The Pi shawl had a misadventure this week. I was transferring the stitches over to a longer cable after the last increase on Monday morning when I thought to look at the pattern. I had increased at 34 stitches from the last increase and I was actually supposed to have increased at round 48. I was three rows in so tinking back all those hundreds of stitches was not much fun but it got done. Happily this is the last increase I have to remember. EZ's directions say to knit 40 rounds after that or to stop whenever you get tired. I wasn't having a good time right then but I just had to laugh.
The April Fool's addition of TNT has the Garden of joy at the beginning of another row. This is only the top half of the pattern. There's still a lot of row left to stitch in each one of them.
Snort Stack in sitting pretty on its mound of flowers. I'll be starting piggy #2 soon.
I'm starting to join the sections now on Patchwork of the Crosses. I've packed the paper piecing to take on my adventure today so I should have a lot to work with when I get back.
The center section of D 11 is finished. It did not go down without a fight. I think a good steaming will help it lay flat. There's still a lot of applique work to do before I can declare this war over. And I thought this would be an easy one.......ha.
Ouf....it's been hot here. Everything has burst into bloom at once. Even the vinca that I cut back so savagely a few weeks ago managed a few blossoms.
This is an invasive species that I'm supposed to kill but we love it. Here, where nothing grows, it is a welcome sight every spring and makes a pretty picture on otherwise bare spots.
My new mini rhododendron made it through the winter and has burst into color up against the house.
I have several clumps of these mystery buds. Every year they get this far and then never fully bloom. Could this be their year? I'll have to wait and see.
My poor camellias have burnt edges from the cold. The dark red one shows the least amount of damage.
My pale pink one looks pretty bad this year as does my darker pink one.
My one big daffodil clump seems very happy. I keep kicking myself for not planting more every fall but I forget. I need to write a big note on the calendar.
But the most exciting thing is that my poor little baby hydrangeas, that I thought had died over the winter, are finally showing signs of life. I almost tossed them.
There are tiny little buds happening in the joints. These were a couple of those cheap plants you get at Walmart in a box for $1.97 and when you open the box there is a tiny stick with some roots on it. I potted these up and they seemed happy enough all last summer but I thought winter might have done them in since they were very slow to react to the warm weather. I'll have to keep an eye on them for sure. Those babies look pretty fragile.
And....for Valerie, here are my concrete critters which I am sad to say have seen better days. The rabbit used to have ears but I made the mistake of picking him up by them.
I also have a kitty along with a cement bird bath base adorning my side yard. If you ask me where these came from I couldn't tell you. They might have been my mom's or my grandmother's. All I know is that they have always looked this bad. Well, maybe not this bad but their slow disintegration is what I find the most charming about them. Sort of like what's happening to me these days. Sigh....
The unseasonable heat really sapped my energy yesterday so the only thing I accomplished was to finish two sides of the outside border on the Big Crazy. Today I should have it all finished and ready for binding. That will have to wait because I have a baby/kitty sitting adventure that starts Tuesday and lasts for a whole week. The next few days will be spent getting projects ready to be mobile since I'll be alone with the kitties for most of those days after the family leaves on a road trip Thursday. Uninterrupted me time for five whole days. Sounds like heaven.
The person who has more yarn than anyone ever should have just got a box of yarn in the mail.
I was so psyched by my new punch needle that I thought I might give this free pattern a try yesterday since we had a day off from the bathroom mess. It's from the Oxford needle company. They make the really good needles. I've printed out the pattern and would have given it a start except for being so darn tired from all the messy work this week and..........
....a night of worry about this little guy. Daughter gave me permission to post this photo of him in the ER Thursday night. He was having some scary tummy troubles and the pediatrician said "ER, now" sending Daughter into a tizzy and giving me a sleepless night waiting by the phone for updates. He's fine but just look at that cute little hospital gown. With this midnight ER run, Daughter has now officially joined the Harried Parent's Club. She's yet to do the ambulance ride but with two boys it's bound to happen sooner or later.
How it ended. Before all the stuff hit the fan around here I managed to finish plying the BFL in the Redwood colorway that was on the Ladybug.
I can't stand to see the Ladybug without a project on her so I went stash diving and came up with this beauty.
Here are the details. I seemed to have misplaced this tag so it's a good thing I took a photo of it. I'll forget all of it by the time it's ready for the handspun stash.
Here's a glamour shot of the braid. I'd love to know how they get them so perfect. I've tried and failed many, many times.
This is as far as I've gotten with it this week. It's ready to go but I'm not. Too tired.
Yesterday was another day of unbelievable messes in the bathroom. Chiseling up all that cement board that was under the tile was an awful job. We got it down to the original linoleum and I had to stop for a moment and think of the first owners who were probably very excited about this harvest gold bathroom in their brand spanking new house. It must be a wonderful feeling to have all that newness around you and know that the only thing you had to do with it was to pick out the colors.
We even got a look at the original linoleum. This place was a 1980's house of horrors when we moved in thirty years ago. Burnt orange shag carpet, heavy gold drapes and a turquoise kitchen.
It was my day to do the dirty work. The Mister does the up stuff and I do the down. Breaking up tile isn't terrible but it is tiring. What was even more tiring was listening to The Mister fret all day. We usually do all this stuff on our own but this time we are under a deadline seeing that the plumbing guys are coming next Thursday. He's been in a tizzy all week about getting stuff done and I was tired of hearing it. He gave up drinking when he had his hip and knee done but it was time for some help so I bought him some of his old favorite. A shot (or two) a day keeps the divorce lawyers away.
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