Back in the saddle...

The madness is now settling down. The kids are moved in and I'm back at work. Shelby moved into her dorm on Tues, Aug 19th. A day earlier than everyone else because otherwise I would have had to take Wed, Aug 20th off in order to move her in. So, the boss got permission to move her in early to free me up to start my job.

That was a lost day. We moved most of her stuff in and then it was the obligatory trips to BJ's for bulk stuff and then Ikea for extra kitchen stuff. Because Shelby loves to cook, she offered to outfit the kitchen. (She also had stuff from last year, so we had a good start already.) Still, a couple hundred bucks later, we had her stuff in the suite.

Next day, I was at work to move in the next crop of transfer students into my complex. Work the other job that night. Back at the Village on Thurs and Fri with overtime being worked on campus at the end of the day. Worked Sat and Sun for the rest of the move-in. My knees and hips do NOT (is there a way to underline that word 5 times?) like me standing in a parking lot for 10 hours at a clip. Work on Mon, other job afterwards. Work on Tues and Wed, with overtime after hours to help out with doing decals for the commuter students.

Thursday was a half day because it was Dee's 17th birthday. Happy Birthday to Dee! Happy Birthday to Dee!! No, I won't sing the rest because my voice is kinda shot.

Yesterday was my first "normal" day since the madness began. And, yet, it was a day of a few pitfalls and prats. It began early. I was checking email and went into the kitchen to refill my coffee for that frantic first few cups before I have to trot off to work. I'd just refilled and the cat jumped up on the counter to get my attention. Yes, I'd forgotten to refill the water dish with fresh, cool water. Bad Mommy! So I patted Phoenix on the head and assured him that I'd take care of him. So I refill the water dish and go to grab him... Let me break real quick because Phoenix is a hoot. If you run the tap, he'll just plant himself and drink from the faucet. I have no clue where he picked up this habit, but you've got to watch him. Leave a faucet running and he'll just block access while he sips away... /sigh/..... Okay, back to yesterday morning. I go to grab him and catch the top of my freshly filled coffee cup. Coffee everywhere!

Course, he just sits there and wonders why his feet are now wet. So I have to toss him down and mop up everything in sight. Lovely way to start the day.

Then it's off to work. Things are going well. I'm currently working on finishing the plain socks in Winter Wonderland while also working on the Pembrokeshire Pathways socks. To keep interest high (and keep boredom from setting in), I usually work on one colorway for a while, then switch to the other for a bit. Back and forth. This way I'm never working on any given project long enough to get bored with it. I also try to stagger my projects so I'm working on the first sock of one set while finishing the second sock of another. This way, every time I finish a "set", I have a new colorway or pattern to look forward to. This method keeps my interest for those long stretches of time that I have every day for knitting.

Anyway, so I'd started with the pattern. It takes a bit longer because it's a bit more involved, so I tend to spend a little more time with that. In the meantime, I also listen to podcasts and books in audio. I'd finally gotten over to Heather Ordover's CraftLit podcast and I have a LOT of catching up on the books. So I'm listening away to Tristan & Isolde (yes, I started in the middle and let's not even bring up the trouble I've had with my iPod lately) and paying attention because this was my first time listening to the final chapters when I decide to switch over to the Winter Wonderland socks. I can pay more attention to the podcast because this is straight stockinette stitch and I can practically knit these socks in my sleep. So I look quickly and figure I've got to turn the heel, so I put my hands on autopilot and direct my attention to the podcast.

So I spend the next few hours listening to chapters of books and switching between the two socks. It's about 2:30 in the afternoon when I look down and the ball of Winter Wonderland is looking mighty small. I'm only halfway down the instep and foot and panic begins to set in. I'm going to run out of yarn before I can finish the toes on this sock. This has never happened with Gypsy Girl yarn. Ever. And I'm thinking I might have to write and complain to Cathi....

Then I turn the sock to work on the other side (I knit all my socks in Magic Loop) and notice that it's looking VERY long...

I really should have saved it for a picture. Or even taken a picture with my phone.

I'd turned TWO heels. Thinking back, I'd just reached the end of the foot the day before. It was time to begin the decreases for the toes and I'd set it aside. I really hate beginning a decrease and then having to stop. The day before, I knew I didn't have enough time to finish the toe decreases, so I'd set it aside and made a mental "note" to just finish the toes the next morning and the sock would be done.

So much for "notes", right? Instead of doing the quick 20 rows of decreases and a Kitchener, done with the project by 10AM, I'd turned a second heel and spent half a day knitting a new 40 unnecessary rows....

/wry g/

Like I said, I really should have taken a picture of this thing with two heels. Luckily, it was early enough before the end of my shift that I simply frogged the whole thing back, added my toe decreases and was done with the sock in short order.

Needless to say, when I got home last night, I tucked away anything with needles and spent time with my wheel.

The other thing I did last night besides spin was to go to the Durham Fair website and begin the process of committing myself to what I'm going to enter. I picked out three categories--Fiber, HandKnitting and Sewing. In the Fiber Category, I'm going to enter some 2-ply handspun and a pair of knitted socks from 2-ply handspun. That's all I have to enter for Fiber. Maybe next year I can try a 3-ply as well as a 2-ply, but I'm not brave enough yet for that. I'll also need a Lazy Kate because my wheel itself has 2 posts built in to hold bobbins for plying, but I'll need 3 posts to do a 3-ply. Anyway.... In the HandKnitting category, I'm going to enter my PW sweater in a colorwork pullover, a plain sock, a patterned sock and I'm going to enter Dee's fingerless mitts (the ones that are purple, pink and white) in the Miscellaneous category. I have to check with my MIL to see the state of her shawl that I made her last year. If it's in good shape and she hasn't felted it, I'd like to enter that one in the shawl category. But I haven't committed to that one yet as I have to check. Finally, I have a bunny that I made _years_ ago that I'm going to enter in the Sewing category of Handcrafted Toy. I did enter another bunny years ago and won a first place ribbon, but this one has been adorning my shelves without a ribbon to call its own. So I'm going to dust her off and enter her so she feels special like her buddy.

I won't win enough points to earn the Hall of Fame in any way. Someone who enters Sewing stuff always gets that because you can sew a LOT more stuff than you can either knit or crochet. I always wanted to win a Hall of Fame (they display all your stuff separately from everyone else), but knitters and crocheters don't have a chance... /sigh/ Six articles won't get you into the Hall of Fame area.

Let's see if there's anything else in the past couple weeks. I wanted to mow today. The grass is almost knee high because I haven't been home to mow, but it's misting/raining. Too much to be a mist, too light to be rain. So, would that be rist? Or would it be main? /g/ That's okay, though. I have lots of laundry and housecleaning to do. When you only come home to flop for 10 days, things tend to back up and stall. And I have a cake to bake for Dee's official "party" tomorrow. We're taking her to Red Lobster so she and I can pig out on snow crab and then we'll come back here for cake and coffee. That's when I can check with my MIL about her shawl. I might have to wash and block it for the Fair, but that's okay. My mom has tons of floor space. Can't do it in my house because the boys would take one look and exclaim "CATBED!!!!!" White cats on a burgundy shawl. Not a good mix.

Okay, time to hop in the shower and then get on the cleaning gloves and work my way around the house. Start with the bathroom and end up at the radiator in the living room. It's amazing the accumulation of dust that can gather in the crannies of a radiator, isn't it? I've never been vigilant, but with oil prices going through the roof, I have to be better about "clean" heat so the boiler doesn't have to work so hard.

Have a wonderful week!!!! I'll gather items for pics for next week. I should have the Pembrokeshire Pathways socks done by then and they truly have turned out gorgeous. So gorgeous that I actually want to knit more patterns in the future. What a concept. After four or five years, I now want to knit patterns. Heck, I'm even thinking of an Aran sweater. I must be way too tired if thoughts like this are cropping up... LOL!

Completed... Wow!

I'm now done with 4 projects. It's hard to believe how they all finished around the same time, but lots of pics to take. YD actually got up before I finished updating this post, so I grabbed the camera and shot away. Well, okay, she shot the pics, but I have pics to show!

It takes so little to make me happy, doesn't it? Almost downright pathetic... LOL!

So, what have I done? I've finished 3 pairs of socks that were begun way back when. I've got my last pair of Plymouth Happy Feet all set and ready to wear.

I also finished another lovely pair in Stone Barn Fibers' Spring Fling. Geez, this yarn is simply divine to work with. Seriously, though, if you're a sock knitter and you haven't tried Cathi's yarn, you should. You're depriving yourself if you don't. She uses the same "blanks" as Koigu, but you get more yardage and enough to finish a healthy-sized sock. As soon as I get back to work, I'm placing another order because I'm running low and she's got some new colorways that are itching to be added to my stash... /wry g/

Anyway, last pair is done in Cherry Tree Hill's limited edition of Cherry Blossom. Nice yarn, nice variation on color, but the yarn is thicker and loftier than their normal "blanks". In fact, the socks are a bit big for me. So I'm going to pass these over to a friend of mine. I'd promised her a pair of socks this summer and this will be the pair.

She'd bought a skein of Farmhouse Yarns Fannie's Fingering.... Hmm, I think the colorway is Secret Garden. It's greens and pinks. Either way, I'd told Linda that I would knit her a pair of socks from it, but the CTH actually cost me more... Yikes! That's okay. Linda is a great friend. I've begun teaching her to knit because she absolutely LOVES handknit socks, but progress is slow and she's not ready yet for socks. She's not really a crafts type person. Long story, but she's one of the few friends I have who I'd consider knitting for rather than teaching her to knit her own. I'm not sure she'll ever complete a project, so I don't mind tossing in a project every once in a while. Anyway, I'm going to give her the CTH socks and I know she'll love them.

Lastly, I finished the Stone Barn Fibers' Blueberries n Cream fiber. I really think this yarn is fine enough for socks. I have 600+ yds of it, so I kinda hate to limit the knitting to socks, but my goal was to spin my own yarn to knit socks and this one fits the bill. So I'm now knitting like crazy so I can make a pair of socks for the Durham Fair. I can enter the other yarns into the fiber category for handspun, but this yarn definitely needs to be knit into something.

So I have several projects now dedicated for the Durham Fair. I have to check the categories, but I want to submit my Philosopher's Wool sweater into the sweater category. I want to submit handspun into the fiber category (I'm currently working on Crown Mountain Farms' Buffalo Soldier). A pair of socks in my Blueberries n Cream into the handspun/handknit category. Then I want to knit up that Secret Garden into a plain vanilla pair of socks. And I should be ashamed of myself for not thinking sooner, but I ran out yesterday and got a couple skeins of Koigu in a multi-hued pink/lavendar for a pair that I want to knit in Brenda Dayne's pattern called Pembrokeshire Pathways. I'd begun it in a variegated, but the colors hid the pattern and the pattern is really pretty. These socks have to be knit in a fairly plain color so the pattern will really shine.
~
It's funny because I've looked at the pattern since it came out. It looks so durned hard and intricate. It's not. It's labeled for intermediate knitters, but it's really only a 4 row pattern. Yes, there's a 4-stitch cable. Big deal. And then there are some yarnovers and k2tog in the 3-st band. Seriously, not a big deal. But oh, so pretty.

So I have one sock to finish in Stone Barn Fibers' Winter Wonderland (yup, one lone sock for a pic) and then I can cast on for the Pembrokeshire Pathways. Lastly, I have to see if the girls know where their fingerless mitts are. I did knit those in the last year after the fair had finished, so they should be eligible for this year's fair. Actually this yarn would have been spectacular for the Pembrokeshire Pathways pattern, but I've already finished the first sock and I hate to even think of frogging the whole thing just to add a pattern. Maybe sometime in the future I can order more yarn and do a second pair in the pattern. I really do think this is one of the few with splashes of color that won't detract from a pattern, especially a pattern that looks as complicated as Brenda's.

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Course, who knows? New patterns might come to my attention. Wouldn't it be funny to just order lots and lots of this yarn and make all different patterns from the same yarn? Oh boy, my brain is starting to fry... /wry g/

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Oh, I have to tell the most wonderful news! Cathi at www.stonebarnfibers.com created a whole new color just for my Mom. Mom was saying that she'd like to see more yellow. After all, it was spring and you can't help but think of daffodils and jonquils and crocus. So Cathi created Buttercup for my Mom. A beautiful hued yellow. I have to get over and order some.... but then, I already admitted that, didn't I? There are some lovely patterns that have come out recently that I'd like to try, but you really need either a plain color or tonal yarns so the patterns really shine. I've done a few socks combining very simple patterns with variegated yarns, but you either lose the pattern in the colors or the colors in the pattern. Usually, it's the first.

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Besides, I have that textured argyle that I still have to finish. I think it would look gorgeous in Cathi's new hued color called Miss Mary. Let the texture speak for itself. What's more is that the texture would really shine in Cathi's yarn because the yarn is very shiny, which relates to highlighting the individual stitches very well in the completed project. (If only I could afford to make an entire sweater out of Cathi's yarn... Wouldn't that be heavenly?) I think her yarn would show better in a textured pattern than, say, Crown Mountain Farms Bearfoot yarn, which has mohair and is a lot softer in texture.

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Can you tell I'm fumbling through what I'm trying to say? LOL! But some yarns are better for stitch definition than others. Not that the yarn is hard. It's not. It's just so smooth that it gives a better definition of the individual stitches than other yarns. Lorna's Laces is another example. Even though it's wool, it knits up similar to cotton. Very defined stitches. That would work well in a textured pattern like Cathi's at Stone Barn Fibers. Yes, even Blue Moon Fibers' Socks That Rock (STR) is good for stitch definition. Then others, like Sheepaints, Fannie's Farmhouse and Bearfoot give a softer appearance and wouldn't work well for stitch definition. Heck, my own handspun is too soft in appearance.

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Oh well, I'm beginning to ramble and, as usual, I haven't taken my shower to start my day. We have pictures to pick out for YD's yearbook in about two hours, so I s'pose I should get moving. Today is a day to catch up on bills and get more spinning in. I have a couple pounds of roving to spin up so I can do my Christmas projects and, though it might only be August, Christmas will be here before we know it. (Yes, this is me nudging not only you, but me! LOL!)

Mosh Pits and Dragsters

No pics yet because DD hasn't cleared the memory card out of the camera. But I have pics to take of several ongoing projects. Maybe I can get to that tomorrow.

In the meantime, let's start with Mosh Pits. Last weekend, I went to my first all-day concert in probably 25 years. My girls wanted to go to the Warped Tour and they were at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island last Saturday. I did make them wait until we knew that the weather was going to work with us. (I went to one concert in the rain and never again! /g/) Well, the weather looked good, so we ordered the tickets and took off for a 2-hour drive each way.

Traffic worked well and we arrived shortly before 11AM. We parked, crawled into the crowd and made our way in. Think of this. Six stages set up in various areas of a huge parking lot. Probably 40+ bands, all playing at staggered times, but each stage having some band playing at all times. Lots of tents with promotion stuff. Tents with other stuff (like sun lotion for $8 a tube). You don't know how much money I spent that day, but overall, it wasn't bad.

And I was honored that my girls invited me. Okay, okay, let's be honest. I was invited by younger daughter because her boyfriend couldn't go unless I did the driving. But I have to say that older daughter invited me (and offered to pay for my ticket) because she thought I'd enjoy it. She was right. It was just as hot and sticky, but fun, as the concerts I'd attended when I was a teen. And my girls are old enough that I didn't have to worry about riding herd on them all day. There were parents there with 10- and 12-year-olds. Course, I wouldn't consider it when my girls were that age, but I'm considered a very restrictive parent. Go figure. I'm a strict PITA and my girls invite me... /shrugging/ Maybe parents should be reading my blog and taking notes... LOL!

Well, the day went well until the very end. Poor Shelby. Her favorite band, Anberlin, was hitting the stage at 6:40PM (yes, it was a long day), so they'd worked their way into the crowd during the band prior to Anberlin. They did manage to get right upfront, against the barrier that kept the crowd back from the stage. ABout three songs into the set and disaster struck. Some guy was launched up for a session of crowd surfing (if you don't get some of these terms, drop me a note and I'll be happy to explain) and landed right on her. Smacked her face down into the barrier. There went the nose again.

I was standing at the other side of the stage. Yup, I knew they were up front and that little warming light was flashing in my head because I'd seen the mosh pits and the crowd surfing all day. Next thing I know, their friend Joe comes from behind the stage and tells me one of the girls is hurt. I run around and find Shelby covered in blood. All I can think is Not Again!!!!!
Yes, this is the same daughter that had the accident three months ago.

A day later and once the bruising really came out, I don't think she broke the nose again. I think it simply got smushed against the barrier. She had bruises on her cheeks, a couple small cuts to the nose itself and a healthy fat lip that showed the clear line where the metal barrier hit.

She's fine now. Worse part for her is that the band did not have a good night. She'd waited all day since this was her favorite band and they played lousy in her opinion. Everyone else was okay with their performance, but she was greatly disappointed. And to end up bloodied in the midst of it certainly didn't help.

The other bad news is that the concert ended up very expensive. Earlier, she'd gotten caught up in a mosh pit at another band's concert and lost her brand-new prescription sunglasses. We did our best to find them, but they were nowhere to be found. And it cost her $200 to replace them... Yikes! Poor kid just can't catch a break this year.

Last night was the drag races. We go to Night of Fire at Lebanon Valley racetrack every year. They bring in jet cars and a good friend of ours races. Kind of an annual outing. It was a gorgeous day. I even got some excellent video of the jet cars that younger daughter uploaded to youtube. Great smoke and fire and this year I wore my ear protection.

But the best part and the reason I have to get younger daughter to free up space on her camera is because I finally took the time to teach myself to spindle. I grabbed some old fiber and tossed it into a ziploc with the drop spindle I'd bought at the Connecticut Sheep & Wool Festival back in April. I've been meaning to sit down and simply Do it!, but I always found some excuse why I couldn't. Well, I had time. I took the blanket up to the grandstand to "mark out our seats" and simply made myself sit until I got the hang of it.

After spinning with a wheel for almost two years, it wasn't hard. A few tricks, but I already had a basic understanding of draft and twist. It was simply putting it together and just doing it. I had about two hours or so during the time trials to play and I took full advantage. In fact, I was having so much fun that I'd pull it out later when there was a break in the action during the actual races. And I got some of the strangest looks possible. People trying to figure out what the heck I was doing, but no one had the guts to outright ask me. I could have explained, but I liked being this weird lady doing something beyond comprehension. It kept them watching as I'd set the spindle to spinning and then pinch out the fiber and let the twist run into it. Pinch some more, draft more, pinch and draft, pinch and draft. Then wind it up as the spindle lost steam and start again. It's not even, nor is it pretty, but it's hand spun on a drop spindle. So now I have to refine my language. I have my spinning and I have my spindling. I kind of like that idea. And I might just have to take some to work with me when I'm back at the university. I may not have room in my booth for a wheel, but if I can drop spindle in a crowded granstand at a racetrack, I can surely spindle in my booth... LOL!

I'll see if I can get back tomorrow with some pics. I did finish that first bobbin of Blueberries & Cream and I'm about halfway done with the second bobbin. Then that can be plied, washed and whacked. And I think I'm just going to reach into my big box of fiber to see what comes out next. I have no idea what it'll be, but it sure is fun to have a choice and I can't wait to see what I'll be spinning next....

Pics, plants and yarn

Let's start with the garden. Yup, that's me sitting on the boulder in the middle of my garden. This is the garden I dug out with a hawser axe last year. Each foot of sod painfully hacked with the axe and the sod tossed.

I'd just finished weeding the top half (the bottom is still painfully green in places). That big bush to my left is our forsythia. I have some shaping to do to keep it from encroaching on the rest of the garden. The little purplish growths are my purple smoke trees. They're very happy, but they're slow growing, so it'll take quite a few years for them to bush out. Surrounding them are the strawberries 'n' cream grasses. I'd just topped the grasses to encourage root growth because I'd divided them a few weeks back. Below the forsythia are six diamond grasses that will top out around 4' tall and spread about 3' in diameter. They won't bloom this year, but when they do, it's a very feathery bloom that catches the morning dew and sparkles in the early light. Hence the name - diamond grass. Just to my right are black-eyed susans with blue balloon flowers next to them. Behind them are supposed to be my Alaskan shasta daisies, but they're not looking too good this year. (Read last post and my usual problem with bare root plants... /sigh/) In front of them and barely visible are about 20 red yarrow (Achillea) plants. I grew those from seed and I'm watering every other day. They're tiny and feathery right now, but if they survive the winter, they should be brilliant next year. Lastly, behind me, those fluffy little things are my wonderful lavendar plants. 21 in all and they'll be great erosion control on the steepest part of the hill. They'll fill in to create a blanket of lavendar. I love watering them because their scent is just too sweet. You don't even need to crush the leaves. Just stick your nose in the plant and you can smell that gorgeous scent.

Anyway, there it is in all its sad glory. I still have to re-edge the border. The grass is trying to encroach as you can see all the way around. And it's gotten a bit late to mulch. All the weeds have definitely established themselves this year. I knew a late start was going to put me behind the eight-ball, but I've played catch up before. This year will be about damage control with my garden. Next year, though, early attack and I'll get it back on track.

Next topic is I have actual yarn!!!!!

This was my first yarn in months. It's a marled red w/ a maple variegated. The red is 100% merino. The maple is a blend of merino/tencel. The sun wasn't on the deck yet, so the picture isn't as bright as I'd like, but I'm thrilled. I have about 400 yds of handspun goodness of this one. I'm thinking my mother-in-law for Christmas. Like me, she has a thing about red. She wears lots of it, so it should work well with her wardrobe.

This yarn is maybe sportweight or DK. I haven't checked the wpi yet, but when I get to knitting it into a Moebius for my MIL, that will be one of the first things I check. I'll probably end up with a size 8 or 10 needle as I want the Moebius to drape. But the whole point of this is the first actual yarn is ready to go.

Now, for the next yarn.....

Isn't this one just lovely? Another marled yarn. The green is a merino/tencel blend. The yellow is also a variegated, though. It has small bands of green and red that ran through the roving so it adds a blush of color every now and again.

Add to that the fact that my spinning has gotten finer, I'm really pleased with this. Youngest daughter thinks I ought to use this to enter in the Durham Fair in the fall. I do take her opinion because she's a sometimes knitter, so she's worked with yarn before. She thinks it's good enough to stand against commercial. I think she's optimistic on that one... LOL!

But I'm very happy with the end product. I'd completed the bulk of the red a few weeks ago and just wanted a change, so I'd switched to the yellow. But once I got the yellow spun and plied, I wanted to get them both done. So I quickly spun up the small balance of the red, plied it and then got out my trusty niddy noddy. Skeined them up, washed with a squirt of shampoo, rinsed and then (here's the part I really enjoyed), whacked the heck out of them against the deck railing. Then I hung the skeins from the braces on my canopy to dry overnight. Luckily, the yarn balanced out beautifully and I was able to coil them up and take pics.

I'm now spinning up some gorgeous Blueberries N Cream roving from http://www.stonebarnfibers.com/ Again, I have 6 oz of this gorgeous stuff and I'm going to spin, ply and then make it into a Moebius for older daughter. Who knows? If I can get it fine enough, I might be able to turn it into a pair of mittens, but that might be ambitious yet for me.

But, either way, I'm going to save a bit of the fiber in case I want to enter this one into the Durham Fair in their fiber category. They have fiber categories as well as categories for articles made from handspun.

And, boy, have things changed since I last entered the Durham Fair. I remember winning a blue ribbon for a sweater years ago and the prize was the ribbon and $10. Now they're paying upwards of $35 for first prize. Yeah, I've been out of the loop... LOL! Regardless of whether I have anything to enter in the Fair, my goal is to take a vacation day from work on Friday and see if I can join their little "spin in" demonstration in the fiber barn. That would be a LOT of fun.

Okay, off for more spinning... er, if I can keep the fiber from sticking to me more than it sticks to itself with all this heat and humidity we've had lately. All I want to do is crawl in my AC'd bedroom and watch old DVDs. Unfortunately, too much work to do before I can afford myself that pleasure. (Course, if I could fit my wheel into my bedroom, I'd have more success justifying my time in the AC... LOL!)

Have a wonderful week and now that I've figured out how to take the pics, upload them to the computer and actually put them where I want them on the page, I can update more often. I definitely need to add a pic of my yarn drying on my deck and hanging on the frame of the canopy. What's worse is that I actually liked the way it looked. the DH? He looked at me and asked when he can expect to come home and find a sheep grazing behind the garage... /wink/

Misting nonsense

All week long, they've been threatening me with rain every day. Heavy downpours and thunder and lightning and even a possibility of hail. Uh huh. The best I get is maybe a light mist that barely dampens the ground. My plants are upset. I'm upset. If it's going to rain, could you please do it right?

IOW, I still have to water my poor little plants. The ones I'm worried about most are some Alaskan Shasta daisies that I'd ordered. I'd hoped for little 3" pots, but I got two bags with bare root plants.

I'm good with plants. I can make a lot of things grow that shouldn't grow. But I'm death on bare root plants. I've never been able to figure out if I water too much or not enough. I just know that they hate me. So I have 6 little tiny rounded areas in my big garden out front that are supposed to house some bare root Alaskan Shastas and, so far, they look pretty damn dismal. No top to speak of and I can't tell if the roots are alive because I'd have to dig them up and shock them again. Only time will tell.... /sigh/

I did collect my seedlings from Mom last Sunday. I'm hoping to get the yarrow (Achillea) into the ground today. A cute little bed of feathery stuff down near the front of the big bed out in front. The color is supposed to be brilliant red. We'll see. Right now, each plant is one feathery tiny shaft of potential. The others that are simply too cute is I started geraniums from seed. They're adorable and tiny. I know they're just waiting to take off once I get them in the ground. But they're so darned cute that I've decided to plant from seeds again next year. LOTS of them... /g/

Oh, speaking of geraniums, I did finally get to the cemetary. Thursday, I think. I couldn't stand the guilt anymore. Now, I know that Dad totally understands that I was late this year due to the surgery, but that's besides the point. There are several stones in the area that people come and tend and do take very good care to show that they love and remember and honor their loved ones. And I hadn't been to the cemetary yet. It's like I couldn't care less anymore and that wasn't true.

Normally, I never care what other people think. Trust me on this. My family will be happy to attest to that fact. But this is one place where I do care. I didn't know my great-grandparents all that well and... er, let's just say I wasn't their favorite great-grandchild and the feeling was reciprocated because their favoritism was so blatant that it was hard to ignore. But I loved my grandparents and adored my father. So it matters that I plant and maintain the small plot at the family stone. Anyway, I had my last post-surgical follow-up on Thursday morning (I've been cleared for all active duty... YEAH!) and I loaded the back of my Jeep with all the tools and plants I needed. It took me a while to dig out the weeds, but I dug it out and planted geraniums and I have some cousins of petunias -- I forget what they're called. I also brought a hose so I and others could water our little areas. I hope no one steals the hose like they did a couple years ago.

The last two beds to weed and plant are the two by my front door. Being at the top of a hill, they're usually the last to get done because, let's face it, no one can really see them. They're tucked behind my huge garden on the hill so you can't see them from the street and our front porch is too small to really sit on unless you're taking a quick break or waiting for someone to come over. Mark and I would really love to have a larger front porch, but we have a lot more work to do inside the house before we can even think of tackling that project.

Anyway, so two last areas and then I'm down to sheer maintenance on the yard. Oh, and the purchase and spreading of a couple yards of mulch, but that's a given. I'm hoping to get to that today as well as vacuuming the pool. The water is crystal clear and the chemical balance is right. I just need to vacuum the damn pine fluff off the bottom. Have I mentioned before that I truly hate my neighbor's pine trees? Yeah, probably.

The good news is that I've been a spinning demon. I finished that first bobbin of bright red and plied it with a variegated "maple" that I'd had sitting around. Yes, I bought the red to ply with a yellow variegated fiber named "daffodil", but I had a feeling the maple and red would look wonderful together. So I tried and it worked.

So, in the past week, I kept to my plan and did get spinning time every day and I spun up a whole bobbin of red and another bobbin of the maple. Now, I'm in the midst of plying those two together.

And, yes, practice is certainly helping. My singles are much finer and much more even. I think I might have gotten a bit too much twist in some areas of the maple, but I'm hoping that setting the twist (as well as the inevitable whacking) will smooth that out. I'm going to wait to set the twist until all the skeins are created and then do it all at once.

Next I'm going to work on the daffodil because I have a lovely green variegated that will look lovely with that. Then I can finally get to the gorgeous merinos that I'd ordered from Stone Barn Fibers. Blueberries & Cream, Wild Orchids and a third in Arcade Treasures. Those will be absolutely lovely to work with and make wonderful Christmas Moebius' for the women in my life. Light and fluffy and warm as freshly-made toast.

And it also gives me a chance to catch up on my podcasts. I'm SO woefully behind on those. It's easy when I'm working because I'm sitting in my booth with nowhere to go and nothing to do but knit. But when I'm working in the yard, I usually just toss music on the radio, so I'm far behind on my spinning and knitting podcasts. But my spinning is a good time to plug in the earset and listen while I zone to the thrum of my wheel.

One more quick update for those who might be interested. I received a phone call from my insurance company. A lawyer has requested a statement from them that I don't (yup, you read that right... _do not_) have an umbrella policy. Right after the accident, we were sent a letter to inform us that one of the passengers in the other car had retained council. I agree it was a good idea since the driver at fault (who is NOT my daughter) was painfully underinsured. Yes, I believe they're going to have to sue in order to collect enough money just to cover the medical expenses this poor girl has accrued.

But the bad part in this is everyone seems to forget that my daughter was also a victim. She had no fault in this accident other than being in the wrong place when the other driver decided to turn left in front of her. Yes, I carry more insurance. But that's not my fault. My daughter was just as much a victim as this girl who landed in rehab long enough that she attended her prom almost a month later in a wheelchair. I'm sorry the other family was underinsured, but why visit that on us?

God forbid they file against us, I can only hope that a jury recognizes the fact that my insurance rates shouldn't be increased because the other family didn't carry enough to cover costs.

Oh well. This is Connecticut, a no-fault state, which means they can try to collect from us. They have two years to file. We have 22 months to go before we're safe from persec... er, prosecution. Lovely thought, isn't it? My fingers are crossed.

In the meantime, a lovely day outside. I'm going to go pull some weeds and vacuum my pool. Then I'm going to take my wheel out on the deck and catch up on some podcasts. That's a plan I can enjoy. I hope you enjoy your week!

I am a spinner...

At least, that's what I'm trying to tell myself... er, again. My poor wheel. She's been pretty well ignored for the last couple months. Covered in dust and pining in the corner for some oil and usage.

Well, this past Friday, youngest daughter dragged out the frame for the canopy from the basement. We took out the shell, shook it out, hosed it down and laid it on the driveway to dry. Then we put the shell on the frame and I immediately went in and saved my poor little wheel from her abandoned corner. I dusted her off, every cranny with love and affection, and brought her outside to enjoy the fresh air with the rest of us.

Okay, so youngest daughter looked at me with a horrified glance. After all, the neighbors could sit and watch me spin. Was I really going to indulge my little hobby where everyone could see me? Yup, get over it, girl. I am a spinner.

And I have a TON... well, okay, let's be realistic. A half-TON of fiber that's waiting to be spun and plied. Yes, ladies, I hate to admit it, but my fiber was so lonely in it's box that it began cloning and reproducing when I wasn't looking. I know I had a couple of pounds sitting there, but I think it doubled in weight while I was off ignoring it.

So I've got my work cut out for me. Lots of fiber to spin and ply. Lots of yarn to make. And then what to do with it? Well, I always knit something for my Mom and my mother-in-law and my aunt-in-law for Christmas. What if I spend my summer making up the yarn and then knit it into various Moebius' for all of them? And I have enough fiber that I can also make yarn and then knit Moebius' for both my girls also. I have a lovely "Blueberries 'N' Cream" fiber that I know oldest daughter will like a lot. And I have another bunch of fiber in a colorway called "Orchid Petals" that younger daughter will simply love. Both fibers are from Stone Barn Fibers and hand-dyed by Cathi, a true master at mixing her colors.

I'm thinking that might be an excellent plan. Yes, I was also planning on working on wedding shawls for the daughters for use someday, but I'm sure I'll want something that's different and simple when I need a break from lacework. Not only hand-knit, but hand-spun, would be excellent for this Christmas, don't you think?

I'm still trying to get my singles fine and even enough to spin my own sock yarn and I'm getting close. Very close. But I'm not quite there yet. I'm down to about a sport weight in my plied yarn. That's pretty good, but not good enough yet to knit socks with. So I'll keep practicing this summer and make Moebius' out of the final products.

Lord knows, I have enough fiber to achieve that goal.

Let's see.... what else? The yard is taking shape. I have seven out of ten beds weeded and pretty well planted. (I think I've claimed more flower beds in my yard, but I did a quick recount and there's only ten of them.) I do promise some pics of the beds. Some are quite small. But one is HUGE. I already plan to take a pic of that one with me sitting on the boulder in the center. That will give some perspective to just how huge. This is the one that I spent last summer digging out by hand. Approximately 6 days a week, 6 hours a day and it took me just about 6 weeks to get that thing dug out and properly mulched. Believe it or not, we used about 2.5 yds of mulch to bury it once I'd dug it out. I had some of the plants last year, I added a few more this year and I have a LOT more to add, but I want to do it slowly so it doesn't appear haphazard.

The plants I've been sticking in the ground are small. I can't afford to buy well-established plants, so I start with younglings and hope they grow up to fill in. It'll probably take another year or so to finish planting the area and at least 3-4 years for it to mature. But once it's all done, it should be fairly maintenance free. A bit of weeding. A new topping of much. Sit and enjoy.

BTW, all three of my purple smoke trees survived the winter. That was my biggest fear. The trees were SO young when I planted them and one is stuck in very heavy soil. So I worried that the heavy soil and winter chill might kill it. But they've all survived and doing well. It'll be another 5 years before they really come into their glory, but they'll be beautiful once they really grow up. I trimmed the new growth at the bottom this week to enourage top growth. (The grasses surrounding them are topping out and a couple of the grasses were taller than the trees... /g/)

But a note on the grasses. I planted "Strawberries & Cream" grasses around the base of each tree. A ring of 5 grasses. Well, life can be strange at times. I lost 3 of the 5 at each tree. So I only had two grasses that survived. Needless to say, it looked quite strange. So I contacted the nursery I'd gotten the grasses from but they're not even carrying those grasses this year. Yes, I could divide them, but I didn't want to divide one into two and the other into three. But I lucked out. Last weekend, I found a local nusery that had them. I bought three new grasses. Then, after I'd trimmed the new growth at the base of the trees, I divided the established grasses into two and planted the new one. So each tree now has 5 grasses around the base.

I was really worried that I'd have to move the grasses and start over, but now I don't have to. These grasses should fill in to create a full ring around the base of the tree and give a lovely contrast to the dark purple of the leaves. Give them all a few more years to mature and I'll find out if my plan will really work... LOL!

Anyway, off to the shower and then Mom's house to collect my seedlings. Both girls are at work until mid-afternoon and Mark is still away at his "boys' weekend". He won't be home until later. I hope I have time to get the plants before the rain comes in. It's supposed to downpour today. I really don't mind. We've had showers every evening this week. Nice sunny days and rain at night. I won't complain. It means I don't have to go out and water... LOL!

Have a wonderful week and drop me a comment.

No More soup... Yes!!!

Thank goodness that heat wave is gone. I hope it stalls out over the Atlantic and stays there all summer. If I believe my trusty weatherbug, our heat index hit about 106 on Monday. Tuesday was weird because it felt cooler only because the cold front was coming. You could actually feel little breaths now and then during the day until all hell broke loose Tuesday night.

The rest of the week has been in the 80's. Yeah, yeah, I know some people feel a HUGE difference between 82 and 89. I say "Pffft!" Anything in the 80's is good for me... /g/

So what have I done? I actually finished a pair of socks. Oh, a couple months ago, I'd bought some of Gypsy Girl's newest colorway Spring Fling and started the pair looooooong before I was out of work. I only had about 36 rows to the end of the second sock. During my recovery period, I was supposed to finish those, finish the pair of Happy Feet also OTN and knit my friend Linda a pair in Fannie's Farmhouse. Hmm.... remember my last post where I said I did nothing but sit and zone out on the boob tube? (Yes, I've just dated myself because my girls haven't a clue what the boob tube is... /g/) Okay, I finally finished that pair of socks. Next will be to work on Happy Feet.

But I'm happy with myself because my fingers were itching to pick up the needles. That's a good thing, right? /g/ That was Wednesday night after our heat wave made a beeline for Europe.

I'd love to tell you about Tuesday except I don't remember much of it. I think it was one of those days where I woke up with great intentions and promptly forget each and every one once my feet actually hit the floor.

So Wednesday was better. I bought some plants. This will force me to start that dreaded weeding. But I bought anyway.

Thursday was a work day. Things are piling in the office faster than I can process them. The monthly bills were in the mail on Monday, so the phone calls began on Tuesday. "What do you mean you charge us if we don't show up?" It's in the contract, dear. The one you signed. I even made the print bold so you can't miss it. Oh, that's right. You'd actually have to read it before you signed... /sigh/ "Why are you charging me and not my insurance company?!?!?" Because you didn't give us any insurance to bill, dearest. I really do try my best, but I'm sadly not telepathic. I have no idea if you have insurance unless you give us your card so we can -- here's a concept -- make a copy of your card so we know who to bill and where to send it.

My favorites are the people who've been sent to collection because they refuse to fork over the money they owe. We send bills every month. No payment. We stamp the bill with a big red stamp that says "Past Due". No payment. We hand write on the bill "If you don't send us money, we'll be forced to send you to collection." Yes, we actually sit down and hand write this on the bill, showing that we really try to keep that personal touch with our patients. No stamps. No computer message. A real honest-to-goodness handwritten message. What's the usual result? No payment. We finally send them to our collection agency who sends yet another letter that states they have 10 days to send something or this will be put on their credit report as a bad debt. Ten days comes and goes. The agency sends notification to the credit bureaus.

That's when the phone calls begin. You've had months of hints, threats, action and warnings. Nada. Suddenly now we get irate phone calls of "How dare you!!!!"

/sigh/

I shouldn't tell this story, but I do have a good one. We had a patient who was a 20-year-old girl. She ran up a bill that was over $600. Finally, the doctor told her she needed some kind of payment or she couldn't see her anymore. The girl left. So we went through our routine of hint, threat, yadda, yadda. The doctor asked me to call. Now, I work this job part-time. Heck, not even part-time. I only work 10-12 hours per week. It's a solo practice, so it's not like billing is a huge thing. Couple hours a week, but she pays me well to keep the paperwork flowing. Anyway, at the time, I worked on Sundays because I was also working my full-time job. So it's Sunday morning and it was around 11AM when I pick up the phone to call this girl. Someone answers the phone and I tell them who I am. They don't cover the receiver, but I can hear LOTS of noise in the background. Frankly, between you and me, it sounded like she was in the middle of Sunday dinner with her family (and it was quite an extended family from the chatter). Then another voice comes on the line and asks who I am. I repeat my name and I'm calling from the office of so-and-so. Again, it's obvious to me that the phone is moved away from the person's ear as this person repeats to someone who I am. What do I hear in the background? A third voice saying, "I don't want to talk to her!" And they hang up... /bigger sigh/

So I call back and no one answers. I get the voicemail (this is obviously a cell phone with caller ID so they can ignore me), so I left a message stating that we needed to discuss some kind of payment plan or I'd have no choice but to send her into collection.

The very next week we get notification that our bill is being listed in the parents' bankruptcy. So very not kewl. So I wrote a letter to the attorney representing the parents as well as a copy to the bankruptcy court stating that this bill was not the responsibility of the parents as it belongs to their daughter who is of legal age to make her own messes and have to clean them up. Take note here, folks. Big trouble ensued. Trying to claim someone else's bills in your bankruptcy is attempting to perpetrate a fraud on the court. They don't have the ability to discharge debts accrued by someone else. And claiming it as yours is illegal because of the fraud issue. The parents got into big trouble and the girl still ended up in collection.

For what it's worth, don't be a deadbeat. I have great admiration for another patient who used to come to our office. She ran up a bill of well over $1,500. They started paying us $25 a month. As they paid down other bills, it went up to $30 a month, then $35 and they currently pay us $40 a month. Each and every month, their check arrives and their bill is now down to a bit less than $500. It's been a long, slow journey, but I can't send them to collection. They don't pay much, but they pay every single month. I'm sorry, but I see a lot of deadbeats in my job, but I admire this couple for recognizing the fact that they ran up this bill and they're doing their best to pay it off.

Oh, the stories I could tell, but I won't. That wasn't my intention. I was simply relaying that Thursday was a pain. Computer work is fun. I shuffle lots of paper, my biggest interaction is with my keyboard and I get to sit in an air-conditioned office for part of the day. But then there are the phone calls....

Anyway, moving onto Friday, I took care of some appts, paid a couple bills since Fri was payday. Then I did some weeding in the yard, though I wonder why my liatris is drooping on one side. I thought it was just dry, so I watered on Thurs. But it's almost kind of smooshed on one side. I'm wondering if Copper sat on it while it was developing. It's that kind of smoosh. I'm hoping the plant bounces back. When you first walk into the side yard, it looks okay and then you see it from the side. The whole back half is smooshed. Considering it's in the center of a triangular garden, this could be a problem. But we'll see...

Then about 2PM, I drove oldest daughter and her friend to the beach. We only spent about 2 hrs there, but it was nice. The water was cold, but not unbearable. I splashed sea water up on my legs and my arms. Time to start the summer tan. I'm already 5 weeks behind.

Today is a day of yardwork. I should be cleaning my filthy house, but I can't bear the thought of another day inside these walls. I've been pretty well housebound for the last 5 weeks... Argh!!!! I need sunshine and fresh air. I need dirt under my nails and allergens clogging my nose.

Yes, the pine trees are throwing off pollen like crazy. I started early this week with one Zyrtec a day. Ha! After 3 nights of waking at 3AM because I was so stuffed I couldn't breathe, I took an additional Zyrtec last night and was able to sleep through. Another week or two and I'll be past the tree pollen. Then I should be fine until fall.

And, if I get yardwork done early, maybe I can sit at my little Prelude and finally begin my summer spinning. I have a couple lbs of fiber to spin up and I haven't even begun to work on that. So that's the plan.

I hope your day is just as productive as I hope mine to be. And I promise to be better about updating. I think I have 3 relatives who read this and my Mom loves to tell me that she learns more about my life reading this blog than she does through our phone conversations. I haven't figured out why. It's just one of those mysteries that we'll have to live with...

LOL!