Hi!

Do you ever watch those backyard makeover shows on TV? They're pretty inspiring! Somewhere we have a photo of what the side of our garage looked like before Larry decided a makeover was long overdue. Both windows had been victims of errant baseballs, and were covered with plywood. The small deck you see was a tree house Larry made for the boys about twenty years ago. We lost the tree that made it a treehouse in a storm several years ago, but it's a nice sturdy deck. The raccoons and squirrels use it all the time. Underneath was an accumulation of old bricks, flower pots, leftover topsoil, and a big ugly retired pool cover. It will be even prettier when the tiny seedlings are all abloom. Thanks, Larry! We love swimming around in circles and admiring the hanging baskets of flowers as we go by.

If we can't grow a pumpkin this year we're pretty pathetic. Look at all these blossoms! You've been reading our (non) pumpkin saga for several seasons now.

Another pair of socks in the works. I have worked 98 hours in the last two weeks, so progress is slow. My reward is. . . the next six days off! Woohoo!

Wishing joy to you and yours.

Something new!

I hadn't tried dying anything since I was in high school. I was visiting www.Ravelry.com and saw several references to using Kool-Aid to dye yarn, so I thought I'd give it a try. The Dollar General Store had their drink mixes priced at 10 for $1. Unfortunately they only had red and orange, which actually worked out really well since I'm always trying to find the perfect sunrise color. One ball of yellow yarn (many thanks, Ginny!) and two packages of drink mix produced some lovely hand dyed yarn. Who-hoo!

It is a surprising process to watch. The yarn sucks the color right out of the water, and you are left with completely clear water! If I do it again, I think I will knit the item first and then dye it. It was hard to keep the yarn from getting tangled. The posts did mention that you have to unwind the ball first, or the inner yarn won't be able to absorb the dye.

June

I love June! I love the long daylight hours and watching things grow. Look - I found some socks growing! I am loving knitting lace socks in Ginny's yellow yarn. Thank you, Ginny! I also used it for a stripe and the toe of Larry's new socks. It knits up so nicely. Knitting a lace pattern is lots of fun, but I can only do it when I have time to pay close attention to what I am doing. "Plain vanilla socks" (as the yarnharlot.com calls them) is for when I'm visiting my mom or watching Jeopardy! with my family.

We're optimistically trying to grow pumpkins again. This year we planted them in full sun, hoping we may actually get a pumpkin this year. We have always gotten lovely greenery and gorgeous flowers, but never a pumpkin. The raspberries are looking good. My dad gave us our raspberry bushes several years ago, and it's fun to remember his gift of growing things long after he has gone.

It's swimming season again! In case you don't see much of me this summer, please know that I am happily occupied with all the joys of summer (and the usual 40 hour work week :>}

Wishing you, my blog friends, all the best!