.

8.  I love to enjoy a glass of wine sitting in the yard with Mike...enjoying the last of the sun before it goes down.

9.  Although I rarely do it, sitting and knitting outside is something I enjoy, too.  Not sure why it doesn't happen more often.  I should remedy this.

10.  I love to hike too.  A nice trail in the woods or mountains is my kinda hike.

Finished

I hope everyone had a good St. Patrick's Day! No green beer around here...but I did make Shepard's Pie for dinner.  Is that Irish?  Irish enough.  I finally got Justine to model some of my finished shawls (I still have three more to be blocked).  Here they are:

This is Incendiary by Picnicknits.  I knit it with my very own yarn...Embers colorway.  If you've bought some of my variegated yarn...this pattern is a perfect choice for it!  It knits up quick, the charts are clear and easy to follow.  I really enjoyed this pattern.  Blocks to a nice size, too.  If you want THIS colorway I will have it in the shop very soon.  I dyed two skeins and when I get back from my girls beach weekend, they're going in the shop!

This is Edison by Lynn Di Cristina.  It's all garter.  Mine is knit with Bamboo Pop which is 50% cotton, 50% bamboo...so nice drape!  I had to wait a couple months for the black to get ordered (Thank you All About Yarn in Columbia!).  Waiting for yarn is not something I do well.  Good thing I have plenty more yarn to help me cope.

This is Architexture by Jennifer Weissman.  I saw the kit on sale at Craftsy on Facebook and bought it, totally on impulse.  It was only $25....including shipping!!  Then I recruited two friends to join me in a KAL.  (Remember non-knitters, that's a Knit A-Long.)  I did the largest size and man, is it long!  Over 90 inches long! Will make a good scarf for next winter.  Or this weekend since we might get some snow.  Might. 

Anyway, Justine was nice to model for me...the wind was blowing and she was cold.  I kept saying...here's a shawl...and here's a shawl...

She's standing under the Tulip Tree.  I promised you pictures...

The whole tree is covered in pink tulips!  A bunch more have yet to even open....I hope the cold coming doesn't kill them off.  

Have a great weekend everyone!

Trees and Ten on Tuesday

Hi there blog readers!!  Update on the trees:  4 down! Mike hauled most of the branches away (the rest will be cut smaller and put out with the green trash), trunks in the wood pile and now just the stumps to deal with.  Car repairs next for Mike (Joey's car) and then back to the yard.  We have so many plans for the front and back yards...time to make a list.  I like lists.

Our week is mostly rainy but that's fine, helps get Spring going full bloom.  Oh, speaking of which, a tree in our front yard (not a christmas tree this time) is starting to bloom!  It has beautiful pink flowers that look like tulips all over it!!  I think it might be a Tulip Tree.  It's not in full bloom yet.  Wednesday this week is supposed to be sunny so I'm planning on getting photos of it so you can all see.  You know, moving in in the month of November, we didn't know what was gonna happen, plant growth wise, ya know.  Some bulbs have popped up around the house, too.  Kinda fun to see what will happen next.

Ok!  Ten on Tuesday!  I haven't done this in a couple weeks because the topic isn't always all that interesting to me (or I have a hard time finding 10).  This week it is:  My 10 Favorite Comfort Foods.  No problem.

1.  Pizza.

2.  Meatloaf with mashed potatoes and gravy

3.  Grilled tuna (not tuna on the grill, grilled cheese with tuna)

4.  Chocolate pie with whipped cream

5.  Pot roast

6.  5-Guys little bacon cheeseburger

7.  Eggs, bacon and hash browns

8.  Mom's turkey soup

9.  My fab chicken soup

10.  Egg McMuffin

Needle Work (ha!)

Good Morning everyone!  Our weather is warming up this week but should be cooler next week. It might be too early to start getting the sunscreen out but I better break out the sun hat soon.  Maybe shop for a new one for this year.  I plan on doing a lot of gardening.  Mike has been working in the back yard lately, removing those darn christmas trees peppered throughout our yard. 

 If he could have squealed with joy in his steel toed boots and his protective (prescription) eye wear, chain saw in hand...he would have.

 Very methodical...he is a manufacturing engineer after all, he trimmed the lower branches to expose the trunk.

 This pile got MUCH bigger after two trees (one big, one smaller...you can see it behind the fallen tree in the last photo).

 TIMMMMMBER!!

In my head, I'm like, "Holy crap...don't hit the lawn chairs!!!!"  It didn't.

So this tree and the one behind it got chopped and shaved.  We saved the trunk pieces for fire wood and he's gonna haul the branches to the dump.  There are two more HUGE trees, just like these, that are next.  He's buying a bigger chainsaw (insert manly grunts) to tackle them.  He borrowed a smaller chainsaw from a friend and is he's afraid he'll ruin it on the monster trees.  We are planning on replacing the christmas trees with "real" trees that have leaves NOT needles and turn pretty colors in the Fall.  Yes, I do realize that means raking leaves.  Thank you very much.  We're keeping three of the christmas trees...two at the back of the south 40 and one in the front yard.

We plan on re-seeding the grass and he's gonna build garden boxes for us to have a veg garden.  The amount of plants this house needs is so large, not sure we can do it all this year but we're gonna try. We have so many fun ideas!

BUT most of this work is on hold now that Joey got an estimate on some work his car needs for inspection passage before he can register...and it's way too high for him to afford.  Like $3000+!  So he and Mike are gonna do the work (the work Mike said was too hard to do before the estimate).  Oh well, you do what you gotta do.  It's nice to see them working together.

Besides, according to garden authorities, it's really too early to start planting new stuff.  Closer to Mother's Day is the time to start. 

On the knitting front:

I'm going to frog the sweater I've been working on called Rolling Rock.  It's just too darn BIG!  Really, when I lay it flat and measure across (not blocked, of course and lace on the back, which will stretch a lot) it's 22".  That's 44" around...UNBLOCKED!  And the yarn is superwash so add a bit more of growth in blocking for that, too.  It's gonna go back to the stash and become another sweater.  For now, I'm gonna put sweater knitting on hold and knit a few smaller projects (ok, all other projects besides sweaters I guess).  

I got my last shipment from Yarnbox and guess what?!

IT CAME IN A BOX!!  Ok, a totally squished and broken box (thanks USPS) but a box nonetheless.  The side says: Caution!! Yarn Inside. May cause extreme happiness.  (And yes, yes it does.)

 The yarn is really pretty and perfect for the pattern that came with it...so I'm gonna cast them on!  The pattern is called Winter Tornado.

I also finished PicnicKnits newest sideways shawlette called Incendiary in my Embers colorway.  Oh man, is it beautiful!!  My model is free (time-wise, not money-wise...haha) on Thursday so I plan on getting pics and posting soon.

Our weather today and tomorrow should be in the upper 70s...what?!  

  Hope the rest of your week is sunny, too.