To post or not to post

I have been very busy knitting and crocheting since daughter Carol's wedding, and posting to my blog has really not been a priority. I haven't been in the mood to post bits of progress, so I keep asking myself if I have anything worthy of posting. Finally, the answer is yes!

My Hitchhiker shawl is finally finished! I'm short one pattern repeat, because I didn't pay attention to the yardage requirement. However, I don't think very many people will come up to me and ask to count the number of teeth in the finished piece. 

This is knit with Malabrigo and is fantastically soft!

I finished another Kria shawl for Mean Green Goes Pink night. I was doing a little online shopping, and through a little back and forth conversation about Wollmeisse yarn with an Etsy seller a discussion was started about knitting and crocheting for charity. The shop owner sent me a sample of Peruvian highland wool, the vibrant pink yo see in the picture. I finished it off with Wool of the Andes from KnitPicks.

A couple of weeks ago, Mom and I went yarn shopping at our favorite shop, Yarn Hollow. Jamie, the owner, had posted a picture of the Moreton Street Cowl, and I wanted to see it in person. This is knit in hand-dyed fingering weight yarn (Cherry Blossom) and Rowan Kidsilk Haze. It is absolutely luxurious!

There was a lady shopping for yarn while we were there, and she asked Jamie how long it would take to knit this cowl. Jamie said she wasn't sure, because she had stopped working on it to finish a top she wanted to wear on a vacation to Scotland. She guessed two weeks. With that in mind, I headed home and started right away. I started winding my hand-dyed yarn into a ball on Friday evening. Two weeks later, I finished my cowl at 10:30 in the morning. Jamie had it right... two weeks!

I really enjoyed knitting this cowl, but I'm not overly fond of the point. I think I may look and see if I can find a pattern that is more rounded, or I may try to figure it out on my own!

Denise called

She wanted to check up on me. She noticed that I hadn't blogged for a while and wanted to make sure I was okay. I'm glad she called. It's always nice to hear from her, and we had a nice talk about our de-stashing efforts!

I have managed to do a little knitting each day. Today I finished 22 out of 42 pattern repeats on my Hitchhiker Shawl. 

Great progress has been made upstairs, but it's not picture ready yet. I now have my craft supplies in manageable amounts. I'm amazed at how much I had in duplicate, with all duplicates now in new homes. I was ruthless about disposing of unfinished projects that I knew I would never pick up again. I still have quite a bit of de-stashing to do, but at least the upstairs doesn't look like a tornado blew through!

Carol has been over several times to help out both upstairs and in the yard.

Dave has been busy cleaning the front patio. That cement slab was under the trailer we lived in for 12 years. The girls and I like to walk around it and reminisce about where everything was located in that trailer. The flowers are soaking up the sun in anticipation of the wedding day. They're tropical flowers that need full sun. They won't be relocated until the wedding day since most of them will be in shade for the day.

Dave finished the stairs, railing and part of the walkway. Carol treated them.

This section of the walkway needs to at least be treated, but we're thinking of replacing 33 boards. A lot will depend on whether there's enough time before the wedding. I'm guessing that the boards won't be replaced until next year. Dave planted some new hosts to dress up the path.

We typically have hanging baskets of flowers along the south side of the house. This is not just in preparation for the wedding!

Dave has been busy cleaning up the hosts beds and paths. He added flower boxes and two little garden beds in front of the treehouse.

Carol painted the pallet fence that is "hiding" Dave's wood pile.

Another hosts bed was planted out back. Carol mulched around the catalpa tree yesterday.

The trumpet vine has been trimmed and staked. There's still some trimming to be done in this garden.

The pond has been cleaned, and Dave fiddled around with the waterfall to make it more like he had originally envisioned it.

The front porch has been power washed and stained. It's ready for company!