Holly Marie Knits: Everyday Life

Memorial Day 2010. We did a lot of outdoor work that day, mainly gardening. Here the ground is getting tilled up. Doesn't that dirt look wonderful? For the last few years we have not been able to have gardens, for various reasons. Last year we were living in town and we had a small garden. So it has been a treat to have such a big plot to work with. Actually we could have used more room! We have/or will have, corn, tomatoes, zuchinni, beans, rasberries, strawberries, peppers, lettuce of various kinds, pumpkins, acorn & butternut squash, and herbs. It seems as if I forgot something....but maybe it will come to me later.

We had overcast weather most of the day which ended up being perfect for gardening. It was warm, but not unbearably hot. Nor was it too cool. But the clouds started looking quite ominous and after a while the rain drove us indoors.

We have a big long strip of earth tilled up down in our ditch. The plan was to put annuals there that would grow tall and beautiful. So last week we planted a variety of annuals, Cosmos, zinnias (2 types) painted daisy, straw flowers.... On memorial day I checked on them and they were just popping through the ground. Of course, leave it to me to plant a tremendously long strip of ground where the hose won't reach. And the watering can has sprouted a leak. So I made 26 trips with an ice cream pail to water them. I haven't watered them since, we have had enough rain off and on. But I probably should give them another splash or two this week.

The mulberry tree is showing promises of a good crop. Hopefully they will get to a good size this year.

Oh and look what I found in the tree on my walk down in the field yesterday! We found the nest about a month ago. The mommy dove took great care of her nest, she was always there and even when we mowed under the pine she never budged. All her efforts paid off and she has two beautiful babies! They were so cute. It was hard to get a good photo of them, between not wanting to scare them and the wind. But they aparently have their Mother's disposition because they never moved a muscle, they simply sat and eyed me.

I know this is supposed to be a knitting blog but sometimes I simply have nothing new to show you. My tendency has been to make about 4 of one thing lately, and you certainly don't want to see all those repeats in different colorways!

But this here is someting new, my vest/tunic. The pattern is from Knitting Noro. Project #3. I have forgotten the name and don't have the book handy right now.

I am not using Noro yarn, just Patons classic wool again. I was recently buying sheepy colors and saw all these geat new colors. This one practically jumped off the shelf into my hands. I took it home having know idea what to make with it. But I am finding that it works beautifully for this Noro tunic. I REALLY like this pattern. The chevron is made up of only 2 rows and it goes so fast. I did 7 1/2 inches one day, and 7 inches the next. So you are seeing only 2 days worth of knitting off and on. See what I mean? It's a fast pattern. At least so far. We'll see what happens when I come to the armhole shaping. However I am not anticipating too much trouble with it.

I on'y purchased one skein though so I shall have to head back to the store.

I don't think I have ever put up any pics of the felted sheep I have been making lately. Here is my fourth sheep. Clearly he is missing some things that are vital to looking sheep-ish. But actually he is complete, as of the other day and I intended to full him today. I am kind of torn between the words "felt" and "full" as they both have different meanings. Although many people use the two terms interchangeably. Traditionally felting is something you do with fiber, not yarn. And fulling is the process of shrinking things things that have been made out yarn. Sorry that was such a rather brief explanation. I always want to write 'full", but some people don't have a clue what "full" means. However I will just write "full" and it will be a lovely learning experience.

Look at these DELIGHTFUL stitch markers! This was part of my birthday gift as well, and they are such fun to use. I have one marking the tail placement on sheep in the above picture.

I also had to show you a close-up of the knitting needles my brother made. These are size US 10 1/2 birch straights. He sells them and will soon be selling them online! I'll put up a link when he has everything up and running.

My birthday shawl is progressing beautifully. Though what with working on sheep and my tunic I have not knit too much on my shawl this week. But we will remedy that over the weekend.