Garden Oasis in the sky...

Ryan and I have been busy setting up our "oasis". We now have several herbs:

Oregano, Pineapple Mint, Curly Parsley, Winter Savory, and Lemon Thyme in the pot on the bistro set. Italian Parsley, Spanish Lavender, Purple Sage, and Cilantro in a container on the ground.

We also bought a Hibiscus plant:

And an Oleander plant:

You should have seen the two of us on the bus this morning with two trees, two pots, and a 30L bag of potting soil. People thought we were crazy (especially the driver)!

To finish off the balcony we bought a wind thing. It's not really a chime since it doesn't make a sound, it just catches the wind and spins. Kinda neat to watch:

That's all for now. I'll post some knitty-type pics tomorrow, I promise!

TTFN and KEEP KNITTING!

Good morning....

I'm not a morning person. My boyfriend has to wave a cup of coffee under my nose to get me up. However, since we've gotten the balcony furniture, I seem to have more incentive to get up. I love sitting outside in the morning. It's really relaxing.
I love the bistro set! Here is the sock chilling with my morning coffee:

The antique finish on the set is really neat. It has shades of beige, green and red. Now all we have to do is get some plants up there to finish our oasis.

The sock is coming along nicely. I've started the gusset:

I want to get the heel finished before I have to go to work, so I can knit on my way to work without having to juggle an instruction sheet while crammed into my seat on the bus. I'm really loving the colourway of this wool especially on the bottom of the foot:

I'm such a geek...I get really excited when I'm using a new self-patterning wool and I see what colour comes next. I can't wait to finish this pair.

For those knitting/sheep fans out there, this is an illustration I think you'll enjoy:

I think it's just hilarious. Oh and just in case I'm breaking a billion copyright laws by posting this: This is an illustration from the book RUSSELL THE SHEEP by Rob Scotton. The illustration is also by ROB SCOTTON. (That should keep the feds off my back). His illustrations are fantastic. For cat lovers he does SPLAT THE CAT. They are also really cute. Sigh...I really wish I could find the Russell pic as a poster or coffee mug.

Anyhoo, I'm gonna grab a second cup of Java and adjourn to the balcony to work on the heel.

TTFN and KEEP KNITTING!

I love days off...

I've had a relaxing day off... kinda. My boyfriend and I went to Home Depot early this morning and picked up a bistro set for the balcony. He's bringing it home tonight so I'll have a pic tomorrow. As to the rest of my day...I've been knitting.
I was on the bus this morning heading back from the store and knitting on my sock... when I got home my sock and I did this:



Listened to some music on my stereo and had a nice relaxing cocktail. I like to call it Blue Passion. It's Blue Curacao and Strawberry Passion Awareness Fruitopia. Yummy!
I also worked some more on the shawl:



I'm onto my third and last ball for the top, when it's done I get to pick up the sts along the prov. cast on, and knit the bottom of the shawl. I've determined to stop working on my boyfriend's sweater until I've finished knitting the shawl. It will take a long time to sew on all the beads and do the fringe, so I figure I'll get the knitting done and the work on my boyfriend's sweater when I need a break from sewing. Hopefully I'll get it all done in time. I should since my boyfriend's b-day isn't until September.

TTFN and KEEP KNITTING

Still Knitting...

I decided that I didn't like the way the sock was turning out, so I frogged it and started over. I like this much better:

I'm just doing a simple K1 P1 rib, and you can now see the colours better. I'm also thinking of trying the gusset heel that Wendy used here:

http://wendyknits.net/knit/SportweightSocks.pdf

I usually use the short-row heel when I'm knitting toe-up, but I like the way this heel looks.

Speaking of socks, (don't you just love that segway?) I've just signed up for the Summer of Socks '07. You can learn about it here:

http://zarzuelaknitsandcrochets.com/summerofsocks2007/

It looks like fun, and it should give me fodder for my blog.

In other knitting news, there is progress on the shawl:

I've finished one ball, and completed three full repeats. I was so excited because the other day as I was organizing my stash (fighting with my stash would be more accurate), I discovered another ball of the angora/lambswool blend that the shawl is being made out of. So I now have 6 balls instead of 5. YEA! I've also cast on the front of my boyfriend's Aran-style sweater:

It's turning out really well and, because of the chunky wool, is knitting up rather quickly.

TTFN and KEEP KNITTING!