Gardening post

I am still knitting, I swear it. I'm working on a sock I started a while ago, still finishing the "Olympic" shawl, and am working on the gauge for a new cami. It has been so hot and humid here lately that the yarn sticks to my fingers and I end up getting frustrated (when it's humid, my natural state is cranky).

The gobsmacking rains have been making my gardens happy, though. And, probably in another month or so, we'll have a long dry spell so I'll have something else to complain about. The following is a not-so-great picture of the boys' garden. I must have been breathing wrong or something, the other side of the garden is more interesting but the picture came out even worse than this, so this one will suffice for now. The garden plan is from Sharon Lovejoy's book Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots. This would be the Giant Garden and has giant pumpkins, birdhouse gourds climbing on the tent, scarlet runner beans covering the tunnel, and giant walking stick kale (on the other side). The pots in front have a cucumber and cranberry beans.



The veggie garden has three different varieties of tomatoes, basil, sage, dill, oregano, bush zucchini, jalapeno, borage, edamame, some other kind of pepper with a name that escapes me, two kinds of rosemary, and some flowers that were planted late. I am very much enamored with the borage flowers, next year I'm planting way more of that.



Borage flowers



The pictures of Chicky's Maze Garden (plan also from the same book) didn't do it justice so here's a cosmos that was blooming in it today instead:

End of school and more FO's

Dad and Jean left yesterday and you cannot tell that Elena kicked butt on the house at all. Chaos reigns supreme once more.

The great news is that I finished the blanket in time for the last day of school. The class was gathered to look at the blanket when the mother of the unborn baby it was being gifted to walked in the door. She joined the gathering and when she saw the blanket she said it was the first thing she was putting around the new baby. I decided to make it look more like a quilt (that's the tie part) because of all the different sized squares. It would have been almost impossible to make invisible seams.



Here is a felted box (Mason-Dixon Knitting, my friends) that I finished at 10:30 pm the night before it was being gifted. I am so pleased with the way it turned out, I'm making some for me. They're quick, lovely, and very addicting.



I totally enjoy getting my children's portfolios at the end of the year. This is Chicky's self-portrait.



She said some kids made fun of it, but I told her how much I liked it and that it reminds me of Lauren Child's illustrations (Clarice Bean). As a child, I had no idea how to draw; how to see and interpret what I was seeing. I love that about my children, they each have an interesting perspective when it comes to art.

Library bliss and warshrags

I love a solo library trip. BC (before children) I used to go to the library and hang out for at least an hour. Roaming. Browsing. Leaving with a pile of books for ME. Then, there was going to the library with small children. Visiting the children's section and getting what we needed quickly because they were more interested in pulling things off the shelves or running away from me in the non-fiction section. Now that they are older, there is much perusing and even using the computer to search by subject and finding what they want (I love that).

Nevertheless, today I really enjoyed going by myself. I got books for the children I teach, books for my children, and a book for myself. All within thirty minutes. Not that I'm about a race at the library, but I've finally figured out it's not worth it to check out more than one book for me at a time. I just don't have the time for reading like I used to do.

Here's some Mason-Dixon Knittin'. It's a warshrag, for those of y'all new to this here handknit item. I was havin' some severe flashbacks whilst I was aknittin' this one. I used to knit warshrags with my momma. She weren't much o' a knitter, mind, hers were supposed to be diamond shape but they weren't. But hell, it's just a warshrag, so there's no need to get all hep about it.



I made another'n too. Tain't as fancy as the first, but it'll clean a plate (and that the imporan' part)!

Time is a wastin' people!

Grandma and Grandpa will be here on Monday. Yep, that means cleaning and throwing shit in the attic and closets. My house has very little storage (very sad) and I typically use any available space for yarn storage. In order to not seem so pathetic, I've tidied the "yarn table" and my dear friend Elena came over and KICKED ASS on my living room, family room, art shelves, and Chicky's bedroom! The organizing gene skipped me, totally. I can throw things away, but when it comes to a cluttered room I tend to do stream-of-consciousness cleaning. I start in one room, carry something to another room to put it away and start cleaning there too, and then I have something to go somewhere else and, well, you get the picture. It's ugly. An hour into it and the whole house is torn apart and hopelessness sets in. So not pretty.

I still have to do my desk and catch up on the laundry and get my bedroom set up to be the "guest room." It's good I don't get the children back until Sunday morning. Chicky will be happy I'm bunking with her all week. That is like gravy to her.