A Long Yarn

Today I had to go to the DMV.  It was really quite quick and, dare I say it, nice.  That's one of the things that I love about living in the country.  When you go to the DMV up here, the people are genuinely nice.  Maybe it's because they aren't ground down by seeing hundreds of people every single day?

But still, let's face it, I had to go to the DMV.  And when you have to go to the DMV (or the dentist, or clean out your septic tank, or any other unpleasant kind of thing) there's really only one thing you can do when you're done - treat yourself to something special!

So I went to the yarn store.

I've been obsessing about those Windsor Mitts.  I may have mentioned them a time or two!

I was thinking that I would check, just look, to see if they had a comparable yarn to the Blue Sky Alpaca Royal Petite yarn that the pattern calls for.  I knew I had a hundred other errands to run, but surely a quick in and out little short tiny visit was in order.  After all - I had just come from the DMV.

So I took a little look around.

First I looked at everything.  Then I looked for the color family that I wanted.  Then I started checking the yarn weights.  In order to avoid doing adjustments on the pattern I wanted to get the recommended fingering weight yarn.  It's pretty thin.

She had some really nice yarns.  There was a Debbie Bliss silk alpaca blend that was the shimmery softness that angel's wings must be made from.  So nice.  Her organic bamboos were dyed in the most subtle of shades.  She even had a yarn made from corn!  (Seriously - corn!  I wasn't sure whether I should put some butter on it or what.)

Well, after an hour of finding a beautiful soft yarn that would look stunning worked into the Windsor Mitts only to discover that it was the wrong weight or there was a color fleck that just wouldn't do or there was no way I would every even consider wearing that scratchy glittery color combination on my hands.  After an hour of referencing and cross-referencing yarns on my handheld with the online Ravelry yarn database, I admitted defeat.

It just wasn't meant to be, I guess.

So I thanked the yarn shop owner for her time and went to leave.  But nothing is ever that simple, is it?

She was convinced she could find the yarn substitute that I was looking for.  We revisited each shelf, each hank and each skein of yarn that I had spent the last hour going over.  She was not to be deterred!

I explained my reason for rejecting each - wrong fiber, wrong color, wrong weight, flecks of green, flecks of orange, too flashy, too plain.  Still, she persisted.

Finally, after going through each selection, she gave it one more try - she would special order the Blue Sky Alpaca Royal Petite yarn for me.  It would take a few weeks, but she would get me that yarn (even if it killed her, I think)!

Such a sweet lady, I hated to disappoint her.  Thanks, but no.

Part of the joy of a new pattern is looking through all of those yarns to find the one that is the perfect fit for the picture of the finished object that I have in my head.  Shopping - without buying anything - is a really fun part of the process for me.

You wouldn't just gobble down the perfect champagne truffle, would you?  (Okay, maybe you would!)

So 2 hours after I walked into the yarn shop, I walked out - wallet intact.

My quest will continue though.  And actually, I think that my DH had the best idea of where to get the yarn - at a local farm about 5 minutes down the road.  The woman is a family friend.  She spins the yarn herself.  The sheep are raised here.  It doesn't get more local than that.

I think that's what I'll do.  Now I just have to figure out how to schedule another DMV day so I can reward myself by going to the farm!

Iron More

I found some more ironwork in the city today.  Okay - there's lots of ironwork in the city!  I found some pretty scrolling ironwork in the city today.

This railing is more modern than the piece from last week.  The iron is thin, flat, 2-dimensional.  Definitely a more modern piece than the last one.

This piece was put in - oh, about 30-40 years ago?  It was part of a redesign where they were trying to make the place look "retro".  I guess they needed to keep the costs down, though, because this is rolled steel - not handmade.

But still, the time was taken to put in this railing instead of the same ole same ole straight sticks lining the stairway.

You have to appreciate that.  Right?

Containing Continued

I first planted this container in early June.  Now it's overflowing - just the way I thought it would!

It really didn't look like much - sure, it had potential and gave a hint of what was to come, but seeing it all in bloom now.  Cool.

This is what it looked like when it was first planted.  The colors were kind of washed out.  There certainly wasn't any fullness to it (to be expected).  And it was more of a concept than a reality.

But now - 8 weeks later - it is dripping with gorgeousness.  You have to love it when things work out like that.

Collector's Sale!

My DH and I went to the iris and daylily bareroot plant sale today.  The prices are - OMG - so incredibly low and the flowers for sale are - OMG - so incredibly pretty.

I got that really pretty icy light blue iris (second one back).

This is where I buy my irises.  The collector's go out and spend mega dollars for the flowers when they first come out on the market.  The newer the flower, the higher the cost.

My DH picked out that yellow and purple one in the back.  You can see we are going to have to have 2 different beds to put them in.

The collector's fuss and pamper and grow these beauties until they are mature enough to start dividing - sometimes they wait up to 10 years before they divide.  Then they turn around and realize that there's no more room in their garden to plant the same flower (they are saving room for different ones), so they clean them and sell them - really cheap.

I also got that light blue with white falls in the middle there.

Of course, the collectors think of them as just another one of the same flower, but I think of them as a grand shopping extravaganza!

And they toss in some freebies as well.

Some folks don't buy bare root flowers.  They want to see them in bloom at the nursery and buy them then.  Then they take them home and plant them in their garden - and are usually disappointed that they don't bloom as well - or at all - the next year (or three).

This is because the root system isn't acclimated to the new garden.  It's not "established".

The plant from the nursery has been 110% cared for and tended to its' entire life.  It never had to search for nutrients 'in the wild'.  It was served breakfast in bed, so to speak, ever since it was a little cotyledon.  (Those are the first 2 leaves of a plant.)

When the pampered princess gets to their garden, it usually gets planted with (maybe) a handful of time release food, watered a couple of times, and then it's left on its' own.  Well, if it has a lot of foliage, leaves, flowers to gather food for - and if it doesn't have strong enough roots to go gathering that food, it's not going to do well in the garden.

That's why I buy bare root.  It gives the plant enough time to acclimate its' roots to my garden and to grow nice and strong - get established.  Then, when it's ready it will flower.

And if it doesn't...well, at least I didn't spend a couple of hundred bucks on a plant that won't grow for me.

You just have to love the collector's sale!

Stroll Scroll

I really enjoy the older ironwork that adorns the streets in Manhattan.  When you think about it, it's sort of a nothing kind of fence.  It's only there to keep people from walking on to the vents above the subway line.

But someone took the time to make it look good.  A lot of time.

I'm not sure how old it is - and not even curious enough to research it, quite frankly.  There's a bit of rust building up on it now.  Every few years or so the Parks Department goes through and paints it.  I guess that depends on the budget for the year (so it may have to wait awhile!).

The plants grow up and hang from it.  The birds hang out on it - waiting for a fallen scrap of pizza crust or bagel before they come swooping across the street.

I just like to look at it.  I'm glad that it is still there, being used, adding a bit of 'lovely' to my day.

Water Flowers

We have to send out thank you cards to all of the gardeners who opened their gardens for the tour - so naturally given the choice of either purchasing thank you cards or spending hours making thank you cards, I, of course, chose to make them!

I'm painting impressionistic flowers in watercolors on cold press watercolor paper that I've ripped down to size, and then I'll attach them to the front of card blanks, add a personal message - and voila! Custom crafted thank you cards with original paintings.

So these are my first 2 paintings.  I showed them to my DH and to L-.  They loved them.  I'm a little more critical, but I think they'll do just fine.

I got a new watercolor brush and I'm not quite used to the way it lays the paint down, but I think by the next card, I'll settle into the stroke of it.

And I have 7 more paintings to do - so by the end I should be much better.

Some might prefer the store bought cards, but I think paintings are a really nice way to let someone know how much their contribution meant.

Besides - I find it so very relaxing...and fewer calories than baking!

New Kids on the Block

I think that the best part about living in the country is being able to have a dog.  I always wanted a dog when we lived in the city, but I never thought that it would be fair to the dog - cooped up in an apartment all day, only getting outside to "do their business", no place where it could run and sniff and just be dog-like.

But here in the country, in the land of dogs, my DH and I are - well, I guess we are wimps.  We only have 1 dog.  And she's not huge like and English Sheepdog.  She's pretty small as far as country dogs go.  My friend L- on the other hand, is a country dog aficionado!  She knows how to do country dogs right.  She has a pack.

Of course, I think she cheated because her pups are bassets - they sleep a lot.  But just look at that little face!  He's a young pup, but you can tell that the weight of the world rests on his shoulders.

It's almost too much to bear and obviously requires many naps - and cookies - and some more naps.

I try to tell my friend that have an Aussie is like having a whole pack of dogs all built into one small package.  After all, the amount of time my pup spends sleeping is the same as the amount of time that her pups are awake!

Of course, no matter what the breed, until their bladders fully develop - every pup is an exhausting exercise in love.  But so worth it!