Tuesday, April 27, 2010

moving on

Every day I marvel that it is 80-some degrees and only April.
The veggies are growing nicely and my uncle clued me into the correct way to plant garlic. There was a pretty large pot growing a crop of weeds, and it didn't take much work to convert it to a garlic grower.
It was not difficult to decide what to knit after my little break. Just after learning to knit (10+ years ago), I bought yarn to make us all Christmas stockings. This one is for Bugg and I felted it in my front-load washer.
Lucy was sweet enough to pose with it before:felted stocking (2)
...and after felting

felted stocking
Bugg is going to love it!

My next project happens to be felting for Bugg, too. A cute bag pattern followed me home from Stitches West!

New flowers are blooming in the garden.
flowers (3)
The mum bushes are full of purple mums. The fact that they are blooming now still amazes me!

The calla lillies are just beginning to pop out - see the little pink buds?
flowers (5)
and the two potted bottlebrush trees are blooming!

flowers
Last Spring, the bottlebrush trees caught my attention. I loved the color and texture of the blooms, but could not find any by the time we had moved into our house. The nursery had two left this year!

The pool is hovering around 80 degrees and the kids have been swimming quite a lot. I like to wait for the 'around 90 degree' days before committing my body to that torture. The hot tub has been in full swing and it helps tremendously when my body rebels against my tennis schedule.

Bugg gets home from college on May 7th. We are in countdown mode and I'll bet new adventures are on our horizon which means more photos!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

wrapping it all up





It turns out that taking a little break from knitting did the trick.






My perspective regarding knitting was way off and reeling it in has given me a different view on my much loved hobby. Gone is the march that drove me to knit constantly even to the point that my arms/elbows hurt. Replacing the gruel, is a slower, even paced formation of stitches. Relaxing and enjoyable which is what a hobby surely must be!

I've cast-on for a Christmas stocking that was intended for Bugg eons ago.



The neglected needlepoint project has been finished. This is a bargello pattern that came with a stitch guide. I doubled it and had plenty of fiber to stitch it all. It will go to the framer this afternoon and a huge sense of completion has replaced the nagging guilt of having something so close to being done and just sitting there.

My thought is to begin another project (which has all of it's parts and is just waiting in the wings) and have another needlepoint project around to play with on occasion.





The flowers and garden is growing well. If you look close, you can see the watering system that we tacked to the bottom level of the fence. It rained buckets yesterday and they received plenty of moisture from that.


Planted: tomatoes, cukes (not shown), green/red/yellow peppers, okra, radishes, peas, and garlic (separate pot)




After asking around, I discovered that mums quite possibly will bloom twice in one year. This climate never ceases to amaze me! There are two potted mums that are healthy and are abundant with bloom. One which was potted in a separate area of the yard looks healthy, but has not produced blooms yet.
My blog reading has languished. There were over 550 posts this morning and I made it through 200. Some of the blogs I read are merely 'browser blogs' where I look at the photos and scan through for information. Most of the others are the ones I prefer to read in detail. It will take me a bit to get through those and my goal is to work through them during the next week. There are so many wonderful bloggers who have much useful or entertaining information to offer - I don't want to miss a thing!
FYS is finishing up his last month of school. Summer basketball has begun and he scored 10 pts in a game last weekend! Not bad for a kid who grew nearly 2 ft and hadn't played organized basketball in 6 years. The coach gushed about his work ethic during the banquet last night. I was so proud and a little tear snuck into the corner of my eye. Some of it was the realization that we only have one more year before he graduates. He is my baby and I just don't know where the time has gone. We have had a few conversations during the past week about how tall he is, his eye color, his physical characteristics. He says those things are nothing like mine. True, but I then remind him that all of the stuff inside - the way he thinks, reacts, completes things...those things are like me spot-on.
He just smiles.

Thursday, April 08, 2010

Eight days


Eight days until my non-knitting deadline. That makes it sound much more severe and 'issue-ish' than it truly is...

My elbow pain has improved greatly. They are sore on occasion, but not constantly as before.

A long abandoned needlepoint has filled the gap. Begun awhile back and sitting in a closet was not a good action for this piece. I loved it when it was started and I love it still. My goal (because we know I am driven by schedules) is to finish it within the eight days. It is pretty certain that it can be attained!

Gardening and landscaping has taken up a large amount of time. Just about everything is doing well and is automatically watered. Lowe's has this very inexpensive product called Mister Landscaper. If you have watering issues, you must check this line out. I ran a small line around the bottom of our fence then out to each plotted vegetable garden, up shepherd's hooks and into potted plants, across the yard onto the pool deck, and into a window box at the front of the house. Everything is on a timer now and it is super easy. No more forgetting to water and coming home to see a shriveled up plant!

It has been warm enough to get into the pool (ok, so I heated it a little). The hot tub has been very helpful after playing tennis. So, it seems things are progressing pretty well here. Not so fast! I have friends who are battling tough times with their health. I haven't been able to visit with them, but they are on my mind constantly and I hope to see them in the near future.

Don't forget, tax time is here. Our printed copy tells me they are due by MAY 15...hmmm, I need to look into that!