I've Started Knitting on the Lace Mystery Shawl for RCK

Between the garden and visiting with our visitors, I've managed to start the River City Knitter's Mystery Shawl. I don't remember if I've mentioned it before, most of the members in our guild are participating in a knit-a-long making a lace shawl that we will then model in December during our Christmas luncheon. I'm disappointed in the width of the shawl but I think it is a great project for the guild so I intend to continue with it. Only this week did I realize our May meeting is coming up and we will be given the second clue so I sat down and knitted the first 20 rows in chart 1. It will be unlikely that I'll have chart 1 and chart 2 finished by Saturday but maybe I'll catch up before the June meeting. Well, perhaps July because Knitters Connection is coming up and I'll be going to that in June .

The mitered bag turned out great and is still drying out on the deck - must remember to bring it in before going to bed, rain is predicted and I wouldn't want to dry it twice. It is a large bag, but no huge. Now that it has been shaped and is drying I'm having second thoughts about the handle/straps. I'm thinking I may way to buy leather straps for it, somehow it seems to be screaming I need leather handles. My sister will love it once its completed.

Last night I went to the village shop to knit however this was a peculiar night, no one else showed up. After about an hour I suggested they close and go home early; I'd go home and knit. Wouldn't you know it, as I was leaving I looked back in my rear view mirror and saw another one of our group going into the shop. Being tired and the time already 7:30, I decided I should keep driving.

We had our next door neighbor over for dinner tonight while his wife is visiting her daughter. We grilled steaks bought from a local farm and raised chemical free. The taste was almost as good as Costco's (where we generally buy steaks) but they required a bit more chewing. It makes one realize how adapt we are use to the chemically grown meat. I could get use to the more healthy grown meat without a much effort. For dessert, we had strawberry shortcake, strawberries fresh picked from the garden. They were so good and sweet, plump, and red, and juicy with real whipped cream and a cup of steaming hot coffee.

The vegetable garden is looking wonderful. The potatoes are blooming and the wax beans, butter beans, and peas are coming up. The broccoli is heading nicely and it is ever so good and tender, the turnip greens are producing well and little turnips are already forming underneath the greens. The strawberries are bearing abundantly and tasting wonderful, and the herbs have taken off, along with an ever new crop of weeds.

The iris garden is looking rather sad compared to a week ago. We still have lots of blooms but the old stems need to be cut and put in the compost pile to neaten up the garden. I will try to help DH with that in the morning.

DD is coming at noon to take me for an afternoon at the SPA. Its been a long time since the two of us have had a day at the SPA together so I'm looking forward to it. We use to have lots of fun doing those kinds of things before she became a mother and before I became 'old(?)' and having health problems. We use to spend a whole day shopping or get in the car and take off having a 'Come-What-May Day'. It would always be an adventure and we'd laugh together until our driving would become dangerous. We both miss those good times. Tomorrow is going to be great, just me and my girl. When Dariana is older we'll take her too, she already loves having 'Girl Days'.

Look at some of our late blooming iris.

Tall Bearded Iris 'Prague'

Tall Bearded Iris 'Burn Toffee'

Tall Bearded Iris 'English Charm'

Tall Bearded Iris 'Equestrian'

Historic Tall Bearded Iris 'Wabash" probably my most favorite of all iris new or old. See the thin white rim around the falls? This becomes fluoresce about dusk each evening, I never get tired of looking at it.

Tall Bearded Iris & Knitting - A Whopping BIG Bag!

Yes I did, I knitted a whopping big bag, so big it may be useless. Its in the washing machine right now and I'm holding my breath that it will shrink enough to be usable. I forgot to take a picture before putting it in to felt because I was sidetracked by the strap. I sewed the bag together last night and attached the S-cord, that I spent several hours knitting for the strap and did I ever attach it. Once it was in place I realized it wasn't going to work. Not only did I not like the way it looked, it wasn't going to be strong enough for this whopper of a bag. I decided to put it aside for another day and so got up this morning determined I was going to either finish it today or dispose of it. I started by trying to take off the strap and spend the next couple of hours trying to take out the stitching without harming the bag (navy blue on navy blue). Once that was done I stuck the joker in a zipped pillow case cover and into the washer. Only then did I remember I hadn't made a picture. Once it has finished felting I will make some I-cords of a suitable weight and length and place them on the front and back sides rather than on the ends of the bag. I feel pretty confident that its going to work.

DS was home for Mothers Day weekend and it was so great to have him with us for a few days. On Friday night DD came out and brought beautiful Dariana; how nice to have them all here at one time. Yesterday DD and myself were taken to the village for a special Mother's Day brunch. We have a wonderful little bakery and sandwich shop in the village that is only open weekdays and Saturdays until around 3 PM. If you are there around 8:30 AM on any of these mornings, you can enjoy fresh hot-out-of-the-oven croissants and their scones are the best ever, especially the cranberry ones with white chocolate and nuts. Yesterdays brunch was beautiful and delicious. They only took 100 reservations for the entire day and everything was done to perfection. DD and I felt like special moms, but then I think the men felt special too, it was such a nice day.

Today I've shed my shorts and tank top for long pants and a sweatshirt. The temperature has finally gotten above 50 degrees and the sun keeps trying to peek out, although the wind has not let up. Needless to say, with all the rain the gardens are struggling, especially the iris gardens. We had fresh broccoli from the garden today at lunch and it was ever so tender and tasty. I've already put a few containers of turnip greens in the freezer and they should have been picked again on Sunday. Dariana was able to pick about a quart of fresh strawberries on Friday evening and she made a big dent in them before she went home. Of course she took the remaining berries home with her. She loves washing the berries and drying them, then taking the 'caps' off before popping them in her mouth and giggling. So sweet, she is. DD had to go to Washington DC for a business meeting on Thursday and 'I was so happy', not because she had to go, but because I got to take her place at the 'Mother's Day Breakfast' at Dariann's school. It was so special - I felt so special to be a part of it.

On Sat. DH and I went to a Garden Party at a friend's home and to see the irises in bloom. What a lovely afternoon with lots of wonderful friends and the delightful iris fragrance whiffing throughout the garden. Spring is such a enjoyable time of the year for me. We've had drop-in and call-before-I-come guest for the last few weeks to see our iris. Iris blooming time makes a good time to see some friends that we haven't seen since bloom-time last year.

As I mentioned in an earlier post our garden is scheduled to be open on the 17th but unfortunately it will not be because of the early bloom this year and so much rain. The garden was at peak bloom early last week and although we still have a lots of bloom, it is scruffy looking now. We have let as many people as possible know to come early for there won't be anything much to see on the 17th however, it is impossible to reach everyone and I'm afraid someone will drive a long distance to see the irises then be disappointed when they get here. Let me share a few more pictures with you.
One of our front iris beds.
Can you see the black iris in the group?
Before the Storm (Tall bearded, considered being a good black iris)
Goldkist (Tall bearded iris, reminds me of a bright sunny morn)
Dr Moody (historic tall bearded iris, I love the vivid colors) Yaquina Blue (A tall bearded iris called a Space-age iris, see the flounces on the beards and a substantial amount of ruffling on the falls)

Have A Look At DH's Iris Seedlings

As I promised in my last post, here are four of the seedlings my hubby is developing to register, and hopefully introduce to the Iris world in the next couple of years. These iris were produced by him cross pollinating two different iris. They are all siblings but look how different they are in colors, beards, ruffling, and even structure. I think the second one is my favorite, I love the butter color standards and the red of the rim on the falls.

The third one, with the bright red beard has the most fragrance, makes me want to stick my nose right into it.

The fourth one may have the best structure, tall stright stems, good branching, and seven buds to a stem. Almost everything desirable in a new introduction. These iris will have to be tended, watched and records kept for another couple of years to see if they maintain all the desirable points and continue to reproduce well. If so, he may apply to have one or more of them named and registered . After that, should he decide to put them on the market he would have to find one of the larger mail order nurseries to 'introduce' the iris in their catalog.
Which one do you like best?

Knitting Mystery Shawl and Ripe Strawberries

Tonight I plan to cast on for the mystery shawl that has been designed for our knitting guild. At our last meeting the first part of the pattern was passed out and it is a chart with no written instructions. Since I detest knitting from a chart I mentioned that I planned to write the pattern out before starting, it save me lots of time and keeps me from becoming frustrated over something that I can prevent. Charts are a lazy designer's way out as far as I'm concerned but I know there are many people that love working from charts. I'm not one of them. Before I had time to go to the library and have the chart blown up and then translate it, the person I was speaking with posted a plea for written instructions on our yahoo site. Needles to say that allowed others to admit their frustration over charts also and the results is someone went ahead and translated it. Now I won't have to, I can just knit – how wonderful. I'm not sure I want to knit the shawl, well that's not entirely true, I don't want to knit it (lace) but I do want to be a part of the guild's knit-along-project. The lady who designed the pattern for our guild was asked to design a shawl but what we actually got is a scarf. Most members appear to be extremely disappointed in the width of it and so instead of knitting with the size 6 needles called for in the pattern, most are using a size 9 to get a bit more width. I am disappointed; not being a tiny, petite lady to begin with I won't be able to wear it as a shawl. I love wearing shawls and wear them often but I'm not much of a scarf person. Still, it will be fun knitting along with the other members, everyone knitting the same pattern but using different colors of yarn. The yarn is Jagger Spun Maine Line 2/8. We order it as a group and by the cone saving quiet a bit on both the yarn and the postage.

Today I was out early and deadheaded the irises then planted two row of okra. That filled my vegetable plot until some of the cool weather vegetables are finished and I can pull them out and plant more summer vegetables. Yesterday I was out really early to weed and plant. I planted wax beans, purple hull peas, speckled butterbeans, and set out my tomato plants. The potatoes are up to about ten inches now and the broccoli and cauliflower are beginning to form heads. I thinned the purple-top turnip greens and picked enough to make a mess as I was thinning them. They are already developing little turnips which I love to cook in with the greens. The cabbages leaves are huge but so far they haven't begin to form heads. DGD was out yesterday afternoon and found a few ripe strawberries. I took a little glass of water and paper towel to the strawberry patch with us and as she picked the berries I washed and dried them off for her to pop in her mouth. She loved picking and eating them. Grand babies are wonderful!

After I finished in the garden this morning I decided to take a day off and run some errands. While I was out I 'just happened' to go by a couple of plant nurseries and so I came home with the back of my wagon filled with plants. Tomorrow will find me out planting and putting in some brick paths. It is really wonderful to be working on my gardens once again. At the end of the day I'm so exhausted that all I want is a bath and the bed. My energies are so slow about returning, or perhaps I'm just getting old, who knows?

I wish everyone could see our iris garden this week. It is bursting with color; orange, yellow, pink, blue, purple, black, white, brown, burgundy, puce, and in every combination. Some have yellow beards and some have white, others may have an orange or purple or even blue beard. All these little differences are what makes the flowers so beautiful and so interesting. Some are old and dog eared (floppy), but none the less still beautiful and some are ruffled, some lacey, and some are the new space-agers with protruding beards and flounces. The weather has really hurt them this year and DH and I are frequently discussing whether it was the hot/cold temperature that hit us while the blossoms were forming or if it is from the abundance of rain we've had this spring. None the less, they are beautiful as you can see here.
Alien Mist Abbey Road Concentina Autumn Apricot
Nest post I want to tell you and show you some of DH's seedlings. Iris he has crossed and hybridized making yet another color, another twist to their parents.