Peacock iridescence in veridical shadows,
Violet blooms spread to noonday sun.
The world’s beauty is a swirl of color,
But in the flower’s center is bright stillness.
Deng Ming~Dao

As the growing season here in the North Country is not a very long one, I thought that instead of Eye Candy Friday pictures I would do Friday’s Flowers during our growing season.

 
If any of you would like to join along with me in sharing your garden’s beauty this summer, feel free to snag this button, but please remember to copy it to your desk top.

I’m looking forward to seeing some of your flowers!

Finally a sock has it’s mate!  Over the last few days, I was going to write a post about the swinging single sister socks that keep happening here……but lo and behold, we finally have a happy couple!  The pattern I used is Cookie’s Monkey sock pattern that you have seen all over blog land and the yarn is my Jacob’s Ladder. 

I love, love, love this pattern.  One of the few lace patterns that I didn’t need to refer to the lace chart after the first few repeats.  I should have made it one repeat longer than I did, and I could rip it out as i have plenty of yarn left over, but I think instead, I will tuck them away as a Christmas present for my youngest daughter 🙂

Not much in the way of knitting has been going on other than the socks over the last week, as I have been spending a little more time outside.  Today’s walk was not a long one…….but it was a productive one.

Last year after reading all about Norma’s nice garden, I got the itch to get back to doing one myself again.

Many years ago, I dove into gardening with the same gusto, I jumped into the fiber arts with.  Somehow though a busier work life, the dogs and fiber crowded out the garden and for a good number of years, I just didn’t have the time or the desire to keep up with it.

This was the year that I promised myself I would really make the effort again.  Having disassemled my previous raised beds, I asked my husband if he would till a spot out for me. (I didn’t dare ask him to build me new raised beds…..this year.).  Our soil is very good soil, but it was a lot of work making this very heavy soil workable.  Many bags of MooDoo and peatmoss along with another tilling and a few days of hard work……and viola!  The beginning of a new garden.

I have lots of ideas for what I want to do next year…….visions of raised beds are dancing in my head, but for this year, I thought I would get reacquainted with the soil again…..slow and small.   Watch out next year though……heehee!

Living in Moose Country, I knew I had to have one of these………

This weekend will be one of working in the garden…….I hope you have a fabulous weekend!

It’s raining, it’s pouring……….what’s a setter to do?

It’s hard to grumble about the rain when we really need it …….but I’m grumbling a little bit, as I have a ton of dyeing to do for the fiber frolic this up coming weekend.  The dyeing part in the house is no problem, but the drying part is leaving a lot to be desired :(.  I’m just praying I can get it all dried and skeined or I’ll be a stayin’ home.

Before I tell you the story of my little robin babies, I just want to share a gem that my husband and I discovered this weekend.  A month or so ago, I heard that one of my favorite bands, The Cowboy Junkies were going to be playing at The Stone Mountain Art Center, in Brownfield Maine, which is only about 15 minutes or so away from my house.  I had mentioned to Ken that it would be so neat to go see them for our anniversary…….but then I forgot about it.

Ken on the other hand, did try to get tickets to surprise me, but they sold out before he could get some.  He did however get tickets to see The Grascals, which is a bluegrass band…….Ken knows how much I LOVE bluegrass, so even though we had never heard them before, it was a safe bet that I would probably like them.  Go take a listen here.

Well………it was fantastic!  This music center, tucked in the middle of no~where is truly a gem.  The redesigned barn is so tastefully done and comfortable, the gourmet pizza’s were yummy and wine to sip on while listening……….does it get any better than that?  If you ever get a chance to go……….GO!

Now onto the photo intensive part of this post.  No knitting, no spinning……no fiber at all, but I hope  you enjoy my bittersweet afternoon.

Last night before we left for the music center, I checked in with my little robin babies.  Lordy, lord, they just keep growing and growing, so much so that their nest looks like it may bust!

Tucked in safely, looking very content and for once all of their mouths were actually closed.  I bid them a safe good night and hoped that they would still be there in the morning.

Given that it was raining very hard most of the day, I didn’t think to check on the babies until late this afternoon and this is what I saw……….  one little robin sittin’ in the nest. 

Where oh where are your brothers and sisters?  Oops…..there’s one of your siblings…and he’s getting brave……why, I think he’s actually going to make a go for it………………..

It was such a treat to witness this event.  As this little robin started his new adventure, his mom and dad were carefully guiding him….in fact, the whole flock of neighborhood robins were all a twitter. 

Mom kept chirping away at him and the little fledgling bravely chirped back, hopping around as fast as he could…sloshing through all the puddles in the yard.

I didn’t get to see him fly, before he disappeared into the taller grass, but I have no doubt he will make his way.

Tucked safely in what’s left of her nest is my last little baby.  I hope that she stays put for the night, so no predators get her in the dark.  I checked on her a little while ago and she looks like she may settle in for the night, but I don’t think she will be there when I get up in the morning……….

Sleep well my little one and have fun on your new adventure!!

What a week this has been!  Busy, busy and then a little bit more busy.  I kept taking pictures over the week to post about, but then life got a firm hold on me and alas no posting and sadly not enough comment responses either…….please know that each comment means so much to me, but sometimes life gets too blessed busy.   Even now as I am trying to post, Maggie is outside barking at the ghosts, begging me to get up from my chair and let her in…..LOL

I finished my shetland shawl……….I am very happy with the end result.  I used my merino/tencel sock yarn and was pleased with the weight on this shawl.  I think if I were to do another one, I would add a few more pattern repeats to make the shawl bigger as the weight of the yarn is a bit more substantial than fingering weight yarn, but all in all, I was very happy with it. 
(Doesn’t the shawl look like a stingray on that shrub?…..heehee)

Thank you for all of your puppy name suggestions.  Let me introduce you to Skyy.  Given that she is a Cosmopolitan girl, I could not go with names such as Ritzy, Sassy or Tipsy as my daughter Ashley informed me that she was NOT a bar hag, but rather a soft and refined girl…….upscale as they would say.

I resorted to looking at the thesaurus and still nothing other than maybe Posh…….but still, that did not suit her……..so a trip to the liquor store to look at Vodka names again and there it was starring me right in the face……..Skyy.  It suits her.

Other than the shawl, there has not been much knitting going on.  I finished the book, The Lovely Bones.  Many of you asked what I thought about the book and I will say that I was glad that I read it, but disappointed in the ending.

The beginning was a bit hard to read, but I could tell the author at that time was going somewhere with the difficult event, so I stuck with it.  The middle of the book was fabulous, but towards the end, the author seemed to loose where she wanted to go with the book and the ending did not complete the middle.  All in all a well written and thought provoking book, I just wish the end had not gone off on such a wild tangent.

Our babies are growing……

You can see from this picture that my baby robins are growing in leaps and bounds! Can you believe that in just a few short weeks, they have grown to this point where they actually look like birds?? 

Their eyes are open and they are feathered……I hope I get the chance to witness their flight from the coop!

You may have noticed I have been a bit quieter than usual, and you may have remembered that I was going to post pictures of a baby of a different kind…….

Well, here is what has kept me busy over the last few days…..<grin>.

I would like to introduce you to Benchmark Cosmopolitan.  We picked this
little girl up at the airport on Sunday.  She made the long journey from Dallas, all by her lonesome and never skipped a beat.  She is fun, outgoing and may even give Maggie a run for her money…LOL!

What I could use some help with is giving her a name other than puppy.  She has her registered name and I was going to call her Stoli, but Hannah says…..ewww…."Mom, it sounds like Ravioli"  LOL.  She certainly doesn’t look like ravioli now does she?

The other babies are growing in leaps and bounds.  I am absolutely amazed at how fast they grow.  In just a week, they have grown their feathers, their eyes are opening and they won’t fit in this nest for too long.

It’s been such a treat for us to quietly observe the developing lives of these little birds.  You have heard me say many times, how much I miss the birds in the winter and how much I look forward to them coming back in the spring.  This spring it’s been even more meaningful. 

All this coming from a person who is terrified of birds flying around in a house…LOL!  That movie The Birds really made a huge impression on me as a kid.  I love the birds when they are outside, but bring them in……….not so much…

I have managed to work on a few fibery things.  Watching the puppy in the yard has helped me move along on my shawl (more on that later this week) and keeping the puppy off of the carpeted areas in the house…ggg… had me pull the dyepots  in the kitchen out again.  Thankfully this little puppy seems to "get" that potty business is meant for outside 🙂

I don’t know about you, but Memorial Day weekend has always signified the beginning of summer for me. 

Not so much the Memorial days of my youth were living in a larger city meant big parades honoring our veterans……but more a relaxing weekend to get the yard in order, the garden chairs out and a chance to sit back and think about the summer that is ahead of us.

One of my favorite things to do this time of year when the day is finished, is to sit out in the yard with my project basket.  A little knitting, a little reading and perhaps a cold beverage to end the day.


I let the dogs out to putter around in their yard, chewing on what grass they can along the outside of their yards and  we all quietly listen to the peepers and the rhythmic honking of the Canadian Geese that make their summer home in the pond across the street………..It’s these evenings that I love the best!

Our babies…….
With no litters of puppies this year to mother, we have instead adopted our little fledglings that are nested in the bush in front of the barn. 

As you can see, all 4 of the babies have hatched and have made their parents lives a bit busier.  It is so darn cute to peek in and see their little mouths just hoping for Mum or Dad to plop something in it…LOL

If you click on the bottom picture you can see
that they are now contently sleeping in the heat of the day with full bellies and contented little faces……aahhh…the life of a baby.

Check back in a few days for a baby of a different sort and most of all, enjoy your holiday weekend!  If you think of it, as you should on this holiday…say a prayer for our guys and girls overseas who are defending our country.

Ok……I am not a princess and this is not a pea……..but it IS a nice name for a yarn color, don’t you agree?

I’ve been wanting to see how the merino/tencel sock yarn would knit up as a shawl, given it’s almost silk like qualities, but I couldn’t decide on a color……….until, I got a bouquet of flowers with this particular flower.  This is the second bouquet in just a few weeks that has contained this color and I just love it.  Most likely the flower was probably dipped, but it reminds me of early spring….very vibrant, yet soft at the same time.

With a pinch of this and a shake of that, I managed to get pretty close.  I wear alot of khaki beige in the summer and I thought that this would be a nice color to offset it.  I’m liking the fabric so much that I am actually contemplating doubling the yarn and knitting a sweater with it.  I think I will swatch it first though 🙂 (see…I’m learning)

Speaking of dyeing, I have been really trying hard to solve some of the pooling issues with yarn that I dye.  No one has complained about it mind you, but pooling is something that irks me.  I don’t know why it does…….it doesn’t bother me when I see it in other people’s projects, but I get a little bummed out when I see it happening in something that I am knitting. 

I am very happy with the yarn that I have made the last 2 hand dyed socks with.  The funny thing with dyeing is though…………I may have gotten it right with these 2 colors, but who knows what will happen with the next 2.  I think it is that puzzle that really keeps my interest in dyeing. 

You know it’s Spring when……………

Look close……a bit closer and  you will see the beginning of a new little life.

Sometime during the night, this little baby robin started his journey on the road we call life.  You can’t see his face, only his little butt with some cute little butt feathers….LOL. 

Hopefully his siblings will join him soon and help keep him warm 🙂

Reach for the stars my dear one!

Our weekend was one of family and pride.  Ashley my middle child is the first of our children to graduation from college.  She worked very hard this year, carrying a full boat of difficult classes and we are so very proud of her!  A little bit of sadness was mingled in with the joy…..as much as it’s exciting to see her move onto the next chapter in her life, it is also bittersweet to see her say good~bye to childhood.

Of course the day would not have been complete without the martini toast to the new graduate.  Ashley although very laid back becomes a very determined young woman when challenged….this trait will carry her far in life. 

This is the child when asked what she wanted to be when she grows up would answer…."A couch potato"…..

You’ve come a long way baby!

A little fiber…….

Not much time over the weekend was dedicated to fiber for the obvious reasons, but I did manage to squeeze in a little knitting time.

Not one to usually jump on a band wagon, I just could not resist Cara’s enthusiasm over the Knitty Monkey sock.  She is right….the pattern consisting of 10 rows keeps you moving right along and keeps you interested.  It’s very easy to follow along and is fun. 

I have wanted to knit up samples using my sock yarns, so I have been a bit more focused on socks than I have ever been in the past.  I don’t know if I will ever be able to crank them out like some can……but I’m thinking I’m going to meet my sock goal for this year pretty quickly :-).  My feet are going to be happy next winter!!

From a bud, only a promise.
Then a gentle opening:
Rich blooming, bursting fragrance,
The fulfillment of the center.
True beauty comes from within.
Deng Ming~Dao

I couldn’t say walk with me on Wednesday as these pictures were taken on Tuesday……..and today is Thursday…LOL.

Spring is finally in full bloom here in the mountains.  The days have been delightfully warm and the evenings have been cool with very little humidity. 

Knowing that it was going to rain and then cool down, I thought I would take a walk around the property on
Tuesday to take a few pictures.

The flowering apple trees here are all in bloom.  Looking out my windows it looks as though the trees are painted with black raspberry icecream…yum!

We are having a graduation party for my middle daughter, Ashley who is
graduating from college this weekend and raspberry cream pie is on the menu to match the blossoms from the trees and the lilac bushes that I will make flower arrangements from.

I love this time of year…..the birds are all home, twittering away and when you open up your door, the fragrance from the trees and bushes is the first thing that greet you.   

And the best part…………..the black flies are still sleeping!

With the warm breezy days, a little dyeing has been happening too :-).  I think my spring yarns will all have flower names.  Send me some of your favorite flower names and I will see if I can match them with a yarn color….it will be fun!

hat