Pocket Garden

With everything going on in our lives & all the projects we have planned, pending and are dreaming up, we're going to be pretty busy this summer.
I wanted to put in a garden but knew I would not have time to properly take care of it. Larry found the Earth Box. We ordered one to see how it was made. As a true test of its published abilities, I bought plants that were half dead & marked down (yes I’m cheap)
They were about as thick as a pencil and 4 inches tall when I planted them.
Here they are at 2 weeks! So much for a test, I knew I would have time to replant with healthy plants if needed. They say you will yeild 2-5 times from a traditional garden. We'll see but it looks as if were off to a good start.
We need to come up with more small PVC to make a frame to stake them on and QUICK!

Cherry Pickin Time!

Last week I went with my friend Johanna to pick Cherries at her parent’s house. They had gotten what they wanted so we cleaned the tree.

That means Mr Larry got fresh Cherry cobbler last night. Can you smell it? I was able to make enough pie filling to can a few pints.


I learned something new also.

Did you know you can pit Cherries with a straw?



I thought Jo was nuts when she told me that but, it works great! Micky "d's" being a bigger & heavier works the best.






Not a lot left but it will be great this winter for pie or cobbler!

Waiting for Surgery

Chris’s hand waiting for surgery. They came home with instructions to keep it elevated & pain pills every 6 hours. They were to call the Surgeons office at 8 am for the scheduled surgery time. Good thing we had him stay here last night, he got the call at 7am. We don’t know if its for surgery or the another exam tho. Poor guy, he was still awake at 2am when I took him more pain meds. I doubt he got any sleep. I’m not sure if it was actually the pain or, worry about the future use of his thumb. Erika said she will call when they know anything.

Hit the Wall on the Wall

Then---------->

I’m beginning to think building the wall for this patio is never going to end! I belive the wall is shrinking or, someone is removing rocks when were not looking!

I had to pull up some photos of what it did look like. Hard to see but, if you look at the trim under the window of the house, you can see how high it has had to come up.

We added a little over a foot today & The yard art pile is shrinking. Our oldest daughter Danielle came and gave Larry & I some major help. Excuse me, I for got Isaiah. At least it wasn’t as hot, mid 70’s and overcast. If I had the energy I would tap dance. Only one more row on the base wall, and then the upper knee wall,finish filling in and steps…..then we get to start on the floor. Boy will it be worth it! No knitting for me today, my fingers are to stiff.

Erika’s boyfriend Chris was coming over to help again but, while practicing his domestic abilities (he was washing dishes), sliced his hand at the base of his thumb on a glass. Now he can’t move his thumb. They spent the day in 2 Er’s. First one said it was beyond them and sent him to Jewish hospital in Louisville. For now he’s in a temporary cast & has surgery in the morning to try and find and then reattach the tendon. Looks like it slipped up into his wrist. We were teasing him and said he could have found a better way to tell us he didn’t want to haul rocks. And, obviously he needs more practice washing dishes! Have to find humor in the bad stuff!

Now ----->

Family Time

One of my favorite photos of Rachel and Adam.
This was taken of their vacation a few yrs ago in Fla.

Hayden was our preemie grandson. Such a tiny thing. He was due the 1st week of January and was born the 19th of October. Hard to believe it was nearly 3 years ago.

Wow, Busy past two weeks!
Last weekend our youngest grandson Hayden was here, and yes he brought his parent’s, Rachel & Adam. Poor kid almost 3 and they still won’t let him drive! We held off working on the wall, just wanted to enjoy the time together.
It’s so neat to see the changes in Hayden, he’s growing so much, long and tall string bean.


Of course Grandpa had to break out the Big Boy Toys. Hayden is on front, Isaiah is on black. I’m not to sure who the biggest kid was, but I believe he's in the middle!

It was wonderful to see them. Rachel is looking better and better. With the heat she’s given up on wearing scarves except for work. Shiny heads are fine with us. Adam has been wonderful thru all of this. I'm glad they found each other.

THOUGHTFUL THURSDAY, Something to Think About

Found this on babylonglegs blog and thought i would share.

THOUGHTFUL THURSDAY& Having Fun going GREEN with a Free Pattern

I don’t like doing things that don’t stay done. Like dusting, vacuming, dishes (at one time I had 4 dishwashers, but they all grew up!) Nor do I like to constantly replace things we use daily. Have you ever noticed that when purchasing towels, you pay only $1.00 less for the hand towel? Really, who pays $3.00 for a wash/face cloth? I don’t mind paying for good towels, but $3.00-$4.00 for a washcloth that you get dirty? Make-up kid dirt...so, what’s the alternative?

How about making your own?

There are literally hundreds of patterns for knit and crochet wash/dish cloths. Simple patterns to intricate designs, and anything in between. The cotton is wonderful to bathe with, as the stitch patterns become an exfoliant or, more of a spa cloth. Soft enough for a baby but durable enough to scrub away the remnants of a child’s summer fun! They soften with age and just last forever! Converting my husband to these was not a concern but I thought, why not have fun with it. I was seeing lots of cutesy patterns, but not many “guy-ish”.
That is until I found the designer Lisa Milan.

Think of a sport or activity, racing to soccer she has a design. How about a Dump truck, school bus or airplane for the little guys? Gardening, to flip-flops, rubber ducky to teddy bears. Want to give the moon and the stars? Lisa has a pattern.
Handmade dishcloths last forever. The cotton believe it or not rarely stains. For extra scrub ability (is that a word?) you can use your acrylic scraps. There are nearly 350 patterns to choose from. All are accessible on her website digknittydesigns.blogspot.com. or Ravelry. Some are even free so, you have the chance to try them. Try it you’ll like it! Lisa sells her patterns for a mere $2.00 each. Purchase 5 and you get a free one!

Once or twice a month she runs specials where you buy 3 get 1 free. Every month she hosts a KAL with a new pattern in her Yahoo Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/digknittydesignsdishcloths/join.
I’ve only “known” Lisa for a few months but she has been wonderful concerning special requests for pattern designs. We belong to a camping group called “the Pampered Campers” & I wanted to give some dish cloths as gifts. Not a problem. Rocking horse had it within a day. The same cost, $2.00. She is always open to suggestions for new designs.
O.K., if you have over 300 fun design options and, it runs about .75 cents to make a face/dish cloth…why would I pay the extra for a dinky wash cloth everyone else has? Oh, Be sure and check out her holiday patterns! These make wonderful gifts and great stash busters.

Lisa has offered this Recycle pattern for FREE

I Can Spin!....sort of

Saturday Knit in Public gathering was a blast! I spent a few hours knitting and spinning with the Ann from the Grinny Possum & a group of Ravelry friends.

That’s right I was spinning! I knit for a bit, then started drooling over every ones wheels, knit a bit more. Then I went for the kill. I pulled out my virgin ashford drop spindle and said … “can some one teach me how to use this”? 0.1 seconds I had teachers!! A big thank you to Christel, Ashley and Anne!

I ‘m totally hooked! I went home to an empty house (never happens) and spun the evening away. Christel blessed me with some beautiful roving, Blue with purple blended. Came out fingering weight (sure I meant to do that Ha!) I spun some Purple last night, I wanted more of a worsted weight. There are a few lumps and bumps but I feel pretty good about it as a 2nd attempt.

Here is the required photo for you to oooh and aahh over! Don’t you love my designer cut off paper towel roll! It’s what I had and it works for me!

I think I’m going to keep up with the random colors and make a bag. I want to make a memory “something” to keep.

I love learning new skills or arts really. It was very humbling in a way as I was spinning at home by my self. I can do this for joy, for the art. I started thinking of the women before us who spun and wove out of necessity. The many long hours it would take to make the family garments needed to survive. They were the department store.

As my arms began to ache, I started thinking of all the old photos & drawings I've seen of spinners & knitters of eons ago. They were all by the hearth, knitting and spinning in the evening by firelight after the "chores" were done. This was the "light work" , the relaxing and easy stuff at the end of the day.

With these reminders, I finished what roving I had. I figured I could deal with achy arms and be greatful!

Knit in Public Day!

Today is National Knit in Public! Where will you be?
I’ll be heading to downtown Jefffersonville for “Jeff Fest” in Preservation Park. There are a group of us meeting up. Knitting, spinning, and other knitterly crafts!
I hope I can con someone into teaching me to use my drop spindle today! I’m sure I’ll have a difficult time of that. HA!
Hope to see you there!

Finish-itus No More!

I’m still learning how to place photos so, bear with me if they are out of order.

I seem to be recovering from my finish-itus. I finally got the buttons sewn on the Mini, so she’s done! I decided after much debate not to add the buttons on the bottom. It was just a bit too much. It was fun to make, have to think of more color combos!


I also frogged the Pure and Simple Jumper. I found 3 or 4 other patterns and adapted a bit of each. Using Cascade 22o, I tweaked it a bit under the arms and I like the look better. It’s just such a versatile garment, jumper for winter and sundress for summer. I was trying to decide what to trim this with and decided on Dragonflies. They are all over our pond, and back yard. They remind me of children zipping around out side after being inside to long!

I know I will be making more of this one, possibly gray next time.
I have a few sweaters to post, just need to re charge the camera batteries.




I had to add Dragonfly to the back, after all, with little ones that's what we see the most!

THOUGHTFUL THURSDAY& GOING GREEN

For a quite a while I have been thinking of all that we as a society waste. Since the early 70’s Reduce, reuse & recycle has been the mantra. The next few weeks I’d like to look at a few little things (call them baby steps if you’d like) that we can all do with little effort.

Ever driven down the road and see good furniture, toys, on the side of the road? Waiting for the trash, on the way to the Dump. Some say landfill but excuse me, the land is full, and we dig a hole to dump things into it!

Good things possibly, toys the kids no longer play with, a wheel maybe missing, wobbly leg table, dirty lawn furniture, bed frames, curtain rods, dishes, lawn mowers, I could go on but we’ve all seen the piles.
I always think there is some young person moving out for the first time or a young couple just getting started that could fix those things and use them.

When did we become a throw away society?

What happened to fixing things?

One gentleman I know picks up lawn mowers tossed out. He fixes and sells them on the side. The things he found wrong with them; need a tune up, wheels tightened, once a (new-one) spark plug was not connected. No more than an hour or so of work, they are cleaned up, running great and ready for a new home. Granted fixing lawn mowers are not a hobby for everyone. But for goodness sake pass it on to someone who could!
You could have a yard sale, take it to your local thrift store. Don’t want to haul it? There is another alternative, my family has recently found.
Ever heard of ”Freecycle “ (This is off the website)

It’s a wonderful way to get rid of things you no longer need.

“Where one person's trash is another's treasure!The Freecycle(TM) mission is to build a worldwide gifting movement that reduces waste, saves precious resources eases the burden on our landfills while enabling our members to benefit from the strength of a larger community. We are open to individuals, businesses, schools, and nonprofit organizations. Our goal is to make it easy for everyone to find new homes for good items rather than throw them away. In the process, we'll reduce waste, save precious resources, and ease the burden on landfills.”


You should check it out, just type freecycle in your search engine. Clean out some closets, or if you’re real brave the basement!

Gift of Love & Random Acts of Kindness

Remember the old story "Gift of the Magi"?

Our youngest daughter (22yrs) Erika has long, silky, beautiful brown hair.

This past Friday morning she took an early lunch & had her hair cut, and donated 10 inches to "Locks of Love" to honor her sister.

She didn't say a word to us or anyone else. Just quietly explained to the stylist what she wanted to do. She didn't make a big deal about it, just wanted to honor her sister in her own way.

As Erika attempted to pay for the cut and new style she was told another customer heard the conversation and paid her bill.

She came back to work to receive the gift of Rachel's good news e mail!

GOOD NEWS!!

A lot of you know that my middle daughter Rachel (23yrs old) has been fighting a battle with Uterine Cancer. Today she received the results of her last appointment. I’m so excited I have to share her news with everyone! She was at work when they called from the Dr’s office so, here is the e-mail we all received

Wanted to let everyone know that I just heard back from the docs and ALL good news!! She said that there is NO new growth!! That’s awesome, but even better is that she said it has gone down in size again! She doesn’t want to change any of my treatments as they are obviously working at this point. So 6 more months to go and then I’ll be done!

On another note, I’m very excited to say that after talking w/my doc, I am going to start training to run the Mini Marathon here in Indy next year! I knew I wouldn’t be able to follow a normal training schedule, but we were able to modify it to what would work for me, w/o overexerting myself. I’m looking at it as a great way to close this chapter of my life; one that although is challenging is something that I’m able to push through knowing that once finished, it will be something I can look back on and really be proud of.

Proof of the POWER OF PRAYER

THANK YOU! For all your prayers, please keep them going

Got Needles?

April showers bring May flower’s but what a way to start June. Nasty tornado went through Indianapolis this past week. My middle daughter Rachel lives there so we quickly gave her a call. They were very lucky. The storm went just north of the new house they just had built. The apartment complex they moved out of was damaged and, the complex next to it was almost destroyed. That is their 2nd close call. They lived in Evansville 3 years ago when the tornado did so much damage there! It hit a mile from their apartment and less than that from the hospital where my new grandson was in the NICU. The photo from hospital security was terrifying.
I’m beginning to think she is a storm magnate!


Reaching my May goals went out the window this weekend. Our local Coast to Coast Hardware & Ben Franklin closed. This past Saturday the contents were auctioned. Guess who scored BIG! (I went with my father -in-law, so I can blame it all on him.) I needed a few needles…..I got them………Just a few.

The entire rack!

This is just some I have sorted!

Circulars, straights& DPN’s. Boye & Susan Bates.

I prefer my Addi’s but I can suffer with these!

Need any yarn? I needed 3 colors for a few projects. I was able to purchase 2 entire sections of yarn. It filled about 5 ft of a refrigerator box. I pulled out what I wanted and have listed the rest in my Etsy store. I have been listing for 2 days and have more to go.

So much for knitting the stash down. Can you tell how much it bothers me? HA HA HA!
If you want a great deal on needles or Acrylic’s you should check it out!

Twisted Patterns

Major error in the pattern I listed for my Soakers. The pattern is Wool Diaper Cover (Soaker) - Knit by Ms. Crafty Galore ! I was working on this one and noticed I had erased some info. When I went back to the link I realized I had listed it incorrectly. So, sorry for the confusion. (Note to self, no blogging after midnight!) Quick and easy Soaker, I picked up 40 stitches for the small and 46 for the medium to finish off the legs.
I love the way the colors POP on this one.

The colorway is another great one from Sarah, the dyeing Diva of babylonglegs. If you love bold rich colors look on her blog, She has the most beautiful colorway's I've seen yet. I have a link on the side bar.
I had a great buy at a auction this weekend, but I'll save that for tomorrow.