Sidetracked Artist

I'm currently working on fingerless gloves knit with Panda Superwash yarn from Crystal Palace Yarns .  This lovely, soft, yarn is 51% bamboo, 39% superwash wool, and 10% nylon.  This color is called Stonewash.  I'll post the pattern when I'm finished with it. What are you working on? Cindy

Now that the weather has warmed here in northwest Washington state , our vegetable garden is producing well.  In addition to all the zucchini and cucumbers, we've harvested lots of green beans. I've taken some young, tender beans for a couple of dinners, but this was our first big harvest from the been vines.  I was amazed at how many beans we got from this 4 x 6 foot piece of ground.  This is the first time I've grown beans with a teepee-like structure, and I'm happy with how well it's worked. In the spring, I used bamboo poles I purchased at our farmer's market to provide the main structure for the teepee.  My husband "planted" them in the four corners of the plot, tied them together near the top, then I wrapped the whole thing with yarn scraps for the beans to climb on.  Only the outer edges of the 4 x 6 rectangle were planted. There are still many little beans in various stages of growth for another harvest, and the vines co...

When Fred and I were first married, our dining room furniture consisted of a borrowed card table and folding chairs.   We used the money we received as wedding gifts to purchase a china hutch, a table, and six chairs.   After 25 years, the table top wasn’t looking too good. Since new dining room furniture isn’t likely to make an appearance in my life anytime soon, and I couldn’t stand my shabby table any longer, I decided to refinish the top of the table.   Fortunately, furniture refinishing was one of the skills my mom taught me when I was growing up.   She tried to teach me housekeeping too, but that one didn’t take very well. I don’t ordinarily take on projects like this anymore because of my health problems, but this one would be manageable.   I could take as many breaks as I needed and rest for as long as I needed, and no strength was required since I wouldn’t be moving the table. After just three trips to Home Depot I had everything I needed. ...

Summer in Bellingham is lovely.   This year it was slow in coming, so we’re appreciating it that much more.   We’ve only had one day above 80 degrees so far, but daytime highs in the seventies is just about perfect as far as I’m concerned.   We've been eating outside garden every night, enjoying the flowers and the antics of our pets: dog, cats, and chickens. The vegetable garden is doing well.   We enjoyed several weeks of fresh salads during the spring and early summer, and I’ve just replanted those areas with lettuce seed again. The zucchini took off for awhile but are slowing down.   Too bad, we've all been enjoying my gluten free chocolate chip zucchini bread .  There are several little pie-sized pumpkins on the vines, but I haven’s seen any acorn squash yet.   There might be one or two hiding in the foliage, though, which is really thick. The beans really took off on their teepee-like structure.   Several tomatoes have set and are...

Summer was late coming to Bellingham this year, but it was worth waiting for.  Mostly sunny with highs in the seventies is my idea of perfect. Hope everyone's having a lovely weekend! Cindy