Argh!

As hard as I tried to avoid it, it seems it was inevitable. I've got poison ivy. Again. I had it a couple years ago, and it was awful. It's not too bad yet, but it is spreading. I went swimming this morning (today was opening day for our neighborhood pool) and that seemed to help a little; must have been the chlorine in the water. When I started itching again a couple hours later, I diluted a little bleach with water, and dabbed it on my itchy spots. I think I made it too strong. Wow, that hurt! I'll dilute it more for the next time. And I'm planning on going swimming again tomorrow, if I can manage that. Because we still have no fence. The guys were busy today, and didn't come. They'll be here first thing in the morning, so I'll miss out on a little of the work, while I take the girls to church. I'm hoping they'll have the doorframe put together and installed before we get home from church. That would be nice, but I'm not holding my breath.

Fortunately, I don't have any poison ivy on my hands, so I'm still able to knit. I'm just over halfway done with the blue "Posy Patch", and I've got my test knitters working on theirs. Once I get a little more feedback from them, I'll send the design proposal to Knit Picks. I really hope they like it. It was very disappointing last fall when my cardigan pattern was rejected by Knitty. I worked so hard on that design, and I love it so much. That rejection hurt, as rejections usually do. Naturally, I don't want to be disappointed again. But..."nothing ventured, nothing gained"...so on we go!

Busy, busy, busy

Well, here it is Friday again, and I haven't written since Sunday. Oops. Again. Well, I've been busy this week. I started on the blue "Posy Patch" to go with the pink one, and am about 1/3 done with it. It's such a quick knit. And easy enough that I was able to work on it while watching the series finale of the best show in the world: 24. I'm so sad 24 is over, but I think they ended it pretty well. I would have preferred (spoiler alert!) for Jack and Renee to live happily ever after, and for him to spend lots of time with Kim and her husband and daughter. But that sort of everything-will-be-great-from-now-on ending just wouldn't have worked for 24. I think that Jack-on-the-run-with-everybody-and-their-brother-after-him works much better. I can't wait for the movie. :)

I also worked on "Posy Patch" at the dentist's office; I had two appointments there this week, to get fillings. Ow. My last dentist was a quack; he always raved about how I had great teeth, and no cavities. So why did I suddenly have seven??? Anyway, they're filled now, and I'm so glad that's over for this year. The dentist's assistant seemed to think I was a little strange, because I was holding a skein of yarn in my hands and squeezing and petting it while the dentist was drilling in my teeth. But it helped keep me relaxed, so I don't care if she did think I was weird.

♥

I did a little brush-clearing and stump-sawing and raking each day, and now the fenceline at the back of our yard looks terrific. All ready for a fence. Kerry should be here tomorrow morning to help us build it...which reminds me I need to call him to make sure of that. I got tired of chasing cows out of the yard; I actually chased out five one afternoon....so I dug out some bright orange Caron Simply Soft, and strung it across the posts. And it worked! Apparently the cows aren't smart enough to tell the difference between yarn and barbed wire. And I'm glad I finally found a use for that ugly acrylic yarn! I don't know what I was thinking when I bought it.

♥

And today I decided to tackle my mending basket. I hemmed two pairs of shorts, repaired four rips, and sewed on one button. I still have a silk shirt that needs the sleeves hemmed, but I don't feel like doing that one today. I still have a bunch of cleaning up to do today. I don't want Kerry to think we're a bunch of slobs when he comes tomorrow...

"Posy Patch" one down, one to go.

I finished the pink blanket I was working on! I'll be casting on soon for the blue one to match. I hope my friend likes them. I hope Knit Picks likes them.
This was a fun, easy, quick knit. It turned out exactly how I had pictured it in my mind. I love when that happens. And I know I said it before, but I love Knit Picks Swish DK. This yarn is so soft and comfy. And I discovered when I soaked and blocked it, that it blooms beautifully.

♥

In other news, we have to wait another week for a fence. Ugh. Oh, well. What's one more week of chasing cows out of the yard? And now I'm going to go watch Terminator movies, and cast on for another "Posy Patch". ☺

Like my new look?

I made a new avatar; thought it was time for a new look. In reality, I'm letting my hair grow again, after keeping it short for a year. I'd been keeping it short because I got tired of dyeing it, and wanted to let the "fried" part of my hair grow out and get cut off; it was looking pretty bad last year. Now all of that is grown out, and I've got quite a few silver hairs mixed in with my natural brown. Not quite as much as in the avatar, and definitely not as noticeable, but it's there, and I actually like it!

I also made a new one for my daughter Angel, for her to use on next-school-year's-blog, if she likes it. It looks a lot like her. She's grown a lot this year. She's built like my sisters: tall and slim. She's going to be a heartbreaker in a few years, but for now, she's just a beautiful little girl.

I know, this is just silliness, and has nothing to do with knitting. Nothing to do with anything, really, other than avatars. But anyway, it's fun. If you'd like to make your own avatars, here's the site that lets you build them:

http://www.lunaii-dollmaker.com/dollmaker/

A sneak peek...

Here's a little sneak peek at the baby blanket I'm making right now. It's name is "Posy Patch", thanks to one of my knitting friends. They're great at coming up with names for my patterns!

I love the way this yarn is working up. It's so soft! And the stitch definition is terrific. I'm getting 6 stitches per inch on size 6 needles, which means this will probably end up just a bit smaller than 28 inches square, before blocking. Perfect size for a little baby. ☺

♥

It turns out my suspicion was correct; I'm definitely going to need more yarn. I'm less than halfway done, but I've used most of the third skein of yarn already. So I'm going to need at least one more skein than I originally thought, probably two. I'll wait until I'm precisely halfway, before placing my order.

A new project.

Well, I went to the chiropractor yesterday, but I am still in pain. Phooey. But it's raining today anyway, so it's not like I could work in the yard even if my back felt fine. I'm spending the day in my knitting chair, alternating heating pad, ice pack, and back massager. And knitting! I cast on a new project last night, and have already almost finished the first skein of yarn. Granted, they're small skeins, only 123 yards in each skein, but still. A whole lot of knitting going on. I haven't taken any pictures yet of this new project, but I will after I get a few more inches done on it. Right now, it's still too scrunched on the needles to get a good picture. So for now, you'll just have to imagine: soft pink superwash dk wool, being knit in alternating blocks of lace and stockinette stitch.
I am in love with this yarn. I'd never tried it before, but had heard great things about it. It's Knit Picks Swish DK, in the color "Petal". It's perfect for this baby blanket I'm making with it. I just hope I have enough. I bought 5 skeins. I'm thinking I should have bought 6 or 7. But I'll wait and see when I get about halfway through, whether I'll need to order more. Of course, the challenge then will be trying to get more in the same dyelot. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. And then, if I do need to order more, I'll order the same amount more in the blue that I got with the pink. I'm making two blankets, with the same design, one pink and one blue. I hope I have enough already.
Ok, enough rambling. Back to knitting.

A wasted day

I fully intended to do yard work today. I made a to-do-list, and planned to do everything on it. Five minutes after I made my list, my rib slipped out of place. And my chiropractor isn't open today. So I am in intense pain today. I spent the day on the couch, in bed, and in my knitting chair. But not knitting. That would require moving my arms too much. I can't breathe deeply without pain. I can't turn my head without pain. So naturally, I didn't get any raking done. I wanted to do it; it just wasn't gonna happen. Hoping the chiropractor can fix me up tomorrow, so I can get back to work.

Demolition :)

Remember I mentioned my to-do list yesterday? And that ripping pickets off the back fence was on the list? Well, hubby surprised me by coming home from work early, so we got started on the project. ☺

Here's a before shot of the fence. It's served as the backdrop for many of the pictures I've posted here on my blog. Say goodbye to the old fence.

Here's hubby, ripping off pickets:

He preferred the pry-them-off approach.

And here's me, ripping off pickets:

I went with the pound-them-from-the-back-with-the-hammer-until-they-fall-down approach. Both methods worked well. (Yes, I know my pants are too tight. I'm working on that.)

And here's what the fence looks like now:

...except for the pile of pickets on the ground. I took care of that after I took the picture.

Moo.

Yard work and house work and knitting, oh my!

Oops...once again, it's been a while. I need to get back into the habit of writing. I don't like this writing once or twice a month stuff. And yet, I keep doing it. Oh, well.

♥

Anyway, we did more outdoors work this past weekend. Most of the window trim on the back of our house was rotten and/or bug-eaten. It had gotten to the point that it needed to be replaced ASAP, or the rot would have started to get into the framing of the house, which would be really expensive to fix. So we hired our new friend Kerry to come and replace all of the rotten trim, and Hubby and I worked alongside him, learning as we went. Then Kerry's employee John painted the whole back of the house, and all the trim around the whole house(the front and sides of the house are brick). My house looks so good now! Well, on the outside, anyway. I need to do some serious cleaning and de-cluttering(as my mom calls it) inside. Maybe I'll do some of that today.

♥

We also did a bunch more yard work while Kerry and John worked. Hubby went behind our back fence, into the poison-ivy-overrun pasture, and cut down all the trees and vines behind the fence. I can see the sky behind my fence now! I am so happy about that. And he sprayed some "vegetation-killer" on everything that was growing back there. It's pretty strong stuff; the fumes were giving me a headache, and I was next-door talking to the neighbors when he did it. Hopefully it'll kill all the poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac; we've been assured all three are back there. Inside the yard, I did more trimming, and raking. Hubby cut out the roots of the bushes and trees I had cut down, so we'll be able to plant grass in those spots.

♥

I'm not really much of a gardener, but I'm making a valiant attempt this year. I'm doing a container garden on the deck right now, and I might move some of the plants to prepared ground if I think it's necessary later. Here's a pic of my baby tomato plants; I just transplanted them to these containers, and I'm hoping they survive the shock.

In the largest container in this picture are pumpkin plants, and the little one to the right of that has zucchini.

In this last picture are my bean plants. I love fresh green beans! I also just transplanted these ones; I had about 15 plants in one pot. I picked the best 10, and split them between two pots. The ones in the right-hand pot have perked up some since I took this picture on Saturday, thank goodness.

The next thing on the to-do list is to burn all the brush; once again we have piles. We won't be able to work on that today; it's supposed to be windy. Safety first. But another thing on my to-do list is to pull all the pickets off the back fence. We're going to redo it, as inexpensively as we can, which means leaving the posts and some of the supports that are already there, as long as they're level and square. We're also going to make it about half the height that it is now, to take advantage of the great view of the pasture, now that all those trees and vines are gone.

♥

In knitting news, I've made a bunch of squares. ☺ And I'm working on more. I also got yarn to make baby blankets for a friend of mine who is having twins. I'm going to make a pink and a blue blanket, both with the same pattern. I'm designing the pattern, and I'm going to submit it to Knit Picks, for their Independent Designer Program. I'll be using Knit Picks Swish DK yarn, which, I've been told, is a lovely, soft superwash wool. It definitely feels soft in-the-skein; I can't wait to get it knitted up.

♥

And I have a new favorite yarn: "I Love This Cotton" from Hobby Lobby. I got some for making squares, and now I'm wondering why I waited so long to try out this lovely yarn! It's incredibly soft in-the-skein, and even softer in the knitted fabric. It has great stitch definition. It's a much smoother, softer cotton than the "Peaches and Cream" that Walmart sells, or the "Sugar and Cream" that Hobby Lobby sells. And the price isn't much higher than that of those yarns. If you haven't worked with this yarn yet, go get some. You will love it, too.