Beans, beans the magical fruit.......

Well, it's been a while so I thought I'd better get back on here and let ya'll know what's been going on. First, our garden is starting to produce veggies! We picked seven and a half gallons of green beans:

Those seven and a half gallons turned into 17 quarts of canned green beans:

We also had a few tomatoes ripen too:

On the knitting front, I've just completed the Shetland Triangle shawl, who hasn't, huh?

This was knit in Malabrigo Silky Merino in Ankara Green. Measurements prior to blocking were

40 inches wide by 20.5 inches deep. I used the tig welding rods to block it and they were wonderful and much much cheaper than the actual blocking wire kit. I got them off of Ebay and they were here in 2 days by FedEx. Everything just fell into place. So ladies and gentleman, I give you the Shetland Triangle Shawl:

After blocking the measurements were 65 inches wide by 40 inches deep! I had heard everyone talk about the difference after lace is blocked, but you don't really have a handle on it until you experience it for yourself. Here are a few more pictures. (sorry about any that are blurry. I took some of them about 2:00 AM this morning....lol)

Until next time, just keep on knitting! And gardening!

Taking a Break( if you'd like to call it that!)

I can only handle lace knitting for short periods of time due to the tediousness (is that a word?) of it, thus I have to have something to keep me busy in the knitting realm.... so this time I decided to try a slouchy beret-type hat. This is the Columbia Beret, minus the bow topper. I didn't feel like it needed it at the time. It will be great to have a hat to wear this winter when it's really cold here in the mountains .

On the homefront, I had the "great" pleasure of "getting" to paint the whole front porch. It took me five days. Why so long? This would include painting the ceiling the posts and the floor. The thing that took the longest was the ceiling. Getting paint dripping in my eyes, my hair and just generally all over me. I'm glad I won't have to do this again for at least another 3-4 years.

The ceiling looks as if it's blue but it's more of an aqua/seafoam green color. I love it. Everything looks so much cleaner and so new looking. Ahhh, the wonders of a fresh coat of paint! Until next time! Take care!

Another Project on the Needles.....

This is a Bad Cat design called "Hydrangea". It's a very quick knit with most of the stitches being knit stitches. I'm using Jade Sapphire 2-ply Cashmere and Silk. The colorway is Pebble Beach. It's so soft and very easy to work with. I might have to invest in more of this if it turns out as good as it feels! It's 45% Mongolian Cashmere and 55% Silk. It's only going to take one skein of this yarn, since it has approx. 400 yards per skein. You get your moneys worth when you buy it. You could probably knit a decent sized shawl with two skeins. I hope it looks alot better once I block it.

The number one grandson, Kyler, was here last night and wore me out. I don't know how a 5 year old has so much energy! And he loves to hear himself talk too. I think that wore me out more than anything. But we had a great time playing outside and playing video games too. He is a sweet child though, and totally loves his Nana and Pop.

Well, I will continue to try and get this shawl complete so I can continue to work on the Woodland shawl ,or it really should be called a stole ,and get it done also.

I have another shawl I plan to work on, but have it on order and will have to wait till it gets here next week. Who knows, I might work on all three at once. I love having more than one project going, so if I get bored with one there's always another waiting to be worked on.

Till next time........

Woodland Stole pictures

Okay as promised here are a few pictures of the Woodland Stole I have been working on. It is being made out of 100% cashmere and feels "divine"!

Living in the "boonedocks" like I do, we have to go on a half-day trek to get to any "local" yarn and knitting shops. Below is a list of the ones we truly enjoy going too and spending the other half of the day wandering the shops and just having to feel every type of yarn. Even if you aren't planning on buying it, it's still fun to just "touch it". Ain't it? Tell the truth now!

So here are the three in the 100 mile radius of my house, unless I drove two and a half hours to Atlanta and who would want to fight all that traffic! That's taking your life in your own hands driving thru that city...lol!

The Twisted Skeins http://www.twistedskeins.com/

The Needle Tree http://www.theneedletree.com/

Yes Yarn http://www.yesyarn.com/

Twisted Skeins is reorganizing at the present time and are having a great sale on there yarns. Most are 30% off.

So far so good that the deer and rabbits have left my garden plants alone, but time will tell. I bought a repellent for the plants that supposedly keeps the deer, rabbits, groundhogs, dogs and cats, esentially any animal away from it. I was spraying the plants yesterday with it and a gust of wind blew the spray back onto me. Now I know it will even keeps humans away! yucccckkkk!
It smells like rotten eggs and sulphur combined. Just about made me gagg!

We did get the garden in on time though, it's suppose to rain for the next three or four days! Praise the Lord and hallelujah!....lol

Anyway, enough for now, I hope to hear any comments on what you might think of my blog "in the works". I am still very new to this and I'm making it up as I go or flying by the seat of my pants, which is very unlike my "anal" personality. I have to have things fairly neat and well organized. Like to have my day planned without any unexpected surprises! Ha! That'll be the day, but it could happen! Right?

Gardens are the rage this year....

With the economy in the tank and with the news scaring the begeezus out of everyone, I've noticed an old way of life becoming new again. I live in the country and during a drive back from the old Lowe's store today, I've noticed a huge amount of people have started gardens this year. It's amazing that the old has become new again. People have always had gardens but it seems there has been a vast increase in them this year!

We have joined the gardens craze too. So far, we have cucumbers, corn, green beans, butter beans, tomatoes, potatoes and cantelopes (yummm!). Now I just need to learn how to can and freeze all this stuff we'll have in a few months. There-in lyes the rub. I don't know much about either. So lots of internet searches and talking with older friends who are pros when it comes to this. (Pictures to follow)

In the knitting area of my life I think I need to actually finish something! I have started about 10-12 projects so far this year and have only completed a shoulder shawl. A very simple shoulder shawl, at that. I am working on the Woodland Stole right now and am determined to finish it and have it be my first decent sized lace project. I am knitting it in 100% cashmere in a beautiful aqua blue. (As usual. pictures to follow)

I plan on posting at least once a week so keep me in mind if you care to join me and my life. It may not be anything fancy but I enjoy it!