April 007

April brings the roses in the first and best bloom of the year. Later blooms, once the summer heat settles in, frequently will dry out while still in the bud. The cooler weather of spring brings out the best blooms. This year seems to be especially favorable for the roses; everyone is remarking on the explosion of roses this year.

The first bobbin of Romance is spun; hopefully I will find some time this week to work on the second. Spinning is so meditative!

Exactly

So you know, I was catching up on Mason Dixon Knitting, and read how Kay recognized her scarf as being one modeled in the thank you card from the Red Scarf Project; see her April 19 post. Pretty cool. And I figured that, hey, maybe I'll be getting one of those card thingies too, you know? So I was't too surprised when mine showed up today. (In the interests of total honesty, I thought at first that it was junk mail and almost threw it out.) I thought that it was pretty cool, to see the picture of Kay's scarf. And then I looked at the scarf that Eileen McCaffrey (I presume that is her) is wearing on the opposite page. Looked awful familiar. In fact, it looked just like this here red scarf (scroll down to second picture and click on it to enlarge it).

Now, bear in mind that my camera always lightens up the red and won't give a true color. The scarf in the card is the true color I used. And that's exactly the pattern I used. Now, I know that they get thousands of scarves, and they have got to get plenty of scarves in that particular red color using a plain old basketweave pattern. Right? So this old girl here would hardly presume to think that the scarf in the card (and on the website) is the EXACT AND VERY SAME ONE that she knit. But that's not THE POINT. When I was knitting my scarf, I felt really bad that I didn't have time to do a really fancy or unique scarf like so many of you seemed to be doing. I almost felt (okay, I did feel) like I was doing a really SUBSTANDARD job in the SCARF PATTERN department. Now I see a scarf identical to mine being featured in the thank you card. Along with KAY'S SUPER UNIQUE SCARF!

And I don't even care if you all leave comments saying that they've been using this same picture for the last ten years. I feel pretty darn good tonight.

And I'm still spinning Romance. I am nearly done with the first bobbin. I'm going to spin up two bobbins' worth and then ply the two together for sock yarn. I am obsessed with this roving. I HEART this roving. And it's darker than it appears in the picture. Too bad I've got such a demanding work schedule this week and next. I can't wait to see this plied up.

Strawberries, Chili Powder, and Trudy's Romance

This blog entry is brought to you by the color RED.

The local grocery has been selling strawberries at a dollar a pound. When this happens, I get overcome by the urge to load up the cart with berries. I love berries. Strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries. I will even pay exorbitant amounts to have them in my cereal, with my cottage cheese, in my muffins. Many years ago, while living in Germany, I nearly cried when I saw cartons of Michigan blueberries prominently displayed in the German grocery. I bake some heavenly berry muffins and quick breads, but strawberries are for pies. Except that I can't make pie crust to save my life. Now, my mother is the champion pie crust (and pie) maker of all time, and she can't understand why I haven't inherited the pie crust gene. It just doesn't work. I have a bitter and totally unsuccessful relationship with flour and shortening. I can't even get a pre-made frozen crust to work. The ones I used this time were a very well known name brand, and they still fell apart when baked. However, my strawberry filling is to die for.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Buddy has been digging up the flower beds I planted in the back yard. Seems he wanted to help Mom out, or else the soft, well manured soil was simply irresistable. Today Joe was talking to a friend of ours who has had dogs, and she suggested sprinkling the soil with chili powder. So I bought a big jar and sprinkled a tiny bit on my hand, just to see how Buddy would react. He licked every bit off my hand and sat wagging his tail as he eyed the jar. He's a good dog, but obviously a little deficient in the intellectual department. I sprinkled it in the flower beds, anyways. The patio smelled like an explosion in a chili fireworks factory. Will it stop him from digging in the beds? Apparently he tried to dig a bit in the afternoon and gave up pretty quickly. Time will tell, I suppose.




Seems like everyone in spindom has a name for their wheel. Mine has become Trudy, the Ashford Traditional. Trudy was very happy last night, and so was I. We are enjoying the start of a wonderful romance with Laura's "Romance" roving. This is what I spun last night. More spinning will occur this evening. The roving is very easy to spin, and the colors? See for yourself.

Pupsicles

Last night, Barbara and Buddy shared a popsicle. Or a pupsicle, if you will. Actually, Buddy just wanted the stick.

And today the postman brought me an eagerly awaited package from Sugar Bunny Boulevard. Laura's first dyed roving! Yes indeed, I am the SOMEONE who unhesitatingly snatched it up when I got my sneak preview of it. So I cheated. Did anyone say that scoring roving was fair??

Now I get to start spinning again. I just hope I can do justice to this beautiful roving.

No, I Really Haven't Been Lost

But it has felt like it at times. Joe and I were both pretty worn out after all the church services last weekend. Then there has been the excitement -- and attendant hassles -- of getting a contract on Nana's house. Emails, phone calls, paperwork to be signed and faxed, etc, etc. We are planning on a closing date at the end of this week or the beginning of next. Then the taxes finally got done and mailed. The stomach flu and other assorted ailments have been going through the family. It turned cold again. Buddy has been trying to dig up the flowers I planted. At work, the new building was supposedly ready to be signed for, only there were still holes in the ceiling, the lights were wired wrong, the new paint was already peeling, on and on ad nauseum. So the move in date has been pushed off again. Then I took pictures of my Beanies for Preemies before I mailed them, and then later deleted them off the camera after the hats were mailed. So you will have to go here to see them. Knitting? Next to none.

So how was your week?

But the roses did bloom.

Saturday Garden

I actually have a Saturday off! A four day weekend, in fact. Badly needed, of course; funny to find that I wasn't the only one at work tired. Others were having trouble remembering the punch door combinations as well. Across the board fatigue is not a healthy work environment. But it's the WEEKEND!

The weather is gorgeous here today! I hurried off to Home Depot this morning and got flowers for the yard -- none to soon, as they were already pretty picked over. See the front porch border before...





...and after.





Zinnias for a pot that used to hold a cactus.

And the roses are getting ready to bloom. In this warm sunshine, one can almost see the petals getting ready to unfurl. There will be roses tomorrow for Easter.

Walk With Me Wednesday

Work has been exhausting lately. Another reason why not much knitting or spinning has been done. But at least on most mornings I am able to get out for a quick walk with Buddy to enjoy the sunshine and the blooming flowers before heading into the disaster that has been work, lately. Today I was so tired I couln't remember the punch code to open the office door. I've only been using that door for nearly ten years. So I stood there for about five minutes until it came to me.

Now that's tired.

Beanies for Preemies

Since I had finished up the hats I wanted to knit for Ann for 40 Days For Others, and it's still Lent (and technically, 40 Days is still in effect), I offered to knit some preemie hats for Julie, who is collecting them between now and April 15. She's offering sock yarn as a prize, too. I've been spending every spare moment on these, but as the picture shows, there have not been too many spare moments. (Drat the fact that I have to work in order to eat.) However, what I can do, I will do, and I will be mailing off whatever I can finish next week. I went and got some Bernat baby yarn at Walmart, and I am enjoying working on these; I just wish I could find more time. Once these are done, it will be time to give hat knitting a break and go back to work on already-started socks and blankies. I wish I had blogged about this earlier, in case anyone else wanted to join in.

Maybe I can get some more knitting in yet tonight.

Palm Sunday