breezy, 73 degrees and sunny!

We had sun today! That meant tackling some exterior house projects this morning. When that was over I started harvesting lavender stems from what remains of my lavender cutting garden. Haven't replaced the plants that didn't survive over the last, few wet winters, 8 plants remain and only 2 or 3 are really producing, due to my neglect, I guess. Since I've developed a sensitivity to working with the dried lavender, I only work with it outdoors. This year's harvest won't yield a lot to make wands with but it will be enough to supplement the already dried bundles from last year.

I was just shooting a few pics to remind me of this summer's lavender work and waiting for some busy bees to come into the frame. It was a little breezy and not late enough in the afternoon, to catch them clinging to the stems in drunken stupors.




And finally a little worker bee----


Hope to re-open my lavendertrifles shop in the next week with new lavender wand-making kits and finished lavender sachet wands.

who needs sunblock?

Monday was one of those few sunny day we've experienced this summer (and spring) and I spent the day happily shuttling back and forth to my dyeing area in the garage minding my crockpot full of yarn, hand-painting hanks of yarn, rinsing and hanging them out to dry in my breezeway. The light was so ...light!

Yesterday we stoked up the BBQ so we wouldn't forget what a grilled burger tastes like, we did errands with car roof open, we wore sunglasses, we took the dogs to get ice cream...

The sun didn't last long. This morning it's back to being overcast and threatening rain, not good for dyeing, barbequeing, photography or painting the house.

I was trying to shoot a picture of the results of Monday's dyeing to email a friend this morning---the light from my back window did little to enhance the fiery results.




I pivoted to see if the schizophrenic's worktable had better light for photography---

Not really! So from the worktable cam this morning---socks in progress (SIP), over-dyed Tweed (removed that pesky tweed detail!), punchneedle embroidery in progress (PEIP)and threads, threads sorted to be dyed, knitted edging in progress (KEIP), bulky knit hat waiting for button, finished embroidery waiting to become buttons and pins, the always open Barbara G Walker pattern book, hanks waiting to be wound...and all of this with the Ott light switched on because it's too dark at 9 am not to have lights on!

No need for sunblock again today!