Dawn Brocco's Life & Design Blog

Did more scraping yesterday, but it was so humid, that 2 hours work left me soaked and pooped. Tomorrow, I'll be sanding and as it's to be cooler, I should be able to work longer. Heat is one thing, it's the humidity that really makes working difficult. Scraping is best done by those with enough upper-body muscle (men!).

I finished binding the extra 150 booklets yesterday, and the new boxes came in, so I boxed them up today, and will do the packing lists for them.

Each evening, I try to get some knitting done, but the achey breaky muscles won't allow much the last few days. I also need to get moving on that Alpaca Boucle booklet of designs, so I can have it done before the end of autumn. Brother John is coming up again tomorrow for a few more days heavy labor on the house - what a guy! We were going to do more house work today, but needed a day of rest, so I'm finishing up the 2nd stranded slipper sample for the Winter Gazette and coloring my hair. Of course, as soon I leave my spot on the couch, Pickles climbs into my seat! Well, we'll see about that!

Sundays are perfect for knitting, while watching the Poirot mysteries on the Biography channel. I should be able to get another colorway in this slipper design started, so there'll be one cool colorway and one warm colorway for the issue.

I'm doing these in Botanica, a really nice worsted spun yarn made exclusively by Halcyon Yarn. It comes in a lovely array of colors and is very sturdy, yet not coarse or rough feeling. To give you an idea of its strength, when I put a length in my hands and try and break it, I can't. I dent my hands and I feel it pull apart a bit, but not to the breaking point. This bodes well for good wear. I designed a sock pattern last year or so in this yarn - A Touch of Honey Clog Socks, on the Socks page on my site. I haven't worn them yet. I don't wear all the socks or sweaters I design. Some I give to family as gifts, others I keep as samples for shops to show.

I'm also planning on a sock yarn review for that issue. It's been awhile since I've done one and this time, I'm going to review the heavier wt. wool and nylon yarns, which is timely, for a winter issue.

The tomatoes have been ripening and are nice and sweet. So, I think I'll make an omelet as my dinner with provolone and fresh-picked garden tomatoes! Hubby had to shore up the plants though. The vines have hardly any weight, but the fruit - they've been toppling those cages almost every day. So, he attached each to its neighbor with tie wraps, then put hooks into the wood surround of the raised bed and tied each cage to a hook, to stabilize them - should do the trick.

Well, just about time to rinse out the color, so I gotta go then get back to my knitting - what a relief to get to sit and knit! I haven't had time to knit for a while, or even to just sit! Now if I just had one of those huge, down-filled, overstuffed English Country sofas, I'd be in relaxation heaven!