yellow finches

This is the first year that I've seen my purple coneflowers/echinacea blooming. They're gorgeous and should be part of any perennial garden. The blooms are now starting to die back due the extreme heat we've had in Virginia. Since I haven't grown these plants before, I almost cut off the seed heads last weekend. I'm so happy that I didn't! There are now 3 yellow finches feasting on the numerous seeds available! They are beautiful! This is the first time I've seen yellow finches in the yard (or in Virginia). What a sight! I haven't been able to capture them on camera, but noticed that several photographers on flickr caught these birds in action. Check out this action shot.

needle envy

A knitter at the conference was knitting with one of these Knit Picks needles last week. I'm in love with them. Not only is the multi-colored wood beautiful, but the transitions are so smooth. I've put in a request with the hubby for an anniversary/Christmas/birthday prezzie for me.

Note to the hubby: Your scarf and dino are coming along - I promise :)

long beach...

Long beach photos are coming - it was so pretty there; conference was...eh, a conference :). I'm in a knitting rut right now. My February lady sweater is still sitting on the dining room table waiting for me to fix the 3 rows I goofed up. I'm too scared to pull it out since it's lace. While in CA, I started the Tangled Yoke Cardi for the second time and was disappointed by the fact that I think I've made the same mistakes on the seam that I made the first time! Around the seams, the pattern is difficult to understand. After the decreases, do I just decrease the garter rib pattern or are you supposed to keep purl stitches on each side of the seam?? I have no idea what this is supposed to look like. I am tempted to make the sweater without the faux seams and save myself the headache. If anyone out there on the internetz has an idea about this, let me know! I'll also post in Ravelry land.

friends

I love my R'mond friends - KKidd, Anne & Leslie. Hugs to all, but especially Leslie - She's been through hell the past few weeks, so this post is dedicated to her and her family! I am thinking about you!

decisions, decisions

Traveling has always been exciting for me. My dad took me on my first big trip to Mexico City when I was about 7 - I've been hooked on traveling since then. The only bad thing about traveling these days is figuring out what knitting to bring with me! Do I need a second suitcase for my knitting projects? Will I need to bring all my needles in case I buy new yarn (assuming I find a yarn store nearby)? What will I knit on the plane for 5 hours? What is easy to pull out and knit in the airport? Ack! Decisions!

I'm off to a conference next week across the country - Here are the projects under consideration:

1. My So Called Scarf - for the hubby
I heart Malabrigo! Easy to carry on the plane. I'll get bored with this after a few hours on the plane though...Could work for conference sessions.

2. Tangled Yoke Cardi - for me
Had to rip out and will need to start over
Easy to carry on the plane. Complicated pattern. Could keep me busy on the plane, but would be too complex to knit at a conference session.

3. February Ladies Sweater (see this post)
If I take this I need to pull out the rows where I messed up - I'm not sure if I'm up for that today.

4. Swallowtail - Love this yarn! Could be good for the hotel room or the plane. Wouldn't work for dinner or conference sessions.

While I make my decisions, I think I'll have a bite of this AWESOME zucchini bread the hubby made yesterday for us and our friends. We have so much zucchini right now in the garden that we ate this bread as well as fried zucchini last night for dinner. Is there such a thing as zucchini poisoning? :D

Life

Since our trip to Cary last weekend, I've been trying to keep a "normal" schedule. I get up and fix coffee and breakfast, take a shower and get dressed for work. I work until 5pm and then come home and fix dinner for the hubby (or more often than not, he fixes it for me). Despite this attempt at normalcy, Nancy is never far from my mind. Even if I had not met her during our time in Cary, it would be difficult to not get attached to her through the media frenzy. I hate the media and at the same time I'm using it to give me some connection to a former life. The hubby and I can't stop remembering our previous life in Cary. It's all so different now.

While we obsess over these difficult parts of the day/week, life marches on. No where is that more apparent than in our veggie garden. The garden is at that point where everything is ready to eat. Our neighbors will be happy as I'm certain zucchini bread is coming their way.

poor kitties

Poor, poor kitties! These hats from Spindles and Spice are hilarious, if not a little scary. I have to say that I'm intrigued by this little beret from the French Hat blog post. Would a baby beret make Blooregard behave?

february lady sweater progress

It's coming along...I didn't get too much done this weekend (although, I did manage to mess up one of the lace rows, which I'm contemplating whether to ignore it or back it out - a common dilemma for me unfortunately!) Thanks to O-Wool for setting me straight on the yarn - it does get softer the more you use it, so I have no doubt that once it's washed it will become even more cuddly.

blooregard strikes again

Le chat is again in trouble (and 2 posts in 1 day too!). Tonight he raced down the stairs at top speed with a scarf trailing behind him! He also had fuzz in his mouth, which can only mean one thing - he was lovin' on the scarf...*sigh*...Doesn't he know that his boy parts are missing?? :) Poor thing.

Tomorrow, when Bloo has decided to forgive us for leaving him this weekend, I promise I'll post about knitting :)

blooregard

Does this look like the face of a growling bully? Well, it's true. The hubby & I have spoiled Bloo so much that he now hates all other humans and animals. As we prepared our trip to NC to see old friends and attend Nancy's memorial, we decided to leave Bloo at the Holiday Barn. He deserved a vacation, right? You would think that he would love this place - they have windows and personal fish tanks in all of the kitty condos. We even bought him extra snuggle time. I'm not sure how he behaved over the weekend, as he didn't get the usual report card for good behavior, but he did learn some new techniques. For example, he has a new meow that sounds like nails on a chalkboard, and he now growls. Yes, he growls, but not at us thank goodness. He made it very clear last night and this morning that he was not happy about our weekend away. He's been a very bad kitty. Last night he woke us up at 1am, 1:30am and 2am. I finally got the good sense to lock him in "his" room so we could get some sleep. This morning, I opened the back door to put the trash out and Mr. Bloo ran out past me and started chasing, growling and hissing at a cat that happened to be (much to his misfortune) in the yard at the time. Who raised this type of bully I ask?! He chased that poor cat out of the yard and all the way down the back alley. I guess Bloo's behavior has ensured that he remains an only child. Oh, Mr. Bloo, what will I do with you?