july, my eye . . .

Posted on Posted in food and garden, lace/shawls, projects

a little redder today . . . brought to you by tomato cam.
something tells me we’ll be eating “green salad with tomato wedge” later on.

it’s been really dreary and cold here all week with lots of rain—it hardly feels like any july i ever remember. we’ve had to look really hard to find some bright spots, but there are a few

one of my favorite garden delights this year has been watching this pot of gold chard develop—i don’t have a great history growing multi-colored greens (well, or any greens, actually); they just never seemed to take in our plot before. the bright lights chard i tried to grow for two years didn’t even germinate. but this year both the red and the yellow chard have thrived and added some joyful color to the mix.

of course, the knitting always offers some color and this week we’ve had a particularly strong dose of it. pompa came off the needles the other day and i blocked it on wednesday

all pinned out along the floor, it looked just like a parade of flags. the pearl bison yarn washed up so beautifully and was a dream to thread and stretch to a nice size (11 by 48)

and it dried very quickly, even with so much dampness in the air. i love the particular red that this is—it’s clear and bright, but not too-too, you know?

we’re all set to release this pattern except for some nice modeling shots. hopefully, we’ll get that done over the weekend—david has been too busy the last couple of days doing something with rental equipment to take pictures

i’m getting a floor, i’m getting a floor!
seriously, i never thought i’d say that in quite that way . . .
yes, we are getting closer and closer to finished workroom space every day now. this floor and this wall coating are a thing of the past. there is all new wiring (i won’t even tell you the wiring situation we found inside the walls, shudder).

and best of all—a new cedar closet

big and deep enough to be the future home of the knitspot yarn stash and shawl collection. now my personal stash can have its little closet back to itself. can i show you more? i hate to flaunt it, but david even made upper cabinets over the closet for the bigger boxes of stuff i don’t need to trip over access as often.

they’ll hold a couple of stacks of those under-the-bed boxes easily. we had this kind of cabinet in our new jersey home and i loved them.

the plaster is all done; it just needs the final buffing and coating. after that, i think he just needs to trim and finish the floor and install the wall cabinets along the other side.
he’s been busy, alright.

last evening amanda came over to listen to some banging block the artichaut shawl sample she knit for chris’s sock summit booth.

we put the shawl on to soak and knit for an hour or so

i worked on nightingale and added another repeat to the length. she worked on her edging for the lerwick lace shawl (amanda loves really thin yarn and really complicated lace).

then we pulled the shawl out of the water and started threading.

see the artichokes?? amanda’s knitting is SO beautiful—the edges were nice and stretchy and easy to thread; it was a complete joy to do. it’s still nice to have two people on hand to block this one, though—it requires a really good stretching to reach it’s true, light-as-air potential.

and of course, it wants to dry right away, even as you’re threading it.
we got it blocked very quickly, however and gave it a good spray—by this morning it was ready to come off the wires (after a few photos).

sigh.

we had to chuckle though . . . amanda brought back the leftover yarn

and i think there’s enough here to make another shawl. keep in mind that i had one skein, which i knit my large shawl from. then i passed it to her and she knit a petite shawl. and we still have this much left over. who knows, we may turn it into something else; maybe a rectangle at some point?

after amanda left i sat down with my maze sweater to get reacquainted—it’s been way too long. too many secrets in between us . . .

i was sorta dreading this moment because i thought i’d be lost as to where i was int eh pattern, but no—i found my spot right away and managed to get all the way to the neck bindoff before it was time to join david for some relaxing movie-watching.

anyhow, after all the knitting i’ve been doing with little yarn, the progress i made in just an hour or so seemed astounding. i think i’ll be able to get lots done on this in the next couple of weeks, yay. and you know, fall feels like it’s just around the corner (oh right, that’s because summer is never going to come).

everything is blooming and producing on time (if not early) but man, the weather has not been warm at all. the hostas are a sea of blossoms right now and the bees are gorging so well on the nectar they can hardly stay afloat—they end up looking terribly drunk with it and this cracks me up no end.

you can see how dim and wet it is; but like i said, it doesn’t seem to be hurting anything either.

i know this post is getting long, but i haven’t even talked about the socks yet (or the eggplant). and truthfully, i was thinking that maybe i’d take the weekend off in order to get some knitting done. so i’ll give you all i’ve got today and then if i’m not back til monday, you’ll have plenty to look at.

how much do i love this sock?? i do—it’s so vintage-y, and so fun to knit. i can’t wait to have it ready for david to try on. it is really him. i dunno if nate likes it, but i definitely caught david eyeing it the other night.

my dark regatta sock is done, too. beckie is coming over on tuesday night and has agreed once again to do some sock modeling (she doesn’t know it yet, but i’d like her to model pompa as well. maybe i should warn her?). maybe we’ll even get david to join us.

tomorrow we’re going to a friend’s house for the fourth of july holiday and i need to think of something to make. i have LOTS of squash, so maybe something with that? hahaha. i’m hoping to bake a couple of quiches this weekend; we have all manner of greens and squash that would be yummy in them.

yeah, it feels like just yesterday that i put up all those greens in the freezer and now there are at least that many more out there to pick, yikes.

and the eggplant has doubled, at least, since the other day. i even found a nice japanese one that will soon be ready to pick for stir-frying.

it’s grown another inch since i took this picture. i can see already that a produce management plan might be a good idea for the coming weeks.

alright now, i’ve still got one more important thing to finish before today ends—my sock summit handouts. another thing i was dreading, because i thought i would never think of a cohesive to organize my thoughts about sock design.

in fact (and this is VERY unlike me), i’ve been having terrifying sock summit dreams. now, my dream life is very weird and fellini-eque almost all the time, but not usually scary (at least, not to me). but i woke up yelling the other night and that did it—time to get everything done and decorated so i can relax and move on—and knit for heaven’s sake.

but you know what? when i sat down yesterday and started writing, it all came together and i got the big picture of how it should be. now, i just have to create some worksheets get the whole thing proofed. so, time to get crackin’.

have a wonderful independence day and enjoy your weekend.

33 thoughts on “july, my eye . . .

  1. Oh, David does such lovely work. I now want a cedar closet of my own, even if it’s just to smell it.

    Everything is so pretty to look at today, I don’t know where to start!

  2. Everything looks just wonderful oh me oh my….Your closet is to dye(die) for….my goodness…instead of ordering your garden…I’m wanting an order number for David!!! 🙂 How super is he???? You are soooo lucky! Have a great holiday. E

  3. Thanks for the dose of color! I’m under the same dreary skies. I wore wool socks yesterday!

    The cedar closet looks lovely. Can’t wait to see your stash…

  4. Your studio makeover looks awesome! That closet looks like its going to really come in handy and I love that its cedar.

    I love all the gardening photos too. You’re making me want to give it a shot next year. And I agree with you that it doesn’t seem like summer at all. I even made the comment to my friend today that it felt like the beginning of autumn. (I’m in MI so makes sense we are having the same weather.) I wonder if we’re going to have a wicked hot late summer? Hmmm…

  5. How lovely to have a cedar closet. I’m afraid my stash reorganisation plans just involve plastic crates but I can dream …

    Hope you enjoy all that delicious looking veg.

  6. I really wish you’d rent David out – I’d pay plane fair plus wages but I can’t cook like you. Course I’m not asking if he WANTS to come or not – nark nark. I made it into holes in your socks at the Summit – YAY! BTW – I make a heart-healthy greens dish for my southern husband. I find collards a bit bitter (tho not as bitter as turnip greens) so I use 2/3 Collards to 1/3 RED (the red is important) Swiss Chard and it really mellows out the taste. ‘Course roasted garlic and Andouille sausage help too. Said I couldn’t cook but actually I can cook 3 whole things, and this is one of them.

  7. banging? what banging? obviously i’m much too accustomed to ongoing (and going and going and going) projects…..! it looks like you’re going to have a lovely room (and floor and closet), so it should be worth it in the end.

    have a great weekend! let’s hope summer shows up soon!

  8. Happy 4th! Enjoy the holiday weekend!

    And gosh, does the remodel look awesome. That’ll be so cool when it’s all done. 😀

    And the pictures of the knitting and plants are awesome, too, of course.

  9. I knew there was a reason I married a man who can do handy housework! He is totally getting a picture of that cedar closet for the day we have our own house 🙂

  10. A cedar closet! How cool is that?!?! I am nearly provoked to jealousy. LOL

    Speaking of jealousy, I live in Indy so we have the same weather as you but a few hours previous. How come your garden is thriving? Not fair! My tomoatoes are so scrawny due to very little sun and though we have a lot of flowers on them, we have no bees and high winds so very few have set. In fact, we have only 4 tomatoes total! See why I’m so jealous?

  11. I wish I were going to Sock Summit.I wanted to teach, but couldn’t think of enough sock related classes to submit.

  12. Oh, that closet!! Oh, that shawl!! Oh, the sweater and the socks!!! Will be back to ogle more. (The garden is beyond even my imagination.)Happy 4th!

  13. Does David have a brother?lol

    Wonderful closet, lovely artichaut shawl – yum.

    Incessant rain and fog here too – though we did get a glimpse of sun for 4th activities. Now it’s gone and the thunderheads are gathering. sigh. Time to go and knit and sew.

  14. What a special closet! I am so happy for you! Enjoy every inch of it! thanks for the great knitting shots and the wonderful vegetables. Your blog is always full of lush food, yarn and knitting, Thanks! You brighten up my day. Did I say, I love that closet?

  15. love the garden,the knitting, the closet..oh my! I’m still having nightmares about Sock Summit, no matter how much I get done, I still dream that I don’t have it all together yet, lol.

  16. Anyone would want to flaunt a closet like that! Enjoy it.

    And thanks for all the news and the gorgeous photos.

  17. Those artichokes are so elegant! And I know what you mean about the weather – our last week of June was just the same. Good news – our weather becomes yours in a few days and we started having heat again on Friday. It’s coming your way!

  18. Just what are those gorgeous pink flowers…the ones in between the hostas and the drunken bees, and the Nate sock????

  19. Anne- Thanks to you, my Ravelry queue is a mile long. Artichaut is the latest addition.

    Wouldn’t it be cool to have yarn the colors of the chard, and the eggplant?

  20. so very much to chat about!! ;-D
    Love love love the artichoke shawl. the yarn divine, the pattern amazing.
    and Pompa and gnarled oak are also stunning.
    Applause applause to your wonderful David for that cool closet.

  21. Houston is taking up all the summer: already we’ve had 2 weeks of days over 100.

    You’re welcome to it. Please send rain.

  22. Ooooh that Artichaut shawl is SO going on my list…gorgeous!!!

    Love the closet and the hostas! Right on time mine are blooming now too just after yours lol.

  23. Remind me to ask my chef friend for the recipe for the squash risotto he made us last fall. I don’t even like squash usually but I would have knocked a little old lady over if that was the only way to get more of this risotto. Ok, not _really_. But I’d have been tempted. It was that good.

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