Ever feel like there is a black cloud over your head?

Last night we were "treated" to three rounds of tornado sirens. That in and of itself is nerve wracking! Thankfully it was just an intense storm and not a tornado. I shared some photos of before the storm on Facebook and my cousin Mammy (Amy) asked if I ever felt like I had a black cloud hanging over my house (when she looked at the pictures). See for yourself!



My hopes, thoughts and prayers go out to all the families that have been affected by the horrific weather we have had the last few months.

Saturday I finished a pair of socks! Wooohoooooooo. The yarn and pattern were from my first shipment of the Cookie A Sock Club. The yarn is String Theory and has some cashmere. The pattern is Simple Haleakala.

Gardening & Roses

Saturday morning I finished planting the garden. Poo was restricted to inside the house because we had the back gate propped open. He wasn't very happy:



It's amazing what one week and lots of rain will do for the Clematis. WOW there was only one blossom a week ago!



This is a broad view of our back yard.



The Kale, Chard and romaine are coming along nicely.



The kitty pot is doing amazing too!



Saturday evening my husband and I went to the Park of Roses. Let me just say if you are in or around the Columbus area please take a ride over there in the next 10 days. I would guess there are 1,000,000+/- buds ready to pop and the smell is going to be fantastic.



These buds are just a sample of the spectacular to come....



I love love love this picture and I hope you do too.

99%

DSCN1484, a photo by bean counting knitter on Flickr.

Well I did it.... About 99% of my yarn stash is in the cedar chest. :-)

Gardening 2011

Saturday started out lovely so off to Strader's I went to acquire plants for the garden.



The rain held off long enough for me to plant about 1/3 of them. Here is the Kale, Rainbow Swiss Chard and Red Romaine lettuce.



This is a pot of herbs. Thyme, two types of basil and some parsley. The empty spots are for the cilantro plants I forgot but picked up on Sunday.



The wall of Clematis is promising to be stunning this year. I am so excited. :-)



Early Clematis blossoms.



Last week was challenging and it always helps to center me when I can get my hands in dirt. Something about planting life in dirt and watching it grow is very calming to my soul.

Sweet Potato Chili Chips

Yesterday I broke out my Mandolin Slicer and dehydrator to make some Sweet Potato Chili Chips. These are the slices pre-dehydration.

I put them in the dehydrator yesterday morning at about 115 degrees and took them out this morning.



You can really see how much they shrink down when the water is removed.




I had a hard time keeping a certain person out of the dehydrator. I have to admit I tasted them this morning and YUM! These should be a good addition to our stir-fry dinner tonight. Email me at clbrmba at gmail dot com if you would like the recipe.

Downsizing, Mothproofing & Decoupage with yarn labels!

My step dad, Ray, passed away 18 years ago this month. It is still very hard not having him in our daily lives. He was an awesome man. For a while Ray rented out some storage space in his manufacturing building. The people stopped paying and never picked up their stuff. So after a few years Mom and I went digging through the stuff.

We found this old cedar chest. Mom cleaned it up and covered it with satin and lace for me. This is actually the second round of covering.






This last round of covering was done in approximately 1990. It was looking rough. I had read an article about decoupaging with yarn labels recently and the idea struck to use the pile of yarn labels I had accumulated over the years to spruce this cedar chest up.




Cedar is a natural moth repellent. Many older homes have cedar closets. My Grandparents home had one.  



It was fun applying each label to the chest. I thought about each of the projects knit with the different yarns. It made me so happy.



I had enough labels to cover the front side completely. I will continue to collect yarn labels and finish the sides and back in the future.




Jimmy and I have embarked on minimizing our stuff. I have stuff I have moved 5+ times over the last 15+ years. Some of it hasn't been touched since it was brought into the house. I am ready to purge stuff including yarn.  I intend to downsize my yarn stash to fit into this cedar chest. I have some thoughts on how I will de-stash most of what I don't intend to use, which will include gifting and perhaps selling.

2 @ 2 time can suck it!

I am sorry for the radio silence. I have so much to share but I need to dump photos first. Stay tuned!

So I have made an honest attempt to knit the sleeves 2 at a time and it just isn't happening for me. I have separated them and knitting two repeats on "1" and then on "2". This is working much better for me.

More to come....