another project finished!!

the Spirogyra Mitts, by Lynne Vogel and in Knitty Spring.  they were so much fun to knit (even with US#3 needles!) and i've got the next pair started in alpaca yarn that i dyed a few weeks ago, and in lighter springy colors.  now if the new needles i ordered from Knitpicks would get here i'd really be happy!!  i do love knitting with them, but my #3s are elsewhere occupied and i had to use regular old bamboo, not that i'm spoiled!  well, yes i am... and why not?

less heat today (only 89) and only 1 saw and hammer at work, so a way better day at dome central.  

a deer made off with the first ripe cherry tomatoes in the garden.  i didn't know they would pass up my roses and eat tomatoes.  i'd forgotten to close the gate to the veggie garden last night, so one of 'em must have just sashayed in.  i'd blame it on some other critter except for the telltale

hoof imprints around the tomato bush.  gate is closed now!

strange

a strange week in my queendom, it was!  besides heat in the 100s several days (as my mom would have said "hotter than the hinges at high noon in hell"), there's been no peaceful tranquility aura here.  Dave-the-potter-from-down-the-hill got hired by Jim to help on the numerous finish it up projects around here.  my advice -- never move into a house before it is absolutely totally completely finished!!  anyway, it's quite unsettling to have power cords and saws and a compressor and ladders and sawdust (get the picture??) and ungodly noises filling my queendom!  and then, to have sweltering heat outside makes going anywhere a poor option.  i do believe that a whine is helpful at times, so i did and now i feel better.  it helped that saturday came along and Dave went to seattle for a few days, so there is only one saw and hammer-wielding man here for a few days... and he "needs" to take a break occasionally to watch an olympic event.

 Rachael asked me to make the ring pillow for their wedding in Sept., so I did a kind of crazy quilting/embellishing type of thing.  i don't remember ever seeing a ring pillow up close, so was kind of in the dark about what to do... and this is what i came up with.  i like it a lot and hope she will, too!! some of the buttons i used came off of a baby dress of mine that my mom saved for me, one of those sweet dainty fine cotton dresses from back in the olden days... probably worn one time, then saved.   and my gathering and stashing tendencies paid off with a lovely supply of laces and buttons and doodahs to choose from.  i also used a couple of pieces from a handmade (by someone else) dress of mine from several (many) years ago.  anyway, it was fun to do and i feel honored that Rach asked me to do it for her!!!                                           

a couple more party pics

Alex couldn't get enough watermelon!!

or enough dessert!
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new project

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just started last night... Spirogyro Mitts by Lynne Vogel.  the pattern is on Knitty

the yarn i'm using is merino/bamboo that i dyed a couple of months ago, using US #3 dpns.  i really don't know when i got to the place where i'd use anything smaller than US #6, 7, or 8.  for a very long time, if i couldn't do it with those sizes, i wouldn't do it!  ah, how brave and daring i am!  and my option needles are occupied somewhere else, so had to resort to plain ole bamboo!  anyway, this is a fun pattern to do and i like using this yarn, so all is good in my queendom.

update on the house thing

Not a lot to report, really.  we are still sorting and tossing that 30 year accumulation of stuff around here... Jim has organized in the basement as far as designating certain areas for good will stuff, take it to the dump, stuff for me to go through, keep this... maybe yes, maybe no.  probably about half of my studio is packed up and i gave away a box full of dye powder, took a bunch of fiber and yarn to NW Wools, forced twisted sisters to take some odds and ends, sent some home with Kate... and it's getting done.  oh, yeah... i filled, um... several plastic crates and boxes that went to storage just to insure i can get thru that possible fiber famine that might be coming.  you

know, the famine that spinners and knitters prepare for with all that stash enhancement we all do. 

we've had 2 real estate agents come over to look at the house and another is coming tomorrow, so i guess we could list it in the next month.  could we possibly be ready in one month???