It has been awhile..... My Farmhouse Shawl and Garden Update

Gosh, you sure know you haven't blogged for awhile when you can't get your pictures to upload properly, you guess at your password and don't have the remotest idea on how to restart again. Hmmm....here goes!

Well I am still knitting, a lot of wraps  and some sweaters. I am still doing a lot of gardening- but this time of year my enthusiasm is beginning to wane and we always seem to have a lot of projects to do in this older house. No great exotic trips or earth shattering news to report, but I'm OK with that. Sometimes normal and uneventful times are quite welcome here. I guess I should start with a knitting project as that's the focus of the title of my blog, maybe I should amend that to include veggies, bales and /or flowers! Or let me tell you what I really think......lol!!

Now the particular knitting pictures I wanted from my phone would not upload onto the PC. I seriously don't get that, why some and not others? Irritates the crap out of me!! So tonight I had the brainwave to do a screenshot of my photo and then try to upload it. It did work but I had to enlarge it more that I would have liked to get rid of the photo header.

This is not the greatest picture but I'm sure you get the idea. It is the Farmhouse shawl - a basic triangular shawl with garter stitch panels. It's a really nice casual wrap you can wear with everything. I knit it with Tosh Vintage in Optic. I love this colourway! The Farmhouse shawl has this terrific fringe that swishes around when you put it on. At first I thought meh, not so much with the fringe idea, but I'm happy I put it on. It makes it kinda boho chic ;) I'm guessing, but its a fun easy knit and would appeal to everyone. Its a pretty fast knit too as the yarn required is a worsted/aran weight. I have several more projects I have finished but wouldn't want to use up all my ideas in one post!!

The rocker in the picture is a very old Shaker rocker. It was used on a dock for many many years on Saint Simons Island in GA. It belonged to my SIL's partner's family. It resided with them in Washington State as a collection of dried out old wood in a box. We rescued it several years ago and my husband restored it to its present state. He did a terrific job and its my favourite chair to knit in. It is a shaker rocker so its not designed for comfort but I do sit up really straight in it and keep  good posture. It fits me perfectly so I wonder if it was a woman's chair. Maybe some woman knit or did needlework in it as well.  It sits on our deck but when we redo our living room I am bringing it in. Its such a lovely old oak rocker that has had a long history of use by many generations of people. I wonder where it originally came from and where it is been, if only antiques could talk, hey? And now it is in SW BC. isn't that crazy? We also rescued a child sized rocker too. I will get some pictures of it. I love old furniture. We have a lot of old pieces from both our families, Some we have donated to Restore but for some pieces I keep thinking we can do something with this! Famous last words!! We are currently redoing a dresser and end tables that belonged to my husbands grandfather. Ill have to get some pics of that organized too.

In other home improvement news, we decided to paint our front door-well we have been talking about it for a few years, but finally we sprang into action. We chose a nice soft butter yellow for the front door- Sico Custard Cream . It is the same colour as my little yellow bench in the front yard. Then we thought it might look good on the old shutters. Looks ok! Then we decided with all this freshening up, the old grey blah stucco needed a facelift. I don't know about everybody else but choosing colours can be such an exercise in frustration. Surface textures, light exposure, can sure play havoc with the final outcome, But we persevered and opted for a lighter shade of green. It does brighten up the back of the house which faces north and it looks so much cleaner and fresher, I thought as there is so much stucco I wanted the colour to act as a backdrop to the garden and any garden art I may ever actually get done. I also opted for a bright cheerful look, which is a personal favourite look with me, I also think its a gut level reaction to the constant stream of sad and worrisome news the we all seem to be hearing and seeing these days. In addition to myself, a couple of good friends of mine have been exposed to some really negative, spiteful and mean spiritedness on different fronts from other women and I really wonder why? And to what end?  We sure know in this family that life isn't always puppies and rainbows and it can be very hard at times, but let's not lose sight of our light. Let's all be kind, thoughtful and compassionate of others.

The front yard is bursting in colour. The irony of all of this is that I consider the front yard as more for the neighbours than myself. I drive, walk or cycle in and out and I water and weed out there but I really mostly see the back of it. The rest of my neighbours see it more than I do! But they seem to like it.

I was sitting on the front step the other day and it was a pretty hot one. The front is shaded in the afternoon by our big maple and it was a lot cooler than the deck or backyard. The light bulb went on- hey maybe we should sit out here occasionally as its cooler and a whole lot prettier than the back. Epic moment!! So I lugged a couple of chairs to the front, OK I exaggerate , they are plastic so its a carry not a lug. We are hidden behind a wall of flowers so it doesn't look like we are creeping on the neighbours! Hahaha!!

I've planted lots of pollinator friendly flowers again this year, I also am mindful of drought tolerance and easy care. A little more lawn was dug up again this year. One of my grumpy neighbors asked me why I just didn't tear the whole thing up and be done with it. 'Just keeping you in suspense from year to year dude!' Sheesh!!

 More about my new garden art next post

Well there is lots to talk about on the veggie/bale front but I have to take the two sillies, Ollie and Archie, down to the lake for a swim.

Keep Smiling Friends!

Chris

David Austin Roses-smell divine!