Moving!!!

Dear "Songknitter" Readers,

Changes are good right? After an inspired brainstorm in which my whole family played a part, my step-sister, Lauren, and I have decided to try a co-blogging adventure...and thus, the "grump and frump" blog was born...come check us out at http://grumpandfrump.blogspot.com/ ...I may show up back here from time to time, but most of my posts from now on will be on the new blog...see you there!

Love,

"TheSongknitter" AKA "Frump"

Ishbel...

Finally blocked this yesterday and though the yarn is humbler than many of the Ishbels I've seen on Ravelry, I think it turned out quite nice (Knit Picks "Shadow" in colorway "Vineyard". We're currently having a lovely anniversary staycation...Tom took several days off and we've been just doing whatever feels right in our favorite place...home. Strangely, I've been drawn to cleaning out the messy areas of our life (cabinets, the spare room) and Tom's working on the garage...it seems that we're super happy doing those things on our own time instead of when company's knocking on the door or an emergency arises. Headed to the store for weekend provisions...plenty of time for cooking up delicious meals and grilling...savoring summer and the garden. Changes still brewing in blog-land, but we're not quite there yet, so I'm still here in my old format for now...more soon.

Sunflowerset with ants...

Mornings and evenings bring a sigh of relief around here...otherwise, it's a string of mid to high 90 degree days with no air conditioning except a small, almost pointless portable swamp cooler on wheels...this picture captures my outdoor time this summer...mostly after the sun goes down. It has been a long time since I've posted anything here, but things have been going on...a new pup, lots of knitting and sewing, scheming, and even a little singing activity. Stay tuned for an update in the next week or two and a new and very different direction for blogging activity in these parts...

Hand-Made Sunday: 4-10-11

Sundays are for making things around here. Thrifting, cooking, composing, knitting, dyeing, digging holes, building, organizing, sewing, crafting, planting, growing, imagining, dreaming, playing. Once a week we remember who we are and who we want to become. Here are some of the things we created on this sunny (supposed to be rainy day)...

It started with a long over due mitten mending project for a girl at my school. Apparently her dog ate the cuff of her mitten and she has been sad ever since. Sadly, it was over a year ago that she asked for help and I'm just now getting to it, but there you go. The cuff looks a little wonky but a clever jacket sleeve will hide it from the general public. Next, there was a bit of plying whilst Tom made an omelet and went about his Sunday calls...this is some roving that I bought the first time I went to the Estes Park Wool Market...from The Dudley Spinner.

After his phone calls, Tom got back to work on the old-timey garden gate you see here. Made from old barn wood and even older hinges, it will keep critters out of the vegetables and give us something to look at from the kitchen window until green begins to creep into the view. You will also notice the very stylish hooky thing...this is an iron implement that he made several years ago (pre-Jenny) during a historic blacksmithing workshop. We also have a wall sconce in our living room from the same session.

Of course, there was also knitting. Between crafty projects and cleaning up various messes from the past week, I kept picking up the "Herringbone Poncho" from Last Minute Knitted Gifts and checking out the bird feeder activity from our very large living room window/aviary observatory. I've become quite the birdwatcher...today was the usual parade of house finches, black-capped chickadees, stellar's jays and grackles. The little downy woodpecker did not make an appearance...

probably nesting.

The big project of the day, however, and my reward for paying bills, was my very first solo dyebath project...excluding the Kool-Aid dyeing I did a few years ago. I boiled up an enormous batch of coffee and dumped some pre-soaked KnitPicks Bare Wool of the Andes into it...it's still in there...and will be for a few days of heating and cooling. Hoping to make Melissa LeBarre's "Tea Leaves Cardigan"...although I will have to rename it "Coffee Grounds Cardigan". In the meantime...there is some homemade guacamole (I really need to get a molcajete) and wine in a jelly jar at our inherited picnic table(came with the house)...more soon...j

birdwatching...

This is Jane Richmond's "Sedum" in a discontinued yarn: Rowan Chunky Print. I can't stop wearing it, so I'm going to make another. It really is a great pattern...I see that the designer just updated the pattern and added sizes and is now charging a reasonable sum for it. Although I knitted this from the free version of the pattern (no longer available), I'm planning to buy the pattern to support this lovely lady's time and effort. Also, I've really gotten into birdwatching lately and though it would be a good name for the sweater. OK...running down to the market to get some oil before they close so we can have our once weekly popcorn and Ovaltine dinner. More soon...

milagro nest

This is a little felted nest from the book knit-a-long that I made last summer because I couldn't help myself...I love the round shape and the bright spot of color in the crook of the japanese lilac. After windy days I have little game of "find it" because it most certainly has blown into some secret cranny of the yard. Spring is getting so close. Seed catalogs arrive every few days in the mailbox, the sun is finally up for my drive along the foothills to work, miracles underway. Tomorrow I will be 36...6 years ago I moved to colorado...3 1/2 years ago I married the loveliest man I've ever met...1 1/2 years ago we bought this little "mining shack". What milagros will I encounter as a 36 year old woman? A long time ago a dear friend read my palm and said I'd be a little lost for awhile, but things would come together when I was about 35. Only one more day to find out, but I'm pretty sure she's right...this is where I'm supposed to be, what I'm supposed to be doing and who I'm supposed to do it with...

Mmmm...coffee...

I've been re-photographing some of my older knits and here's the latest. I made it about 7 years ago...hard to believe...but still one of my favorites...a Debbie Bliss pattern and some really yummy chocolate brown Cashmerino Aran. If it ever wears out I'm knitting another one exactly the same...