The Past Week

Dear Mom,
Except for the mountain that was plowed from the cul-de-sac into the front yard, all of last weeks snow has melted.
Revealing this-

One of the hundreds of crocus bulbs I've planted in the front yard. Last summer's heat and drought took it's toll and I neglected to add more to the lawn last fall. Hopefully this summer will be different and there will be another 100 bulbs blooming next spring. I get a thrill every time I see these brave flowers in my winter-brown lawn.

Yesterday I wore my Alpine Tweed sweater and the boldly patterned dress I sewed to church.

This dress is a lengthened Schoolhouse Tunic minus the pleats in the skirt. I wore this with a grey camisole and grey tights.  I love this cardigan. The dress is okay. I am still on a search for the perfect tunic/dress pattern. I saw Lisette pattern 2245 on Pinterest, ordered it, and it arrived on Saturday. I need some time to work up a little sewing bravery- I will mentally sew it a few times and then have to wake up one day with all the stars lined up and say to myself "today is the day"- and then I can start sewing on that one. Stay tuned.

By far, the very nicest thing that happened last week was this:

My friend, YarnshopAnne, made this quilt. For ME!
 

This was a thank you for a sweater I made and gave to her. She is most definitely Knit worthy, the sweater is perfect on her and I wanted her to have it with no strings attached and no thanks needed..... But I very happily accepted the quilt!

I have taken about eleventy-two photos of this quilt, and I move it about, trying it on in different rooms.  Right now it is on the railing between the family room and kitchen- pretty much so I can admire it all day long.

Thank you Anne!

Love,
Kim

Crocuses

Dear Mom,
It would seem that too many ideas and the full-time job of keeping up with the dog hair around here has kept me away from this blog for too long!
I won't regurgitate everything I've done all in one post. I'll stretch it all out a bit and (hopefully) have a more constant blog presence.
Today I want to share with you these pleasant, happy blooms I found in my front yard this past week.

In the Autumn of 2010, I planted 100 crocus bulbs in the front lawn. I used all the crocus bulb colors I could find (white, yellow, purple and that stripe-y purple) and randomly scattered them through the turf. That following winter was a tough one, and I didn't see my first crocuses emerge until late spring. I had almost given up hope.
Last autumn I planted 100 more, again scattering them all over the yard, using a mix of colors. Our front yard is small- our pie-shaped cul-de-sac lot gives us a huge back yard with plenty of room for shade trees, gardens and playing fields, with a front yard that gently slopes down to the street. I had long imagined that gentle slope filled with blooming crocuses in the spring and finally acted on realizing that image.
Our mild winter and the warmth of the past days coaxed some of these buds into bloom. I cannot begin to describe the cheering happy hopeful feeling that finding and seeing these tiny, brave little flowers gives me!
I'll keep adding bulbs every fall until the lawn is absolutely saturated with blossoms in the spring. So far, three yellow crocuses have emerged. Plenty more to come. I'll share photos if Mother Nature rewards me with a lawn filled with blooms.

Love,
Kim

Working my Aster off.

Dear Mom,
This string of mostly dry, very warm days has been ideal for getting yard work and garden projects done. I have very little to show for it though. I continue trying to repair the lawn's drought damaged areas and where it was once bald, it is now sprouting up wispy little baby grass. And LOTS of chickweed. I'll deal with that once the grass seed is firmly established. I've been digging it up where I can do so with out disturbing the new grass too much. I do not exaggerate when I say that this past week I've spent more time pulling weeds than I have knitting.
I've also tilled up my vegetable garden the old fashioned way. With a hoe. If the soil had been difficult to turn over I would never have done it, but once I got going I convinced myself that by manually tilling up the earth I was saving the gas the would run the tiller, emitting no noise pollution or engine exhaust, and getting some really good exercise. I'm also hoping that all my hands on attention will be rewarded with the best vegetables ever. But I do have to admit that while it wasn't all easy, I really do like digging in the dirt and planting things. One of the best feelings, for me, has to be crumbling a chunk of soil into fine bits with my hands. And I like the smell of dirt.It's almost as good as the smell of rain. But then I also like the smell of a wet dog, so there could be something not quite right about me.
 After tilling I added some compost and peat, mixed up my fertilizer recipe and worked that all in. I'll give the dirt a few days to settle, turn over the soil again and then plant- probably sometime next week, depending on the weather. I would like it to rain again before I plant. Why do I have the feeling that now that I've planted stuff that needs water the faucet has been turned off and we won't have anymore rain?
My Hero and I have been sidetracked from out indoor spring cleaning with outdoor projects. A big one has been the fence and our efforts at making it Patsy-proof.

I am not kidding when I say we should have named her FloJo after Florence Griffith Joyner. Patsy can run fast and the fence is just a high hurdle for her.
Last summer we replaced the planks on the gates, making them higher. She just found new spots to hop. We tried placing obstacles on the ground along the fence in her new preferred locations. She found new ones. A good portion of the interior of the fence perimeter is landscaped and not jump-able. But there is still a good portion that is wide open. The motion collar is a deterrent and really did cut down on Patsy's jumping habit. Unfortunately, everytime Patsy is in the backyard someone (usually me) has to be watching her ready to press the button that will vibrate her collar everytime she gets near the fence. With the warm weather we like to keep the door open onto the screened porch which has the doggie door, which means that the dogs can come in and go out whenever. We like that. We don't like that Patsy can't be trusted to stay. in. the. fence.
Our next attempt at Patsy containment was based on the theory that Patsy was using the horizontal 2 X4's to get a lift up and over the fence. We decided to put new planks on the inside of the fence, creating a shadow box type fence. We hoped that not only would she not be able to use that horizontal beam, but the dogs would not be able to see through the fence as easily and perhaps Patsy would not be tempted to leave.

Ok. Not.

But it worked for a few days. I don't know how she manages to get over the fence, but she does. That dog is just too smart. And I hate being outsmarted by a dog.

So now it is Plan.... D? And here is what we're doing. ( I know. Some people are  reading this and wondering why we just didn't get a taller fence. Because I like to be able so see out, that's why. To look out into my backyard and see a 6 or 8 foot wooden wall would make me feel closed in.) We My Hero is taking all the pieces of cedar fence planks that we cut to make fence height and using them to make flower boxes that we are placing ON TOP of the fence. We have come up with a simple design that has a rudder or whatever you want to call it that comes off the bottom of the box and slides down in between the fence boards. The flower boxes could tilt if they are nudged, but the rudder keeps them from falling off the fence or tilting over far enough to spill their contents.
He has made about a doxen flower boxes so far and we are placing them wherever we see even the slightest possibility of an escape. And they look really nice, too.

When the first few boxes were completed and ready to be placed, My Hero asked where Patsy's favorite jumping spot is along the back.
Ummm, I think......HERE.

Yep. Definitely.

Here.

So far, the plan is working. We'll keep building and planting flower boxes until we run out of wood or places to put them. I don't want to think about what happens if this doesn't work. Because I don't think this

 is going to blend in with the landscaping.

Love,

Kim

Surviving the Storm

Dear Mom,
So far, so good. We've never lost power and we've all been home safe and sound throughout the worst of this winter storm. Everything is covered in a thick layer of ice topped with a dusting of snow. Bitter cold temps and high wind are in our forecast this afternoon, so we aren't out of the woods yet.

The thick ice in the street made the hockey players in the family happy, though.

Sooo, the Groundhog predicts an early spring. We are going to need spring temps to get rid of all that ice. Except I think the Groundhog just said that to help us cling to hope and our sanity. It has been a long winter and we deserve an early spring.

I finished another of my scrap yarn linen stitch scarves in the orthodontist's office on Monday. This is a little bit of vintage leftover yarn from an Alice Starmore sweater, a bit left from a Hanne Falkenberg kit and some sock yarn. It thrills me to use up leftover little bits and turn them into something pretty.

I've started the February socks. And can I just say that it was fun sorting through the brown lunch sacks for the one I marked "Feb" and then opening it to find this month's sock yarn? Silly little game to play, but it made me excited about starting this next pair of socks. When there is enough progress to photograph I'll share them here.

After reading about these slippers on Betz White's blog, I stopped everything and made myself a pair. 19 rows. Approximately 1 hour's worth of knitting per foot. Probably a little longer, because heaven knows I'm gonna get interrupted by a teen or a dog. I was able to successfully felt them in my front loader and they've been on my feet ever since. The project page for these on ravelry is full of some very lovely duffers with embroidery and buttons. I have/had every intention of doing that to mine, but that would mean I had to remove them from my feet first. Great stash buster- I can see getting addicted to knitting duffers and prettifying them.

I used some Lopi yarn for the soles and Cascade 220, doubled, for the top.
Time to heat up a bit of soup for lunch. Keep warm.
Love,
Kim

A year later and still learning

Dear Mom,
You might think that after this blogging thing has been going on for about a year, (I think tomorrow it the blog's birthday, but I am not going to stop posting to go check. Let's just roll with it.)  that I would be better at taking blog worthy photos when I am presented with them. After all, my camera goes with me just about everywhere. Except today. My Hero has my camera. He gets to view the real live Stanley Cup in person and this apparently is photo worthy. But what can I say. I take pictures of yarn. Regularly. So today, when I leave the house, it will feel like I forgot my phone or something. And that is a whole 'nother subject because it wasn't all that long ago that our phones were literally tethered to the walls of our houses, so leaving with out one shouldn't be cause for panic. I digress.
On Saturday, you and I had a wonderful day together, a delicious lunch and some fun antiquing. Did I take a photo of the charming restaurant? No. Or the big pot of tea I drank? No. The big pot of tea YOU drank? No. The lovely group of tea party ladies? No. That group was having F.U.N. We learned they are a group of 20+ women who meet once a month at different places for tea. They quickly let us know that they "Are NOT Red Hats!(which was pretty obvious due to the absence of red hats) Too many rules. Too fussy."  They only have 2 rules: Do not talk about work, and I can't remember what the other one was.
So, in all that fun and activity, what picture do I have to show for it?
This one. Taken in the antique shop.

A picture of the lunch box I carried around during most of our time there. This is a duplicate of my grade school lunch box. As you know, I almost bought this one. It brought back happy memories and clued me in to the possible root of why the combination of red and yellow makes me happy. Reason won out and I returned the lunch box to its proper booth. For now anyway. I could always go back.

Another feast for the eyes did occur very briefly yesterday. It had been so long (a month? longer?) since I've seen this that I stopped the car and took a picture.

See that? It is a tiny patch of actual BLUE SKY. We even got a peak of sunshine for about 3 minutes yesterday afternoon. Then it got dark and poured down more rain for the rest of the day.

And this was finished yesterday. My Colts football nervous energy knitting project::

A hot water bottle cozy. I will be making more of these, as soon as I find the hot water bottles. I may have to search every Walgreens and CVS in the township. I have looked 3 places and only scored 1 hot water bottle. I am on a mission. The Young Lady took it to bed with her last night, got warm and then stuck it in my bed for me. It was still warm this morning. I am in love. Everyone should have one of these.
I used this pattern and one skein of Lamb's Pride yarn. Isn't it cute?

Love,
Kim

Field Day

Dear Mom,

As I was winding my way around country roads, seeking the perfect spot to relocate the raccoons and possums I keep catching- you know someplace they would be safe and happy, but far enough away that they would become roadkill before they found their way back to my backyard, and I know, I know!, it makes no sense that I am humanely trapping and relocating an animal that I would prefer got hit by a car before it came back here to live - I stumbled upon the future home of a park. Perfect. Creek, weeds, trees.

When I saw that a path had been mowed into the "park" and then couldn't stop thinking about it, I started wondering why. Why is it that a grassy path with high weeds, Queens Anne's lace and thorns was calling to me?

Because some of the best parts of growing up on Harmony Road were spent playing in the fields. We could build forts, wander to our hearts delight, climb the biggest best tree in the world, a tree so beloved it was named and every kid in the neighborhood knew Harry. Heck, every kid in the neighborhood could probably have fit into Harry. Harry was better than any playground. With a low hanging branch perfect for sitting on, several of us could push off the ground with our dusty Keds and swing straight up high into the air. Harry had the thick, low and perfectly spaced branches that made for perfect climbing. We discovered a nest of baby mice beneath that tree and all of us checked on the mice, careful not to disturb them as we climbed and played.

We forged paths through the grass, some paths worn down enough that we could ride our bikes through the field. One of the older girls had scavenged discarded building materials and constructed an underground fort for herself that was so totally off limits to everyone and we were so scared of her that we all stayed away. Except for one time. I can remember we were all feeling brave, (and probably because we knew she wasn't home or something) and dared to investigate the underground sanctuary. I don't remember too much about it, I think because I was looking for booby-traps to really notice anything about the fort.

We came home tired and sweaty and sun-kissed. Tick discovery and removal, while not routine, was no cause for panic, and just part of playing in the fields. And every so often, in the heat of the summer, and probably 'cause some kids went to the field to play with matches, the field would catch on fire. The Dads would all go out and beat the fire with brooms and spray it with garden hoses. Harmony Road's Volunteer Fire Dept.

We were free in those fields, no one had to keep an eye on us, and we could disappear as long as we were home for lunch and dinner, knowing to head for home when we heard the church bells rang at noon and 5 o'clock.

So, as an adult, with open fields like that disappearing, I couldn't wait to get out on that grassy path. This was a place I could take the dog and let him off his leash. A place he could run ahead and sniff and wait for me to catch up. A place I could only hear birds and bugs chirping and a farm tractor running. I place I could wander into and not see the road, or my car, or another person.

I could almost disappear. Except as a responsible adult and former Girl Scout (Be Prepared!), I did have my cell phone in my pocket. Just in case. Which I was glad I had when I stepped into a deep hole and fell down like a toddler taking her first steps. "What if I had broken my leg?", I thought. "See, it is a good thing you brought your phone!"

I found thorny wild black raspberry bushes.

(Edited to add: I have been told that these are blackberry bushes and would make great jam. If only I made jam...... Kim 8-10-09)

And could appreciate the beauty of "weeds" that I would never want growing in my own yard.

And I will be going back.

Love,
Kim

Random

Dear Mom,

With my rain gauge showing we've had about 3 inches since Monday, the yard looks like this:

The grass. is. high. I would measure its depth like we do with the snow, but I might lose the ruler. I am hoping we get a break in all this rain long enough for the yard to dry out so I can climb aboard John, Dear and MOW!!!! At this point it may take mowing twice just to get through it all.

The good thing is that with all the rain keeping me inside, I've knit almost an entire sweater in about a week. I think I started this one last Thursday. I may finish it this weekend. It will be a tunic for me, my design.

Last Sunday when it was sunny, warm and windy, The Young Lady and My Hero took the dog to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (aka, the track) for the Annual Mutt Strutt. This dog walk around the track benefits the Indianapolis Humane Society. Between the stress of the car ride and walking around the 2 1/2 mile oval, Bumper was exhausted. I think it took him until mid week to recover. The plan next year is to take him on the short walk, which I think is just in the pit lanes. Here they are, on the "yard of bricks" at the finish line.

Today was ANOTHER half day of school. Add all these half days together and I swear the summer could be 2 weeks longer. You might think that coming home after only a half day would be a happy thing. It was for some.

But not for everyone.

15 year old, stalked by mamarazzi

Have a happy weekend!

Love,

Kim

Yesterday

Dear Mom,

After too many cold, wet days, we were treated to a beautiful, sunny, warm day yesterday. A good day to spend working in the yard, tending to the lawn and gardens, and remembering.

I always think about Daddy when I am mowing with his John Deere. Now my John, Dear. I remember the time he came out trying to help me figure out what was wrong with my old John Deere, which always worked just fine when he got on, started it up and whipped around my yard at lightening speed, giving me that look that was pretending to be irritated with me for the interruption but the sparkle in his eye, the tilt of his head and the barely concealed smile told me that he was really tickled with the situation and his dumbstruck daughter.

I moved some perennials and planted some new ones. I planted hollyhocks, foxglove, delphinium, shasta daisy, as well as a few that I was not familiar with but looked pretty: silene, soapwort and viola labrador. Now I just need to keep them watered and hope the bunnies don't eat them.

I weeded a bit and cleared up some of the dead stuff from around the perennials. I could spend the entire day today doing the same, but the inside is looking neglected. I need to find some balance. The weather is predicted to be nice through the weekend, so I should be able to manage keeping up with both, and still find time to sit on the porch with my knitting and enjoy it all.

Love,

Kim

Outdoor Outpost

Dear Mom,

My clothesline is one of my favorite things, the simplest of pleasures. And today it is just sunny enough, just warm enough and just breezy enough to hang sheets and comforters out on the clothesline. Nothing smells like sheets after they've dried in fresh air and sunshine. It is just the cleanest of smells. And tucking in with that fresh sunshine smell on your pillow? Re-lax-ing. Sweet dreams. Good sleeping.





Before all this sunshine, fresh air and clothesline drying started, I ran to the bookstore to pick up a knitting book I ordered. And as I typically do, I wandered back to the crafts and home decor/ home improvement section. Where I found this: (modeled by the cooperative Bumper Joseph)

Mary Jane's Outpost, by Mary Jane Butters. The Mary Jane of Mary Jane's Sewing Room. It is full of out door inspiration and decoration, and things I will never do (like bathing out doors and filleting a freshly caught fish) but is such a beautiful book with a healthy, refreshing perspective that I had to bring it home with me. It has recipes. It has instruction on Two-handed Whistling. Which being a whistling impaired person, I plan on studying. Out door picnic-y stuff. Plants. Pretty pictures to look at if you don't feel like reading. Camping and hunting. Okay, that is another part I will. not. do. And aprons, and bugs and inspiring quotes. Like this one-

"Alone, I am one drop of water, together we are blessed rain."

Love,

Kim