Forgotten Socks

I totally forgot that I hadn't told you about these socks.I finished them awhile ago now. They are ok. The yarn is Hand Painted Yarn Donegal Tweed I got it at Loopy Yarns in Chicago last summer, the ball band says they were dyed specifically for that store. As you may recall the first one had it's heal turned in the car. I got a little over-zealous on the short rowing and decreased to too few stitches resulting in a weird looking heal. It's pointy...weird. Not too much of a problem, they're in shoes. Also for some reason I didn't do a ribbed cuff. Why? I'm not sure. Just wasn't feeling it. I like the roll and feel it works well with the stripping so lets call it a design element. Not the most exciting way to get back on the sock wagon but it'll do. Look out socks here I come!

Strawberry

We made eight jars of strawberry jam;only one didn't seal right, oh darn we have to use it right away. Isn't that red gorgeous? We ran out of our homemade jellies and jams two months ago. The Bug is Very happy to have jelly on her peanut butter sandwiches again. This year I used half the sugar called for in the recipe and it tastes wonderful. Last year's was so sweet you could barely taste the fruit.
I also made the Strawberry-Rose Water Cobbler with Lemon-Poppy Seed Pastry (thank you Rebeca for the Rose Water!). It tasted just as beautifully as it sounds. The pastry top is supposed to get rolled out and put on in a lattice pattern. When I made it, however, the dough was very wet, more like what you'd expect with a cobbler that uses the drop it on method. So that's just what I did I plopped it on there. After hulling three pounds of strawberries I was just fine with this simpler method anyway.
There were a lot of weirdly shaped strawberries this year; I called them Fringe Strawberries (yes I'm a dork). I sliced and dehydrated these is hopes they'd retain their shape; for the most part this was true.
I've also frozen some for later use in an apply cobbler, some smoothies and just in general munching through the cold months when a splash of bright red warms the soul. I don't think we picked as much this year; their just doesn't seem to be as much in the freezer and it didn't seem like we were snacking on strawberries for long before they were all gone.

Good Morning

This morning, like many mornings, The Bug was singing a song. Sometimes these songs are made sometimes not. They are always full out and before I've had my morning coffee. This morning it was a made up song. With a deep breath I told her to draw a picture of the scene she was singing about. She did with gusto not only did she get to illustrate her song it also resulted in a quieter more contemplative singing until I got enough coffee to cope with the day. One of my biggest struggles lately has been having the patience to find another outlet for her. This is patience with myself as much as anything. Above is her picture drawn with pastel crayons because of how they shimmer. She wanted me to write her song down; it's really hard to write with those crayons, not that my handwriting is anything normally.

Shiny Fairy
Dancing through the night
Then she meets a fairy
And then there is light.

She tells me the fairies are light fairies and when they get together they bring the morning. I think it's pretty awesome.

Rasen in May

This month's Fingerless Glove Fanatic KAL was for Rasen.
This is the first thing I've made with yarn from the Maryland Sheep and Wool. The yarn is Luna Aura Fiber Works, I found it in a booth with lots of other little online dyers. This was also my only purchase with a true intention. Oddly I also had to go UP a needle size to get gauge on this thing. I never go up almost always go down, usually by more than one size. Ah the fickle gauge goddess. I made my mitts a little shorter so they can be more easily worn with long sleeve shirts or a jacket, when they are longer they can get all bunched up and just are no fun. I also reversed the pattern so they'd mirror each other. This was a tiny bit tricky but easy enough to do and I like the look of it so much more.

Hemlock Blocked

The Hemlock blocked. Lovely. It is off to it's owners today. They are getting married this weekend. My idea was a blanket they could both fit under. It's a bit smaller than I'd hoped; about 52"across the center. For them both to fit under it they will have to snuggle. A fine things for newly weds to do.

May DAL

This month's DAL theme was Characters. As soon as I told The Bug she immediately said we had to make Fancy Nancy Yarn.
So there it is. It is self stripping in pink and purple. Should be kind of thick stripes. My first time making self striping yarn and it was fun. Wish I'd had the camera so I could show you how we did it. I used easter egg dye.
These were also made... what character? Yeay....haven't figured that out yet. Lets just say that it's hard to tell a blue tablet from a purple tablet. Then when looking for more blue tablets it's hard to tell the teal from the blue. Thus this. I like it I really do. No theme just pretty.

And.....

we're back!
The camera came late last night. Well not crazy late but after the kid was in bed late.
So happy to be able to collect the moments! It really is a tradition this strawberry picking.
We got two boxes like this. Oh do I have some work ahead of me, yummy yummy work!

Teasers

Beginnings and bits of craft and sewing projects that have since been finished. Oh won't it be nice to have a camera again?
We are going Strawberry picking tomorrow and I am so bummed that there will not be pictures of us in the fields.

Mystery Shawl-It's still a mystery...

Last night I finished casting off the Mystery Shawl! Remember the mystery shawl? Quite possibly the longest knit in a long time. Didn't I say that about the black sweater? Hmmm no I guess not; totally thought it though. Oh, wait, what? You want to see it? Yeah, well I'd love to show it to you. We did get a message saying that we'd get the camera in five days. Which really should give me time to block it. And the Hemlock Ring blanket too. And you know nothing about the fingerless gloves!

Lamest Blog Post Ever

Hemlock Blob

I made the Hemlock Ring Blanket as a wedding gift for a co-worker of Mr. Gnome.
This is a picture of it nearly done I think. A bit of it is under the blanket since it's still on the needles here.
I still need to block it. I'm afraid the wedding will happen before we get our camera back. By the end it was about 3.5 skeins of Dream in Color Classy. I did do one extra repeat of the feather and fan pattern. I'd never done feather and fan. Not really a big fan (ha ha) of how it looks, it's crazy simple, which can also mean a bit dull around the umpteenth time when there are over 500 stitches on the needles.

Oh this lack of camera is driving me nuts! Oh the things I've finished, started, the kid crafts, the sewing (yes sewing!), the cooking (made Not-ella from the Veganimicon today...mmm). Not to mention just the family stuff that usually doesn't get on here. grrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!

The Iris Mystery-Solved

We received these Iris bulbs a few years ago from a friend who got them from a neighbor. The last two summers leaves would come up but no buds. I had no idea what color they would be. This year when buds; lots and lots of buds appeared we were all full of anticipation to see what color they would bloom into. Irises can be any color and we've seen them all at our lovely botanical garden. Then shortly before leaving for Virginia a few opened up and there you go. Lovely white with just a hint of yellow inside. They are a nice bit of brightness in our backyard. Of course being Irises they'd mostly finished by the time I got back. It's nice to know, and now look forward, to that bit of spring brightness.

The past continues

Apparently it is going to take 1-2 weeks to fix the camera. sigh. Luckily I'd taken all that time off from the blog but not so much from the camera. I'm not like Some people (you know who you are) who take lots of pictures daily but I do ok. So here is to the experiment of talking about non crafty things without getting too personal.I recently rearranged out basement and set up this old trunk as our puzzle table. I've wanted a puzzle table for a long long time. Like since I was a kid! Mr. Gnome (who is not the puzzle type and was being a nice dad and humoring the kid) and The Bug started a larger puzzle together. I will admit now that it hasn't been touched since. This was a few weeks ago. Need to get into a habit maybe... or something. Oh a bit about the trunk. We found it in the attic of our Vermont house it's really old and that is about all we know about it. Wish we knew more.

Random camerless pictures

Our camera is having problems; apparently it doesn't like having coffee spilled on it. So here are some pictures of our trip to Virginia.

The Bug's first French Manicure. My brother's girlfriend is an ex-nail tech; they had fun.

The Bug collecting fallen Fox Glove flowers at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond.

Other's Craftyness

The Craft education place was having their pottery sale today. Last year we happened upon it on our walk and got Mr. Gnome a much loved mug. This year we happened upon it again and I got us both a mug. Blue for me green and tan for Mr. Gnome. I love the imperfections and beauty in anything hand made.

Maryland Sheep and Wool

My mother was prepared we got there early Saturday before anything opened. This got us in without traffic and an awesome parking space. We walked into the grounds, up a slight hill to the main road and there to the right and left we tents and buildings as far as we could see. Mom and I both stopped and took it all in with a bit of a gasp. We had arrived.
This picture was taken about mid-day Saturday when way more people had arrived. Wow. When we left in the early afternoon the traffic was backed up onto the highway. I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I really should have; it was all so overwhelming. But here are some baby alpacas, newly sheered. Are they not the cutest things?
Then to top off an amazing day we went to Grate Sage, a vegan restaurant in the area. Oh wow. This as my dinner, "Pasta Primavera" and it was as tasty as it was pretty. Shredded zucchini, fresh peas and the sauce was just a touch spicy. The brown bit on top was a bean paste that complimented and cooled the spiciness of the sauce without using dairy. Fantastic!

Home Again-Flash the Stash!

Oh Maryland Sheep and Wool you were so good to me. Or is it that I was good to you? We have hemp, silk, alpaca, cashmere (oh yeah baby! recycled even) and of course wool. We stood in line on the first day waiting for the seller of Socks That Rock (the purple and brown) to open. Quite possibly the dorkiest thing I've ever done. But oh so fun and worth it! Bright orange for a sweater for the Bug; sage green for Mr. Gnome; and lots of-in-a-rut-but-who-cares-blue for me!

Mom with her stash enhancements in the hotel.

More on the festival later.