Strings & Yarn

Wow! Time to wipe the cobwebs off the ol’ blog.  I think that’s the longest I’ve ever gone without posting, but I do have to say, that it has been a crazy few weeks.  Just to catch up, we’ll make this into a bullet point post.

• First, my violin professor from my undergraduate degree was in town.  We had her over for a lovely dinner.  It was great to catch up.
• Second, my friend Roma came through Eugene.  We had her and her sweetheart stay over for a night.  It was good to catch up with her too.
• Then my sister visited for a week.  We had a great time knitting, talking, showing her the Pacific NW.  We event of a Tsunami on the Oregon coast.

• I finished a sweater, which I mentioned in my last post.  It is my own design, and should be easy to write up.  However, I’m going to have to reknit it in some nicer yarn.  I don’t think most of you have any desire for a sweater made out of Red Heart.  I’m weird that way.
• After Amy left, we had a great visit with my parents for a week.  Including a camping trip to the coast.  It was the first time they had been out to see our house, and my dad helped us put the light up in the closet.  I’m so glad I was able to spend some time with them this summer and show them my life out in Oregon.
• I have been working on my first pair of socks for the Sock Knitters Anonymous on Ravelry.  They are flying on my needles and I’m very happy with the progress.
• I have been working hard this past week getting ready for teaching violin at my school.  I thought I would seriously dread it with considering some of the difficulties I faced last year but starting a year fresh (instead of in January) will make a big difference.  I get to teach 3rd, 4th and 5th graders violin this year!
• Really good things are happening in my private violin studio.  Things are really starting to fall in place which means I’m going to have several recitals, lots of small events, and weekly Suzuki Group classes starting this fall.  It’s a bunch of work, but I’m really enjoying it.
• I’ve really continued to enjoy dying yarn and fiber for Strings and Yarn on Etsy.  There are some things still for sale, but during the school year updates may become less regular.  I’m hoping to get some dying in this weekend, but nothing is for certain.
• With all of the people visiting, I missed my blogiversary!  I wanted to do a contest (and hopefully still will) in order to thank you for coming by, participating, and reading in on my little section of the internet.  Thank you!
• I had an even more important anniversary go by.  Anthony and I have now been together for two years.  I continue to be amazed at how wonderful, rich, and beautiful my life has become since I met him.  I love you babe!

Whew!  I think that sums up the last few weeks.  Hopefully work won’t completely overtake my life, and stay posted for an belated blogiversary contest!

So many things have been going on here, it’s hard to keep track of what I’ve posted about and what still needs updating.  I took pictures of the garden weeks ago, but haven’t gotten them up.  Of course, imagine everything much bigger now.

These are the monster tomatillo plants.  They now have hundreds (I kid you not) of tomatillos on them and we will be making lots of green salsa.  The large pot has basil in it, but they are so small you can’t see them in this picture.

Some up close shots of the yumminess.  I have to say that this has been the most successful plant in the garden so far.  Everything has produced something, but not everything has produced a lot.  I could have planted three of these and had plenty.  Instead I have closer to six plants.

This is the beginning of a honeydew melon.  These guys are way bigger than this picture and soon I’ll be making them climb up a large tomato cage.  They may not really produce anything because the seeds got in the ground a little late, but it was worth trying.

My cauliflower all of a sudden decided to make something yummy.  I think it was because I threatened to pull it to make room for other things.  I have my fall crops ready to be put in the ground.  However, I’ve run out of room in this bed to put anything in!  Time to clear out some more space.  Especially for next year.

I’ve done a big update including a colorway of purples and browns for project spectrum. Please visit, check it out, and enjoy!

There has been knitting over here, I just haven’t posted an FO for awhile.  I actually have several very close, but I’ve been working so much on MS3 that I haven’t gotten very far on them.  However, lace doesn’t exactly go with camping very well, so I took along a dishcloth.

The pattern (Round Dishcloth) is free and I found it on Ravelry.  I actually found several dishcloths that I am interested in making on Ravelry.  (Sorry to non Ravelres.  It was the easiest way to do all those links.)

I haven’t tried this one out yet, but I can already tell it’s going to be a great dishcloth.  It was a ton of fun to make, and I think I may have to make a few as gifts this year.