I had to dress up a wee bit....

Husband and I went with some friends to go see Maleficent this weekend.  How could I not wear a black dress and shoes with ravens on the toes?

I will admit, Maleficent is a personal favorite character of mine.  After seeing the new movie, I may actually adore the character more than I did before.  I announced to Husband when leaving the theater that I wanted to grow up to be Maleficent...luckily, he laughed. ;-)

Mojito cupcakes!

I decided these cupcakes would be a good way to celebrate Friday the 13th, the Honey Moon, and Father's Day all in one go.  They aren't very pretty, but they do taste good!

Lime-mint buttercream frosting on top of vanilla cupcakes flavored with yet more lime and mint...and a tiny bit of rum.

The good kind of silence

There was a lull just after dinner tonight.  That kind of comfortable silence between lovely food and having to clean up afterward?  Everyone in their space in the living room; Girl curled up with the latest Dresden novel, Boy with his nose in the latest Discworld novel,  Husband re-reading the Dresden series, the cat curled up in the shoes by my feet napping.....and me, clicking away.

It lasted ten or fifteen minutes.  The loudest sound was my metal needles scritching against each other as I churned out another row. 
And then, it was time to clean up, with much bashing of pots and pans and turning on of the dishwasher.  That's okay though, I wasn't the one having to do the dishes tonight. ;-)

These may require more research....

So, yesterday was apparently Doughnut Appreciation Day, which is how I managed to stumble across this.  I may have mentioned it...loudly, to all members of the household.  Today, we decided a trip to get doughnuts and ice cream was in order. :-D

Darling Daughter went with a cherry iced doughnut and green tea ice cream:

Boyo decided on chocolate doughnut and coffee ice cream (with plans for a maple doughnut and coffee ice cream later this evening):

Husband went with a favored combination, chocolate doughnut and mint chocolate ice cream:

I personally went with a plain doughnut and coffee ice cream:

All I can think of is all the different combinations you could make of these! Why not mint chocolate cherry? Maple green tea? It takes effort to not taste test all of them!  They are a decadent, delicious, five minute treat...just remember, pace yourself! ;-)

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. ;-)