Whew. Got hot again today! 93* and felt like almost 100*. Good thing I have plenty of knitalongs to keep me inside and cool.

This is the kal from Thrifty knitters on Ravelry
http://www.ravelry.com/groups/thrifty-knitters-sock-club and it's a good one to use up some yarn in your stash. This month's patterns are both good ones and I'm going to knit both of them. This one is Twisted from www.Knitty.com and so far I'm really liking it. Plus the colors are so bright. A really good summer knit.

Finished both of my mystery shawl knitalongs. This is the shawl from
www.ravelry.com/groups/wendy-knits and I love it. It's my first proper lace shawl blocked and all. I would like it to be bigger but it is a shawlette so it's big enough.


The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill supersocke and I have a small ball left over to mix with some other yarn and make a pair of socks.

My second shawlette is the Medallion Mystery Shawl from Knitting Like Crazy http://www.ravelry.com/groups/knitting-like-crazy-fans
and it was also a fun knit. I really like the mystery aspect of a kal. Definately keeps you on your toes.

This yarn is also a Cherry Tree Hill and I will mix it with the other leftover yarn. Should make a luscious pair of socks.

Speaking of luscious...this is a arugula, roasted corn and cherry tomato salad that was just delicious. A great dish for hot weather.

As last month I have overcommitted to knitalongs! This is the Mystery Medallion Shawl (clue 3) from Knitting Like Crazy. This is due to be finished by June 10th so I have some time.This is the Mystery Shawl from WendyKnits. I didn't realize that I had picked 2 colors that were rather close colorways. But I love them both. They are both Cherry Tree Hill Supersocke and very nice to knit with as well.

Luckily there is no time limit on this one.

Went to the garden center the other day (when it wasn't raining!) to see the animals.
This is Hotshot. So cute.

The goats cracked me up. They each definately had their own spots that they liked to lie on.

Nice rocks for all.

They are very well adapted to people feeding them. They have feeders where you can get the food for a quarter a turn and as soon as they see the coin going into the slot they all run to the feeder tubes. I think the people are better trained than the animals because we're all suckers for feeding the animals.

These are Charles and Camilla and they will come out and give you the evil eye big time!

This turkey was loose and was looking for food. He chased us around waiting for us to give him something. Stop chasing me!!

Went to Glenwood Gardens on Monday. It was a beautiful day until the tornado warnings came later. But the park is lovely and based on the Cotswolds.

I had a few pictures of the buildings but accidently erased them. But a very relaxing and beautiful place.

It has wetlands and prairies and walking paths of a mile to two and a half miles that loop through all the different areas.

I think the walkway is just beautiful with the trees.

A relaxing fountain area with stone benches to rest and enjoy the views.Dinner.....orange glazed tempeh and collard greens with cranberries and pine nuts. Just so good.

Alright. I have to go and finish my Trekking knitalong socks. They must be done by the 31st to send them in to be eligible for the prizes.
Have a great Memorial Day and enjoyable weekend!

I have been busy with more knitalongs. This is the Mystery Medallion Shawl that is after the second clue. The next bit has hearts which look really nice when spread out.

And look! This is the Celtic poncho.

My neighbor who used to sew helped me figure out how to put it together. I still have to make a couple more squares but then I will have it finished.

I have been bad about blogging but will be back in a few days.

We had some crazy rains last week. And lots of it. The cool thing that came out of it are these double rainbows.

How can anyone dispute the awesomeness of a G-d who is our creator? Who could make anything like this but G-d?

Busy knitting here. I signed up for 2 kals this month and I am enjoying them. This is the Trekking sock this month and I just printed up the second clue this morning.This is the "Mystery Medallion Shawl" kal from Knitting Like Crazy. I really like the yarn...Cherry Tree Hill Supersocke Select in the colorway Maple Sugar. This was just the first clue from Friday and I finished that part last night. Now I have to wait until next Friday.




I just love the color.

The pattern is fun also. I am definately a big fan of shawls!

This is the falls from down at the park after all the rain last week. Certainly is rushing around. And I notice that there have been no ducks on it lately.

This is a coconut "custard" pie from www.veganplanet.blogspot.com. It's ridiculously easy to make and only has 4 ingredients. Go there and make it!

Baked chimichangas. MMmmmmmm. My favorite this week. I'd forgotten how much I like these and so easy to make.Finished all my knitalongs! These are the Trekking 20 year KAL from http://www.knitpurlhunter.com/. They are toe-up and I learned Judy's Magic-CastOn, a new simple heel and a sewn bind-off.

The pattern is called "Cranked" and was alot of fun to knit. I would have liked to have made them longer but didn't think I had enough yarn. Turned out that I did. I also don't think I care much for the sewn bind off although it is stretchy but maybe because I had to go down to a size 1 needle. I suppose that I will try to use a size 2 on the ribbing and bind off.




This is the yarn from the Carefree KAL that is from Crystal Palace. This month you can use whatever pattern you want as long as you use at least one skein of their yarn. This is the Mobius necklace from "Sock Yarn One Skein Wonders". I also made the earrings to match but the picture isn't great.

Mug today. Right now I'm having some Cinnamon Cardamom tea. Tasty.

I thought that I'd let you all see the pretty tulips before they are washed away! This has been the 3rd wettest April on record here. And we are supposed to get a total of 4.83" more by Saturday night. We have water coming in the basement from places that it's never leaked before but what a surprise... where else is it supposed to go?

The river (Ohio and every other one) is at or above flood stage and we are supposed to have more thunderstorms everyday until next Thursday. It's almost like living in Seattle without all the cool coffee shops!

Can't even walk in the backyard. We used to have an above-ground pool and where it was located is a lovely pool-shaped depression which has a nice lake right now. That's not too unusual with alot of rain but it's spreading all over the yard. I actually lost my shoe in the mud when I went back to check for any damage from all the severe weather the other night. We lost a huge limb off of one of the trees but Praise Jesus! that was all. Here are the little falls at the park. This was before the 3" we got on Tuesday night.

No ducks swimming around in there!
I'm kind of surprised that there haven't been any ducks in the "lake" in the back yard. Sometimes they come for several days. But they have their choice of pretty much anywhere to swim right now.

Been busily knitting on all the kals I've joined. But I did finish one the other day (4/19). This is the Coquille shawl from Knitty (knitty.com). I am quite pleased with it and would like to make the large size sometime.I did the smaller one because it called for less than 3 balls of Mini Mochi, which is what I had in my stash. Still have almost a whole ball left. None of the colorways are the same but they had enough like colors in them to match. At least I think so.

I still need to lightly block it but I've worn it a few times because it's been chilly out...and let's face it...we all like to wear our newly off the needles knits!

Off to work on another kal. And tonight is "The Mentalist" so tv will be on.

This is one of the KALs that I'm knitting on right now. It's the http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEff10/PATTcoquille.php Coquille shawl and I really like how it's turning out. The pattern is quite easy and it's fun to watch as the colors change.Here is the Belvedere cardigan that I finished. I ended up putting some snaps down the front and then 2 small knitted flowers at the top. I didn't want buttons on it because the yarn is soft and I figured that the buttons would be too heavy. But I think I like it.

Okay, off to do some more knitting.

Look what was sitting out front of my house yesterday! Lots of fun. NOT! We called the water company 11 days ago about water leaking up into the road. It wasn't coming out of my yard and when the workers finally came they said it was a water main leak and they would be back in about 10 days to fix it. Well, it took 11 days which was fine but the road was starting to "bubble" up against my yard and it was leaking all the way across the lane. They told me they would take a look at it and decide what needed to be done.

So they covered the very large hole with a very large, very noisy metal plate and said they'd be back Monday after midnight. Um, thanks?

Well, we had to call to complain because everytime a car went over the plate the whole house would practically shake. The glass in the windows was shaking and that's not good. They sent someone out to secure the plate (ya think they should have done that first!) and later that evening the water worker was walking through the neighborhood hanging signs on the front door (luckily I happened to be looking out the peep hole at just the moment he hung the note on the door) and stated that they would be shutting off the water after midnight and the repairs would take 4-6 hours. After 7 hours they finally finished but the lovely plate is still out there getting thumped with the cars. And since I live on a 4-lane state highway, there is alot of traffic. And they have a fireplug up the street just streaming out water because they said they are flushing out the pipes so we don't have to boil the water. WHAT were we drinking before????? I use a water filter but still. Yuck.

So the street has sheets of water just rushing down and watering the grass. Fun. Dinner last night. Pasta con broccoli from "Appetite for Reduction". Fabulous.

I really enjoyed the kal last month so I joined another. This the Coquille shawl from Knitty and it's for the Crystal Palace Ravelry group. Should be fun. I also wanted to join the Knitpurlhunter Trekking 20 year kal but no yarn shop had this month's yarn and hadn't planned on ordering anymore. So I joined the Carefree kal (which is also part of Crystal Palace's blog).

Went up to Main Street Yarns today to pick up a skein of Mini Mochi for that and much to my surprise, they had one skein left of the Trekking for the April KAL. So I picked that up also and now am starting to feel just a bit overwhelmed........

But the shawl should be a very interesting knit.

We shall see.

Guess who got a doughnut maker? Why yes, that would be me. It's a cute little machine called "Babycakes" and bakes these mini doughnuts in about 4 minutes. And by the time you are finished salivating there are 8 little doughnuts just waiting to be devoured. These are maple doughnuts with a maple glaze and maple sprinkles. Very good.

Just finished my second pair of two-color cabled socks. Woohooo. Since it's so cold out I will be able to wear them tomorrow. I really like the pattern and will probably make a few more pairs for next winter.

Still slogging away on the Debbie Bliss cardigan. I am on the first sleeve but almost finished with it. I'm hoping to have it completed this week and it should be just the perfect weather to wear it.

The sad news is that I seem to have lost one of my fingerless gloves that I carry in my bag. :( So I am sad. I loved them. I used a very bright colorway of Mini Mochi and they were a lovely cabled pattern. *sigh* I suppose I will have to make another pair.

Off to eat dinner. Bahan macaroni pie (from Caribbean Vegan) and pineapple collard greens.

Stay warm.

Happy dancing all around! I finished my socks for the kal and I really like them.

I was going to participate in next month's kal also but both of the yarn stores that are participating in carrying the yarn have sold out and have no intention of getting anymore. I even drove up to Springboro to check out a store there.

Oh well. Maybe I'll be able to do May's kal. We shall see.Had a few lovely days of nice, warm weather but today it's 34* and FREEZING!! I hate when the weather switches like that because you just feel so much colder than before. I think for dinner I am going to make some "cheesy" potato soup and a black bean burger. Sounds like a good cold weather dinner.

My fingers are just too cold to type so I will be back soon.

The water is still high at the park. Today was the first sunny,warm (and windy) day to go to the park so here is the first waterfall shot of the season.

It was nice to be able to go and sit with the windows open, just enjoying the sun on my face. Bring on those freckles!

Got some mulch today and put that around the house. We have had so much rain that the mulch is just washed away from the water coming off the gutters. We have been waiting for the gutter cleaners since late fall but since the weather turned so cruddy so early they fell really behind. And all this rain isn't helping any for our gutters. I sure hope they come soon.Here is a really cruddy photo of a new aquistion. Pretttttyyyyy.
It's a lace weight and I just have to find the perfect pattern for it.

Still slogging away on my KAL.

I will get some more done on it tonight after I go to an event on www.planetpurl.com. I have spent the last 2 nights there ...one for a class and last night for a social hour. Lots of fun and got to use the webcam finally. It was nice to see some faces to go with some names.

Well, the event starts in about 6 minutes so I will sign off for now. I am going to try and be better about blogging so I will see you all soon.

Happy St. Patricks' Day!!