Can You Believe It??

Four days in Boston was wonderful. It was all dogs all the time. Everyone had a great time, and it was really nice to be able to hang out with the dogs for four straight days! Ace and Tucker ran agility. Ace got his Novice Jumpers title - we now move up to the next level! I only entered him one day as the crowds and noise can be a bit overwhelming and I didn't want him to have a bad experience.

It was a lot of fun. We got to also watch Deuce win the breed every day, and compete in Best in Show on Saturday. She didn't win, but was a close runner up!

I also managed to get in a bit of knitting. The knitting groove has been in full swing. I feel so much better and relaxed at night now that I have picked up the needles again. The Komi mittens from Mostly Mittens. This is pattern #25. I really love how they came out, especially the colors.

You will notice that the cuffs are a bit different. The first I did with a corrugated rib. I love it. The second I thought was a corrugated rib, but obviously I followed the directions a bit differently! I still love them. I tried to get some modeled shots, but at 5am, there was not much light or creativity going on. We are supposed to get a bunch of snow on Friday, so some weekend shots will be likely of the mittens in their natural habitat.

I'm still working on hubby's socks and am a few rows from the heel. I really hope they fit! My next project is already laid out. A mitten pattern I designed was accepted for publication in the Fall of 2009, so I have to get moving an knit up a pair and write out the pattern so it can be test knit. Pretty exciting!

Now with Knitting!

Believe it or not, knitting has been happening at a pretty good clip around here lately. It helped to have some motivation on Sunday when my sister and I trucked down to Sarah's and had a fun craft day. Her sister Jeanine got to do her talent as well - check it out!

Both Naomi and I were pretty sick of our hair - it was long and for me, just getting really annoying! I had Jeanine chop it off and give it a nice new winter color. Both ponytails are getting donated to Pantene Beautiful Lengths which is the same type of organization as Locks of Love, they just require only an 8 inch long ponytail, not 10. Hopefully my ponytail can make someone happy somewhere! I love my new cut - very easy and it feels about ten pounds lighter. She nailed the color - perfection! Thanks again Jeanine!

Like I said - there was some knitting going on also. I had finished the first mitten back in July, and with the cold weather here, I really needed to get cracking on the second one. I'm always amazed how fast these go - the rows of colorwork just seem to fly by!

This is after about 3 days of sporadicly working on it. I'm hoping to finish it very soon so I can wear them! They fit absolutely perfect. Colorwork is definitely my thing. My hands, even after all this time, just naturally fell into the rhythm and were pumping out the stitches.

I also cast on a new project - socks!

Get out the sunglasses - these are going to be bright! The pattern - Boyfriend Socks - I'll just rename them the Husband Socks....yep - these will be for hubby. He really loves all the socks I have knit him, he wears them constantly, and that makes me very happy. I have yet to make him any socks with cables, so these will be his first cable socks. He is working away in Atlanta for the winter (wave, wave - Hi sweetie!), so I am missing him terribly. I can't wait for Spring......

The pattern is pretty simple - the repeats are easy to memorize and I'm liking how the yarn is knitting up so far. No pooling and the color is just spectacular!

There may not be another post this week as Tucker, Ace and I are off to the Bay Colony Dog Show in Boston early, early Thursday morning for the weekend. Four days of doggie fun! I'll be taking plenty of pictures and video though.....

Halfway

It may have cooled down a bit this weekend, but still not quite cool enough for these yet.

One of the pair is now done! Because it has been a long, long while since I started them, to refresh the memory, these are Mostly Mittens Pattern #25 (Rav link). The yarns: Cherry Tree Hill in Slate and Tess Supersock and Baby in Gray. This one still needs a good soak, but I love how it turned out. It fits perfectly. Now, I just have to cast on for #2!

The garden grew by leaps and bounds this past week. We have had about 6" of rain so far this month, and it has been nice not to worry about things drying out too much. The tomatoes are taking off, especially the Romas.

This one is just about ripe. Another day or so and I'll be picking it! The plant is loaded with more. I've had to tie up all the branches so they don't sag to the ground. I'm also due to pick some eggplant and maybe broccoli this week!

This guy was hanging out on the deck in the container gardens all day on Saturday. Finally, I went inside and grabbed the camera. He let me get pretty close!

This week is looking pretty uneventful, but I am really looking forward to this weekend. I get to hang with some fun girls and do lots of crafty stuff!

A Bit of This and That

It has been hot as blazes around here lately - not good for knitting progress. But, I have been plugging away at my two projects.

My lunchtime/work project are the colorwork mittens. I am thoroughly enjoying knitting them and look forward to lunchtime when I venture up and out of my hole of an office (literally - I work two floors underground in a hospital!) and out into the warm sunshine. Colorwork for me is almost like "normal" knitting. It feels completely comfortable and easy.

I'm rapidly approaching the decreases for the top. Since there was no palm pattern with these mittens, so I'm just doing the same graphic pattern on the top and the palm. It's a pretty rhythmic pattern to knit, so when I do knit on it, it does go pretty fast. I slipped them on yesterday and they look like they are going to fit perfectly.

My at home larger project is the Phyllo pullover. The rounds are long, but I know decreases are in sight. I'm just glad I can finally knit a pattern rather than plain stockinette!

With the 11 stitch repeat all the way around, it also makes for a nice rhythmic knit. The repeats are very easy to memorize, so I really only have to look at the chart once every other round (every other round is plain knit).

So, little by little things are getting done. I don't have full blown knitting mojo back yet, but I am enjoying the knitting I am working on. With vacation coming up in August, I'm looking forward to picking out some socks and a book or two to bring with me!

A Bit O'The Green

Actually, a lot of green! CSA delivery #2!

(click through for all the particulars)

Tons of green goodies this week. A HUGE bunch of basil (we used some last night), more lettuce and some great scallions. Rumor is, next week carrots and blueberries!

With all the zucchini and summer squash we've been getting, I've been trying to look for some new ways to use it. This week, we made grilled vegetable soft tacos. They were pretty tasty!

A bit of shredded cheddar along with Portobello mushrooms and some grilled red onions - I could eat pounds of squash! The grilling really brings out the flavor. I also tossed them in olive oil and tons of fresh cilantro before grilling.

The garden is really taking off. Pretty much everything has flowers on it!

Everything from Brussel Sprouts to Snap Peas. I planted a few new things this year - cauliflower and brussel sprouts! They are doing really well.

The broccoli too, has really taken off.

Seems like the thunderstorms we've had over the past few nights have really helped! My biggest surprise though, is all the container gardens on the deck.

I have three pots like this, brimming full of plants with tons of flowers on them. Tomatoes, peppers, herbs and even more brussel sprouts inhabit them. I wasn't sure if they'd like being packed in there like that, but they seem to enjoy the company!

My biggest triumph, however, is this little guy.

A pepper! I grew this plant from seed. Of all the pepper plants I have, this one in the upside down soda bottle is doing the best. Biggest leaves, most flowers and it has three more teeny tiny peppers forming already. Next year, everyone is going in soda bottles! For some reason I have never been able to get a pepper to bear fruit for me before. I was skeptical this year also. But, I took a chance on the soda bottle thing and it's working like a charm! I'm not sure if is the insulative properties of it - making a mini-greenhouse for the plant, or what, but it is doing much better and is much bigger than the pepper plants from the same batch planted in a pot right next to the hanging bottles. Eventually these should be red sweet peppers. I can't wait!

Like I said - I have actually been knitting. I took the mitten out of hibernation and began the colorwork portion. I'm really liking it!

The colors are nice together, and provide a great subtle contrast. Both yarns (Cherry Tree Hill and Tess) are great to work with, per usual for them. I do love my colorwork!

And the Winner Is.......

Mostly Mittens Pattern 25!! (the one on the top right) Pattern 29 (lower left) came in a close second....I really like both patterns, and I'm glad I didn't have to decide!

I managed to cast on yesterday after a horrific experience trying to wind the yarn. I'm not sure if the yarn gods were just not wanting me to knit or what, but in winding the skein of Cherry Tree Hill, the whole thing got tangled coming off the swift onto the ball winder. I got through it and then in re-winding the ball (I always re-wind to make sure the ball isn't too tight) it became a huge tangled mess. Huge. Tangled. Mess. I worked on it for a bit, then hubby came in after hearing me get all exasperated and took over for another hour or so. The yarn is now in three pieces. One small ball, one that is about half the skein in a ball (it took me three hours yesterday to untangle it) and the rest of the skein is going to my sister this weekend to untangle. She is really good at it and actually enjoys it....

So, after a day of untangling yarn (I won't go into the story of how the middle of the hank of Tess gray yarn also was a tangled mess before I even started winding it) I finally cast on last night. I like the colors together so far, even with only about four rounds of the corrugated ribbing done.