Still Knitting but Gardening Too!

Double click on image for a better view of my gardens.

On the needles.................

Yes, I do still knit, but it seems I have been baking more than knitting lately. You can see my creations on my cooking blog, Nonna Rose's Kitchen. However, I am working on a project, which must be a secret right now since it's a gift for one of my blog readers. I will tell you though that I love working with the yarn for this gift; Plymouth Yarn's Llama Cotton Grande, it is awesome.

Real Men Do Knit

I didn't get a lot of knitting done myself while in VA Beach, but it was a lot of fun teaching my 12 year old nephew the craft. The poor boy had to endure some teasing, but that seemed to die down once I shared the history of knitting and that in the Renaissance period it was a craft done only by men. If you study history, you'll find that during the Renaissance, men were the only ones who could join knitting guilds.

First Yarn Crawl

Today seven of the Heartfelt knitters were able to travel together for our first (hopefully annual) yarn crawl. We started out in East Stroudsburg, PA at Mountain Knit & Pearls, then made our way back to the Lehigh Valley stopping at KnitWitz in Hellertown, PA and finally to our new favorite LYS, The Knitter's Edge in Bethlehem, PA. In between visiting the shops we had a delicious and relaxing lunch at Braveheart Highland Pub and Restaurant. The following pictures chronicle the day's events. Personally, I had a great time!











Now let the knitting begin!

Knitting? NOT!

Nope, still no time for knitting! Yesterday I sanded these chairs and today I painted them. They look great and soon will be used for rocking, reading and KNITTING. However, before that happens there are still many outdoor projects to take complete. Tomorrow I'll sand the porch railing and around the picture window. Then, on Friday I will start the task of painting the railing and window. Once the front of the house is in tip-top condition it's off to the back deck for repairs and sprucing up for the summer.

I will get some knitting in tomorrow night when my knitting buddies come over for our weekly circle time, and on Saturday the knitting group will venture out on our first yarn crawl. Watch for postings of that event.

Spring 2009

I have not touched my knitting since Thursday evening! I have been busy with another hobby, gardening. When I was a teacher and had summers off I enjoyed working in my flower beds and beautifying the outside of our home, where I could then sit and knit, read and just be. I even, on occasion, would help my DH with the lawn. When I gave up my teacher position for an administrative position I also gave up my summers. Working in the yard became a chore because weekends became the time when I would have to grocery shop, clean and do laundry; the things I would do during the week in the summers when I taught. Now that I am retired I enjoy the weekends so much more knowing that I have all week for my household chores, so there is nothing to hold me back from working with my DH! This weekend we worked side by side weeding, edging and mulching all of our flower beds and the yard looks wonderful. Next, we'll move onto repairing our deck. While my DH replaces boards and then covers the deck with carpet I will sand and paint our six rockers. I will also paint the small windows to the basement, which you'll noticed have rusted over the years and detract from my roses bushes that will soon be in beautiful bloom.

Now, indulge me if you will, dear reader, with some photos of the weekend's laborious project.

First Mother's Day/Grandmother's Day

Mother's Day this year was special for both my daughter-in-law and me; it was her first Mother's Day and my first Mother's Day as a grandmother.