My Roses and Yarns

I wanted to share some of my pretty roses. It was really windy when I took the pictures, so they're not great, but you can see what I've inherited from the previous owners. I've spent alot of time with them - trimming them up and getting them under control. (apparently, the man who lived here just planted and let it go - the bushes around the house are crazy.) I'm hoping to get out with them today, but the weather has been so crazy. I have a tree to plant, too. Yay! It's a weeping pussy willow - I saw one in a catalog years ago and haven't stopped thinking about it. I finally saw one available online a few months ago and pounced on it - well, not literally, but you know what I mean. It will go out front in a little planting area by the front steps. I'll take pictures when it's in.

I've been busy dyeing up some sample skeins to see how colors look together and such, but I'm a little nervous about dyeing full skeins for the shop. So far we haven't sold anything. Would everyone please go to the etsy shop and let me know why you think nothing has been bought? Please? I have so many more ideas but don't want to waste time and money if I'm crappy at it.

I finished my market bag. It's some crochet cotton that was on sale - I like thinner yarns for bags so they are smaller when empty. It's my usual design - chain about a foot, double crochet around, but I switched to triple crochets for a meshier look. I like it. I found my skein of Euroflax, so I'll be making a bag out of it, too.

I'm so excited about Summer of Socks. I have yarns caked, patterns selected, ant two more weeks to wait! Aahhh! I suppose the clapotis will get done while I'm waiting. Which reminds me, here's a picture of the KUAS sock club package - minus the cookies. The yarn is very pretty and fresh - greens, yellow, and blues. Since it reminds me of a particular scene in the book, The Great Gatsby, I'm making a pair of socks that look like waves. The stitch markers are like jewelry. Each one is different, and each color represents an emotion in the book. Right now, they are decorating the above-mentioned clapotis - I'm going to make the socks as part of SoS.

Gosh, I really need to learn how to take better pictures. Time to take out the camera's instruction book and study!

It's June

I'm so glad for warm weather and sunshine. I spent alot of time in the yard this weekend tending to my tomatoes and roses. I love my plants. I hate the bugs - they flock to me like crazy. I'd like to put a bat house up and see if any move in, but Eric is reluctant for some reason. I also hate that I'm a slow learner and wind up getting FRIED the first time I'm out, every time. My skin hurts so bad. It's been two days and I'm still the color of the neon red crayon. You would think that some sort of wisdom would come with age, but no, not for me. I'll be spending the week with my bottle of aloe gel in the house - even the heat of the sun makes the skin feel like it's on fire.

We haven't put the pool up yet. Eric thinks it's too early. I hooked up the slip and slide yesterday to keep the kids busy and they had a ball. I should hook up the sprinkler and water the plants while the kids play. I used to love playing in the sprinkler when I was little. Maybe I still would.

On the yarny front, I've been working on a mesh bag for the past couple of days. I want to knit the Saturday Market Bag from the former magknits. I've chosen to use some purple crochet cotton - the thread type stuff. I managed to knit a few rows but it made my hands hurt too much. So, I'm crocheting my usual bag - round and round a chain so it's rectangular, double crochets for the first few rounds and triples for the main body. I want something small enough to fit in my purse - Jenny and I are going to a fiber festival next month, and I'm going to need a bag to haul the goods home.

I got my sock club package. The yarn is so pretty. I finished the book - The Great Gatsby - and am looking for a pattern now that goes with the idea in my mind. The colors of the yarn (no, I don't have a pic yet, I forgot) remind me of Gatsby looking across the water at the green light that marks where Daisy is - the yarn colorway is exactly what I imagine the water reflecting in the moonlight. I'd like to find something that looks like ripples in water. If I can't find one, I have about a hundred other sock patterns in my binders.

Time to start my day. Happy June!