Dawn Brocco's Life and Design Blog

painters
The painters came yesterday - yippee! Worked on scraping and sanding the back of the main house section. And said they'll be here Monday *and* said as they only have 1 other job they're working on in August, they can be here more often, weather permitting, (and it damn well better permit already), so maybe, hallelujah, this house can get painted this coming month, so we can get it reappraised, listed and sold, for cryin' out loud! Yes, that's utter frustration you hear! I'm handling it better than hubby. Poor guy's gonna snap one of these days. I'm trying to hold him together the best I can, but you know how it is - all the situations of life conspire to test one's patience and fortitude and they keep the pressure on until you're cooked! Ommmmmmmm.

falling into the pit of doom
It's very interesting - the connection between state of mind and creativity. After a couple of family conversations yesterday, on top of my estrogen level being in the gutter and thus having very little emotional reserve, I walked around completely unable to focus, and I am a *focused* person! So, I cleaned, because you can be nearly brain dead and still be able to clean your house. So I vacuumed the 3 carpeted rooms and the kitchen's wood floor and did 2 loads of laundry. It didn't help though, I was still in a daze, walking back and forth twice for everything because I'd forget what I was doing. I couldn't think of what projects I was working on, all I remembered was that I had photos for the book to take - and that was something I could manage to do, so I did.

The only way I manage to remain creative in the whirlwind that often is life, is to not think about that whirlwind. Then I can remain the happy person I am. And when I'm happy, I'm creative, the energy flows, the universe agrees and makes good things happen. That's all there is to it.

I can't allow, and don't usually allow, the stress to set in. I don't sit and fret, 'cause it changes nothing. All the things that conspire to suck the joy of life out of you are usually outside of one's control. Being frustrated, being angry, none of it helps the situations to change. Only how we think of the situation, how we deal with it, makes it bearable or unbearable. Mindset, or as I think of it, perspective, is everything. Absolutely everything.

But one can only control their own perspective, their own way of dealing with things, no-one's else's. I know this. But seeing it in others all the time wears you down. So, yesterday ended up a down day. But it is my responsibility to be myself, and that means happy and creative, as that's the only way I can even try and help others - if I'm not lost in the frustration, too.

And my estrogen gets returned to me today - oh the empowerment of hormones! I could conquer the world, but only for 3 weeks out of every month! If what I feel like on that off week is what it's gonna feel like after the *change*, no thank you, it's too much like being dead. And it certainly isn't *me*!

the book
I am, however, finally seeing the end of the tunnel that is the finishing of this BOOK! If knitters think my shaped Double Knot Cable Scarf design is cool and different and unique, wait 'til they see the book! Naturally, I hope it will do well, and be received as a good idea, but not until it's out there, does an author/designer ever know.

It will be self-published, so it's not going to be an expensive, coffee table affair filled with beautiful models in beautiful settings. The style will be just like my other self-published books and patterns. I can't wait until I can run it past JC for editing and get her opinion on it. Not a soul, except my hubby, has seen it.

I still have a few more patterns in it to write up and photograph, but I passed page 30 yesterday and am guesstimating at 40-45 pages total. So, guess what I'll be working on this weekend?! I want this puppy done! There are other designs I'm itching to get to.

Well, wishes DO come true! I wished yesterday it wasn't so humid. Hot I can deal with better without the humidity. Today we awoke to 66 degrees, dry and feeling downright chilly compared to yesterday! Brrr.

But, by 11 am, the morning has gone down the tubes. Once Murphy gets going, he doesn't stop, does he? No details, just more tension than I prefer first thing in the morning. Actually I prefer NO tension first thing in the morning! Why it can't wait until after my morning coffees, I don't know. So, I escaped to the garden for a very brief respite, and found a small glimmer of good news - some of the hollyhocks (the ones with buds on them) are shooting up. Can't wait for them to open so I can post a photo.

That bed is one of the few remaining beds with anything green in it! - with the pea vines dying off and the asparagus looking pitiful, no lettuce where I planted it, carrot tops eaten by the groundhog, which is the critter we have surmised to be the culprit.

We knew there was one here, living off in the back woods, as we'd see him waddle across the rear lawn. And hubby did find a spot by the fence where he had dug under - moved the gravel, moved the landscape fabric, moved the dirt,and squueezzed his not so svelte self under the fence. One day I had found some of the hollyhocks flattened, trampled, as he made his way across the bed eating the leaves. It was this that cued me to the culprit not being a wee-sized critter. But as I don't walk around the entire garden perimeter all the time, I didn't see where he had dug up near the fence. I'm way too prone to getting poison ivy, because I still can't recognize it (green is green to me!), and as the garden borders the woods, walking around the back of it can be unwise. There was no other sunny place to put the garden that wouldn't be completely conspicuous and ridiculous-looking. There's just too many trees where I would have put the garden, had I a choice!

Work awaits, tho my bum will be dead if I have to sit on this wood chair at my computer much longer. All day and night yesterday til 9 pm. It's not a bad chair, and I've tried other chairs we have. What I really need is a laptop whose hinges work properly and don't fall all the way back. Then I can sit in a comfy chair or on the couch and work! I have the laptop sitting on a pull-out keyboard shelf that's under my desk, so the screen can rest back against the desk itself, staying upright. I did spend $$ getting the darn things replaced once, but it didn't last a year. Otherwise the thing works fine, and as there's no budget for new computer equipment anytime in the foreseeable future, sore bum it is.

I'd get a new swivel office chair, but this room has carpet, and they don't roll so great (I have an old one, so I know), and all those legs - 4 or 5 of them - can't tell you how many times I stub my toes, as I'm getting up ALL the time. Oh well. Add this to the list of things I want to be different *in the next house*! If we ever get to the next house. The painters are here so erratically - last time was 7 days ago. Will we ever get it done? Your guess is as good as ours.

I finally have the Fan Stitch Crochet Scarf & Beaded Pin pattern printed, inserted into one of the catalogs, up on the site and the kits and pattern into the cart. Also uploaded the wool and cashmere kits for the Simply Lovely Beaded Hat & Scarf design into the cart and uploaded.

Photo of latest pattern's cover page:



The scarf goes VERY quickly - it can be crocheted in a few hours. The beaded fringe and the beaded pin take a bit more time. After the crocheted capelet I'm working on, I have other crochet designs I want to get to, with some as a mix of knitting and crochet. I wish knitting was as quick as crochet!

Now, to do more work on the book and swatch for that 2nd capelet sample. I just wish it wasn't so humid. It was just as hot yesterday but less humid, which is makes it SO much more bearable. At least I don't have to work in a 90-100 degree garage with huge trucks pulling into the bays giving off even more heat, and have to work on them, as hubby does. How he makes it through each day is beyond me, I'd be passed out, dehydrated, with heat stroke!

Well, that wonderful *dry* weekend with the nice breeze is gone - back to hot and more humid!

I finally finished up that last crochet scarf sample and it's coordinating beaded pin, and proofed the pattern again. Am just waiting on supplies to come so I can put up kits. I also have to put up kits for the Simply Lovely beaded scarf and hat design. Hopefully by the weekend.

I still haven't begun the 2nd capelet sample (the beaded one in black cashmere), haven't even swatched for it yet. But I'll swatch it today and decide bead placement. I also haven't touched the book in days. Too many things to do, not enough hands!

OK - I'll proof the first 20 or so pages of the book,
do the duplicate stitch on the remaining 2 headband samples, taking photos of the process,
finish up that 2nd purse sample,
photograph the 3rd scarf sample for its indie pattern, (if it gets cloudy later, about 5 pm)
color adjust those photos and print the new indie pattern,
and swatch for the black cashmere capelet sample.

Considering its supposed to hit 97 today, we'll see how much of that list gets done today. But first, I gotta finish my coffee and pick whatever peas are out there, and cook them to go with hubby's lunch which he takes to work.

Took apart and cleaned the 10' x 16' family room carpet yesterday. Today, I took apart and cleaned the 7' x 11' shipping and storage room carpet. During the week, I need to do the 7' x 11' computer/printer/file room carpet - maybe tomorrow, maybe not. Am pretty pooped and heading into my estrogen withdrawal week (aka low energy week, aka don't do anything too strenuous week!) - oh fun.

But I also gave Pickles a bath, who recovered from the trauma! bundled under a cotton chenille afghan, napping. He so doesn't like baths, but he so needed one!

I'm worked a bit on the crochet scarf sample, while hubby weed whacked and mowe, then vacuumed these 2 rooms, put my stuff back into my shipping room, folded laundry, vacuumed the basement stair runner and ran with the dog through the rear lawn, for a little exercise. Yes, pooped!

It was such a nice weekend, temperature and humidity-level wise. Rare, indeed. Both of us were sorely tempted to put a blanket out on the rear lawn and take a nap! But we played hookey last Sunday afternoon. Can't do it every Sunday, too much work to do.

Sweetie cooked dinner, and now to watch some Midsommer Murders on the BIo channel and knit on the cashmere under-vest.

We saw an ad a week ago for a new carpet cleaning machine called a DUO, by Hoover. It's compact, but no-one had it. Hubby didn't tell me when he got home last night, that he finally found the thing at the Best Buy in Poughkeepsie.

I've been dying to clean these carpets, but renting a machine is a pain in the butt. They're big and heavy and ya gotta get everything cleaned quickly so you can return the machine. I need to do 3 carpets, 2, 5' x 8' wool area rugs, a hall stair runner, 1 sofa and 3 chairs. There's also a very large (9' x 11' or so) wool braided rug I got at a yard sale (for $5 no less!) many years ago, that needs a cleaning before it can be used - but none of the local and not so local dry cleaners take braided rugs, so there's that, as well. There's no way I could get it all done in one weekend.

It doesn't take much to thrill me, obviously!

Other than that, I have booklets to print this weekend, that scarf sample to finish, again. I did it once, ran out of yarn, as I thought I would, ripped it out and began again, sans the beg and end sc rows. I'll do a different edge treatment along the long sides of the scarf. I really want to keep this design to 2 hanks of cashmere. The 3 hank DKC design is not within many knitters' budgets, hence my having gone crazy to search out a wool alternative.

Well, hubby's gone off to do the errands and grocery shopping, so I gotta go pick whatever peas and zucchini are in the garden and start clearing out the family room, and give it a good vacuuming, so that I can clean it.

Took some photos of a new crochet scarf and pin design, but am needing new batteries. The rechargeable ones I had died recently and we only had partly used regular (alkaline) batteries hanging around. No-one sells rechargeables though around here, last place to try is Radio Shack.

So, I've been color adjusting photos and just wound 2 more hanks to make another scarf sample, as I want to be absolutely sure of the quantity of cashmere needed. This scarf and pin design *should* only need 2 hanks, and the kit will have the beads and a small crochet hook. Though I need to find some small-eyed tapestry needles or "The Big Eye Needle" which is supposed to be great for threading beads onto yarn, and is the ndl that Lily Chin uses.

I had some sharp crewel ndls left over from some cross stitch kits I made, many eons ago, and the yarn can be threaded into the eye and still fit through the beads for scooping them up. I'd still prefer to get The Big Eye Needles and enclose them in the kits. Ah yes, I just looked in the catalog where I got some pin backs and indeed they have quantity amounts of The Big Eye Needle - trés bon.

The undervest is coming along - about 6" of the entire body done. Very downy, heavenly to knit.

Printed the Curvaceous Cables book, as it exists so far, to proof it as I go. It'll all go off to the editor when done, but I don't want to give her *tons* to correct needlessly!

The weekend's almost here - how I *so* look forward to having my husband around for 2 days! and hate it when the weekend ends.

endless iced tea
2 kids (well, 18 is still a kid in my mind) are working on sanding the back of the house today, so I've brewed a gallon of iced tea this morning for them later. I've made many gallons already, as 2 guys go through a gallon every day they're here and they've been here 6 days total already.

We tried putting out the store-bought kind, as well as jugs of ice water (store-bought - all our drinking water is store-bought), but they hardly touch it. This is whatcha get for spoiling people with a special treat - they come to expect it! Boy am I familiar with *this*. Seen it many times before. Now there *are* days I simply haven't the time to make myself a decent meal, never mind brew iced tea, but a guy sees a woman at home and thinks "has nothing to do".

I don't even drink the stuff much - I drink a half gallon of water of every day. If *I* knew I'd be working all day out in the heat, guess what I'd be smart enough to bring with me - a cooler filled with cold drinks. Men.

something's in my garden...
Just spent an hour watering the garden, after hubby reprimed the pump again. Something is getting in there and eating the carrot tops and the hollyhock leaves. Oh to have a video camera that could see at night! There's no holes in or under the fencing. The gate is unmovable by an animal (hubby designed it to be lifted off 2 hooks). It's gotta be something so small it can squeeze through the fencing.

Today has been printing day - back issues of the Gazette and catalogs - still not done. BUT at least it's not as humid today. Hot, but not humid, so life is bearable, at least for today!

I've also begun that cashmere undervest, as I sat in this chair by my computer all day and night to 9pm yesterday, and didn't feel like sitting here again so long today!

The laceweight is 400 yds/2 ozs, so doubled = 200 yds/2 oz or 100 yds/oz. This comes out to sport weight, but I'm using US 7's for a looser stockinette fabric that will easily stretch 20%. The cashmere's halo fills in nicely.

Once the natural white sample is done, I'll do one in Mushroom (once I get more yarn to dye!), which is comparable to a beige, and so, will be wearable under almost anything. The kits will be available in black, as well, for those that need a black undergarment.

I may also do more fun colors as well as the traditional undergarment colors. So, Email me if you'd like other colors.

I keep watching the Hollyhocks to see when they're gonna open. Not yet. The pea vines are beginning to die - too soon, but no wonder with this ridiculous heat. And lettuce - ha - not much *this* year.

Well, this behemoth of a printer is heating up this room, so I gotta get back to printing so I can then put the thing to sleep.

Cutest Little Doggies!

The other day I was wandering the web looking for other sources of cashmere, and came upon this site.

They didn't have cashmere yarn, but have the absolutely cutest Bolognese dogs!

Now, many women seem to be cat people, and many knitting bloggers show endless photos of their cats. I am NOT a cat person. I always have been a dog person. We had a cat and I loved her, but my natural inclination is towards cute, soft, cuddly dogs, particularly those that DO NOT shed. Hence, our Pickles, a 40 lb senior terrier mix which we found at the local shelter, when he was about 6 months old, who looks like a sheepdog when his hair gets long.

That's one thing I have very low tolerance for (as I like/want/need a clean house) - no cat hair, no dog hair floating around, stuck to chairs, sofas, carpets, requiring constant cleaning just so one can live in the same environs as them - yuck, and no thank you. It's really gross when I see cats on the countertops - paleese.

The Animals in My Life

We had a German Shepherd/Wolf mix dog, when I was a teen, 135 lbs, sweet as honey, looked far scarier than he was, we loved him to death, but the fur - the endless clumps of fur - it was a constant chore cleaning it up.

We also had a white miniature poodle at the same time. The poodle was with us from when I was little. He was a stud puppy, a pure breed kept in a cage the first year of life. Mom knew the lady who had the kennel and she brought him home one day - couldn't have cost much, if anything - we had no money to buy dogs, certainly. So, the poodle (Goody - short for "A Wee Bit of Goodness", his proper name) was much older when Dad brought home Bo (short for Beauregard - what a name for a dog!), as his owners worked all the time and kept him tied up in the kitchen all day into the night.

We're all soft-hearted people in this family, going around rescuing mistreated animals. We had to feed him vitamins and brewer's yeast in his food every day to get him healthy - he was underweight when we got him, but such a sweetie, how anyone could own a dog only to keep him tied up, I'll never understand, just as I don't understand the idiots that let their dogs loose to wander the streets or keep them chained up outside to bark all day while the owner's are gone at work.

Goody put Bo in his place the first day Bo came into the house (well, apartment, at that time). That little 10 lb dog made BO know that he was top dog and the 135 lb Bo obliged! It was funny to see. Mom would bring Goody to get bathed and trimmed and prettied up, as Poodles usually are, and he'd invariably find some dirty puddle to get into to get himself *back to normal*. Guess he didn't like looking and smelling prissy!

So, I may not post many photos of Pickles, as other bloggers do with their pets (though there are pics in the archives), but it doesn't mean he isn't an important member of our family! Quite the opposite.

Book and Design Work

As I did little book work over the weekend, I spent much of the day and evening finishing the laptop tote's crocheted body and writing up the pattern. All the cable designs have text and color charts in the book (and in my indie patterns, as well).

And today, more work continues on it. I also need to finish up some projects and start another crochet scarf sample. Photograph one of the samples, then take it apart, as I need the yarn for something else.

With wool, I wouldn't do this, but this is cashmere. I've designed a crochet capelet. First sample was in Peace Fleece Worsted, in 3 colors. The last time I ordered cashmere I ordered 2 hanks in black, but as I looked at this capelet, I could see it as an evening capelet, for a fancy night out - in black cashmere and beaded.

Naturally I need 5 hanks to do it, have 2, and most of a 3rd in a ball and 2 went into this scarf sample. Either I wait until I can afford more yarn, holding off getting this design published, or I take apart the scarf sample. Waiting could mean weeks or months - summer is never hopping sales-wise. But just today a knitter ordered an out of stock color in my Double Knot Cashmere Scarf kit, and she wants to wait for that color, not substitute another color. A few more such orders, that I can actually process, and I can spring for more yarn.

I've also been working on a simple under t-shirt. Not a camisole, more like a snug t-shirt for under blouses, sweaters, etc, for the winter, in doubled laceweight cashmere. According to my calculations, my size would only need 2 hanks! 4 ozs. Imagine that!

A softer than anything undergarment that can be worn by an executive under a silk blouse with a $600 suit or by a woman living a country life, under a flannel shirt with jeans. Either woman would feel more feminine, as well as warmer, once winter hits. And it would cost less than my Double Knot Cable Scarf kits!

Lots to do, gotta get to doing it!

Took it slow this past weekend. Wasn't in the mood to sit in front of the computer to work on the book, though I did some on Saturday. Yesterday, as with every Sunday, is Murder Mystery Day! The History channel (correction - the Bio channel!) plays Poirot, Midsommer and Morse murder mysteries and I LOVE them! So, hubby, also playing hooky from the *endless* work around here, and I plopped on the couch to watch TV. I did, however work on the crocheted part of the bag design for the book. I can *never* watch tv and do nothing with my hands. So, I got the bag body part mostly done.

Other than that, it's hot and disgustingly humid here and I don't dare turn on the AC until evening comes - who can afford running up a summer electric bill after the horrible oil bills of the winter? not I. And it's supposed to hit $3 a gallon of oil come winter - for us, that's an *extra* $150 every 3 weeks - or in total about $450 every 3 weeks, and we don't heat the entirety of this huge house, never did. We close off 6 rooms. That's not counting what hubby has to spend traveling an hour each way to work every day, which, surely will cost more then too. We gotta get this place done and sold. We don't earn nearly enough to keep up with these costs.

On happier fronts, 5 of the Hollyhock plants in the bed I blogged about previously actually have flower buds on them!! This is their first year, and I though they are single (old-fashioned Hollyhocks), I didn't think I got the seed planted early enough - it's to cold here in April to plant anything. I was *hoping*, but was prepared for no flowers. So, I can't wait til they shoot up and then I'll have something pretty to photograph and put here! Once the house is painted, I'll post photos as well. This is a great old house and it SO needed to be painted to show off its beauty. I hate when Greek Revivals are painted all white - all the trim gets lost, and there is nice trim. Not elaborate like Victorians, but instead, balanced, calming, simply accentuating, not screaming "look at me", and yet, when colored right, one can't help but look at it.

Well, work awaits, and laundry, and vacuuming and all those boring housework things! And I better go pick sme peas and zucchini before I melt from the heat.....

3:30 pm
94 degrees today, last time I looked and humid, always humid! And I dyed 6 more hanks in Lavender. I was aiming for Lavender yesterday, but it came out too dark - so it will be called Voilet. I guesstimated that 25% less of each of the 2 dye colors should give me the right color depth and indeed, it did.

So, although I've dyed up nearly all the yarn I *just* bought, I have NO more pinks available yet, but I do have more Lavender and 2 new colors - the Violet and a color I'm not sure whether to call Lilac or Periwinkle. It's a blue-purple, not true blue, not very purple. I've been googling for flower images of periwinkle and violets as well as looking in my gardening catalogs for pics, but am still unsure. I'm leaning to Periwinkle, yes Periwinkle.

7:10 pm
I have just gotten them listed in the cart with photo on my Garden Yarns page.



I've been asked a few times about offering my yarns separately, not just in kits.

These are small batches, about 6 or 7, 4 oz wool hanks and up to 18, 2-oz hanks of cashmere. By weight, I can dye more cashmere, as it sinks into the HUGE dyepot much better than the soft wool does. The soft wool is VERY lofty and floats, so I can't dye as many wool hanks as the pot can hold.

I aim for perfectly even color, but hand-dyeing doesn't quite allow that. It tends to be lightly varying in color within the hank.

I also want to get B&L's Tuffy in to dye, as well as another all wool, closer to worsted wt yarn, that is rougher than this merino-soft wool, but would be nice for arans or other sturdier knits. But can't do any of it until cash flow improves.

SO, the BIG question of the day is: Would you be interested in indie skeins of my hand-dyed Garden Yarns - either cashmere or the soft wool?

You can email me privately if you don't wish to leave a comment here on the blog .

Too pooped for words. Just spent 6 hours dyeing 2 batches of wool yarn, 6 hanks each, in an 80 degree kitchen over 6 gallons of simmering water! I also spent an hour in the hot sun this morning watering the veggie garden and have cleaned up the kitchen and put everything back into its' proper place.

I'm trying some new dyes. The ones I were using were very expensive and the colors didn't always come out well. The new dyes, though, aren't exact color matches, so yesterday, I dyed 2 sample hanks, fiddling with quantities, etc to try and get the colors I have been using.

The new Lavender batch is deeper than the old Lavender, but still nice, and I dyed a batch of a new color - Lilac. The new dyes don't have a Mushroom, which I need, but I do have a jar of Logwood, which is a deep rich brown, so I'll probably start with a 1/10 concentration, as Mushroom is a soft color.

Well, that's it for today, I'm afraid. More work yet to do. I have to take photos of some of the less perfect wool hanks and get them onto my Sale page and the whole thing uploaded and emails sent out. They're not there yet, but bookmark the page, if you'd like to see what I've got.

Then, more crocheting to do, then to crawl into bed around 11:45 pm.

Another cooker today. After coffee I went out and picked peas and zucchini, but it's already far too hot and humid. I did remember to bring my camera, however, to get a shot of the round zucchini - see below:



I showered when I came in, but am already sweating again - no, not "dewy", "flushed" or any of those other silly expressions that minimize, feminize and de-emphasize the reality of this particular bodily function. Sweat is sweat.

I worked on the book text some more yesterday and will do more today. I also knit and blocked 2 more swatches for one of its 5 How-to chapters, and plotted out the last design - a tote. I had a length of a shaped cable edging in the works for a cardigan design, which is on hold until after the book is out. So, I snatched it and finished it for the tote edging. It turns out the edging can give a 12" and a 14" wide tote - which screams Laptop Tote!

I am still working out the details - particularly handling the weight of a laptop - my old G3 Wallstreet certainly is no lightweight! And as I don't want a felting project in the book, but still need a sturdy, non-stretching bag - I'm turning to crochet for that part of it.

I just bought Betty Barnden's "The Crochet Stitch Bible" at our new B&N. It wasn't at a discount in the sore, as it is online, but by the time you add shipping... and we were in Kingston anyway. I wished they had some Harmony Guides for crochet, as they're far less costly, but they only had a few for knitting and Amazing Threads was closed - must be on vacation, and who can blame them, hardly anyone is buying anything knitting-related at this time of year. There are several nice stitch patterns in the book that I will be trying today, instead of using plain old single crochet. So, well see. I can always go down a hook size to get the tight fabric it needs to have in order to also have a more appealing stitch pattern.

I picked some peas yesterday, as I do every day, but in the pouring rain, whilst holding an umbrella! Wacky, yes, oh but to be in the garden. It's so calming.

Some knitters say that knitting is calming. I don't find that to be so.

While I'm knitting, my brain can be going a mile a minute. But when I'm in the garden, picking veggies, weeding or watering, I am *more* engaged in my environment, than when I'm knitting (or when I was weaving, either). These activities can be done on auto-pilot. To get my head to shut up for 5 seconds, I need Nature, with a capital N. Nothing stops me like Nature.

So, on my way across the rear lawn, 2 mama and 2 new baby deer bound off into the woods, as do several bunnies, who, after 11 years, have finally come out of hiding and frequent the grass and weeds near the house, so I can barely take Pickles out for his business, as he goes wild when he sees them hopping off, but not out of sight! They go so far, then they stop, figuring that's a safe distance, but he can still see them. At least the deer go into the woods completely, so he'll calm down.

But upon opening the gate, I discover some critter has made it's way through the fencing and has dined on some of the carrot tops - the little bugger!

At night, 2 of the gazillion pond frogs have taken to hanging out on the kitchen entrance bluestone walk, but only at night, not during the day, so that when hubby comes home from work, he has to take care not to step on them, as they hop about as you walk near them. They have an acre-sized pond as well as 6 acres to hang out on, and the surrounding 30 acres to the right and 30 acres to the rear, but nooo!, they gotta hang right where you need to walk! Haven't seen the geese in a few days, but there's other ponds nearby they flit to for a change of scenery and greenery.

The zucchini have gone wild. The bushes were doing fine, but all this rain had made them HUGE very quickly and there's tons of flowers on the 16 plants, which means we'll be eating lots of zucchini very soon! Along with all the edible pod peas the vines are still putting out.

I planted the summer lettuce mix last week and they are just beginning to sprout.

I couldn't take a photo of the zukes in the rain yesterday, but it's nice today, so here it is. I put a foot ruler to show how large they've gotten:





I love under the plants as well, especially on a hot sunny day, it's like a shady respite:



And the Hollyhock bed:

Took the CIC sock photo anyway, then put the last 2 pair back to dry!



I put away my CIC yarn bits for now, as the WIPs (works in progress) are on the verge of becoming clutter, and I hate clutter. Projects that are on hold, for any number of reasons I bag up and put up on my shelves. I just can't stand to look at them sitting in a basket where I work. Visual clutter creates mental clutter. Keep the visuals organized and the mind can keep the reams of things it holds organized. At least that's my theory. And as I live in my head, I never lack for theories!

Oh where, oh where has my wool and cashmere gone? Oh where, oh where can they be?

I have a capelet or 2 that needs crocheting and yarn that needs dyeing - my wool kits are down to 2, count 'em, 2, on my shelves. But it's only 3:10 and UPS doesn't come around until 4, so hope is springing.

Will work on some of the book photos some more, until tea time. Then weigh the alpaca boucle I have and plot the next design - a knit capelet.

Finished pairs #11 and #12 for CIC yesterday. Should have a photo up in a day or so, as the last 2 pair are still wet. As the beads I ordered came in, I've been finishing up the beaded fringe on and another pin for the new crochet scarf design samples. Am still waiting on wool and cashmere to come in. Have much dyeing and more samples to work up.

Yesterday would have been an ideal day to stand over a hot steaming dye bath for a couple hours, as it was cool and rainy. Is the same today. Had to pull out the wool socks and sweaters again.

I'm finally getting out of the house this weekend - yippee! With hubby working much OT lately and then doing the mowing and weed wacking (which is considerable, around here) in his spare time, I haven't been out in weekssss. I can't remember the last time.

So, Staples for paper, Amazing Threads to see if they have a good crochet stitch dictionary I can get, and maybe a movie. We don't often go to the movies as they're just too damned loud these days. I end up bringing cotton to shove in my ears. No wonder my kids have to put the TV up way higher than we do, when they're here - they're deaf from going to the movies! In our day, it was rock concerts, tho I've only ever been to one, but despite all the ones hubby has been to, he still listens to the TV in the lower decibel range. Or maybe we'll just rent some movies, if we can even remember what's come out in the past year that we've said we'll wait to see! As you can see, entertainment is way down on our list of life priorities.

But I didn't grow up being entertained - there were 7 channels on the TV, which we could watch after homework was done, until dinner, then bath, then bedtime around 8 or so. And with 3 brothers and no sisters, there was a dearth of playmates, tho I played with them sometimes, if they let me. We were expected to entertain ourselves, as is right with children.

The boys played fort, and Matchbox cars and other fun things and I read. I had dolls, but never liked playing with dolls. Their toys were much more interesting - moving things like cars and trains on tracks. Building stuff like Lincoln Logs. Dolls couldn't have been more boring compared to what boys had to play with. Action stuff! Males were set up from the start to go out into the world - drive cars, build things, DO things. Girls were given motherhood. Sure I wanted to be a mother and I wanted to be pretty, but god, that's not ALL I wanted. I wanted to DO things. I had a brain too, but the hard boy / girl separation of the culture at that time (the 60's) was SO limiting.

So, I read, alot, and wrote poetry. I even used to enter my poems in those contests advertised in the paper and magazines, when I was, what, 12? Never won anything. Which was fine. I was gelling my ideas about the world, about nature, about life. But growing up in a 3rd floor walkup in Brooklyn, with nary a tree in sight - except at the park, what did I know of nature?! Nothing, except that I knew it was out there, and I knew I belonged there.

So, as soon as I could, after marrying young and having my children right away (14 months apart), I started *doing* things. Whatever I could squeeze into my time - quilting, sewing, crochet, cooking (tho my cooking during my first marriage was limited by his lack of culinary interest - whereas sweetheart / soulmate hubby and I both enjoy really cooking and baking). Later on, I took up spinning, natural dyeing, weaving, then finally knitting. All traditional *female* arts or *home* arts, but this too was vital to me - establishing a real feeling of home - in the Arts and Crafts Movement (Stickley, etal) sense - *making* one's home, not buying it, and expressing my creativity, or rather, at that point, discovering the parameters of what I was capable of, what I *could* really do, as I had spent so many young years not doing, only reading of what others did (I loved reading biographies as a kid!) I lived through others' adventures.

I was not truly creative then, as everything I did was from a pattern - a sewing pattern, a crochet pattern, cross stitch and rag rug hooking kits, etc. Not until I began designing knitting, did true creativity finally emerge, and I stopped being a crafter. It served a purpose, like all that came before it - building blocks for the psyche, for that inner person to come forth. It's been an evolution.

I always wonder about people that say their youth or teen years were the best years of their lives. To have peaked at a young age, had all their fun then, and be deprived of the struggle of becoming oneself, of *needing* to hope, to think ahead to the future. To have the *good* come too early, too soon, without having worked for it. Then the life hits and they are ill-prepared.

It's best when our youth is what it's supposed to be - trials, learning, hardships. These things hone and harden the coal that is our amorphous beginnings into the diamonds we can become. I never look back at any year and think that it was the best. Some were better than others, some I'd just as soon forget. But, I always look to the future and think how much better yet it can be, how much better yet *I* can be, all the while enjoying today and how good it has gotten.

Worked on a crochet capelet yesterday. Am working on the neck edging, front edges and lower edging, and writing up the pattern today. I'm never sure when I begin a design, if I'll actually like it and if it will actually work! I like this one and it does work, very nicely. I configured an easy way to shape the capelet, so that it curves around the shoulders and narrows to the neck, yet keeps to the color pattern.

This sample used in 3 colors of Peace Fleece - the natural white, Galooboy Blue and Mir-Atlantis Periwinkle.

As the design looks good in 2 colors, as well, I'll be doing another sample. Maybe not in Peace Fleece, maybe my handdyed wool or maybe the cashmere, after I determine how many hanks it would need in the cashmere. I think the Mushroom and Natural would be a subtle colorway. I played around with the lower edging on the swatch, and came up with a simple slip stitched, 3-pointed picot edging. And I'm thinking, in the cashmere, I would add beads to the edging and one of the small row reps that separate the larger fan stitch reps. Hmmm, maybe a black and white evening sample. I have beautiful iridescent black beads. It's the kind of design that can be casual or elegant, depending on the yarn and colors used, which is nice. I like when I can come up with a design which can suit many knitters' lifestyles and ages - versatile.

Now, once I get into a particular design idea, as in capelets, I have a hard time designing just one. I have plenty of Plymouth Yarn Alpaca Boucle
Plymouth Yarns Alpaca Boucle in a vibrant red/orange mix, and am thinking I'll double it and do a knit capelet. Fur and fur-like trimmings are *in*, and the boucle can give that appearance. Then I'll get one of their natural brown-ish tweedy colors and do a 2nd sample. Yes, ideas are gelling!

On other fronts, 10 pairs CIC socks done, but haven't begun #11 yet.

Our painter had food poisoning and couldn't show up yesterday - poor guy. Seems he had family to see on Sunday and that's where he got it. Looks like not everyone should be let loose in their kitchens! He won't be here all this week either, as he squeezed us inbetween another job he's doing and that's where he needs to be, which is fine, as it's supposed to rain all week, as it is now.
Back to pattern writing.

It's been such a nice weekend so far, not too hot, not rainy - what a treat! And quiet - oh how I love the quiet!

I've finished pair# 8 for CIC, pair # 9 is drying on the line and I'm on sock 2 of pair #10 - making progress. I've printed yesterday and today - Gazette back issues, catalogs, order forms, all the usual stuff, and have done a couple loads of laundry.

I've just picked peas off the vines and saw that the zucchini are beginning to flower! I planted a summer lettuce mix the other day and will need to water that patch tomorrow as rain isn't due til Tuesday, I think. The seed from the free carrot pack they sent is also doing well. I weeded yesterday and the day before, so the garden is neat looking. There's nothing like a well-tended garden. Too bad the remaining open acres are so weedy and the boundary acres so wild. Hubby keeps it all mowed and whacked (a couple day's work each week), but it's still country casual!

He's outside now sanding the house. The painter team was here yesterday after many rainy days, and is coming again tomorrow, and almost every dry day until it's all done! I've been setting out a 1/2 gallon pitcher of my homemade iced tea each time they're here, (as it's hot sweaty work they're doing), which they promptly finish. The young helper just loves it - says it's the best iced tea he's ever had, which pleases me, naturally!

Well, back to CIC sock knitting, whilst I watch the Poirot-a-thon on the Bio channel (love those murder mysteries!), and may start a shoulderette design later, or at least the swatch, so I can figure out the shaping. Was gonna work on the book today, but this month's hormones haven't kicked in yet, so the headache and stiff neck/shoulders from several nights' bad sleep are not conducive for a head bent typing workathon. It can wait a day or 2.
Obientot!

Didn't have much to write about yesterday. And today, I have weeding to do and household chores before I can get back to my designs. And as I am awaiting wool, cashmere and beads to come in, I am in semi-limbo with some current work, so I really should get back to working on the book.

We have nothing planned for this holiday weekend, except work - yard work as this week's endless rain has turned the lawns wild!, house-work, as in work on the house, and my design work, which knows none of the traditional parameters of work vs non-working hours - week, weekend nor holiday!

Time's a wastin', so I better get started. Hope you all have a safe holiday weekend!