Done, Done and Half way Done...

The really big done was that our Caty received her BS in Architecture from Carnegie-Mellon University last weekend. She did this grueling 5 year program in 4 1/2 years and earned University Honors while she was doing it. At CMU University Honors means she made Deans List every semester. Because she graduated in December there was a little question whether she would even come back for the ceremony. We are all so glad she did and we all got to be the proud parents and grandparents of this amazing young woman. Way to go Cate!!!!

Drew ran track the whole 5 years while also studying architecture.
And Cate's best friend Jen double majored in Architecture and Business. My money is on this generation. Not a slacker in the bunch.


Don't you love girls with attitude?

A little done that I am personally dancing a happy jig about is this...




This is the pattern a friend asked me to help her with after a knitting class I taught in February.
She bought this pattern and the necessary yarn in Nova Scotia a few years back. She loves this design and wanted to make it to commemorate her trip. This is, I am not kidding, the directions for four rows of knitting.

She asked if there was any way to make this easier to understand. Short of a nuclear holocaust I don't know if there was anyway to make this easier. I finally gave up trying to decipher the written pattern and just looked at the picture.



Obviously so much easier. Anyway, I studied the picture, threw it down in frustration, came back with renewed vigor, only to scream again, until... I finally buckled down this weekend and did this.


So I am feeling quiet smug right now. I kicked some knitting a** this weekend. I think I might deserve University Honors too.

So I went on and did the math and got her pattern all straightened out, even knit the first four rows to make sure all the math worked and everything was set up correctly. So this baby is absolutely done. (Well, at least my little part of it).



Now the half way done...Macy is on her way across the country and is about half way. Last we heard she was headed to Yellowstone, but that was two days ago. This is a trip she has been talking about for while. When she calls to tell us about her big adventures I can't tell you how jealous I am. It didn't help that right before she left she handed me Frances Mayes travel book. Now I am jealous of her and Frances Mayes. Have a blast baby.

I need your help!!!

We are very happy here at Casa Touchstone. Our little bird has returned to the nest, temporarily. Macy just jetted back from 4 months in the Cloud Forest region of Costa Rica. She had a marvelous time and was sad to leave her Costa Rican family who made her feel so welcome and a part of their family. It is wonderful to have her back. Next week she leaves for a cross country camping and hiking trip with a college friend. Lots of wanderlust in this little girl. Hard to believe she was the child I always knew was holding tightly to my hem. Her older sister was the curious one who never would sit still long enough to let me catch up to her. The tables have certainly turned. Mace has big plans to travel the world and absolutely no fear. Exciting times in this young woman's life.


Thought you might enjoy some garden shots. The Pagoda Dogwood is looking especially bridal cake-like, I think. I love this tree and have a wonderful husband who is very conscientious about circling it with fencing every Fall to protect it from our marauding deer. Thanks honey.

The epimediums against the stones is very effective don't you think?

And the poppies are starting their show.
This tree peony is spectacular. Unfortunately, they only look good for a few days, but what beauty. Even after the flowers have faded the structure and leaves are really beautiful so it offers a lot to the garden.

Now to the reason for the title.

I consider myself a pretty decent gardener, not great at remembering all the Latin but comfortable enough I know what the pros are discussing most of the time. I have had my fair share of successes along with vast numbers of failures. But this new one has me stumped in a profound way. See this gorgeous wisteria. I am unduly proud of this shrub. It is ten years old and just started to bloom three years ago. It is one of a pair that have pride of place in our front yard, dead center on either side of the front walk. And they are stunning when in bloom.
As I said they are a pair and while the first is blousy and fragrant as a wisteria should be the second looks like this...


And I don't know what I have done. I don't fertilize either of them. I do of course prune them regularly to keep a vining plant as a standard. I edge their beds and occasionally mulch, which I don't think I even did last year and have not this year. The buds on this one looked like they were swelling up and ready to pop but then nothing. absolutely nothing has happened. I don't think the plant is dead as there is still green in the stems when I cut them. So I am at a loss as to what I have done to this poor shrub. Anyone have any ideas or experience anything similar?

In other sightings we did have an Indigo Bunting visit the farm last week. He was very busy stuffing as many dandelion seeds as he cold squash into his beak. He spent about 25 minutes inhaling the seeds on the worst patch of lawn we own. Now I don't feel so bad about that ugly weedy patch. The Indigos love it.

I have also finished the Lacy little Cardi for Knit One North in Pittsburgh.

I am happy with how it turned out. Now I just need to write up the pattern, my least favorite part of designing, and get it to the store. I am sure it will look much better when Dawne models it and we have a shot with a real person wearing it.


Now, back to the garden.

Some Spring Eye Candy

Duncan says "Hello, and welcome to the garden."

He is a very proper English Labrador. (Please ignore the mud puppy you may have seen after our walk this morning, he would be embarrassed to be caught in such a state.)

Thought you might enjoy the changes at Touchstone Farm since we last spoke. This was the garden in March. (Yes, that is snow on the drive in the background, thanks for asking.)

And here is how things looked this morning.

The daffodils are finishing up their run,

but the tulips are ready for their closeup, Mr. DeMille.



The New Dawn roses and various clematis are starting to scramble up the arbor.
The hellebores are still going strong.

The bleeding hearts have started their show. Although with all the talk over at A Way To Garden about Dicentra 'Gold Heart' I think these little beauty's may have some company next year. I gotta get me some of that 'Gold Heart'.

The grape hyacinths are hitting just the right note.


And the veggie garden is getting ready for its understudy role. I love order and symmetry and somehow I believe the vegetable garden is where I can have some control. In the ornamental gardens everything can look all higgly-piggly during the high season but the veggie garden is where I can exert some man or woman control over the exuberance.


The DH and I spent some quality time last weekend mulching the paths. That alone can make such a huge difference in the appearance of a garden. It is just like edging the beds, which is just like vacuuming or wiping down the counters in a messy kitchen. Lots of bang for not so much effort. Although in this case it was a fair amount of effort and I was very grateful for another strong back to help with the mulch throwing.

For all the earlier effort of composting, fertilizing and liming the garden we are being rewarded with spinach, lettuces and radishes popping up in neat little rows.

This is the first year for this asparagus so you can imagine how hard it is not to cut those lovely spikes and roast them in a little olive oil, garlic and balsamic. But I am showing great restraint.
The sweet peas are bursting forth, finally. Sometimes I think they will never appear.
The peas are also up and off to a good start. I had an aahh!! moment last year and started to use hog panels as trellis for my peas and beans. It worked like a dream. This morning I read in a national magazine about what a great idea it was to use hog panels to support tomatoes. I still use bamboo poles for those but maybe this will be the year. Lots of hog panels floating around this old sheep farm. They made great lambing pens when the lambs were coming fast and furious.


There has been lots of knitting just not too much knitting photography. I will leave you with this little ditty. I am knitting a little something for a friend. It is my design, top down out of Rowan Lenpur. Has a cute little picot welt right before the lacework. Should look very sweet on her.


Have a nice week everyone.

Mundane Monday

Stoic and Long Suffering...
And thoroughly bored.

All this flower searching is exhausting.

Are we done yet? I am late for my nap.

(He is also hiding the hellebores, trust me, they are beautiful.)

Maybe now I can get on with the finishing

Check it out... I actually finished something.




Tahki Cotton Classic(from Stash) #3 Turbos, My own design.

Getting a baby shower gift completed 24 hours before the party...priceless.

Finishitis

OK, so everyone talks about startitis in knitting, how we can't find our mojo and find just the right project to jump start our desire. But what about the serious ailment of finishitis, where you have now started so many projects there is no way you will finish any of them in three life times.

Now I am not talking about the usual UFO's every knitter has languishing in the bottom of her knitting basket. No, I am talking about the knitter who within a matter of days begins 8 projects, because she wants to see how the new yarn from the recent fiber festival looks in lace or the project you just have to start for a sweater for you husband because God forbid you not have a easy, shmeasy stockinette project on the needles for potential movie dates.




Even though you haven't been to the movies since way before Christmas. (I know this because the Neilson guys called yesterday to survey me about new movies and I was sooo long from seeing a current film he quickly said thanks but no thanks, pretty boring life when the Neilson guys don't even think you are interesting. They get paid to find everything you do interesting.)

And then there are the projects you cast on just to test drive a new lace stitch pattern and before you know it you have knit the beginning of a beautiful shawl but abandon it for cables.






The cables are part of the top down Aran you have designed for your 20 something daughter and then abandon because she won't be back from Costa Rica until May and certainly won't be wearing this puppy until next October.



Then there is the baby sweater you must start for the baby shower this weekend. (That one is actually close to the finish line. It is pinned out and drying right now.) But what is a baby sweater with out a baby hat to go with it. So that one was cast on last night in a moment of such weakness I could weep.





Then the kid Silk haze crack Falling Leaf scarf that I am teaching within a month so of course I must cast on for the sample of the scarf right this moment. (Do you see the theme of "right this moment", running through this post.)

Oh, and let's not forget the STR Holidaze colorway knit into a beautiful Old Shale pattern sock, inspired by Anne Hanson's latest sock gorgeousness. The woman is an evil temptress, don't you think.




And the pattern I promised a friend I would rewrite for her with charts for her cables rather than the Marquis De Sade directions that came with a kit she purchased in Canada 3 years ago and has stalled mightily. (No joke, these directions would have given Einstein a headache so you can imagine what they are doing to my pea sized brain.) I have thrown the reams of written directions away and am just charting from the grainy, out of focus 4" x 5" picture on the front of the pattern.This required a little drive around the park to see how the cables look compared to the picture.

Oh, and the very hip and stylish Chic Cable and Lace sweater from SweaterBabes.com. Gorgeousness, but not a bulky enough yarn, so the gauge is not quite right. Of course, I knew this 9 1/2 " ago, yet I continued to knit in the hopes the gauge would bloom in the width I really needed. Now that it is an 11" cowl I am willing to admit defeat and find another yarn. ( In my defense I almost never work with yarns at this gauge so it is like traveling in a foreign land without knowing the language. That's my story and I am sticking to it.)

There, I feel much better now. This must be what confession feels like. I have admitted I have a problem but I don't see any solution in my future. I just signed on to teach 5 new classes which will all need samples knit before I can teach.

Is there a cure for finishitis?

And did I mention I started sewing tote bags because obviously I have sooo much free time. I need professional help...maybe if I start running with scissors ...

Design through Pharmacopia

So, I have been battling a bronchial infection for going on three weeks now and the cocktail of medications prescribed is having very positive effects and not all of them medical. The insomnia induced by the steroid I am taking is life altering. At 1:30 am when I went to bed last night I was sure I could have powered most of the county I live in, I had that much juice. Luckily, for me the steroid does not make me hallucinate just keeps me wide awake with nowhere to go.We have a good friend who hallucinates like mad when he has to take this particular drug.I just had that one dream about of in-Vitro babies but I am thinking that was a normal reaction to the birth of octuplets in California.

No, my reaction is much more productive. I have designed a new hat and wristwarmer pattern, another pair of Valentine Day wristwarmers for a friend and the correct way to finish an Aran that has been giving me issues, some new lace shawls, three new garden beds, an herb garden design and a flier to send to prospective gardening clients. Then after I solved the economic crisis and contemplated World Domination I dosed off for a few hours. Wide awake again at 4:00 am I considered just getting up and getting on with my designs. The doctor's orders that I need rest did nothing to calm my speeding mind but I did force myself to stay in bed for a few more hours.

Now if my fingers will fly as fast as my mind did. I am not recommending or condoning any kind of pharmacological intervention on the days you have nothing in the design bag but I will let you know where this goes.

Another interesting side effect of the drug soup is the possibility of tendon damage (and I won't even go into the exorbitant unfunded cost of this antibiotic by my overpaid Health Insurance company, that is a rant for another day). My doctor, whom I love, started me on the steroid before he knew how resistant this particular bacteria was. Once started you can't stop steroids so here I sit, afraid to blow a tendon (are there tendons in our brains??) while my Weight Watchers butt gets bigger everyday. I can't wait to take a deep breathe and get back on my bike.

I will keep you posted about all these designs...

Franklin was commenting the other day about his "process",describing how his workspace looks while in the middle of the "process".

I thought I would share a shot of my desk which is clean for the first time in months. Of course, now that I actually see the photo it looks like the workspace of a demented mind who doesn't know her way around of a vacuum but to me it is a vast improvement.



My girls can attest to the fact that this is pretty neat for mom.

Here is a little germ of an idea. I'll let you know if it grows into a full blown bacteria.


And here is my Brooklyntweed shot of a new Aran for Mace. OK one real slap in the face of these drugs, aside from the obvious inability to type, is that I cannot think upside down and circularly. I had the great idea of working St. Patrick from A Fine Fleece from the top down, with a nod to Janet Szabo. Everything went along swimmingly until i got to the join the front and back and work down circularly point. Four attempts later I threw in the towel and proceeded with each portion done separately. Now I am not a girl who minds seaming so this is not a huge problem and after the time I invested in trying to keep the cables twisting at the appropriate times and rounds where they didn't have to twist, and the appropriate rows and keep the cables going in the right twist when they are upside down. OK so I admit I am not the Omnipotent leader of all my knitting. I put the front back on one needle and I got my groove on again. Humbling, I tell you, humbling.





Pretty, huh? Whadda think, Mace?