So the plan

The plan ah the plan. Well it had been to say something about leaving for a week into the great beyond. And about all the half done stuff I'd be leaving behind. You know the curious pictures of half done who knows what. Well it didn't happen. So here we are back from the great beyond. The great beyond being Vermont if you were wondering. There was:
Swimming in a lake in the rain (it is raining can you tell?),
Accidental swimming in a stream (the bad mom taking a picture of the struggling kid),
Playing in the sand with a collection of white rocks (there was a bit of an addiction to collecting on this trip; rocks, flowers, leaves),
And miniature golf!
Mr. Gnome and I used to do a fair amount of the putt-putt back in our pre-baby days. It had gone on the back burner with a fussy baby, stayed there with an active toddler, and is just now coming back with a slightly, ever so slightly, more patient five-year-old. The Bug actually took this picture. I thought it was pretty cool.

June Fingerless Glove KAL

Yup, I did it again; second month in a row.This month's theme was Blue, Purple or Green. Pretty much a cool color. The yarn is Botanical Artisan Yarn. I found the booth at MDSW. The label tells you what botanicals were used in it's dying for this: Cochineal, Logwood Purple and Grey. I found this a neat thing. Then the yarn itself is a hemp, mohair and wool blend. No it is not soft. It did soften up a little when I washed it but not much. It was less than 200 yards so I knew it was destined for fingerless gloves. Then this KAL comes along just urging me. The pattern is Climbing Vines Mitts.

Lovely Lady

In a week we are going to my Mother-in-law's wedding. It's a rather casual affair. Trying explaining that to a hopeless romantic five year old.We found the dress at a resale store. It fits her beautifully and looks great on her. We decided she needed a something for her shoulders. After much ravelry searching we found the Sheila Cape.
She wanted a fancy button of course. The butterfly is a mock button she sewed on herself. It is really closed by a snap. I also modified the pattern to fit her. It's done on smaller needles and I did one less repeat. It's still a bit big across the top but we can just call that the style. The yarn is Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton.
She is such a pretty little girl, and so excited.

Raspberries and then some

Raspberry-Cherry Pie. A very basic recipe as any pie recipe should be. Very good. OH! We'd gotten a pinto of pie cherries at the farmers market the day before we went raspberry picking. A pint is not enough to make a pie so why not add raspberries. They are ripe at the same time there must be a recipe, or, as it turns out, a couple hundred. Just the right amount of tang and sweetness.
Of course raspberry preserves.
This year The Bug is helping label the jams. R for Raspberry and S for Strawberry.
Also, because it is just too fancy to not blog about. Baby squash with goat cheese stuffed flowers. The owner of one of my favorite farms at my favorite farmer's market suggested doing this to the flowers. Is there anything more awesome than the person growing your food not only knowing a cool way to prepare but also being able to tell you to your face? Love it.

The Climbing Tower

A few months ago The Bug told Mr. Gnome that she wanted to build a tower in the back yard with him. She'd wanted a tree house but while there are many trees around us, shading my poor garden, there are none actually in our yard. After lots of discussions and drawings Mr. Gnome designed and built this.

Very Proud face! I gave it a try too.

June DAL

This month's theme was Fairy Lights. The Bug and I talked it over and she was determined to have yellow for the light in the yarn. I didn't want to do plain yellow yarn again. We decided on purple for the fairy with some yellow for the light. As you can see something went very wrong. Somehow. Not sure what happened. This was my first time using food coloring, McCormick's because that was easier to get than Wilton's. It was just the basic package so I had to mix my own purple. We dyed it in the pot and I poured the purple over in big splotches. After the dye had exhausted I added the yellow. Then....the above happened..... You can still see some purple. It's like the yellow mixed with the red in the purple and the blue went somewhere into the dyers black hole. Now I know it is hard to set blue and all I had was lemon juice so maybe that was part of it. Anyway. It is a happy surprise really. I like it. The Bug loves it. And of course anything that makes me think of Brian Froud makes me happy.

The Mystery Revealed!

Hopefully all these pictures will make up for how late I am in getting them to you. It is beautiful. I love it. I love the drape. I love the fit (shoulder shaping; it's all about the shoulder shaping). I love the sparkle.

The Food

Today we have embarked upon what I've heard called a "three day weekend". Meant to mean that a person or family group is not working for three days. None of their out of family jobs, not a one. Now your standard weekend is very rare around here, heck a full day off is pretty rare. We are quite excited. What to do? Oh the options! Oh the possibilities!Being one who likes to cook and feels that providing yummy wholesome food for my family is one of the best parts of my job, I wanted to celebrate with food. Easy going food, food that we can slowly enjoy because no one is rushing off to their next job. Above are the breakfast cookies from Vegan Cookies Take Over Your Cookie Jar. I substituted dried apricots for dried cherries because they are cheaper and I had some one hand. Yum and good and what is better than telling the kid she can have a cookie for breakfast and knowing you are not a bad mom for saying it.
This evening we grilled outside. Always a special treat. Taking a cue from this month's Vegetarian Times I made tin foil packets. These have carrots, red onion, baby pattipans, baby red potatoes and tempeh. I poured on some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, basil and thyme and just a tad of water. Tossed on the grill they made a nice yummy no mess feast. Toasted up some homemade tortilla's from a few nights ago topped with goat cheese and there you go. Yum.
The bug not being such a connoisseur had smart dogs, cherries and peas straight off the vines in our back yard.
And you cannot forget the smores. The Bug proclaimed they were the best she had ever tasted.

Too make matters worse

I'll confess to the two, and no they are not matching, socks on the needles.On the left is Vilai by Cookie A., really who else would do such cables and twisted stitches? On the right is an altered version of Diamond Lace Socks from Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Sock Book. You see I wanted a complex sock now that I've come back to sock knitting. But it is so complex that I have to almost always be looking at it. Thus I started the diamond lace so I'd have something to knit when life needs something less complex or when I'm reading to The Bug. They are both yarns from the MS&W. The black is the same yarn I just used on Rasen. So I'm actually being really good using it now instead of letting it sit in the stash. See most things can be justified.

It could be catchy!

I'm experiencing a touch of startitus. I am justified in both projects however. Yes, yes that's what they all say.
The yellow, and more justified is for a capelet for The Bug to wear at a wedding later this month. The purple , and maybe less justified but I'll take some convincing, is for this month's fingerless glove fanatic's KAL, the theme being blue, purple, green, or any cool color.

And Now

Now that I've almost caught up on the things that Had been happening (I seriously need Mr. Gnome to take some pictures!) we can talk about what I am currently knitting. Nothing better than living in the moment.
This is the front and back, unblocked, of the Apres Surf Hoodie (why doesn't blogger like the word hoodie?). When the Hemlock Ring Blanket was getting too big to leave the house I started this sweater. It is going faster than I thought it would, fingering weight yarn and size 2s. I say this however it still needs two sleeves, the bottom of the body and sleeves are provisionally cast on (you haven't lived until you've provisionally cast on over a hundred stitches ugh) then those stitches are picked up and bound off with an i-cord bind off. Then there is the hood and I think an i-cord bind off all around the hood and neck opening. So.....still a lot to go. However if it takes me all summer it will be ready in time for fall; exactly when I'll want to wear it.