WIP Wednesday

This looks more like baby boy sweater.  I'm knitting this at the three month size and flew threw the top half.  I'll knit the body during my bus ride.  Yarn is Pagewood Farms Yukon in Navajo colorway.

I've finally finished the body on the slow motion baby sweater.  This is just one size larger than the above sweater, not many more stitches but it has been growing in slow motion.  Just have to find my size 3 double points for the sleeves and it will be finished.  Then a little hat and some booties, hopefully they knit up faster, and I'll send it all off next Monday.

I'm using Henry's Attic petite cotton yarn that I had dyed awhile back.  All was going well until I got to the body and it pooled.  I know the baby won't care.  I'm afraid the father's family might look at it and think my daughter's mother is a bit of a freak.

Over the weekend, I was only able to get about halfway through the llama.  There's a ton of peddling to plying a two-ply laceweight.  Hopefully, I'm not to exhausted on my Sunday and Monday off to finish this.  I'll be walking about two miles a day to the bus stop then the bus stop to work that's a bunch of stepping too.

I'm writing this Tuesday morning, scheduled to post at midnight eastern time.  If I'm not to tired I'll post about how my first day at work was this morning (when you'll be reading this), so you can check back later today, if you're interested.

Thanks for stopping by to see what I'm up to this week.  I'm going to try to head over Tami's in the mornings to see what everyone else is up to.

First Day Of Kindergarten

Actually, it's the first day of my new job.  It sure feels like the first day of kindergarten as I am both excited and apprehensive.  Excited to get out the house yet then I remember I can't sit around in my nightgown watching Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Rogers.  Oh wait, I'm regressing.

It's a means to an end, in that I will be able to save for the refresher course and get my nursing license.  As I haven't worked as a nurse in twelve years, I would want to take that course.  So much has changed in a decade, I'm sure.  Plus save for a down payment on a house.  I've always wanted to own my own home and I've been discouraged that at 45 I still don't have the one thing I've wanted.  Bad decisions and people in my life have been my downfall.

As you can see from the picture above, my roses are in full blown and still there.

My seedlings have all started to sprout except for the parsley.  The lid is supposed to come off now and the seedlings placed in the sun.  The parsley will just have to deal.  I suppose I'll give them just a couple hours in the sun every morning, so as not to burn them up.  It's still pretty hot, Saturday it was 105F/40+C.

The yellow/green crew have grown up.  Mama Myrtle on the far right, Tweety and Baby (they are mostly yellow with light yellow/green bodies) Norm/Norma, then Yertle on the left.  In the back left is Mr. Bird and Meanie.  In the far right, back perch is Junior taking a nap.  On the green perch at the top is Cassidy.  In a few weeks we'll be getting a big flight cage then the Mean Green Team will join up with the Bad Blue Crew from the other cage.   If you could see some the tricks they play on each other, I'm just glad I'm not a bird in either cage.

I didn't get very much done over the weekend.  Organizing didn't happen.  I believe I was afraid I would find a bunch of toys I might want to play with only to have to start work.  As it was, I spied two cross stitch pictures I wanted to work on when I moved a pile of fabric.  If you could see all the wips I have your eyes would bulge out.  I bet I could post a different wip picture every Wednesday for two years and not have to take a stitch.  Yes, I am that bad.

Speaking about wips, I'm going to write my WIPW post next and have it scheduled to post tonight at midnight eastern time.  You know, while I'm still at work.  Then hopefully tomorrow morning I'm not too exhausted to tell you all how my first day at kindergarten work was.

Thanks for stopping by.

FO & Fiber Arts Friday

My last free Friday, for who knows how long.  Next week I'll be working.  This FO has been technically finished for awhile.  However, I just skeined it off  my plying bobbin today.  The llama has been spun and I'm now plying.  The skein above is Tempted Fibers  merino/silk,  in colorway, can't remember, but I do have the tag around here somewhere.

This is part of the fiber that K brought to me in February when she came down for the day.  Since I have tons of handspun yarn, I told her I would spin it and give it back to her.  Hopefully, she'll be pleased with laceweight 909 yards approximately.  My goal was anything above 800 yards for the four ounces, as that is what millspun would be.  The llama should be finished this weekend.

While I was out this morning doing the boring shopping, cat food, cat litter and bird seed, we stopped at the yarn store that is conveniently on the way home.  The one on the left is another Pagewood Farms Yukon SW Merino/Bamboo/Nylon in the Navajo colorway and that one said, Baby Boy.  The other one on the right is K1C2 SW Merino/Nylon/Silk and it said Baby Boy.  When I got home I showed it to Duane and said, you know with the silk, maybe I should make my mother socks.

He said, he thinks it looks like it would make a nice small sweater to go with my new work tank top.  Except, I would need one more skein, at least.  I'm pretty sure they had another one or two and I've been trying to call them all day to see if they will hold it for a week or two.  While I was there, I heard them say the internet was out, so maybe that's why the phone keeps ringing.  Try again tomorrow and hopefully they still have it and will hold it.

My rose bud has decided to start to bloom.  I love them at this stage, just a bud starting to unfold.

The other one is thinking about it.  Let's see if they come up missing.  Hope not. Really hope not.

My bright pink geranium.

I'm feeling better today and organized the corner by my chair.  I've been wanting to do that since before Duane went in the hospital.  Of course, I organized it in my usual fashion by moving everything to the other side of the room. No picture, as all it is, is a blue tote with a few things on it.  Tomorrow, I will attempt the other side of the room and see how far I get.  Goodness knows where I'll move all that stuff over to.  Not the bedroom, I cleaned that last week.

For more Fiber and FO posts go to Wonder Why Gal and Tami's Amis.

Wishing For Fall

This is the time of year, is when I'm the most homesick. This will last until November when our temps cool down and it's snowing back home.  Last week during the Monsoon storms,  the temp cooled down to the low 90's are now back up to 102F today.  I'm feeling under the weather and would like a dreary raining day with some homemade chicken noodle soup on the stove and a cozy quilt.  Instead that blazing hot sun adds insult to injury.

My petunias that I planted last February are getting pretty leggy.  The ones that survived the summer scorch that is.  I don't know whether to cut them back, will they regrow and bush out?  Or do I just rip them out and plant new ones?  I like the way they trail the fence but the legginess bugs me.  I wouldn't have this problem back home, because the frost would have killed them by the time they look like this.

Two weeks ago, I bought some plants on sale at Home Depot.  My two foot tomato has a tiny tomato starting.  Some of the tomatoes will be for fried green tomatoes.  I can't find green tomatoes at the stores here, so I'll have to grow my own. How many times can you say tomatoes til it starts sounding funny?

I started some jalepeno plants from seed for Duane last month.  The sprouted pretty quick, but have been just staying the same for the past few weeks.  I wonder if the hot temps make things grow slower.

I think I might be boiling the hibiscus, literally.  I noticed this morning there was  water in the bottom tray of the pot and the leaves are starting to turn yellow.  I read not to use ceramic or clay pots down here as they heat up in the afternoon and will cook the plant roots.  This is a plastic pot, but I think I might have over-watered it (is that really possible in the desert? apparently) and am boiling the roots.  Less watering for the hibiscus, check.

Bright pink geranium, I picked up this week for some color.

The pink flower plant is called Vinca.  I hadn't heard of the plant before.  Vinca to me is the vine I used to plant in hanging baskets back home.  When I first saw these at Home Depot, I thought they were Impatients and was confused as why they were selling a shade/cool weather plant in the heat of July.  These Vincas like 8-10 hours of sun and warm temps.  I bought them in August when my planter had 12 hours of sunshine, but since Labor Day my planter gets no sun anymore.  I face the north and the sun has shifted to the south.

My rose with a gardenia in the back ground.  It's only slightly trying to bloom.  It's had three buds for two weeks now.  I'm a bit concerned about two of the buds when they bloom.  The stems are very long on these two and I worried some punk is going to come by and steal the flowers.

Monday, I bought this little green house to start some seeds.  There are heirloom tomato, cilantro, dill, parsley, butterfly bush and English lavender.  I took toothpicks and taped little labels to tell what is what.  The instructions said to put in a warm shady place.  That's my patio, I just hope it's not too warm and I'm not boiling my seeds.

Because there is no sun on my side, I haul all the plants in pots to my neighbor's patio across the way for a couple hours in the morning.  Then I stalk them through the window, worried that someone might decide to make off with them.  They just wave their little leaves back at me.  The French lady used to have things come up missing all the time, is the reason I worry.  We don't know if it's another tenant, or just someone passing through.

Progress is slowly happening on the baby sweater.  So sad, when my kids were little, I could knit one of these in a day.  I know I have a second skein around here somewhere for the sleeves and a hat, but I can't find it.  I guess I'll have to do some of the organizing I've been trying to avoid, to find it.

By eight oclock, I'm ready for bed.  This will be a problem next week, when I work until 11pm.  To try to stay awake, I've been spinning. Not too much left of the llama, then I can ply it.  K will have to let me know if she wants to make a trip down or I should I mail it off.  I go to bed at 11pm then wake up at 1am, up til 3:30am then it doesn't matter what time I go to bed, I'm always up by 8 am.


The sun is starting to set and temps are cooling off to the high 80's, it's time for me to go water the plants.  Except for Mr. Hibiscus, he's going to dry out for a couple days.

Thanks for stopping by.