At the Library

What a way to spend half the day. I'm not complaining. The Lawrencetown library has excellent air conditioning. That's almost as good as rain.

Earlier this afternoon the kids attended a computer workshop, learning to edit video and voice. Apparently it was very cool. Also the last of the three week series. After a couple hours we aimed for home for dinner, making a pit stop at Dan Haas for fresh veggies and half off perennials. Tomorrow might involve putting in a new flower bed. There is a garden club BBQ scheduled for tomorrow evening, although I haven't decided if I will attend. Lately, evenings find me hiding in the house from mosquitoes. Nasty blood suckers!

Tonight the kids are enjoying the 'tween lounge, which is highly popular. Activities vary: they sometimes watch a movie, do a craft, play Wii, meet other kids. It's great! And they're not at home complaining of boredom or fighting. Yay!

Other news... The Friday Nite Knit Club has moved to the Greenwood Mall food court, since we got booted out of the library. If all goes well, I'm considering keeping it was our new permanent location instead of returning to the library once September rolls around. More room, food and drink are encouraged, and no one tells us that we're laughing too loudly. Heh

I've discovered a new writer: Kerry Reichs (Kathy Reich's daughter). Wonderful writer. I read leaving Unknown last week. I laughed. I cried. I was sorry when the book was over! I wanted more. What a talented story teller. And completely different style if you are not a fan of her mother's writing.

What else... I am still on a yarn diet, unbroken. I am so proud of myself! Currently I'm working on a Briggs & Little sweater for sale, out of Anniversary Twist. I'm using a pattern from Patons Back to Basics II. It's flying. Back and left front done, and half done on the right front. I like. Excellent stash buster. Yes, for the moment the long janies I started are on the back burner and will be my travelling project, the one that I take to knit nite. Yes, Olympic sweater is still snoozing. Do. Not. Judge. Me.

Too Close for Comfort

Huh. I finished my cotton cardi yesterday. So what do I see today on the Fall Knitty? Iced Cardigan.

Now check out My design:

I knit both sleeves last year and set them aside for brighter, newer projects. On WWKiP Day I cast on the body. I considered the shawl collar. Thank goodness I didn't go there. Spooky weird coincidence.

WWKiP 2010

Middleton's Friday Nite Knit Club

from left to right: Cathy, Debra, me, Karen, Valerie

WORLD WIDE KNIT IN PUBLIC DAY 2010

WORLD WIDE KNIT IN PUBLIC DAY

SATURDAY, 19 JUNE 2010

Join me as I knit with hundreds of other knitters around the world on the same day!

Where: Cinnamon Creek, 65 Commercial St, Middleton, Nova Scotia

When: We'll be starting at 10am

Bring: Chair, water(lots and lots of water; it's supposed to be a hot one!), sunscreen, money to take advantage of tax-free yarn sale, and of course your knitting!

To find out more about the WWKiP Day visit wwkipday.com

Knitting Up a Storm

On Saturday, I journeyed to Gaspereau Valley Fibres to take in the Annual Back to Back and Sheep to Shawl competitions. I am proud to say that my yarn diet remains intact, although I do confess to fondling lots and lots of delicious and very beautiful wool, and even carrying some skeins around with me for a time. Watching the very talented women spinning (dirty) fleece, inspired me to purchase one of Debbie's (not Barnhill) lovely fleece, with Tina promising to teach me to spin in the near future.

There were sheep-shearing demonstrations:

There's Double-Time Deb Barnhill:

There's Amanda:And the rest of the team Sheep Thrills. That's Debbie (whose fleece I purchased) at the forefront of the photo:

Sweater for Brianna. Started it yesterday evening. It's going super fast in the round. (Don't judge me: it's acrylic; from stash.)

Baby and small child hats.

Baby socks, probably for sale.

The blue socks on the bottom are for Colin, made at his request. The other two pairs will probably be sold.

Brianna's Jessie gets a new hat and booties. So cute! I must admit this is the most productive I've been in quite some time where knitting is concerned. All above items have been knit within the past 10 days or so.

4-H Fun Day: At the Zoo

UP Date

It's been demanded of me, in no uncertain terms. An up date. Two words. Not one. Thanks, AliP for that kick in the seat. (Note that she's not Miss Keep-My-Blog-Updated-On-A-Regular-Basis either. HUH)

So...

I've been knitting socks. Lots and lots of socks. Between annihilating dandelions in my lawn and in the garden at NSCC, that's kept me busy and tired, it's provided me with a great sense of accomplishment. Oh, and a ginormous blister on the palm of my right hand which has provided the dandelions with a short reprieve. There have also been 4-H meetings, a whirlwind visit from Mathew (my step-son and provider of most resent grandchild-8 months old in 8 days!) Did I mention the sock knitting? And even some crocheting to de-stress. Nothing like single crochet to blow off steam: and only a single stitch to worry about if things go wrong.

I am proud to say that I have not violated my yarn diet as of this writing. (huge grin) Although when AliP informed me that Tangled Skein is selling off stock and closing its doors, I just about cried. The injustice! She may have mentioned something about my yarn acquisition issues... I tried to ignore her but hundreds of skeins and balls and hanks of yarn don't lie. Shame.

Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal have been visiting several times a day, making my little heart ever-so glad, but for now I've given up stalking them with the camera. Last Friday at the Middleton Farmers Market I purchased some ever bearing strawberry plants and promptly took them home to create a new bed for them. I look forward to months of yummy. Tomorrow is Friday Nite Knit Night at the Middleton Library so you can find me there after 6:30pm. I've started thinking what to do for the World Wide Knit in Public Day (second weekend in June). Considering the success of my little knitting club, I feel obliged to organize something memorable.

Busy Bee

That would be me. I have a hard time believing that I've actually gone a couple days without turning on the computer! Appointments, meetings, harassing the school, exercise.... Bleh...
I miss the good ol' days where I could sleep half the day and spend the second half either reading or knitting. Darn good weather. I haven't even had time to spy on the birds as much.

Happy news: my backyard has acquired three more apple trees. That makes me very happy! I'm still plotting the death of a certain willow tree that causes me more work and grief than I'm willing to deal with. Unfortunately its huge size is problematic in the removal plot. Now if I had unlimited funds....No problem.

There has been some minor knitting going on. The Olympic sweater languishes on, as socks have taken over my knitting. One pair each for me, hubby and first born already finished. Another pair for hubby and son with half foot on each remaining.

Spring clean-up has come and gone and with it our old hide-a-bed from the family room. Good riddance. Not to the dump, though, believe it or not! An older couple was cruising by within a half hour of our wrestling it to the curb and zap! Another half hour and it was gone! So now the gigantic living room couch is in the family room and the living room looks kind of naked, but I'm good with that. It's nice to sit on something that won't cripple you after watching a movie.

Big news: I am working on creating a community garden in my town. Lots of work, lots of interest from the public in terms of it being a great idea, hardly anyone willing to put some muscle where their mouth is and get their hands dirty. Which is one of the reasons I've been so busy.

That's it for now. Must go put my ankle up...sprained it last night playing soccer in the back yard with youngest offspring, and after a long day, it's swelling like a poisoned puppy.

Big Mouth

I should have left well enough alone and not commented on the weather. Remember that Blah post? Where I said "it hasn't snowed"? When will I learn that those are fighting words with Mother Nature? And she always gets her shots in? And that I should never, never complain, not even in a back handed sort of way? To wit:

A bit hard to see in that picture? How about this next one?

It looked like the poor waxwing was barely holding on and certainly didn't stay long. Didn't even make it to the feeder; maybe just stopped long enough to catch his(?) breath.

So yes, we had some nasty wet flurries this morning... Not enough to whiten the lawn but enough to make life miserable for the wild life and chill you right to your bones if you ventured outdoors for any length of time.

But look who showed up again!

You lookin' at ME?

Gotcha!

Actually there were two different males, but the pictures of the one on the lawn didn't turn out well.