So many hobbies!

Vacations and projects rock!

Man I love spending time with my family.  I had such a good time up north.  It was relaxing, I had time to work on several projects, spent time with my nephews and sister... it was all good.  Our cottage is on a lake so I got to see the lake in all her glory.  And, naturally, I forgot my camera.  I decided I need to put together a bag that I grab whenever I walk out the door that has some essentials that I don't want to leave the house without:  camera, journal, thumb drive, pens, double-stick tape, iPod, ear buds, calendar.  This means I'm going to need to buy a small camera that is easy to tuck into a pocket.  I'll give you an update later on how that's going.

 

I started Shawl that Jazz on Wednesday and I haven't been able to put it down.  I've got about 10 inches of it knit already.  The yarn I dyed myself the week before and I'm almost done with the first skein.  If it looks like I'm not going to have enough to knit the border, I plan on dying a third skein in just brown and black.  I'm really enjoying this pattern.  It's pretty clever.  She uses short rows to shape the shawl and once the body is completed, you pick up those inactive stiches and knit the border.  It's pretty cool.

When I was able to put the shawl down, I did some bead embroidery for the first time in months and months.  I was able to complete the beading on one piece that I'd been stalled on since the last time I beaded:

 

Sorry about the glare; I waited too long to take the picture and had to use the flash.  Eventually, this will be sewn to a backing, some kind of fringe will be attached and a cord and the necklace will be sold (hopefully) on Etsy.  I also started a new piece that's not complete yet:

 

The cabochon at the top is turquoise from China (I love ebay!) and the bottom piece is a piece of shell I picked up off the beach on Sanibel Island.  My mom wondered why I'd pick up broken shells but these pieces are too beautiful not to save.  This picture is really crappy.  I'll post it again once I've finished the beading.

Gotta go to bed.  I'll tell you more later.

I'm not dead

Hi, guys!  I'm not dead, I'm just on vacation.  I was planning on posting regularly but my parents' laptop is on the fritz so I'm at the library at the moment.  Anyway, I'm in northern Michigan at my parents' cottage and I'm having a great time.  I've worked on two beading projects, done a little spinning and I just cast on for Shawl that Jazz this morning... after helping Dad stack wood for the winter. 

The spring/summer canning season has opened with a bang.  So far I've picked about 13 lbs. of strawberries and 6 lbs. of rhubarb and made 2.5 batches of strawberry jam, 1 batch of strawberry-rhubarb and 3.5 batches of strawberry-rhubarb sauce.  It's been so cold her the strawberry season has been late so I'm hoping when I get home this coming weekend I'll still be able to pick more strawberries and rhubarb for more jam and sauce.  Next will be cherries, both sweet and sour, and the little chest freezer my brother gave me will start filling up.

I'll try and post again before the weekend.  Have a good one everyone.

Strawberry day

The first picking of the season!  I took the day off from work and my girlfriends and I drove to one of the local U-pick farms and, in total, picked 41lbs. of strawberries.  Then it was a well-deserved brunch and off to Katie's to start turning them into yummy things.  I made a batch of strawberry jam and Katie and Alice made a batch of Spreadable Fruit to split between the two of them.  I had such a great time today.  It was so nice to have girlfriends to share one of my loves with.  Tomorrow after work, I'll stop at another local U-pick farm to pick 6 or 7lbs. of rhubarb that I'll turn into a couple batches of strawberry-rhubarb jam and a couple batches of strawberry-rhubarb sauce.  Mom likes to eat the sauce on toast in the morning and on ice cream at night.  Naturally, I forgot my camera or I'd post a pic of Alice and Katie with their berries.  Sorry.  I'm a bad blogger.

Nature rocks!

 

Starting seeds will never become commonplace for me.  It's the coolest damn thing to put these innocuous-looking morsels in the soil and a week later, seedlings push up from the dirt.  I was actually bouncing up and down I was so excited.  I'd say my neighbor thinks I'm nuts but she's known that for years now... mostly after the time she heard me sitting on my front porch giggling like a maniac at the thunderstorm going overhead. 

I caught this picture of Seli this morning.  She's a cave child and prefers to sleep under a blanket.

I've been thinking

Off and on I've been thinking of whether or not I should keep up my blog.  I've been dealing with some personal issues lately and I feel sometimes like I haven't been keeping up my side of the blogging bargin.  I feel like I've been boring and not very productive.  Not productive = no blog fodder = boring blog.   But when I think of the friends I now have because of my blog, I know I'd miss all of you too much if I gave it up.  So I'll keep blogging for a while longer and I thank all of you for your friendship.  It means more to me than you know.

I have a new toy:  an Ann Grout spindle.

 

It's a bottom-whorl spindle with a ceramic whorl.  It spins like a dream and for a nice long time.  My only complaint is I really could use a notch on the side to run the singles through but other than that, I love it.  It's very different from my other spindles. 

 

I'm spinning some gorgeous Polwarth that I'm in love with.  My singles are a little too fine for the weight of this spindle but I'm enjoying it too much to switch to another one.

(Hey, Yen, Ann Grout is a potter at State College, PA.  We should go visit her the next time I come to visit.)

Novels: the ultimate time suck

I found a new author I like:  Sherrilyn Kenyon.  Her books are found in the romance section at the bookstore but they're far more action than romance.  Yes, there's a smooch or two but there's actual plot (shocker) and lots of good action.  I picked up the novel "Acheron" Friday and I can't seem to put it down.  In spite of way too much reading, I still managed to cross a couple of things off my To-do list.

I was commissioned to make a spindle box:

 

She liked purple and green so I put the purple on the outside and the green on the inside:

 

I was hoping to start a beaded necklace this weekend to go with one of my new shirts but between the book and the box, I haven't even started picking out beads.  Oh, hey, I finally got my garden in.  I'm a bit late in planting but the weather's been so cold here in Michigan the last couple of weeks it probably won't make a difference.  In addition to the tomatoes, zucchini, green beans and basil, I also bought thyme and rosemary.  The rosemary will have to come inside during the winter (it's not a winter-hardy perennial this far north) but I'm hoping the thyme will make it through the winter in its pot.  I'd show you the pots but they're not very exciting right now; mostly just dirt or dirt with tiny seedlings.  They'll be more exciting in a few weeks.

If it warms up, I'll be picking strawberries and rhubarb next weekend and making jam.  The season's been delayed because of the cold.  It'll give me something to look forward to next weekend.

A new home for my knitting

 

I asked the lovely and talented Val to make me one of her great box bags for my current sock-in-progress.  I absolutely love the citrus fabric!  The little zippered pouch was a special surprise for being her 10th customer on Etsy.  Thanks, Val!  Do you want a box bag of your very own?  Go here to get one.  She has lots of cute fabric and if you don't see something you like, email her and she'll send you a photo of the fabric she has in stock.  Did I mention I LOVE that citrus fabric?

Crippled without my iPod

I made it out of the house happily on time this morning, parked at the mall and I was halfway to the busstop when I realized I'd left my iPod at home.  <screeches to a halt>  There was no way I'd make it through the work day without my tunes.  Plus, I'd discovered a new artist I like (Steve Carlson) and I wanted to listen to the music I'd downloaded last night.  So, it was back to the car, drive home, grab the iPod, back to the mall and take a later bus.  Fortunately, my condo is only a half mile from the mall so instead of being 10 minutes early to work, I was on time. 

Oh, hey, how about a Ten on Tuesday!  These are my favorite can't-sit-still tunes.  It's absolutely impossible for me to listen to them and not move some part of my body - most the time just my head since I usually hear them at work but occasionally you can catch me dancing in my chair.  These songs all rock!  Enjoy!

1. "Poker Face" by Lady GaGa
2. "House Rules" by Kane
3. "Play that Funky Music" by Wild Cherry
4. "Callin' Baton Rouge" by Garth Brooks
5. "Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu" by Johnny Rivers
6. "I Shall Sing" by Art Garfunkel
7. "Godzilla" by Blue Oyster Cult
8. "Bad Moon Rising" by Creedence Clearwater Revival
9. "We Shall be Free" by Garth Brooks
10. "Bad Things" by Jace Everett