This little cap is all finished and has been mailed off to a friend in Illinois. I was pleasantly surprised with the yarn-created design in a wool and cotton blend called Sweetness. You can also check this post for another recent finish.
Our garden is in full bloom! I just love this time of year, especially after the gray days of winter and a very rainy spring.
The golden chain tree is done now, but the Korean dogwood is just filled with blooms. When its flowers fade, they are replaced with a fruit that looks like a strawberry, and the birds and squirrels devour them.
Speaking of birds, this Steller's Jay has been a frequent and noisy visitor. He's too big to eat at our bird feeder but loves peanuts! Sometimes we are visited by two of them.
The rhododendrons are blooming also. They seem to blossom at different times and add lots of color to our yard. This red one is especially pretty right now.
Columbines are among my favorite flowers along with roses.
Hope you've enjoyed this little garden tour. Some interesting plants are blooming inside, too, but I'll save that for another time. Meanwhile, drop by Patchwork Times to see what others are knitting. You will be inspired!
Hi Everyone! Hope you had as great holiday weekend as we did. On Friday we drove up to Anacortes to see some longtime friends. After lunch we drove up a scenic road to the Cap Sante Park. By then the rain had stopped, and we had a great view of the city and its port.
Nancy (left) and I taught together years ago and have stayed in touch over the years through thick and thin. Her sister Susan lives on San Juan Island and recently lost her husband to Alzheimer's Disease.
We aso visited Ana-Cross Stitch, a fun needlecraft shop where this guy was sitting outside. (Don't worry, it isn't Dick!)
Of course, I bought some yarn and also finished a project.
Hope to finish this baby hat this week. The yarn is a cotton and wool mix.
The stitch on the cowl is called bamboo stitch. It's easy and looks nice on both sides!
No weekend at home is complete without seeing Max and Stella! Max and I love to read together.
Miss Stella is quite adept with her feet! She's nine months old now and will soon be crawling. She's already been into Max's toys, so the next few weeks should be very interesting.
While we were gone to MN, the garden kept growing, only to be outpaced by the weeds. Even this pretty columbine has gone crazy and is everywhere. It's not a weed by any means but does need to be reined in a bit. And then there's the buttercup! Yikes! It has to be one of the most tenacious weeds ever, that and bindweed. Yep, the garden is a-calling....loudly these days. See ya!
Between wonderful weather that caused the garden to scream for attention and a trip to the Midwest, I've been missing from Blogland. Traveling did give me some time with the knitting needles, however. Because we were seeing our niece in person, I was highly motivated to finish the Raggedy Ann booties for her baby's expected August arrival.
We also got to see Baby's big sister Maddie for the first time since she was a newborn herself. (The other cousins were so busy that we had a tough time catching their photos except for this tiny bit of Libby who was on the move, chasing Sawyer their new puppy.)
We met the Chicago grandkids at the Great Wolf Lodge at the Wisconsin Dells. They all had a blast in the water, but we did catch them long enough for a little photo op and a bit of reading. Thanks, Susan, for suggesting Outfoxed! It's a fun story. (We must have read it at least 10 times!)
At the moment there are four pairs of socks on my needles which are all at about the same point, just after the heel. Car and air travel make for good knitting time.
This one is Jaywalker and is great fun with self-striping yarn.
I love the way Simple Skyp is coming along, too.
Here's Spring Forward which is a fun pattern in STR yarn.
This one is a challenging pattern called Patina and the one I spent most of my time working on. It's a Knitty pattern marked "Tangy" which is right on! All of these patterns can be found on Ravelry in case one of them speaks to you. As for me, I have my work cut out for me, don't I? But the garden is calling once more. Stay tuned for an update; it went crazy while we were gone. Oops, I forgot to link to Patchwork Times!
Last week's booties have been sent off, and the socks are done and have been worn!
The pattern is 9 to 5 and the yarn is Lorna's Laces. It has the most interesting heel.
Dee has been making socks from Knitty's Spring Forward pattern, so instead of working on my Skyp sock I just had to try Spring Forward in one of my favorite yarns, STR. (Socks that Rock) And she's right, it is a pretty pattern!
This week before the weather called me outside to the garden, I did a little bit of stitching on the long neglected Veranda Views. Just one more block and the label are left after this one.
Dick has been hard at work power-washing the back patio. You wouldn't believe the amount of moss out there! (You can see more in the grass.) Now the whole patio is done and looks like new. We are ready for summer!
Gotta run. Today's a qulting day. Have a good weekend!
BTW, don't forget to check Patchwork Times to see what other folks are doing.
