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July 09, 2013

Little Summery Projects

I had a nightmare the day before I left for Olds, that I had been knitting on the plane and dropped one of my double pointed needles and it rolled under a seat where it was unretrievable.  So I dragged my sweetie out to get two short circular needles in the same size as I'd use for socks.  They worked just fine for the plane and there was no possible way I'd drop a needle, so that was a relief as well.  However, I really didn't enjoy knitting the socks on the circs, so the next time I picked up my knitting at home, I switched to my normal dpns.  I got hardly any knitting done on the westward bound trip as not only was I tired, but I had a lovely chat with the lady sitting beside me.  She nicely kept me occupied during the bit of turbulence and the landing, which was  one of those things I'd forgotten about flying.  The eastward bound trip home was another story.  I got to knit from take off to almost landing.  I got most of the leg done, did the heel flap, turned the heel and most of the gusset done as well!  Most productive.   The gal beside me very kindly showed me how to use the television when it was accidentally  turned on.  I had to thank her but say that I didn't actually want it on as we don't watch t.v. at home not did I want to watch it on the plane.  She just looked at me, turned on her own t.v. and plugged in her headphones for the whole trip.  I was happy I had a good solid block of knitting time, without distraction.

I tried starting in on my homework right away but couldn't quite get into the routine yet.  Summer is too fresh and new, so I dug up some roving that I'd dyed at the same time as the above sock yarn.  It looks very summery to me, all fresh with lush greens and sky blues.  This is all there is, not enough of it too make a huge dent in time, but enough to be a more than pleasant diversion.  I'll have to spin up something to ply it with.   I have black and white roving which would be suitable.  I could blend for a grey but I fear that would take away the summer feel, but so would black.  White might be too stark and I'll have to purchase some new acid dyes if I wanted a colour... Oh decisions, decisions!

We've had lovely salads almost every day from the garden since I've gotten home..  Over night the spinach has bolted and gone to seed, but since I'd pretty much stripped every last edible leaf from the plants, it's not like it was unexpected.  I'll rip it out as soon as it dries out a bit and plant mesclun mix and arugula in its place.  The leaf lettuce is going strong.  I also harvested and froze in little ice cubes, a whole whack of basil.  There will be more to harvest again tomorrow or at least on the next sunny day.  The garlic will be ready to harvest in another couple of weeks, the tomatoes have flowers and some are even starting to bear tiny fruit.  Just before I left for Olds, I noticed 2 volunteer zuchinni plants that were doing better than the ones I'd planted.  I weeded around them and left them to grow.  They are flowering and starting to fruit as well!   There are flowers on the blackberries this year!  Soon to be yummyness!!!!!   The biggest issue in the garden right now is will it stop raining for a few days, to allow thing to dry out enough to avoid any blights and mildews. 




4 comments:

  1. Welcome back! I hope you enjoyed your trip.

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  2. sounds like you had a good trip! and why don't you use the bolted spinach for a spot of dyeing? I think that green/blue is absolutely gorgeous - the blue lagoon (with lush jungle around)? don't you dare ply it with grey or black, you loose that vibrant shimmer if you do! I'd rather use something with similar vibrancy - even if it meant I'd have to keep the bobbin for a while to dye some....
    enjoy the summer (it's too hot for me here:)
    Bettina

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  3. Summer indeed, look at those colors! Don't you just love garden salads? They are part of the best that summer has to offer.

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  4. Not fair. You talk about all this reading but you don't tell us what it is. It's hot here too and I'm reading a lot instead of spinning. I cannot believe how quickly you can work up a sweat at the wheel in summer.

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