That Sinking Feeling

I've been trying to use up the bits in my stash and baby clothes can
be great for that. Not that I have a huge stash, mind you, just a little. My queue is another thing. I may have to leave that in my will. So I have some
skeins of Brown Sheep Cotton Fine that I really liked using before but none of them is quite a full skein. What little sweater can I knit for Reese? Bow-tied Bolero by Debbie Bliss would be just perfect. My math skills not so perfect, but I bet I can just make it. I finish the back, both fronts, and the edging and on to the little sleeves, will I have enough? I keep knitting despite that sinking
feeling that I'm just not going to quite make it. One sleeve done. Eight
rows short on the second one. Check the stash, I have a little little bit
of the same color left, still have that sinking feeling. No still not
enough. Rip out both sleeves, do more math, make both sleeves a little
shorter. How long are her arms anyway?



Whew, just enought with this much left over.



My question is, when I really know deep down in my heart it's not enough, what makes me keep knitting in denial of that fact?

This and That

It was a beautiful holiday weekend! Three busy days. Lots of gardening, finally and some knitting. Two parades and a barbeque. Too bad it has to end. I belong to the greencraft group on Ravelry and we've been having a market bag KAL, a very relaxed one, I must say. Exactly my kind. It's here if you want to check it out. I made two of them, this one is Saturday Market Bag out of Peaches and Creme and I've used it already. We have a little market within walking distance that has all kinds of things, fruit, veggies, fish, cheese, flowers, ethnic foods, things I don't even know how to cook or eat for that matter but it's always fun to shop there and I got to use my new bag. One less plastic bag. We bought tomatoes, strawberries, lettuce, an onion and some macaroni salad and it all fit in.



I finished this sweater for Reese. Ribbed jacket by Debbie Bliss in Cottonease, leftovers from other projects but I like it. It's a little big now but she'll grow.



I also made these booties and a buddy bunny for a new baby. The booties are Christine's booties but I've been making them since my last baby, a very long time ago. I've always loved them. I make a twisted tie instead of a crocheted or braided one, probably because it's more fun to do. Mr. Truck holds the ends while I stand across the room and twist away. Sometimes he lets go but he's getting better with all the practice.



We bought some annuals for the front walk and some vegetables for the garden and planted them. I spent a lot of time taming the rampant raspberries, they were marching into the vegetable garden. We admired the strawberries knowing the squirrels will eat them all before we do and I picked rhubarb and made a strawberry rhubarb pie. So good!



Then I spent a very long time trying to get a picture of this rhododendron, it has been beautiful the last few days. But the picture doesn't do it justice. How do you capture the red?



On Memorial Day, our town has a parade which goes right past our house. It's a small town, about one square mile, so the parade is really short. Then we rushed over to the next town to see Olivia and Evan march in their parade. Olivia with the girl scouts and Evan with the baseball teams. They were so cute. Later we went to Reese's house for a barbeque. Like I said, a beautiful holiday weekend. Hope yours was, too.

Look What's Up

It's May but it feels like April, chilly and damp but the flowers love it. So does the grass, Mr. Truck is busy cutting it all the time. I love the flowers this time of year, some of my favorites bloom in May. Right now the roses are almost ready but there's lots of other flowers here.

Azalea, I have no idea what variety, it came with the house and was HUGE. I had to prune it back to a normal size.



The corner of my shade garden with the rhododendron, wood hyacinth and my volunteer columbines.




Iris.




Clematis.




These iris are originally from my mother's garden and I've had them at four houses now.



More iris.



And a close up of the rhododendren.

J is For

three men whom I love.

Son-in Law. Reese's daddy, Cherry Pie's DH. He came into our family and fits in, not an easy thing to do. He loves my daughter and now we have Reese. He's a good man.
Jarrett.



Son, not son of my body, but son of my heart. I was determined to love him and he made it so easy. He gave us DDIL and Olivia and Evan to love. He has become a good man. We weren't so sure about that during the teenage years. Jay.





Mr. Truck. There aren't enough words to say how I feel about him. He can't dance or sing, he isn't a flashy dresser, but he makes the coffee every morning, he vacuums, and he puts everything away. He calls me to make sure I get to work and he supports all my crazy ideas. He finds everything and he fixes everything. We've had good times and the worst of times and he's been my rock through them all. He gave me his children to love and he loves mine like they're his own. He's only done one romantic thing ever and he actually tried to take it back but he can't. I have the proof because he bought me a sun dial with his words on it: "Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be." He's the best man of all. You know him as Mr. Truck, but I call him Jerry.

A Request

I know I've said it before but I am always amazed that people actually read my blog. And even more when they comment, I do love the comments. Now I've reached a new height of amazement, someone requested a blog subject. So Angel, here's my Lantern Moon needle holder. My little sister gave it to my for Christmas. She doesn't knit but is so enthusiastic about me knitting and she was so worried I wouldn't like this or had one. I would probably never spend that much on something that wasn't yarn. But I love it and it is beautiful and it has kept all my needles in place. Here it is folded up and empty.



Here it is open and empty. There's a zipper compartment on the left for little stuff.



Here are almost all my needles, I know there are some in use and a few others somewhere.



And here it is all full and folded up.

I is for Ice Cream Club

When the grandchildren were very small, we started going for ice cream. Somehow, I don't remember who started saying it, we became "The Ice Cream Club." The members vary but always include Olivia and Evan and we almost always go to Blizzard Island. This time it was just me, Mr. Truck, and the kids. Olivia said we were rescuing them.

I got my usual chocolate shake and Mr. Truck quickly made his decision: chocolate chip mint in a sugar cone.



Olivia had to read all the flavors before she made her decision.



Evan headed straight to the birthday cake flavor.



In a cone.



Olivia finally decided, cookie dough in a cup with chocolate sprinkles.



And since this blog is mostly about knitting, here's the knitted ice cream cone I made for Reese. Pretty soon she'll be a member of the Ice Cream Club too. When she learns how to eat.

The Serious Flaw

I just made these slippers from Knit 2 Together and I need to felt them.




Discover the Serious Flaw. If you remember my washing machine saga, I have a brand new front loading washing machine that washes my woolies. And it does a beautiful job. But it doesn't agitate much. That means no felting. At least not after three tries. What to do, what to do? Can't ask the DDIL, she has the same washing machine. My neighbors will think I'm crazy. Ah, take a trip to Cherry Pie's house, use the baby as an excuse, show up with a wet pillow protector with wet slippers in it and a pair of dripping old jeans. Use her washing machine. Play with the baby. All better now.



Wait three days for them to dry.

Reese Likes Her New Shoes, Not Sure About the Shrug

She really was interested in her shoes. Kept staring at them. This could be a bad sign for her mommy & daddy.



The shrug fits very nicely, can't gauge Reese's reactions, she was too busy looking at her shoes.



Reese is definitely knit-worthy.

Look What's Up

It's not a nice weekend and I so wanted to go out and play in my garden. Things are happening so fast there this time of year. Instead of playing outside, I'll show you what it looks like.




I wish I could put smells on the internet. This smells so sweet. Viburnum carlesii, I don't know any common name for it and it's hard to find but so worth it. This one is right outside our back door and the fragrance is so nice going in or out.



Bleeding hearts, I showed my children and now the grandchildren how to turn the flowers upside down to make the lady in the bathtub.




Candytuft, but I like the Latin, Iberis sempervirens, better. Always green and it is green all year. The white is so white and there is a grape hyacinth peeking out, must be a volunteer.



And this is our sad bird story. The robins built a nest on our light and we were really worried about a fire. Mr. Truck braved the scary ladder to make sure it was OK and we decided to leave it but the next night there was a storm and the nest blew down. At least the robins have time to make another.