Over the Rhine

For the past few days I have been besotted with a band that has been around for a long time, but I had never heard, Over the Rhine. If you follow the link, there's a blue box on the page that is a record player and you can hear their whole album The Trumpet Child. The band is a husband and wife with varying supporting musicians from what I gather. I cannot get over her voice. I've heard other people say she sounds like Nora Jones and I can hear that, but it's more sophisticated too. I had the record player open on my desktop and finally went over to iTunes and bought the album. And since I can't resist the little moving pictures on YouTube here's a video of one of the stripped down songs live:



When we were at a friend's pool last week (the same one we rescued tadpoles from) Chicky found another gray tree frog and it seemed very content to hang out on her in the water.



Morgan had a turn with it too. My peeps sure like amphibians!



I have about three inches to go on the first ziggy sock! I hope to have a picture up tomorrow - whohoo!

After finishing the household chores of cleaning, I may do some dyeing. I think it will be hot enough that I won't have to steam the wool, I can just leave it out in the sun and the dye will set.

Random bits of knitting and life

My dear friend Sarah is having a yarn sale over in her shop you might want to check out! I love a sale and thought I'd pass it along. Sarah's color combinations are gorgeous - there are some new rovings and handspun up, too.

In local news, Hillsborough now has a Weaver Street and those of us who have been waiting (and thought the day might never come) are thrilled. It reminds me of the old days, when Wellspring was Wellspring and not Whole Foods and in a smaller building. There are only three checkouts, so I can see some crazy things happening on weekends, but it is lovely. Bulk spices and foods, prepared foods, baked goods, my favorite brands, local meats, and a fabulous chocolate selection! We are moving up in the world, Hillsborough now has it's own chocolatier (Matthew's Chocolates), yarn store, and LocoPops.

I started ziggy last week. Toe-up socks and I have never gotten along. I have a high instep and toe-up socks tend to be way too tight for me, but I haven't been able to figure out how to do a reverse heel flap to resolve the issue. Despite these reservations I decided to knit the stripy Noro socks. The heel didn't work AT ALL for me. After three attempts, I knit in a scrap piece of yarn and said, you shall become an afterthought heel when I am calmer. Last night I put it in, having eight needles poking out from various places and three balls of yarn was probably not my best idea, but it worked! I can't put it on my foot yet, but according to the measurements it should fit. Afterthought heels are notoriously shallow, so I worked six rounds even to start in hopes it would give me the depth I needed. I've noticed in the pictures on Ravelry the heel is not shown on most of them. What does this mean?

Ziggy, before the heel



and after.



I've been seeing this new game on various blogs and decided to do one for myself. Bowen wants to do one too but doesn't have a favorite celebrity crush or so he says (with a huge grin).



1. La Rochelle at night, 2. Pasta Flower, 3. Birches, 4. End of the day, 5. Viggo Waking, 6. Guinness @ Fado in Seattle, 7. our Irish cows (considering the picturesque), 8. coffee and chocolate mousse cake, 9. Shepherdess ~ Morocco, 10. The Calvo Family - Holidays, 11. there's nothing better than summer, 12. JJ's Boulangerie Strawberry Tarts

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

I'll post my new favorite listening tomorrow. I hear my children doing the requested cleaning up, but it sounds a little less tidy than I'd like... sometimes you know things aren't good when it's too quiet and at other times too loud is just as bad!

New "Noro" hat

I finished another Noro hat. This time I used yarn I hand dyed in self-striping patterns. The colors turned out well, the only thing I'll change for the next go around is slightly longer sections of each color.
Chicky is happy to have hers first (I only had self-striping with pink in it).



And a view from the side.



The boys are listing colors they want in theirs, then comes the dyeing, and then the knitting. Maybe theirs will be done by November?

This past week was full of events for the children: the end of school, the end of elementary school for the boys, a new half-sister at their dad's house, and a tadpole rescue in our friends' pool. The tadpole rescue was the biggest surprise for them and they had a very good time saving gray tree frog tadpoles. The pool had a leak and they have to get a new lining installed, which means draining the water that is left by pump. Unfortunately, what was left of the water in the pool was full of tadpoles. There was a lot of scooping and many didn't make it out of the pool, but I bet several hundred did. The five gallon bucket was teeming with them.



We found three gray tree frogs along the edges (one had to be rescued from the pool, too). Chicky was having a good time carrying them around and putting them over the fence away from the pool.



Other than that, it's been a pretty typical week around here. Next week is the court date from the car accident in April. Now there's some excitement.

Juicy Bug Picnic

The Juicy Bug I bought for Chicky from Dana was such a hit I ordered three more. Today they went for a picnic in the garden. Chicky made the transportation arrangements after checking with Polly Pocket that the Juicy Bugs could borrow the car.



After a short ride to the garden the Juicy quartet decided to eat under the zinnias. This was Tea Time, which explains the mounds of sugary confections and the lack of fruits and veggies. (Click to enlarge)



Blueberry and Cherries Juicy Bug spilled his tea right away while reaching for some cake.



Bedbug was tired, he's always tired, but he ate a little and enjoyed himself before taking a nap on the car ride home.



Lemon Orange Juicy Bug had an accident and knocked over the cake, but the five second rule was remembered and all was well.



Tiny Pink Dragonfly was just happy to be out of the car and stretch her wings! It was mighty cramped in there.



All in all, it was a fine picnic and they hope to do it again soon.