wheeee…..ewww!!!
The past couple weeks have been a whirlwind.  Whatever wasn’t photographed, and most wasn’t, has been relegated to blur status. Yesterday afternoon I took my sister and niece to the airport, got home around 8:30, collapsed on the sofa with my new knitting project (just scroll down), and this morning have been catching up on office stuff.  We had a great visit.  We went to our favorite garden for high tea; cucumber sandwiches, scones with cream and strawberry jam.  There was a pot of tea for each of us.  It was overcast, but the colors where lovely. The phlox and helenium were in full bloom.

We went for a drive.

We picked blueberries and blackberries.  We checked out the (not so wild) wildlife.

I finished the trekking socks.  I drove them around thinking that I might make time to stop for a photo shoot, and ended up taking a hurried shot this morning on the from walk walk.  I had great intentions. 

I dyed some yarn.  (They played in the pond.) This is a 50 silk/50 merino (same blend as all of my yarns) two ply lace wt.  I’ve been wanting to knit with Zephyr.  I bought lots and have started dyeing it.  So far, my plan is to do shaded yarns.  Subtle.  Yarn that will show off the lace patterns, not compete with them. 

Love it.  I’m knitting the Swallowtail Shawl from the Fall Interweave Knits.  L.O.V.E.L.Y.  I enjoed knitting the Flower Basket Shawl, another by Evelyn Clark and I am enjoying this one too. 

from Interweave Knits

a few things:

• The washcloth is finished.  It is a good size, probably 10" in diameter.  I’d show a picture but my sister is in the shower, so is the cloth.  Works great.
• The yarn for my sister is using is Kathmandu, the Queensland Collection.
• The pattern for the wrap is in Fall 2005 IK.
• It is raining.  Normally, I would high tail it down to the barn and use this as a dye day.  Today, with a 10 yr. old and my sister looking for something to do…er..mmm.. I will be finding something.  (Perhaps a museum??)  For now, the crayon box and a roll of paper are on the table.  When I unrolled the paper I found that there was ten feet of previously colored illustrations from another rainy day.  Actually, it was fun to see last year’s mural of Mouseville. 
• L wants to go to Walmart.  She likes the washcloth and wants some cotton.  That’s an hour’s drive.  C wants a table saw.  I was thinking more in terms of a gallon of milk.  I think I need to think higher thoughts.
• Whatever happened to a good book?

Scattered.. or random. 
Yesterday morning I dove to Burlington to (a) drop off a friend at a bakery on the other side of the state, The Red Hen Bakery, where he will begin the next leg of his journey after buying, sharing and eating an entire tray of the BEST sticky buns.  (b) going to the airport to pick up my sister and my niece, (c) spending the remainder of a beautiful afternoon on the outdoor mall in Burlington eating spinach pie and window shopping (okay, not ALL window shopping), (d) driving back across to the Kingdom and starting this:

I have no idea what possessed me.  The bright colors? maybe.  For me, it’s a face cloth.  I don’t do dish cloths.  A friend gave me two of them a couple years ago for Christmas and I really love the feel.  The pattern is free, online.  Google free dishcloth patterns. 

My sister arrived with this in her knitting bag.  It’s the first one I’ve seen.  If she ever wakes up this morning I’ll ask her it’s name.   I think she called it the Lacey Wrap.  Beautiful, and soft, and probably very warm. 

She’ll need it, frost is predicted for the next two nights.

As to the question on what I do to the broccoli… I like to steam blanch it for 4 minutes, then it is immediately dropped into very cold water, (use ice cubes or if you have a well you’re probably all set), cool fast, shake off the water and package for the freezer.  I sort of roll the bags before I seal them to get the air out.  That was a good suggestion about the vacuum sealer, I’ve just never gotten one. 

Now, about the frost.  I have to cover the tomatoes, and pick as many berries as I can.  We’ll see.