Dyeing, Continental Knitting, and New Furniture
Yesterday, I went to Stitch-n-Snitch’s house to learn continental knitting. She was very patient with me and all of the really weird things I was doing as I was trying to figure out how to hold my lefthand needle. We had more than a few good laughs at my feeble attempts. Anyway, today I think I turned the corner. I watched a continental knitting video my mom had e-mailed to me and found it very helpful. I’m still pretty slow, but the awkwardness is leaving and eventually I will switch to mostly continental instead of English style knitting.
I also tried Kool Aid dyeing this week for the first time.
I think that looks pretty good for my first time. I think this could be very addictive.
Here’s a picture of my new couch. Now you can stop asking, Mom! 
Lastly, just for laughs, you know it’s a bad day when DD#1 gets mad at you and makes a “tent” on the couch to hide in.
That sign says, “Keep out! Or else!” Thank goodness it ended with her laughing at herself and asking me to take a picture!
Happy Birthday, Dad!
I sent my dad one sock for his birthday. There’s a story there, of course. I gave myself three weeks to finish both, but this sock gave me more trouble than any sock I’ve knitted before! I triumphed over the “evil curse of the sock” and managed to have one ready to mail for his birthday and the other one will be ready to mail in a few days.
Anyway, it is a VERY LARGE sock!
My friend and I called it “the sock that never ends”. Fitting name, don’t you think?
New Album Purchase
I just bought Jonny Lang’s most recent album, Turn Around. I haven’t even finished listening and I love it! So far my favorite is “Last Goodbye”. He sings in falsetto, which sounds amazingly good. The instrumental is also very understated, which is a departure from Jonny’s usual style, but it is so beautifully done! I highly recommend this album to all fans of Jonny Lang and those who want to try someone new.
He Liked It!
Okay, so this is a silly thing that I had to share. I talked to my brother last night and he liked the scarf! He said, “I didn’t know you had skills like that.” It put a smile on my face.
When Life Gives You Strawberries and Limes…
Make a Seafoam Shawl! I casted on for this late last week. It’s from One Skein Wonders. The yarn is Panda Cotton in Strawberries and Limes. I tried making socks with it, but it was a little stretchy for socks.
I went to the Great Basin Fiber Arts Fair over the weekend and found a sweet deal on yarn. Three dollars a skein for Lamb’s Pride Wool/Mohair blend.
And yes, that is my new couch in the background. It was a very eventful weekend.
Happy Birthday, Ben!
Now that it’s my brother’s birthday, I can finally post this! My brother is an Indianapolis Colts fan, so of course, I knitted a scarf with horseshoes on it. I think I’ll name it “Ben’s Lucky Horseshoe Scarf”. Since I could find no pattern to follow for this, I had to make something up. My first scarf and my first time creating my own pattern. I’m pretty happy with myself!
On a funny sidenote, I actually experienced just a little separation anxiety packing it up and shipping it to my brother! Now I would never use this scarf. I am not a sports fan of any kind, which makes it extra funny! Be good to that scarf, Ben, a lot of work and love was put into it!
Stopping to Smell the Flowers
This morning as I was out weeding the yard, I noticed that the color of my Blue Mist Spirea had really intensified.
Until recently the color had been really pale, and I was a little disappointed. Not anymore!
It will look really nice once the sunflowers I planted with it start blooming. Here’s a shot of one I discovered this morning.
Ooohh! My favorite flowers and some unexpected color from a new plant! That’s a great way to start the day!
Could I Have Your Smallest Zucchini Please?
Yesterday, I needed some zucchini so I traded some of my garden veggies with a neighbor who has been positively overwhelmed with her zucchini plants. She said, “Sure, which one would you like?”, and brought out three VERY LARGE zucchini. I picked the smallest of the three.
I only needed half of it for my recipe, it was so big.!
Book Club
My book club book this month is The Traveler’s Gift by Andy Andrews. I was worried the moment I looked at the cover and saw “Seven decisions that determine personal success” across the top. The first thing I thought was, “Oh no, not a self-help book! “. However, it is written like fiction. Well, at least most of it is… It is about a man who is really down on his luck and basically gets chosen to visit various prominent historical figures learn something from each one. That part I like. It’s at the end when they give the lesson to him in writing and it is included verbatim at the end of the chapter! After all, the lesson is pretty apparent in the dialogue as the main character is visiting with these various historical figures. It’s a huge departure from the voice of the story. It’s written in third person and then switches to first person when the written lesson is read. Kind of weird. Interesting that Good Morning America endorsed it, too….. Anway, I would say if you read it, skip the written part at the end of each chapter. It’s the interaction with the historical figures that makes it an enjoyable read. This is the fun thing about book clubs. You get to try things you haven’t before.
Wonderful Weekend
We had a great weekend. DH and I went to the Utah Shakespearean Festival to see Twelfth Night. It was very funny and a quality production as I have come to expect at the festival. We stopped to take in some breathtaking sights at Cedar Breaks National Monument.
We took a detour on the way home to see some petroglyphs at Parowan Gap. I am always amazed to look at these pictures carved into the rock and think that they are thousands of years old!
Can you find the figure that looks like Mickey Mouse in this next picture?
And I finished sock #2 of my first pair of socks that really fit my feet! I call them my “Sugary Sherbet” socks.
