Spring and Things

So, the official last day of school for seniors was Friday. Not sure the girl is quite ready for it to be over yet. She's got her senior project to do, but that's not the same as going to school and hanging out with friends every day. And hanging out is mostly what she's been doing the last couple of weeks - she did have some finals and tests but not many. Anyway, the other day she brought this home for me - it's her hanging upside down (should be a string holding her knees) like from a swing. She did the original casting last year but I discovered that the pewter tends to bend and I was afraid my necklace would lose arms or legs so asked the girl to cast another and she said yes, the teacher keeps the casts. Turned out the cast was lost, but she'd given the teacher one casting and since the teacher is retiring, she let girl give it to me.

This is our upside down tomato planter. It's made from a bucket like cat litter comes in. It was one of the Earth day projects the upper learning kids did this year and since I donated a bunch of the buckets, I got one of the empty containers. We planted it today but it's too heavy for my shepherd's crook, so for now it's on a plant stand.

And the tiny tomato plant coming out the bottom. The girl also planted some herbs (chives, apple mint and thyme) and some potato plants.

This is my darling girl - all clean and brushed after her bath. Well, the beard needs some work, but who knew dogs liked Werther's Originals?

Three pics of alpaca from Maple of Northstar Alpacas. The first is some raw fleece she sent the girls for needle felting. Miss S decided that it felts better when washed so she washed it all. It's sitting out on the patio table to dry. It's really soft and lovely. The second pic is a bit of a sample sent with my last order. The picture doesn't do it justice - it's got purple bits and glitter in it and it's just as soft as can be. The last is 12 ounces of a swirled roving. I spun 10 ounces of a similar roving last year (or before) and then gave the resulting yarn to a dear friend. Well, she's knitting with it now and it's just not going to be enough so I told her that I'd love to spin some more. She insisted on paying for the roving and I thought that was lovely - I get to spin it and it doesn't cost me a penny!! She thinks she needs to pay me to spin it, but I really am looking forward to it.

I saw on Ravelry that Knit Picks has self striping sock yarn called "Time Traveler" and it's just about the right colors for the Doctor Who Scarf. So I bought enough to make each girl a pair of socks and then bought some pretty multi colored yarn for his highness (or me).

I also bought this from Knit picks - had to hit that $50 mark so I could get free shipping, didn't I? I got some replacement size 7 harmony needle tips and some stitch markers too. I love this book almost (but not quite) as much as Eclectic Sole. I think it's time to cast on some socks - haven't made any in quite a long time.

And I know I said I was done with spiders but I ended up making six more. These are for gifts - for people completely not associated with the show. Now I REALLY, REALLY am done knitting spiders. Done. Done. Done. Totally Done.

I have to be done because now I'm enchanted with stranded mittens and hats. I've already cast on a test toque from Anna Zilboorg's 45 Fine & Fanciful Hats. When I'm done testing, I'm going to make Miss S some hats to keep her warm at college next year. And she'll need more mittens too, so those will have to come next . . .