Entire circumferences

There really is a valid reason for my absence the past couple of weeks, and perhaps some of you can relate. We have been in a terrible drought here in California, so it has been a real wake-up call on the importance of conserving our resources. My husband and I wanted to do our part, so we have taken up most of our lawn in the backyard and are putting in drought tolerant plants/flowers. We hired a landscaper who has come in and put in a beautiful block retaining wall that circles almost the entire circumference, and is also extending our patio to give us more room for a hot tub. I couldn't be more pleased with it, and I'm having a lot of fun looking at magazines and visiting nurseries to do research on what plants I want in my new flower beds. It all takes a lot of time, and so far, I've put in some lavender, one of my favorites! I plan to put in one more rose bush, and maybe a couple of rhododendrons to attract hummingbirds and butterflies. After that, we will tackle the front yard landscape, but I've already quit watering that lawn.

Just a little sampling of the wall and a photo bomb from Maggie.

So, that has been what has kept me away from my computer for the past couple of weeks. However, there has been knitting, a little spinning, and some reading of an actual book. On the 19th of April, I finished knitting my pink capelet I'm pretty sure I've shown progress pics of, and yesterday afternoon, I was finally able to get it on the blocking board. It was so warm yesterday, that when I got up this morning, it's actually already dry! Now all I need to do is find the perfect button, sew it on, and take pictures. I'm so very pleased with how pretty it is and it's such a beautiful pattern! Unfortunately, as I've said before, it's not on Ravelry, so if you're interested in it, please get in touch with me and I would be happy to put you in touch with Betty Fryer, the designer. You can either leave me a comment here, or contact me on Ravelry...I'm KnitNurd over there.

Just in case this color doesn't match the outfit I still need to buy to wear to an event we're going to this summer, I decided to also cast on another summery type wrap, in a more neutral color, just in case. I'm really into neutrals right now, so I chose a very pretty silver-y color rayon/linen/cotton blend yarn from Plymouth Yarns, called Linen Concerto, to knit Same Thing Only Different (by Cheryl Schumer), which can be worn several ways, but I love how it's worn as a poncho. It's lightweight, and knit in a fairly loose gauge, which should be nice for a pretty summer evening. It doesn't look like much here in my photo, but once it's finished, blocked and sewn up, it will be nice!

 

 

While I was trying to decide what next to cast on for, I decided to put a few more inches on my Maighdean Mhara scarf. Wow! I forgot how much fun knitting this gorgeous lace was!! I still have about 10 more repeats of the pattern before I can do the end repeat and be done with the knitting part, but it does move along quickly.

 



Other than finishing one of the socks of the pair of plain vanilla ones I'm knitting right now, that's about it for the knitting. I have been plying some singles I spun up, and have just about filled up a bobbin's worth, so very soon, I will have to grab another bobbin to finish plying these two singles. I would love to get this fleece I bought last year at the winery completed. That event is coming up again very soon, and who knows what I will pick up this year!!

 

Currently on my coffee table is a book by Paula Hawkins, called The Girl on the Train. She has a kind of 'dry' style of writing, but it is a serious story, so perhaps it just seems that way to me. Nonetheless, I'm enjoying it very much, and it is holding my attention in the mornings with my coffee. I should have it finished in the next couple of days, if I'm not too distracted by my new flower beds and all that I need to do with them yet. It's a great story though!!

 

We're having beautiful spring weather here at the moment, so I'm going to stop here for now. I hope to be back very soon, and I might even have some quilting and/or sewing to share with you. I plan to sew up some cute summer tops for myself since losing 40 pounds. Oh, that's the other news I had on my mind...I went to see my doctor this past Monday and got the most wonderful news ever!!!! She was so surprised to see the weight loss that she started crying, which got my tears to flowing...hahaha. She hugged me and said "see? this is the reason I do what I do!!" I love my doctor!!! When I saw her in October, I was one point away from being considered diabetic. She told me that I could probably reverse that with diet and exercise. I was so upset, so I had a talk with myself and realized I was the only one that could get me out of that mess. She told me then that we would do a re-check at the end of April. So last Thursday, I went for another A1C test, and when I saw her on Monday, I got the best news ever!!!!! Not only did I reverse it, I'm exercising and lost 40 pounds, but I'm in the normal range again!! I am still just ecstatic, and will stay on this journey of good health. I feel better than I have in many years...nothing hurts anymore, my husband tells me everyday how proud he is of me, I can fit into places I couldn't before, I am back shopping in juniors/misses sizes, and the best thing of all...my grandchildren wrap their arms around my entire circumference and call me their "skinny grandma". I tell them that's just a side effect of being healthy, and that is what's really important....now they want to be healthy too!!