... I am a working woman.

The last month or so I have been working part-time at a local garden center, Moore and Moore Garden Center (M&M). This is my third spring there and have been loving this spring since it was so mild and everyone is ready to spruce up their gardens and flower beds. The most exciting part about spring other than the great weather is all the growing of herbs and veggies going on. Since TN had such a mild winter a lot of my herbs from last year are still growing and taking over my growing area.

 My most prolific grower was the oregano that I got from a M&M co-worker last year and early spring I decided to divide the plant so I can get some room for other herbs this spring and was able to divide the one plant to three good size bunches. The other two went to my neighbor that loves to make her own tomato sauce so I thought that would be a great pairing. The biggest one is my Lemon Balm that I got from M&M last spring.

 I was determined to use up this big bush of an herb for something. So onto the internet for several hours on researching what to do with this Lemon Balm (thank goodness for google and youtube). Several stems are hanging upside down in my kitchen drying so I can use it some chicken recipes and future use, then some more leaves ended up in a great cookie, Lemon Balm Cookies. This is more of a shortbread than a real cookie but it was delicious otherwise. Plus on top of that I added a lemon icing too that just added a bit of sour with sweet to the crumbly cookie. Everyone at M&M loved them and they were a smash or gobbled up (which ever way you want to look at it). I will definitely be making more this summer for everyone at the garden center once my herb grows back! I am making more for one of the manager's open garden tour in early June and can't wait to see her garden.

My garden is going well also. I have several herbs in pots in my back landing that I have easy access to from the kitchen. I am growing the Thai Chili Pepper again since it was so prolific in giving me very hot peppers that I processed in a blender to make a chili sauce for my awesome Slow Cooker Carnitas.

Then I have expanded my garden to bigger pots with some veggies which is the first for me. Background Info: We live in the woods and there are many creatures that like to stalk my yummy plants and how do I grow veggies for myself and not for the critters? Put in pots and hope for the best!

I have branched out to Edamame (which a ground hog has already taken 4 of the 5 plants),

 tomatoes (Mr Stripey and Old German),

and zucchini and squash (for the blossoms to make fried stuffed squash blossoms and for the veggie also). 

I hope to get a great variety of veggies this summer if the doggies can keep the critters away!

Since I have been working, there has been less time for knitting. But I will always find a way to get those needles out and I had to for April. At the end of April there was a big baby shower for three women at my church that are all due this summer. It was so much fun to knit such small knits. I will post pictures as soon as the babies are modeling my knitwear. Also I have done other projects and I will post those soon also.

I am showing off all my knitted items!

I have do tons of knitting since the last time I have shown off my knitting.
The last knitting I showed you in progress was the The Knit Girllls SAL/KAL. This yarn was handspun fiber from Cloudlover. I have worn this scarf several times and love the lightness of the yarn but the warmth is great for not too cold days.

Well let's see what I have done since then...

1. Go Big Orange socks for a friend at the garden center



2. Ginger Sher Khan for a friend's little girl's Christmas present

3. LSU socks just in time to see LSU lose the big game =0(

4. Corbin Football Hat styled but Gizmo and new Baby Corbin

5. R2D2 DanK for a Halo friend of hubby

6. Flurries Cowl is the first cowl for the Great Cowl KAL by Feministy. This KAL is 5 cowl designs in 50 days. I need to finish one cowl and submit to designer to get the next design for free and so on for 50 days. It has been fun and you can see where I am at to this point. I am liking is kind of KAL since I have do some deadline knitting without any real deadlines and I am stocking up on the presents =0) BONUS!

7. A Very Good Cowl Indeed is second cowl for the Greal Cowl KAL

8. Weeble Wobble is the third cowl in the series

9. Perpetually Persistent Cowl is number four, one more to go...

10. Thistle Terpsichore for my MIL which she just loved and I almost wanted to keep!

Well that is all that I have done since October 28, 2011 to March 1, 2012. I say that I was plenty busy for 5 months or so! Hope you enjoyed and next time I will update my handspun yarnie goodies.

Have a great week, y'all

but I am knitting too much!

I have not been on detailing my not knitting free time because I have been knitting like a fiend since the new year with fun things for me and friends and family. I will update you on all those soon since I just finished one for my MIL that is so pretty! Can't wait till she sees what I made for her.
Hope the new year has been going well so far for everyone and I can't believe it is already pass mid February with such a mild winter in TN.
See you soon and look forward to talking about my new knitting experiences.

Wishing Everyone A Merry Christmas!!!

I hope all are having a great christmas break. I am loving mine since I get to knit, spin, open doggie's christmas presents, cook, bake, and shop. Not in that order though but that would be fun.

First off will be the exciting christmas presents for the doggies from Grandmaw and Grandpaw Goldbeck. Last weekend we came home from lunch with two big boxes sitting on the front porch and I was wondering what they were but I knew who they were for and from, since hubbie got a random call from his mom saying that she made a questionable purchase for the dogs, we have been wondering what it would be. So we got the packages inside and the excited dogs were waiting for me to open them and since I did not get special orders to not open them before christmas I tore the big boxes open. And to much of my (and doggie's) surprise, they were big fluffy, enormous dog beds. Now note the plural, we have two dogs and there are now two bean bag size dog beds in my living room. Gadget totally jumped in on these new fluffy things knowing that they are for him but Gizmo no so much. She was a little hesitant but since I plopped my but in them she automatically knew she wanted to claim it. Now fast forward to a week later, I think they think these new beds are not so good for them. I have recently denied access to the couch for doggies. They are not taking this without a fight or an occassional jump up to snuggle next to me. But once they get the point that they are not getting up they give up and enjoy the warmth and coziness of the bed that they disappear in like a doughnut. Here are some pics of the first encounters of the beds:

Here are some new pics with some sulking:

The baking is of Reese Peanut Butter Cookie tub from a friend's son's fundraiser for his school and they are delish! I ate 3 pretty much right out of the oven and then tempted the hubbie to each 4. YUM! I also look forward to cooking for Christmas dinner since we are doing Mexican Night with our friends. The Menu consists of Slow Cooker Carnitas with some mods, refried beans, the fixins for soft shell tacos, and build your own dessert with pound cake, ice cream and fruit. Cannot wait for dinner!

So the shopping was for the neice and nephew in Chicago that got an owl ornament and nightlight from the local garden center, for a friend's son who wanted a denim jacket (which hubbie thought was an 80's trend but I think this boy has an old soul so it works for him), random knick knacks from Williams-Sonoma (because you cannot go in there and not buy anything), and a trip to the LYS with my friend to see Glenna from Ewe and Company. I did good in not buying yarn but got an awesome mag from Interweave Press, Jane Austen Knits 2011. This special mag is great because it talks about what knitters think that Jane Austen would of knit for herself or others and shows the style of knitwear would of look like from her time period. I am still looking through the mag but all the patterns look great and I look forward to knitting up some from the mag.

Also Glenna from Ewe and Company was kind enough to take my handspun yarns that I have been doing and try to sell them at her shop. Although I love the process of spinning them, I just have too much yarn already that the added stash of handspun was overwhelming. So I made a decision to try to sell them but I did not want an etsy shop because of the fees and work to list them and I am not sure if they would sell anyway. So I gambled with bringing them to Glenna but she took them with open hands and such enthusiasm that I was so humbled and joyous that she would try to sell my mediocre handspun yarns. Now I do not know if they will sell at all but I hope it will be well received. Here are the new handspuns from the wheel:

Gale's Art Cherry Blossom is my first attempt to get a thicker gauge yarn and I think I was successful and it came out so pretty too. Sorry for the poor quality pic.


Chrysalis Fibers Sky and Earth (this is already gifted to a friend, who already benefits from my handspuns)


Just Finished is the Just Before Dawn from Highland Handmades, will get pictures up soon!

So the only part of knitting getting done, since I am still enamored by the wheel (who is not named yet), is the The Knit Girllls SAL/KAL Favorite Scarf Ever. It is knit from the Cloudlover fiber for the SAL which is turning out great with the pattern.


Well that was a long post and hope you enjoyed it. I loved writing it so I can get my thoughts out of my head. =0P Thanks to all for a great half year of reading my random thoughts and following my knitting endeavors. Have a safe and happy new year and look forward to what the Pulmonary Hypertension research brings for the coming years.

.... I am now spinning on my new wheel!!

Yes I got a new spinning wheel! I totally love it and have been spinning non stop since I put it together on Saturday when we got home from Thanksgiving vaca to Chicago to see family. I am such a lucky daughter-in-law to marry into a loving and caring family of my hubbie. My lovely MIL got me the wheel as my (and hubbies) christmas present. It is my hubbies too since the funds to get it came out if his christmas money too. =0) He will enjoy it too.

We (me and MIL) got it from a great small store called The Fold in Marengo, IL which we found out the hard way is about an hour drive from the west suburbs of Chicago. But it is a lovely small store runned by the kindest most helpful woman around, Mrs. Toni. She was nice enough to help a newcomer to spinning wheels and answered all my questions and concerns I had about all the wheels I tried out. She had about 10 wheels out for you to pull up to and test which helped me figure out which one I wanted. Which I think I already knew before stepping into her store but it helped to be behind the wheel and touch it up close. Mrs. Toni also was so kind to sit and talk with us about many things, my PH condition and what I knit for (PH research and donations), how long I have been knitting (1.5 years), what I love to knit (lacey shawls) and others things. Thanks Mrs. Toni for being so caring and kind to me and my MIL.

So back to the important part, which wheel did I choose??? I chose the Ashford Traveller for the smaller design and portability due to the lighter weight. I could not assemble it in Chicago since it would have to travel with a car load back and I did not want it to travel without a seatbelt if it was assembled. So I resisted the urge to tear the box open and assemble it piece by piece. But I did go straight upstairs and tear it apart after about 2 hours of being home on Saturday afternoon (I am glad the hubbie drove the whole way). It took me about 2 hours to assemble it with the almost 30 steps of assembly and this is without the hubbie's help. I was pretty proud of myself and I should be! Here it is in all its glory in a messy craft room:

Also I need your help on something. As per the spinning community, a great wheel needs a great name. What should be the newbie's name? I need to refer to him or her as a person since she/he works as hard as me to make the fancy yarnie goodness. Please leave a suggestion on FB or in the comments.

What should be her/ his name??

I am having so much fun with it, I already have two fibers done and one on the wheel. I have spun more fiber in 5 days than in the months I have been spinning with the spindle. But the wheel will not be my sole focus because I want to continue using my drop spindles since I still need to teach someone how to still spin and ply on the spindle. (This boy knows who he is) So the fibers I have been spinning are:

Haunted Vineyards in Polwarth

 The above fiber is for The Knit Girllls SAL (Spin A Long) / KAL (Knit A Long) that is from Cloudlover. The untwisted skein of yarn is what I spinned on the wheel and I am so happy because it is the first yarn that has come off the 'wheel' <-----enter new name for newbie.

 I also have finished a couple of ounces of the Superwash Merino from The Fold that I got with the wheel as a experiment fiber. The SW Merino is so soft and fluffy and a joy to spin. I got the undyed fiber since I want to dab my over achieving fingers into dyeing. I will be dyeing it with food coloring and kool-aid. We will see how that goes with some test yarn that I got.

Lastly as of right now is the BFL fiber from Corgi Hill Farm in the Dahlia colorway. I love the pink purple tonal variation and shown above is a single that I will ply with another bobbin of single to make my two ply yarn. I think I may try to navajo ply the second 6 ounces of this fiber to see how I like a three ply yarn.

The quandry I have now with making so much yarn is that I have so much yarn. I have no pattern in mind right now for them other than the Haunted Vineyards (it is part of the KAL). Should I sell or find something to knit? I know right now that the spinning is really cutting into my knitting time but I have to reverse that soon to get some projects done and off the needles.

Well that is all for now and I hope all have a great week and had a great Thanksgiving. We get to look forward to Christmas!