May 2011

Wow, it's been so long since I last posted. Saying I was busy sounds so lame, but I swear it's true. I've been knitting up a storm...nothing to show for it right now...am working on a test knit for my friend in New York. She has designed a lovely series of shawls to commemorate historical women. Rosie the Riveter, Rosa Parks, Emma Pankhurst, and the Unsinkable Molly Brown. I'm testing Molly Brown for her. It's my very first shawl and I must say, it's quite lovely. I'm knitting it in a Wollmeise fingering weight yarn in Lila Ludmilla (violet). I promise I'll take a picture once it's done and post it here. Promise!

In the meantime, here's a Wee Tiny Sock I knit last night. My friend in New York comes from a really large family - 26 children in all (no adoptions, one set of twins!) and they all knit, even the men! There are several doctors in the family and they all work with Doctors Without Borders. This family is involved with a lot of charities, and they encourage all their friends to help when they can. My friend designs socks and shawls and hats and wee tiny socks and sells them with all the proceeds going to charity. Recently, 3 of the brothers, all doctors, heard that the Doctors Without Borders group was still working in Haiti but was running out of money for that area. They decided to tap in to their sister's network and designed a set of 3 Wee Tiny Socks, placed them in kits with yarns and patterns, and sold them thru their sister's Ravelry Shop online with the understanding that all proceeds would go to DWB and used toward Haiti relief. I bought the

set and it has sat here awaiting me for several weeks. Last night I had some time, not enough to work on the shawl but enough to devote to a WTS...I cast on the first sock in the Healer series. This one is called Let Them Be Children. I love how it came out...

Missouri in Spring is quite lovely. So green and fresh. It won't be long before the humidity sets in and then it will get miserable. Until then, John is taking advantage of the nice weather and putting in a second garden bed. Last year he only had one bed...we had 11 tomato plants and several herb plants. Last week I went with him to the Marshfield Greenhouse and we picked up some basil, rosemary, chives, oregano, and sage. We also go 3 roma tomato plants, 2 Brandywine tomatoes for cutting tomatoes, a broccoli plant, and 4 pepper plants (yellow, orange, green, and red). One of the girls at work gave us some small brussels sprouts plants and 4 Carolina Gold tomatoes along with 4 Cherokee purple tomato plants. John wants the tomatoes in a different bed from last year so he is building a new bed. He planted all the herbs and the other vegetables last weekend. This weekend he hopes to get the new bed done so he can get the tomato plants in the ground. He is racing against the rain....clouds are building up as I write this.

Some sad news to report...we lost our 2 year old cow, Dolly, a couple of weeks ago...she was unable to give birth to the calf she was carrying and both she and the calf died. While they say that you can't have livestock without occasionally losing some, and it is part of nature, it still is a sad thing to happen. And life goes on!

I will try to post more often in future. In the meantime, thanks for stopping by.