Progress
Nathan amazes me. He works all day landscaping and then spends hours working in my yard. He was here until 11PM last night. I can’t wait to get some things planted!
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New ‘puter
Yesterday I bought a new laptop. What a treat it is now that both computers are Win 7 and I can sync with Mesh. No longer will I have to fiddle with files to be sure I have what I need on the laptop. Hope it is really as cool as I think it is now…
My garden
When I moved into this house I started a garden. The plan was to have a bunch of raised beds around a patio area. I managed to build four beds before the reality of gardening in North Carolina set in.
I planted some herbs in the raised beds, and made a little greenhouse to start some veggies really early.
Things were coming along nicely.
I added an arbour and a trellis to grow kiwi on… that didn’t go so well, every time I planted kiwi they died.
The herbs were doing great, but every summer the whole area around the beds would sprout weeds. Part of the problem was the gravel in the area that was to be my garden…oh, and they clay! I hate the clay. It makes proper weeding impossible, hence the raised beds. But between the clay, the gravel and the heat and humidity, most summers my lovely garden area would look like this:
Now I realize it’s kind of pretty, but it’s not what I was going for. Finally I’ve had enough! The boxes are all rotted out and completely unusable. So what does a sensible girl do when the gardening gets tough? Does she pack it all in and say that gardening in NC beat her? No, she hires someone to come in and get a grip on the situation. In one day I have this:
The old beds are gone, the area is graded, the path and patio measured off, AND he was going to build the new raised beds in his shop last night. Who knows what this will look like tomorrow, but I can actually see the beginnings of my plan coming together. I should have done this a long time ago.
What spurned me to action this year? When I joined Rug Hooking Daily, a woman from Newfoundland contacted me. I visited Anne’s blog and saw the pictures of her beautiful hooked rugs and of her garden and all the produce she puts buy for the winter. I really miss gardening and I’m going to have to give it another shot here in NC since I’ve decided to delay moving back to Canada for a couple more years.
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Ah winter!
Ok. It’s official. We can say that we have had winter in North Carolina. Up until now I have said it has been one long and rather pleasant autumn. There is no denying it when I come home to this. Luckily, it wasn’t enough to impact the roads.
I wonder how I will manage with winter when I move back to Canada? I think it will be the grey days that get to me rather than the snow and cold. Not so many grey days here in NC.
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Latest paws
Tonight I used some of the colours I dyed last night.
I love the turquoise in the paw at the bottom.
Here’s the whole thing.
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Wool dyed tonight
On the left Cindy Gay’s Robin’s Egg (14A) , on the right, PC 407, Sky Blue. I think I like the Robin’s Egg better.
16 A , Spring Violet (left), and 16B Oh La La (right)
This next one was 12A, Happy, followed by 12B, Retro Turquoise. I added the wool to 12A, let is sit a bit then added some 12B. I love it!
Next was 4A, Soft Apricot.
I’m thinking it might go with the peach and butterscotch salvaged wool from earlier this evening…
Last but not least…Bubble Gum, 1A
What fun… this could be bad… I might never get back to actually hooking, now that I’m having so much fun dyeing!
Dye Disaster
This was a DD from a few weeks ago… too much yellow!!! It was cream coloured found wool. I wanted some yellow. Needless to say, I have saved a bit of it, but tonight I thought I would experiment and see what I could do to make this wool useable. I divided it up into 5 strips and soaked it.
Who knew you could find 1/2 gal. canning jars in February. Luckily there is an old-fashioned hardware store near me. I love those places … I can never find anything, but they always have what I want.
I mixed up some lovely primary colours and black…
I added some black, magenta, blue, purple and green each to a mason jar…
then I added 1 strip to each mason jar…
Ohhh! Look at that lovely peachy colour!!!! That was the magenta jar.
I wasn’t impressed with the black and purple jars so I added some magenta to each of them.
Hmm, that looks more promising.
I also added a bit more blue to the green jar and this is the result…
The colours aren’t quite correct, but on the left is the black and purple with magenta added. It’s quite nice. Maybe for leaves? The centre is the nice peachy colour, and the two on the right are the blue and green jar (with extra blue added).
All in all, much more usable than the yellow that I stated with, wouldn’t you say?
Rooting around.
I’m sleeping in my dad’s guest room. It’s more like a work room with mom’s craft and sewing stuff still present, and a large table covered with Campbell’s soup labels dad has to package up for his Barbershop group.
So since I have claimed all the craft and sewing stuff, I go rooting around…
The first cupboard I open I find the dye spoons I was hoping to find, and 5 packages of Cushings dyes. Next a casual glance around the room…
Hmm, wonder what’s in that bag over there?
OMG I see worms!
Most of the bags contain wool already cut in a very fine cut that I am not likely to use. BUT, underneath I spy three bags with whole pieces of woolen cloth. I thought I had cleared all the hooking stuff away but apparently not.
Cheers,
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New Brunswick 2012
Me and the girls out in Saint John.
Dad’s place 1 Feb.
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Adventures at Dawn 