Catching Up

I must not have been in a very photographic and bloggy mood the past couple of weeks.  Perhaps it has been because of the dreary rain.  After that lovely snow fall, it rained and rained and rained.  There wasn't much excitement or interesting things going on...only dreaming of Spring gardens and Summer adventures.

Crocheting

I started a new project.  It is a "medieval" looking hood.  I selected these blues to work with.



Pretty!

Now this picture doesn't look half bad but it just wasn't fitting right so I decided to rip the whole thing out....twice!!!  I was quite frustrated having spent HOURS crocheting this up (twice) only to still not have it work.  

I decided to try one more time using a bigger more drapey stitch and only one type of yarn to see if I could tweak the pattern and make it work. 

Here is my lovely assistant showing the hood fastened to the beginning of a large and flowing cape.  


Well, it is a prototype (or if you are into Hobbits, a Frodo type HA HA HA).  I am taking a break from the cape until I can get some 50% off coupons to buy more yarn.  I have gone back and forth with whether I should press on or admit defeat.  I do think it will be cozy and toasty warm once finished.  I love shawls...much like being wrapped up in a blanket so I could see myself wearing this on chilly day outings.

 While I am waiting for more yarn, I am working on this:


Ohhhh, pretty!  This is a merino silk wool that I am making a short infinity scarf out of.  Phil got me a gift certificate for Valentine's Day at the local yarn shop and I picked out this lovely yarn.


In home dentistry

Dreaming of Spring!  These lovely bouquets are currently brightening up my dining/livingroom.

Hellebores 



Valentine Flowers 

The first of the Daffodiles

Busy in all my "spare" moments.

My latest felted pot

Making busy bags.  I have switched reading to the morning and I need some one on one time with the older two so I have 4 boxes labeled Monday-Thursday, each with assorted activities to keep the little ones busy.  I am working on more activities for the boxes.  My goal would be to stuff enough fun things into the box that they could be kept busy up to an hour.

The first gardening day of the year.  WHOOOHOOO!  We have been pondering rearranging the garden space in the backyard.  We have a prime sunny spot taken up with a pathways so we decided instead of individual raised beds that we would make one huge raised bed.  This more than doubles our growing space.  

Project starting...I raked and shoveled up hogs fuel and backfilled on the steep hillside and mucked out the chicken coop and refilled it with the remaining shredded bark.  I took down the existing rock retaining wall and made a side wall and then piled the other rocks for future use.  (I spend the day bent over raking, pitchforking, shoveling, and lifting heavy rock...I am feeling "my age" tonight!)


Phil was then able to take apart the raised beds and use the lumber to create a barrier between the new bed and the first pathway.  I think it will look great with nice neat little rows of delicious growing things!  It makes gardening water stations easier too.  We just need to fill in with more dirt and we are ready to plant this first bed.  We are going to repeat the process with the remaining three raised beds once we have this one finished.

Stay tuned for more in progress pictures.

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