Dawn Brocco's Life and Design Blog

Spent the rest of the weekend working on the floral brooch samples and weeding the veggie garden, the small rose bed by the garage and one of the azalea and peony beds lining the driveway.

Have begun getting the patterns written for the brooches as well as just finished sewing on the seed beads for the sunflower seeds. The sunflower is in 2 sizes.

Now to do the rose pattern and the lilac pattern, tomorrow. Pattern writing always takes more time than I'd like. Also need to make another lilac sample and sew on the pin backs - maybe tonight, more than likely tomorrow - the day is now evening and is flying past me, and I need to stop and have something for dinner.

I think the 3 flowers will be it for an indie pattern, or else it will too many pages. Can't wait to take photos and see if knitters like them!

The weather has been interesting so far this weekend - sun showers, sun, then buckets of rain, then sun again. I love the light around here. It's often magical, especially near dusk. As the sun inches closer to the nearby mountain tops before sinking beneath them, the light comes through the trees, across the lawn and pond, dancing around other trees and structures, laying pockets of light and shadow everywhere - wonderful. It's the best time of the day and doesn't last nearly long enough.

Yesterday, I wandered out before dusk just to take it all in and looked up over the pond to see a rainbow. I had my camera with me, as I thought I'd take photos of the sky, which I did, as well below. But I haven't seen a rainbow in ages and I've never caught it on film (well, not *film*, butcha know what I mean!).






Then, this morning over coffee and the crossword (we LOVE doing the Sunday crossword!), 2 bunnies were hanging out under the hemlock, but a good enough photo from the kitchen window isn't possible. I watched them awhile but didn't think I'd see them again today.

Hubby was on the back porch later on this afternoon and motioned to me at the table, working on a leaf (more on this later) to go look outside and one of the bunnies was on the back bluestone path that leads from the kitchen past the side of the garage to the driveway. He or she was not getting away from me this time. Ran to get the camera and snuck out sans shoes so as not to startle it and starting snapping away. I followed it around the front of the garage into the rear lawn and over to the edge of the woods.









Coming back after the bunny ducked out of sight, I got another shot of some of the Canadian geese again. What a mess they're making on the lawn! But this is their nesting spot every year. It's worth it to see them, they leave after the goslings can take off.



I put aside work on the book designs this weekend to focus on 3 dimensional floral brooches! I have an old garden rose done (2 colorways) and a lilac w/leaves, complete with large and small panicles. Am starting a sunflower w/seed bead "seeds" and if I can figure out the Lily of the Valley, I'll do that as well. and should have a pattern written and done in a few days after. What I've seen available is OK, but nothing to write home about. And I love a challenge! These are definitely different and I'll post photos as soon as I can!
Happy Continued Holiday Weekend!

I went into the veggie garden, for what I thought would be a brief check on the weeds (especially after several cool rainy days) and to pluck a few asparagus, as Pickles likes them raw, cooked, any old way - weird dog, but then he has a weird mum!

Hubby had mentioned to me, before he went to work, that instead of just the 2 goose families there were now 7 adults in the pond with the goslings. I can never get photos of them, because as soon as I'd start towards them from across the lawn (a large lawn, mind you), they'd scamper into the pond and promptly swim across, so that a photo catches only tiny blips of them. I can never get shot of the lone bunny either, that sits under the hemlock near the back door or under one of the crab apple trees, facing the woods, where maybe her hatch of bunny babies are.

Well not today!

One must remain ever open to the opportunities that come along, and today was one such opportunity.

They were on the bank of the pond when I went into the garden, but had headed back into the pond (as usual), so I took the dog inside from his run, got the camera and headed back out. Well, they love to sit in the shade on the front and side banks of the pond, cleaning themselves, with the goslings snuggled down in the grass.

I approached and they didn't move. Now I *do* talk to them trying to emulate their honk, honk, which makes my husband crack up, but that's just me. I took the series of 12 shots below, as I squatted down on the grass, so as not to startle them, slowwwwly inching my way towards them without standing up.

I eventually got to within 5 feet or so of them. Only when a delivery truck pulled up with my Xerox solid ink, did I then stand up, which startled them and the last shot shows them scampering off a bit. I wanted to get close enough to get clear shots of the fuzzy little guys - 4 from one family and 3 I think from another. There are 3 *extra* geese as well, they floated around in the pond mostly - maybe they're extended family members, but not paired up w/goslings of their own.

Now, as for the green. the green on the pond is watermeal. Can't get rid of it chemically as those chemicals have been long banned in NY. Hubby is working on a mechanical screening/sifting process, but hasn't had time to spend on, yet another, project. The poor guy has enough work around here to do, that it would take up a full time job's worth of hours each week, and then some. I keep thinking how wonderful it would be if only my business could take off (after all these years of working at it) and really do well. I'd be more than happy to support him and he'd be more than happy being outside all day long tending all these projects involved in the restoration of the house, the gardens, the pond. One can dream, can't one!

So, here's the goose photos:

























I forgot to mention - that patch of gravel, in the last 2 photos with some pitiful stumps of bushes sticking up was the gravel and rock surrounded base for a lovely, white, wrought iron victorian-style gazebo.

Years ago, I planted 3 climbing heirloom roses around it. It had become a beautiful wall of roses every spring and summer UNTIL one early spring's nasty windy storm ripped the entire gazebo out of the ground, breaking it apart and snapping the bushes to bits. We had to dissentangle the wrought iton pieces and cut the bushes down to the ground.

I was devastated. It was the one beautiful sight on the rear lawn. The gazebo parts sit behind the garage. It takes enough time the *first time around* doing things, it's hard to find the time to *redo* them, and so, it's hardly likely we'll get the gazebo back up and plant new roses. I try not to think about it - I love roses so and they were so beautiful.....

Well, this weather sure is weird. By this time of the year, approaching Memorial Day weekend, it's usually between 70 and 80 degrees, all the windows are open (letting in all that lovely - not! pine pollen that needs hot days in order for it to burst off the trees) and we're in t-shirts.

Nope, not this year! I have 2 wool sweaters and socks on the water pipe in the basement drying and 2 more sweaters soaking in the sink, and I've got on my Tree of Life Pullover - a Bartlettyarns 2-ply, heavy worsted, stranded design! and thick wool slippers to keep warm. It was so blustery yesterday, I coulda swore it was March, not May.

The oil company took us to the cleaners this past fall, winter and spring, but at 53 or so degrees every day, the house has been downright chilly! I have an electric heater on in the family room and the electric baseboard heater on in the kitchen, so the electric bill will suffer, but then it usually does from AC use, and we only use it in our bedroom at night - we don't have central air. Very cool weather, indeed.

Got tons to get done this weekend. Already today I've spent a few hours creating a small 210 x 100 pixel ad I'm thinking of putting in Knitty, fed the dog, made hubby's lunch that he takes to work with him, washed the dishes and put away the groceries he shopped for this morning. Got laundry to put in, then patterns to work on and MUST get the lower edging knit for the cardigan for the book

I attached the cuffs to the sleeves with duplicate stitch, but tried several different methods for attaching the collar to the neckline. I ended up single crocheting them together from the RS, which makes a decorative seam along the upper edge. After it's all done and blocked, I'll decide if I like it or not - maybe I'll take a photo and put it here for you to decide! The front bands are crocheted and I found in my small button stash 3, only 3! of the most perfect buttons for the cardigan, poot!

I did a bit of online searching, but I really need hubby to take me to JoAnn's to see if they've got either this same button (fat chance) or something else that will look nice and inconspicuous. The cable edgings are the focal points, so I don't want the buttons to draw attention away from them.

If not JoAnn's, then Amazing Threads - but that means a Saturday, as AT is not open Sundays or even late on Saturday. Don't shops know that knitters can't always get to a shop M-F 10-5 or a few hours on Sat. morning?!

And heading into Lake Katrine and Kingston on Sat. morning or afternoon can be torture, so hubby won't do it unless we have tons of things we *need* to get a the home stores in order to do the weekend's house repair work.

So, by the end of this long weekend, edging should be knit and attached, sweater washed and blocked, pattern for it and the 3, count 'em 3, different cable charts made and text directions for each chart written - ufda! I should also have at least a few of the smaller projects' charts and patterns buttoned up, inserted into the book layout and formatted.

OK, yes, that's a lot to do, BUT, 34 hanks of yarn is on its way to me, which means tying, washing and begin dyeing as soon as it gets here!!
Happy Weekend to all!

Yet, another cool drippy day.

Had to change the email link at the bottom of 16 of my web pages this morning and upload them. Then, spent several hours figuring out the best suppliers for the beads I want/need to have for the new beaded knit kits. Simple would be if the retail supplier (who also wholesales), would A) wholesale in the quantities I need and B) respond to my emails!

So, with neither A nor B satisfied, yet more searching is necessary. I've bought sample bags of beads from another source (whose website does *not* make it easy to see what you're buying, as in, some colors are online, not all, so it's anyone's guess what they'll look like), and no, they don't have color cards available! So, yet more $ down the tubes, as I can't use the colors. Design Development write-off, but still, it's $ out of pocket.

Found another source, with very good wholesale prices, and so I'll be ordering bags from them and hope they'll be from the same manufacturer, and hence look exactly the same as, the beads I used in the design samples. They are missing 2 of the colors I need though.

One color I can get from Caravan Beads in the Miyuki size 5/0, as midge smaller than the other beads but a perfect color for the Mushroom cashmere yarn. No-one else seems to have a gold-lined crystal bead in a size 3/0 or 5.5 mm.

The other color I'm stuck on, seems no-one else has it. I may end up just getting that color at retail and enclose them in the kits for the Old Rose, without any markup - what else to do? The only other bead that's close in color is one of the Miyuki 5/0 beads, but though it is amethyst, it doesn't have the gold luster that this bead has. The gold luster makes all the difference in how the bead color coordinates with the warmth of the Old Rose yarn color.

In doing all this bead research and shopping and printing info off the web, I am learning about the bead finishes and lining colors and how it changes the end appearance of the bead. A transparent bead looks different from an AB (Aurora Borealis) bead, which looks different from a luster finish or a metallic lined bead, even if the base bead color is the same.

Nothing ever seems to be simple! I *could* just direct knitters to the retail bead sources, but that defeats the purpose of having a kit! All main ingredients for the design *should* be in the kit.

The Peace Fleece came in, and I'll be putting in a large order for the Sweet Grass wool yarn tomorrow and will wash and begin dyeing it as soon as it comes - so I can add the wool kit option to my site and shopping cart. But first I need to knit one sample in the wool for a photo. I can start on that with the rest of the hank I have, but can't finish til more yarn comes.

I also need to do a large order of Tuffy and Durasport, but bills need paying first, so it will have to wait.

Haven't worked on the book cardigan in days. MUST work on it today. Would like to be able to post a photo here soon, so ya'll can see what I've been yammering about when I mention my shaped cables!

Another cool drippy day.

Printed an order for Unicorn Books and Crafts, reformatted a pattern, printed some patterns, and fiddled more with my blog layout. The original template never had a link in the sidebar to Recent Posts, so I had to dig through the html again to find the right code to insert. I still can figure out where to put the style html to add a button to each Recent Post. Oh well, it's better than nothing. I found a weather banner to add for Saugerties, NY and will do that momentarily.

Am working up the Double Knot Cable swatch in the new yarn and I like it so far. I've just squished Ultress #11N into the old hair and am on my 45 minute countdown. So, I should have the swatch done by then and can wash it and the one I did yesterday.

Plucked some asparagus from the garden to go with the london broil hubby will put on the grill in the morning. If I remember, I'll make those pan-fried potatoes he likes so much.

I haven't looked at that dye book that came the other day. I look at it as I pass by on my way to doing other things, but I'll get to it. There's also a new dye book out I'd like to peruse before deciding to buy it or not - Yarns To Dye For. Next time I can get to Barnes & Noble, I'll dig through the dyeing section.

Have done a lot of writing today on one of the knitting design biz lists, but also did manage to create and upload a new page on my site - the Press Page.

I had seen another designer's site, who had a Press page, and realized I really should have one up as well. I've been blurbed in several pubs, but just hadn't gotten around to it.

I washed those 2 hanks of yarn last night and hung them over a towel over the hot water pipes in the basement. The pipes are wrapped in foil insulation, so they're warm, not hot. I knew the all wool hank would bloom and therefore lose yardage, and boy did it lose yardage. it went from 230 yds per 4 oz hank to 188 yds, but now that I think of it I didn't weight the hanks before washing - duh! - to see if they were at wt., or more than wt., with the lanolin or less than wt..

So, as it is now, I weighed what I have and it comes in at 3.75 ozs, making the washed yardage about 50 yds/oz. I worked the stockinette gauge swatch and it gives the gauge I need. Now I'm working up the pattern stitch swatches, both for the Double Knot Cable Scarf
design and the new beaded design I have ready (Faux Cable Beaded Hat & Scarf - no link as it's not online yet), except for the bead ordering I need to do.

The 70% wool/30% mohair yarn, oddly enough, weighs in at 4.25 ozs. It has the 1/4 oz that the other hank lacks! I swatched it in stockinette, as well, and though it makes a nice fabric, it's a bit too hairy for these designs.

If the all wool will do the pattern stitch gauges, then this will be the yarn. I like the feel alot - very soft, as the targhee has a 62 Bradford count, and Merino starts at 60, so this is a good substitute for merino. They yarn is mulespun (not frame spun), but it's not too rustic looking, as in lots of neps or surface fiber bits. It''s rather good-looking in that department.

It *does* have VM - vegetable matter, AKA hay! But not that much, and as I was winding the hank into a ball by hand, it was very easy to feel any hay bits and pluck them out. There weren't alot - I've had yarns with much more hay in them. So, I will be sure to make a note in the designs about winding the ball by hnad, so the knitetr can feel the bits to pull out. If one wound the yarn using a swift and ballwinder, these bits would surely be passed over, until the knitting, when no-one wants to deal with them.

Then I can do the yippee hallelujah dance, as this search has been a longgggg one. Kits would probably be in the $30-$37 range for the DKC scarf, and more, naturally, for the beaded kits, but far less than the cashmere kits, which should make a lot of online knitters very happy! But I'm not doing the happy dance yet. Not yet.

Ah yarn came today - and a dye book I ordered. Photos below.

The dye book I bought thanks to help from someone of the Dyehappy Yahoo List. It was OOP but I found a used copy at Biblio.com I was looking for a color card where the colors were made of clearish cellophane so one could put a grey, oatmeal or other natural under it to see how it will affect the final shade of the color. So this book comes with Colorcues - 4 cellophane sheets in the colors shown below and a card with 3 beiges and 3 greys to hold underneath. To start with a purple color, one would use the blue and red cards together and green, of course, the blue and the yellow cards.






The yarn below is from Sweetgrass Wool in Montana and it's very soft in the hank. But I'll be washing the hanks, letting them dry fully, and remeasure them to see about any shrinkage and hence a loss of yardage per the 4 ozs. The washing will also bloom the yarn and I'll get a more accurate gauge than if knit now off the unwashed hank. In order to dye the yarn, it all gets thoroughly washed in Dawn dishliquid (the original blue), anyway, so the washed hanks are what needs to get gauge, not the unwashed.



This yarn is my latest attempt at trying to find a substitute yarn for the cashmere kits - something soft enough that will get gauge, yet won't look *rustic* and won't be expensive. Sweetgrass does have solid dyed colors but not what I need, which is no prob, as then I can dye exactly the same colors as I've done the cashmere in.

One hank has 30% mohair, the other is all wool. The wool is Targhee, so it *is* a breed-specific yarn, which I like and is nearly as soft as merino, which is also preferable.

I *did* have another lead on a substitute yarn, but I don't appreciate it when people don't get back to me. After several emails and a phone message, it doesn't bode well for future business dealings. Quick and *painless* is how I want to do business, I'm too busy to want to waste my time chasing after anyone. It was nice yarn too. So, I'm hoping the Sweetgrass yarn will do the job.

I got most of the front beds weeded today - only about 6' left on both sides to finish tomorrow if it doesn't rain. Then I swept all the front bluestone paths and the road in front of the house. The road salt and whatever else they use all winter just piles up, then weeds actually start growing in the stuff. I *could* wait for the town to come along with their street sweeper, which they do once a year, but they're not very Spring timely. I *don't* want to look at the mess until they get her and it obscures the beautiful bluestone curbing that's there.

So, after all that and planting the zucchini seeds in 6 hills, I'm tired.






But, as always, I came inside to shower off the natural bug repellant oil and garden/road dirt, but ended up doing several things. I always get sidetracked. I put the dishes away and tossed the fading cut white lilacs, cut more, washed out the vases, boiled some water, so the new water would be hot for them and put a vase on the kitchen table and on the family room coffee table. I'd love Lilac perfume, but so many of the flower perfumes smell cheesy and cheap, not subtle and delicate. Hubby loves it when I wear White Shoulders, anyway!

So, tonight I will browse the dye book and work on that pair of Tuffy and Bartlettyarns socks I began daysss ago., I have the new hanks washed already and hanging in the basement drying, the dinner dishes are washed and I rehung some curtains I washed last week - not a bad days' work.

Well, it appears we have 2 goose families in the pond again this year. They just popped in out of the blue day before yesterday. We had 2 families the year before last, as well.

Am working on the cabled cuffs. Got both done and finished grafting the ends and need to attach them today, as well as the collar. Only the lower edge cable border to do and attach and the front bands. I have 2 styles of buttons I'm considering, not sure which I like better, will ask hubby. The cardigan will have all 3 variations of shaped cabled edges, so, indeed, the knitter will have the choice of doing all the edges in the easiest shaped cable, the more complex shaped cable or the not-for-the-faint-of-heart shaped cable! So, tho I said recently that it would be a challenging project, it needn't be so. BUT, personally I like the fully-shaped cable myself - it is the most unusual and adds an almost delicate laciness to a cable knit in heavy worsted!

Wasn't up to digging up the front garden beds yesterday, so I didn't! And as the rainy weekend we were *supposed* to get doesn't seem to be coming until next week, I'll be digging out there today. And I gotta plant the zucchini seeds in their hills. Have been picking small amounts of the first asparagus to come up. It's not in full swing yet, and I'm so eager for the lettuce to grow - I so need green salad and have one every day once it's up. I used to plant individual heirloom varieties, now they offer the seeds in a mix, so I tried it last year, and liked having different lettuces coming up, without torturing over all the choices. I get The Cooks Garden All Season Butterhead mix. I also got a Heatwave mix, if only I'll remember to plant it come June for July and August's heat!

Done with my morning coffees (note the plural!), and washed the dishes, so need to get a head of steam up and plot out the day. Will start with typing in this pattern, as much as I've done so far.

Received one of the replies I had been waiting on - a (seemingly late) lambing season mixed with rain = sick lambs needing tending. I thought lambing season was usually in March, but it does depend on when you breed them. So, only a few more days wait - that's good.

Only got about a third of the front beds weeded. Those beds are pitiful - so root bound. We're going to have to rent a tiller to break it all up, before we can add some topsoil, compost and manure, then plant the bushes we haven't bought yet! I'll continue on them tomorrow and Saturday, as we're not expecting rain til next week.

Posted a photo the other day (below) of a lone goose on our rear lawn. Well, for good reason, mama goose was off tending baby geese. Mama, papa and 4 fuzzy goslings are now swimming in our (yuck - but they don't seem to mind) green watermeal-laden frog pond. Last year they had a few more goslings, must of been a hard winter for them, it certainly hasn't been a hard, or overly wet, spring, like the past few years - egads, the *moisture*! I wish I could see them better. But I have good binoculars, so I'll have to sneak out there without them seeing (yeah, right), so I get a good gander at them - no pun intended!

Gonna be a busy day today. Already finished weeding that last garden bed, and dug in 3, 5 gallon buckets of compost, planted carrot seeds and watered the 5 planted beds.

Have laundry and hand washing to do. Gotta finish digging up the front beds, where the old roses used to be and reweed them. I bound off the shaped cable collar too soon, so must undo the BO and add 6 rows. Am prepping a wholesale order to Briggs & Little and an order to Peace Fleece. Gotta vacuum, as I didn't get to it yesterday, when I should have. And have patterns and charts for the book to work on. Also need to print more catalog and Heel Help card sets and trim and laminate them.

Began one of the shaped cabled cuffs last night and would like to get it done and do the 2nd one. Yup - lots to do.

Am still *waiting* on a reply to an email I sent regarding an order I placed last Thursday that was being shipped Priority Mail and I still haven't received it. I'm also waiting on another biz to reply to 2 emails and a phone message. I'm trying not to fume, but this has been happening at an increasingly unnerving rate - businesses NOT replying to emails or phone calls. Do they want my business or not - I do wonder. I'm not chopped liver, nor am I invisible, but one does begin to think maybe one *is* invisible* or inconsequential. I just don't get it, I'm always timely with responses to emails and calls - no one has to wait days, or egads, even weeks, to get a reply from me, unless I've fallen off the face of the earth and I haven't done that lately. End of Gripe. Ommmmmm.

I'm ordering the Briggs & Little
Tuffy, as I have enough jars of dye still, from my cashmere dyeing and I really like the idea of having more feminine colors available in this sock yarn.

True, it's heavy worsted wt. but there's no reason that thick house or boot socks can't be pretty! I'm also going to try a couple of Henry's Attic wool/mohair blend yarns. Catnip Yarns has skeins at a reasonable price to try, before opening, yet another expensive, wholesale account. This isn't the best (highest income) time of the year for opening accounts, but I may need to, in order to have new things ready for the fall season.

B&L also has a thick 4-ply, suitable for rug hooking. *Eventually* when I find the time, I have a Pearl K. McGown hooked rug canvas design. I don't have the wool, but the canvas (jute or some such material) I found at a yard sale many years ago. It's a floral design from, get this, 1959 - the very year I was born. So, I pulled it out recently and did a bit of Googling to find out about Pearl, and apparently she was quite famous. So, this design will be a good place to try out hooking with B&L's heavy wool yarn. Well, punching, actually. Hooking takes 4x as long to do, and though I *used* to hook, I have a much busier design biz than I had then, so I'll need to come up with a sturdy frame, or buy one, attach the canvas snugly and get a rug punch, probably from Halcyon Yarn.

Well, enough writing, back to work for me!

Got most of that last garden bed weeded today, but as the air was still and a smidge humid, the mosquitos were out already, so I had to cut it short.

I spent a couple hours today, revamping my blog's appearance. I never did like the green backgrounds, but the other Blogger templates didn't appeal to me, so I figured that, eventually, I'd figure out how to change the colors.

It took awhile to go through the html (which I'm *not* fluent in!), to find the color codes which needed changing, and I changed the font, as well. I never did like Verdana. I used to use Helvetica, another sans-serif font, in my patterns, as well, but wasn't crazy about it. Then I discovered Hoefler Text, and like it much better. These colors and font at least blend better with my Dawn Brocco Knitwear Designs site.

Have been working on the cable collar for the cardigan. The collar's cable is being shaped along its outer outside edge and both interior inside edges. I'm undecided about the cable for the cuffs and lower edge. I'm thinking the lower edge cable should be shaped only on one outer edge, as well as the cuff cables, BUT I may keep one of the interior parts of the cuff cable solid and shape the other.

Sounds completely confusing, doesn't it. It will be more apparent once I post photos. I'll do that when done, but not before - this is a brand new (at least *unvented*) idea - hence the book I'm writing. It's not going to be an easy knit, I'm afraid, but some of the other projects in the book will be.

Well, gotta make a cup of tea and cheese sandwich for dinner and back to knitting, then folding laundry.

Started work early today - did a bunch of printing, prepped orders for hubby to mail off, made iced tea from scratch, fed and walked the dog, and Zud-ded several stainless pots. I love Zud. It gets out iron stains and tarnish. I suppose if we had a dish washer and used those super strong cleaners the machines used, I wouldn't have to do this, but I don't mind. Every now and then, I pull out all the stainless silverware and scrub them with Zud, as well as the stainless pots and even the everyday dishes, but especially coffee and tea mugs.

So, now that my right arm is scrubbed off as well as a few layers of fingertip skin!, I can heatpack my shoulder and enter a folder full of orders into my database. I put this off as it's one of those tedious chores.

Was going to weed that last bed today but it's looking like rain, and I'm pooped for now, anyway. Hubby's still working on the bath redo - had to reframe the doorway - well it never *was* framed, so it's really *frame* the doorway - and trim the existing cheap hollow core door to fit, for now. Gotta get to Stan's (the local architectural salvage place) and find a real wood door, preferably with 4 recessed panels, as in the rest of the house.

Began another pair of heavy worsted socks for me. If I can get enough pairs made before next Autumn, maybe I can keep them from wearing out so fast. I wear and wash the same few pairs over and over. Things just don't last at that pace of use!

I used a hank of Briggs & Little Tuffy in natural, mixed with some 2-ply wt. barberpole grey/natural from Bartlettyarns for the first pair and had a little of both yarns left over, which I'm adding to a hank of B&L Durasport, used double, to get this other pair done.

The B&L Tuffy may be my new preferred thick sock yarn. It has 20% nylon blended into the wool, so they *should* last a bit longer, and it's not so much nylon, that the yarn doesn't still feel like wool, when you're knitting with it. I can't stand a wool yarn that doesn't feel like wool - hence my personal pref not to use any superwash wool yarns, they squeek and feel more like plastic than wool. If I wanted to knit with plastic, I'd use acrylic, nylon or other synthetic yarns - aack.

The Tuffy doesn't come in a huge range of colors, but I could always try dyeing the natural white and see how it takes. Then I could have rose and lavender and other femininely colored socks, instead of the manly colors the yarn comes in. OK - that's another project to work on. I wonder if sock knitters would be interested? B&L does wholesale their yarns, so it *might be* possible to dye then retail the yarn. Anyone like the idea?

It's been ages since I've posted any photos, whether of work-in-progress or what's happening around the house, but have rectified that today.

We always have a goose pair nesting in the pond each year, but this shot shows only one hanging out on the rear lawn:



My fenced-in raised bed veggie garden. Still have one bed to weed and plant. Each bed is about 12-13' long and 3-4' wide. Asparagus is just starting to come up in the fore bed:



A shot of the white lilac bush right off the back steps:



The Peace Fleece cardigan I've been working on. Note square inset sleeves, lightly nipped waist, and back of neck shaping. It is short, as there will be a deepish cabled border at lower edge and at cuffs and collar. Some dpns are holding the edges from curling:




A closeup of the fabric. Am working it as snugly as I comfortably can - 4.25 sts/1", for as smooth a fabric as possible. Peace Fleece has great tweedy colors. This is Georgia Rose, a lovely pink color that is really made of raspberry, purple, orange and white:



Now to start the cabled edgings, finish the laundry, dry the rag rugs, then cut one of the longer ones in half and redo the fringe on both segments. It's got some wearing out sections, so it needs a redoing. It is part of what's left from an old stair runner I had woven eons ago. When I'm done I'll take pics. I doubt any store bought rag rug would last 17 years with near-constant machine washing and drying!
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Friday the 13th - hmmm!

Am working on one sleeve on the jacket, picked up off the body, worked back and forth to meet the depth of the square inset armhole, and now worked in the round to the wrist, or in this case, before the wrist, as it'll be getting a deep cabled border.

Also ripped out that beach wrap I began crocheting, months ago, in Heirloom Breeze. It was too dense, so now I'm at about half done, but am working it with a size N hook and not as filet crochet. The thin yarn (dk wt) and the large hook size, tough, is creating a filet crochet like allover grid, so I'm getting the same effect without the extra waork and it's getting done a whole lot quicker. I just wish I had had enough balls all in the same color. So, it' will be 2-toned. The majority of it is pink. Then I had 2 balls of a limey green and 2 balls of a darker rose. The limey green is a similar color depth to the pink, but I'm not liking it and may rip that part out and use the darker rose.

Every now and then, ever since we moved into this old house, we've attempted to find out its true age, and other tidbits about its original owners/builders. We searched the county records twice but got stumped at the turn of the century, and we know this house goes to 1850 with the original section starting at about 1800. Property descriptions get pretty oddly worded the further back you go, and following the division of lands and figuring which chunk *your* parcel is from - well, it all gets quite overwhelming! Unlike all those old house owners on those TV shows with attics full of memorabilia left behind, ours had nada, nothing, nil!

All we *do* have is a 2 person cemetery in our back yard - not immediately in the back yard, but at the back of the 6 acres, near an old stacked stone wall - of which there are several.

We have a Valentine Freligh and his wife, Elizabeth, German, probably Palatine, as there was a large Palatine emigration to this area.

Well, I've been through several ancestry message boards, US and NYgenweb sites, following link after link. I've dne this evry so often, about twice a year, hoping new files will be online over time.

And all I can find for Saugerties is a Valentine Freligh born 1745 - could have been his father, but definitely wasn't this Valentine, as he was 78 years, 8 months and 9 days old at date of death (interesting tombstone info, no date of birth, instead you gotta count backwards!), so I figured on about March of 1781 he was born. There's some microfilm of early newspapers in the local library, but time is always in shortage, and it would have to be hubby (not me with my eyes) to sit there scrolling through tiny text, so it's not likely to get done.

This Valentine did fight in the War of 1812, being awarded $58, as well as a brother? Peter, both of Saugerties. His dad? is on a Revolutionary War hero website and a site listing Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files, from 1800-1900.

So, chronologically, it makes sense - if his dad was born in 1745, that he'd have been old enough to fight in the Revolutionary War. And his son, born in 1781 or so would have been old enough in 1812 to fight in that war. Odd that they were both about 31 during their time of service.

And the house's structure makes sense. It's post and beam, with all the exterior walls lined with brick and mortar, then clapboarded on the outside and lime and horsehair plastered on the inside. Very sturdy house and very straight, still. This style of construction is German, so it fits with the residents in the small cemetery.

There's bluestone quarries in our area and right behind our property is the remnants of an old one. I would have liked to have found out something about the house and owners, then if they were significant enough townsfolk, I would have applied for historical status and marker. But these things take far more time to investigate when you have so little to start with!

Ah well, back to knitting and a cup of tea.

Am working in the garden in short 1/2 hour bouts, otherwise I overheat (and it's not summer yet!). But spring is the intensive work period. Summer is basically watering and keeping things tidy.

I weeded the gravel paths between the raised beds - yup, even landscape fabric and gravel don't keep the weeds away! - and am working on weeding and composting the last 2 beds, so I can plant one with baby's breath, larkspur and, oh, I forget what other flower - oh duh, forget-me-nots!

The last bed gets Ronde de Nice summer squash - now *this* is great zucchini - small, round fruits. If you wait and pick them at a larger size, they're OK for stuffing - but who turns the oven on in the summer!? So, you pick them small, and the plants keep making more. I always get my seeds The Cook's Garden, as they have lots of heirloom, and some organic, seeds.

Then I gotta water everything again - it's supposed to rain later - but the ground is dry and seeds need to be kept wet. As much as I prefer activities that *don't* require sweating, I do love to garden! And as I've never had a lifestyle that included manicures or spa treatments (maybe in my next life!), the dirt, scratches and blisters that come with gardening aren't that big a deal.

I cut my first bunch of Lilac branches yesterday. There's plenty of flowers on the bushes, but they're smaller this year. There's a white lilac bush abutting the back kitchen stairs and 2 lavender bushes near the driveway. The peonies are growing and look pretty, but I don't like their scent at all and never cut them for indoors. The jasmine bush is budding too and the Lily-of-the-Valley are coming up as well. God, I still have tons of raking to do and better get to it soon, before all the growth makes it harder to do.

But I did manage to also cut down the dead climbing rose vines, today, that are trellised on the garage front, as it needs scraping and painting with the house - can't have the house one color scheme and the garage another! So, it was fortunate those vines were dead, as they needed to be removed so he can get to the wall.

Well, back to the great outdoors before run out of steam....

Cleaned 10 of our 6/6 windows today, but spent much of the day collating/digging up/finding out much needed bead information, for new designs.

Am also still waiting to hear about the merino yarn I'd like to use as a substitute for the cashmere in my kits. Called and left message, after sending 3 emails over past 3 weeks to no avail.

In case this yarn is unavailable to me, I've been scouting (yet) other options and have 1 other yarn line that may do, but will need to get sample balls first to swatch, naturally.

Between all the bags of beads I've had to buy, just to see if they'll work or not, and all the balls of yarns to swatch, I'm wondering if I'll ever get this project off the ground. It *is* trying my patience.

Am currently plotting the back neck and shoulder shaping on the cardigan for the book. Should have that done tonight and get a sleeve started.

Need to get out to the garden tomorrow to water again and weed/compost the 2 remaining beds. Did more attic boxing up the other day and should get back to that, too, before the attic gets too hot.

Also need to take the waist in on that new skirt I bought. I'm an 8 and they only had a 10 and a 14, I think, so I got the 10. I have another skirt I bought last year that needs taking in, for the same reason.

Bought Pickles some doggie cookies with mint and parsley in them, to see if it helps with that tuna breath of his! Also got him shampoo with tea tree oil, as his skin is rather irritated lately. I always shop drugstore.com for these oddball things. He's had a rash, and so, after a vet visit of $185!, he has 2 meds and a fish oil vitamin to take at various times during the day. He happily takes though, when they get wrapped up in a thin slice of meat or ham. After just a few days, Pavlov has worked again, as he comes running when he hears me open the pill bottles. He also does this now, though, when we take our vitamins in the morning. Another habit that'll take forever to break!

Ha! I thought I could get away with "lightly scuff the bare spots on the library floor" before painting it, again. Nope - scrub, scrub, not scuff, scuff! I've just showered and I've worked up a sweat already.

Why can't any of the grunt work I need to do ever be something that would tighten up my thighs, belly or butt! No - it's all arm and upper shoulder-killing work! Geez, if I could lay on my back and kick a few boulders about, that might do it.

I had a long list of house and garden work to do today, but after rising this morning, that list got shortened drastically!

Walked the entire mall yesterday, trying on stuff in nearly every store, then finally exited, laden with packages, with 7 minutes to spare before hubby was due to pick me up.

Got a casual silk skirt at 71% off!, 2 summer tops, 2 pairs of comfy house slacks, a knit pj set and undies - all on sale except the undies. Wanted new sandals too, with a heel or wedge at least, but everything had a hard sole, not bendable, and what was bendable and still cute didn't fit - everything's always way too narrow. And what is it with the thong toe bit - aack - I hate that bit of rubber/leather/fabric between my toes! Shafe, shafe shafe, until I have blisters and callouses between my toes. But those styles were the cutest. Also had to find and get a new shower curtain for the almost redone bath, with liner and matching towels.

The prints I've seen everywhere are horrible, and I would have loved to have found a print skirt. The skirts are either to short or too long, the sundresses (and I LOVE sundresses, because they're usually the perfect length for me) didn't fit right and did nothing for my shape. Ugh. But at least I got a few things.

There were 2 absolutely wonderful-feeling cotton knit dresses at the New York Company (I think it's called) - must have been pima cotton - felt heavenly. I would have needed to be 3" taller than I am (and I'm not short!) with a perfectly flat belly and not such a round bottom, in order for me to look good in the dresses. But oh the fabric - I would have wanted to wear them all the time!

So, the legs and hips are walked out, the arms are aching from carrying bundles around for hours (I'm not in shopping shape!), so no scrubbing or garden digging today - that's for sure. I *will*, however, lightly scuff the bare spots on the library floor and paint them today and do the laundry and get some knitting done on this cardigan, and water all the seeds in the garden after hubby hooks up the pump and hoses (which he couldn't get to over the weekend, but which I reminded him of this morning over coffee!).

So the day awaits and let's see what we can make of it!

Well, got the pea bed weeded and dug the compost in, then spent a bit of time repairing the teuteurs, and hauling 6 watering cans of water from the pond at 120 paces per trip, to water the flower and lettuce seeds. Didn't get the peas planted, will do that tomorrow. And hubby will set up the pond pump and hoses tomorrow. The beds need more water than I can haul.

Posted many responses to several list questions today and am finally knitting on that cardigan, but my fingertips are a bit eaten up and sensitive from knitting and gardening.

Weekend's almost here, and I have shopping to look forward to on Sunday!
Happy Mother's Day to all moms!

Had a retina doc appointment this morning - the 6 month checkup on the pitiful surgeried eye. But they dilated both eyes - wanted to make sure the other eye was still doing OK. The eye is doing fine, and we discussed my *still* not having a lens, despite everything the ophthalmologist tried. He recommended someone for me to see, so I just gotta make an appointment, as soon as I can see again.

Though they dilated both eyes at 10:30 this morning, it's 3 pm and they're still dilated. This typing is OK enough, reading is hard, though and I wanted to get into the garden as it's warmer today, BUT it's BRIGHT sunshine out and it's blinding with dilated eyes! I wince just walking past sunny windows. I walked the dog for a few minutes and when I came inside, it took awhile to refocus. So, bah, no gardening today.

I have knitting to do and a good thing it's just stockinette. The fancy bits I'll do another day.

I really wanted to be in the garden today......

It's cold out today, so all I did in the garden was to pull out the tomato cages, put them away and get the teuteurs from the loft above the garage and put them in the garden. I need to do some repairs on the poor things, though. This is their 4th year, I think and they are falling apart. I made them from used bamboo poles and tie-wraps.

Pickles went to the kennel this morning for a grooming, and we picked him up before lunch. He has been sleeping away the stress much of the day!

On the bath redo front - hubby got the vanity base and top in over the weekend and the faucet, but had to get different elbows for the drain pipes, which he finished this morning - oh boy, running water in the bathroom again! We lucked out and found a nice chrome faucet at one of the home centers that has 8-sided bases, just like the 4, 40's style tub knobs and spigot. Tomorrow morning he puts up the new lights over the vanity but as we haven't seen a repro ceiling fixture we like yet, he's gonna look in a shop downtown that refurbs antique light fixtures and see if they haven't got something that will go.

On the work front - began a sweater last night. I've been itching for more projects to work on - did a pair of socks for me in Briggs and Little's Tuffy and Bartlettyarns 2-ply, but they only took a few days, and then the needles were empty, and *that's* unacceptable! I gotta have projects to work on.

So, I have 1 lb. of a Bluefaced Leicester and Alpaca blend yarn in natural white. I bought it to see if it would be a good cashmere substitute for my cashmere scarf kits, and had written in an earlier post that Webs had limited stock and might not be able to get more thanks to the *wonderful* - not! exchange rate with the UK.

So, I'm planning a short, fitted, 3/4 sleeve cardigan - very classic, very unadorned in its knitting. But I may dress it up with some ribbon embroidery or a floral brooch. I'm hoping the 1 lb of yarn will be enough, if not, I'll order another of their huge hanks - this stuff comes in 8 oz hanks and I wash it first. It blooms nicely, which changes the yardage, which changes the gauge.

I don't usually go for most of the retro styles that come around (again!), especially the 60's, 70's and 80's styles. Lived through them once, that's plenty. But the retro femme trend is enticing. I can't remember any big feminine clothing trend in the 70's, 80's or 90's, except the longish floral dresses from several / many? years back.

So, there's this cardigan and I'm plotting the details and numbers for the Peace Fleece cardigan for the book. I still haven't the yarn for the pullover, so I am doing the cardigan first. Shaped and fitted again, with interesting collar, cuff and lower edge detailing. Am just about ready to cast on and will work on both sweaters at the same time.

I ordered the pin backs and other bits and bobs I need for some of the book designs and am waiting on their arrival.

I'm yawning up a storm, so it looks like some coffee looms in my near future, so back to it I go.
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