Finished Minion

Husband kindly brought him home so I could take pictures.  The soda is for scale.
That's our new couch in the background, it's dark chocolate brown and has brass rivets. :-D It's really lovely to have a couch that does not inflict back pain when you sit on it!
I do love making toys. There is the joy of making something that will bring happiness. The giggles I get when one is finished. I have an entire list of toys I plan on knitting.
 I don't even mind all the finishing work, the little details that give a toy life.  I do mind the tight gauge toys tend to be knit at that makes my hands ache.  It means no enthusiastic knitting marathons where I finish three toys in a week,but one toy in a week with lots of stretches and other projects in-between.  Though, being forced to work on other projects means I might end up with handmade things to actually wear instead of piles of unfinished summer tops. ;-)

Proto-minion

My husband recently requested a Minion for his new office.  I found a lovely pattern. I dug around in the yarn stash and found some acrylic in appropriate colors and away I went.  When I finished the body the other day, Husband dubbed it, "Proto-minion".

I'm sure you can see why. He is larger than the pattern states as I held the yarn double.

I also found a pattern for Gru, which Husband also wanted.  How else was he to keep his Minion in line? So yarn was also obtained for Gru, who will be cast on once the Minion is complete and my hands have recovered from knitting at such a tight gauge.  I do love the finished toys, I just don't like making them particularly well.

There is a toad in my kale

I had been noticing holes dug in my pots of salad greens the last week.  I figured the squirrels or something had been digging in the pots; irksome but a hazard of gardening.
When I went out to water the plants yesterday morning I discovered the true cause:

Can you see him?

Maybe this makes him easier to spot?
I carefully watered the greens and left him to his business.  I'm glad he's there, talk about awesome organic pest control! 

They aren't all the same color....

Or all the same pattern.  They are all shawls of varying shapes and sizes. All finished in the last six months.  And none of them are blocked, making them beautiful swathes of color that I can't wear.

These three are the ones in progress downstairs.

There are at least four more in progress upstairs.

Someday, I may get one of them properly finished.

Why yes....

I do like green.

And cartoons.   Does it show? ;-)

It's been a good day

New yarn came to stay with me:

The one on the bottom left is called Bat S**t Crazy, from Miss Babs (who has gorgeous yarn!). 
There's a bit of Malabrigo lace, in Hummingbird (single skein) and Emerald Blue.  There's a large lace shawl's worth of  Ultra Alpaca Fine in a stone gray.  The rest is for a colorwork blanket.  There is also knee length, long sleeved lace cardigan's worth of merino silk lace in emerald green on it's way.

I also got a bottle, with the sole reasoning being, "It's my birthday."

At some point, I may actually open it. ;-)

My kids made me cookies and pie.  My dad and step mother sent a stunning dress.  My grandmother sent some lovely jewelry (that matches the dress).  Tomorrow is the local Highland Games.

I am a happy person. :-D

Green growing things

In the run up to Yarn Tribble Breeding and Library Expansion Day* I thought I would post some of the lovelies growing in my yard, mainly as a counterpoint to the acquisition of things that only give a passing wave to practicality. :-)

There are cucumbers sprouting:

Beautiful smelling rose and gardenia blooms are starting to appear:

And the spearmint and chocolate mint plants are trying to fill the half a whiskey barrel they are in:

There are also cherry tomatoes, salad greens, and California poppies sprouting, another half barrel with French lavender, basil, oregano and thyme, four full size tomato plants(two different kinds), a couple of jalapeno plants, sage, and an aloe vera plant scattered about in pots of varying sizes.  Plus there are the nasturtiums and red geranium (that has purple coneflower sprouts in it) by the front door.  I was tempted to plant more, but realized I would run out of space before running out of things I wanted to plant.  I suppose this will do....for now.

*Previously known as my birthday. ;-)

We finally made it to Faire!

And it was still a bit cold as well as being incredibly windy the entire day.  Which is why we didn't really dress this year.  I was going to at least wear my lovely emerald and gold corset (I even finished a matching skirt), but proceeded to forget some of the lacings, so I just wore horns on my head (from a Faire many, many moons ago).

Boy wore one of his father's old shirts and a cloak that I made ages ago.  Girl decided to clip on some sparkly horns and call it good. (Boy is standing on a bit of tree root. He's really only about a head taller than Girl.)

 There were belly dancers.

 Feral fae folk in the trees.  He was being carted around on a lovely woman's shoulders later.

And acrobats!
I also did some shopping....there was a booth of a local farm with hand dyed fiber!  They had a goat! 

It's called "Fire Bender" and I had to have it!  Maybe I should practice my drafting, so I will be able to spin it properly. ;-)
I got my summer sandals at the Faire too, I just don't have pictures of them yet.  We also bought yummy scented candles, which were lit almost immediately following our return home, strawberry and spiced orange, oh my!  We ate fudge, turkey legs, steak on a stick and, in one instance, a chicken crepe. There was the obligatory, for me at least, chocolate dipped frozen banana.  I had a delicious glass of mead.  It was outstanding enough that I am now looking for places to buy it locally!
All in all, a very enjoyable way to support local endeavors!  Hopefully the weather will be better next year.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

This is on my front door:

I bought it at a Celtic fair years ago.  I adore it. :-D
This is for dinner:

There is also beer in the fridge, my pants are emerald green and I am wearing a Guinness tee shirt. It's a holiday I can celebrate with great flamboyance and minimal effort. ;-)

Little Happinesses

A few things that are helping me look forward to Spring while waiting for the weather to stabilize so I can play in the dirt properly to replace all the plants that repeated below freezing nights destroyed utterly.
Mead:

It's something we like to get in spring and early summer.  These have the added bonus of being beautifully colored as well.
A new gardening book:

I think the title alone explains why this one had to come home with me.
An addition to the decor:

Because I needed this pillow. 

Another hurdle jumped

So, a couple of weeks ago, my much abused dryer decided it had had enough.  I attempted to be good humored about it, even if it was in the middle of laundry day.  I hung things up to dry around the house; we aren't supposed to use clotheslines and clothes dry better when it doesn't keep randomly dropping below freezing.  Honestly, it was easier to deal with than when a washer goes, so I pressed on. 
Earlier this week, timing met luck, the stars aligned and my lovely new dryer was delivered this morning!

Husband hooked it all up this morning.  Tomorrow, we will listen to it make happy beepy noises as it tackles it's first laundry day!