Sunday Soap

 If you signed up for this month's giveaway check your mailbox. The last of the boxes went out yesterday. If you asked for a tracking number check your Ravelry messages. There is also a box of lotion bars winging their way to Canada hopefully, as we speak. When I saw the weather was warming up I thought I better get it all mailed out before it was too late.

As for new soap, I am testing these fragrances from Nurture Soap. Out of the bottle, they smell very mild.

 In the soap, the fragrance brightens up a bit. This Juicy Apricot is not too bad. After last week's swirling disaster I decided to let gravity do the work for me so I just did an in the pot Clyde Slide. That just means pour all the colors in one bowl, give it a quick stir and then pour it in the mold.

Ditto for Cucumber Melon. It's smells pretty nice and looks pretty good. I know I've said it before but simple is always best. I just need to quit fiddling around with those fancy schmancy techniques and just make soap.

Rainy Days and Mondays

 I may be hating all this wet weather but the green things don't.

 It's like a jungle out there.

Even my sickly rhododendron are putting on a show this year.

 I've gone crazy at the garden center. I've got pots everywhere. I've got pots with herbs.

 I've got pots with impatiens. I've got pots of begonias.

 If it blooms in the shade, I've got it.  Now let's see how long I can keep it alive.

Roller Bird Bumbaret

We had a little more light yesterday so I could take some better photos of the new weaving project. This is the one that gave me fits during the warping because I insisted on being creative with all the tied ends.

Everything was going along nicely until, while sleying the reed, I discovered I had made a threading mistake right in the middle of the thing. I had to pull half of it out of the heddles and since I had already removed the lease sticks it was a nightmare trying to keep it all where it belonged. Lets just say a lot of clothespins were involved.

Thankfully the weaving itself is simple. One color, four treadle sequences. It should be smooth sailing from now on-with the emphasis on should.

Dark Days

Last week we broke the record for days in a row with rain. I think it was 16. Who knows or cares because it is still cold and gray. I'm still wearing long underwear and wool socks around the house all day because it's been in the 40's at night and we barely make it to 60 in the day. Sigh. I've got a headache that just won't quit from all this damp.

 Being stuck in the house is not all bad. I've got a lot done but I can't get any decent photos of it. That's the new weaving project. It's coming along. I think. It's too dark in here to tell.

 I've been spinning but it doesn't look like I am getting anywhere.

 May is finished so I've been working on June but it's been tough going in the dim light.

 I've got two sides of the yellow borders done on Daddio's tumbler quilt. It's going quicker than I thought it would. It's right under the lights over the dining room table so that helps.

Finally, my latest charity knitting project has been a bust dark or no dark. I had to frog it and start again. That fabric was so dense you could never get a foot in it so I moved up a few needle sizes.

Sadly, these are also dark days for our dear friend Valerie at Wandering Cat Studio. She's lost two of her precious furbabies in weeks of each other. I know the blogosphere has rallied around her and sent lots of love her way but I'd also like to offer her my personal condolences. I can't even...... 

May Cards

I haven't gotten too far with my May card kit from Simon Says Stamp. The June kit has already been revealed so I better get a move on it.

I did make some really cute shaker cards with the materials.

 I also added this mini Lawn Fawn set to my stamp stash. 123Stitch had a sale. Who knew my go-to online stitching shop had stamping materials and some of the best prices around.

This is another shaker card I made from the kit with the cute little crayons bouncing around inside.

I also had an assembly line going with the Pawsome kit to send along to this month's giveaway recipients.

I've been having a miserable time with my stamping skills in spite of having spent a small fortune on trendy ink. What I found was that the $2.99 Color Crush from AC Moore works better than any of the expensive ones.

I haven't quite got the hang of Distress Inks but that didn't keep me from adding more of them to my collection. Half price. Free shipping. Joannes. 'nuf said.

I also want to thank lovely Meredith at Mereknits for this surprise package that showed up yesterday. Look at those gift tags. Perfect, right?

Another Moving Day

 It seems like The Mister and I are always helping Daughter move.

 I spent about 5 hours camped out on the floor of her new digs with Pup, Old Doggie and her two kitties while her hubby and The Mister loaded up the truck at the apartment they have been living in for the past year.

 I brought plenty to do but it was still a long haul.

 I'm not kidding when I say I took a nap on the dog beds. There was no furniture yet. I was wishing I had brought a radio or something. I'm not used to that much quiet.

 Empty houses are nice. Think about what you could with all that room. I'm sure she's filled it up by now. She likes to decorate rooms. Me not so much.

 I did have to bubble wrap the woodwork while they were gone. It took all of ten minutes.

 Daughter and Hubby bought a townhouse in a new development.  Right out her front door is a playground. The Grands will like that when they visit.

 There's plenty of places to walk the dogs but the cats were not too impressed with this.

It was one of the few nice days we have had in forever so it wasn't too terrible to just lie on the floor and pass the time staring out the sliding glass doors at the blue sky. Watching clouds is fun.


Thanks to everyone who signed up for this month's giveaway. I'll be sending several boxes out this week so start watching your mailbox!

Den Store Strikkedyst

 That's Danish for The Great Knit Off. If you liked the Great British Baking Show you will love this Danish reality show on You Tube.  This episode has english subtitles. A few do but most don't which is too bad. Warning: This episode will leave you in tears as the knitters knit a headband that represents the toughest time in their lives. I had to get the kleenex out. They all had some mighty sad stories to tell.

 Like the baking shows, participants are given materials and challenges that creates tons of drama. They have a giant yarn store at their disposal which turns out to be more of a curse than a blessing. My favorite part is watching what the knitters are wearing. What they have knit for themselves when they are not under this pressure is amazing to see.

 I can't even imagine having judges waiting to look at what you are knitting.

 They have to knit some pretty crazy things.

Yowza. At least they didn't have to model them. It's all good fun and even with the language issue completely mesmerizing.