Evil Eye

Last Sunday i was watching the end of Edward Scissorhands with my brother, and it hit me. You see, i have (or had) these horrible shrubs in my front yard. Overgrown, and in my way. hmph. Well, they were overgrown because i have been neglecting them, saying i would pull them anyway, so why work on them. But, i have been dreading pulling healthy plants, that thrive even when neglected. So, i have been putting it off, and the front yard just looked worse and worse.

Anyway. We were watching Edward Scissorhands and i started joking that instead of getting rid of my shrubs, i should take up topiary as yet another hobby. But then i got to thinking, if i plan to get rid of them anyway, why not trim them up and see how they look? If i butcher them, hey, all the more reason to get rid of the suckers. Now, they are no where near big enough to become cool shapes, but i trimmed and trimmed and trimmed them this morning, and guess what? I actually like the little guys now that they are little guys and not some kudzu like nightmare in my front yard! I would have taken before shots, but well, a. i did not think of it, and b. even if i had, i am not sure i want you to see how bad it looked.  I know it doesn’t look like much now, but it was really awful before, trust me.

Where does the time go? Last week was a whirlwind of getting very little done. Tuesday was great, i took the day off to go to the Garfield Park Conservatory with Katz and Shane to see Niki in the Park, which i highly recommend. I will put pictures up soon. From there we went to the Chicago History Museum (i still want to call it the Historical Society). They did a wonderful job renovating the museum, and the dioramas look better than ever!

That evening i met up with Sara and we went to the Meet the Experts event at the Women’s Business Development Center. It was a really inspirational night, and we came away with more focused ideas and plans.

I went over to my previous place of employment to help train the person who is replacing the person who replaced me. Oof. That was Wednesday and Thursday. Friday i spent the day preparing to head out of town to celebrate Father’s day with the dads in Wisconsin. I did still manage to get a little bit of work done, somehow.

This week i am cat-sitting again. We are taking care of my brother’s cat, who is pretty scared right now, but safe in her own little room with litter, food and water, and some personal effects. Hopefully the kitties will talk to each other under the door, and she can come out and play. If not, well, it is just a week, and i will do all i can to make her comfortable.

Oh, i did get some knitting done, i need to take pictures. I knit a hat out of my grape handspun, and i finished my tuscany socks. I need to get my knitting together for tonight’s SnB, after i get some more design work done. And i thought i would have more time at home, ha!

Thanks to all of the knitters who came out to knit! The weather could not have been nicer, and the yarn crawl afterwards to Loopy and Knitwerks was fabulous.

Over 60 knitters from all over the Chicagoland area came to Millennium Park to knit.  My only regret is that i did not write down your names.  If you were there and are reading this, please comment with your name, and any notes you might like to add (including what you looked like, so i can match your name to your face, and what you were working on.)

Knitters are wonderful, friendly and sharing people.  I talked to so many people i had never met before, and i was awed by all of your wonderful work.  Thanks for being there.

Today i finally faced the task awaiting me in the garden: weeding. There were tons of little weeds and grass sprouting in my vegetable bed. Looking at them all at once, it was daunting. But, once i got started i just focused on the area directly in front of me, and before i knew it i was done. (if hours count as “before you know it.”)

I found myself thinking about when i first learned to weed a garden as a very little kid. We lived next door to a woman named Netty. Netty had a double lot, and had a beautiful garden. I mostly remember the lilies of the valley and red poppies. I was always keen on picking flowers for my mom, and Netty made a deal with me: if i helped her weed her garden, she would help me pick flowers for my mom. I was about 6 or 7 years old, and i still remember walking around the garden as she showed me which plants were weeds, and how to pull them so i pulled the roots and all. Netty very quickly became my adopted grandmother, which made me very happy. I was no where near my own grandparents, and i saw them very rarely, so i think i had a tendency to make friends with elderly people. I don’t think i thought of it that way at the time, but boy did i like talking to elderly people. (you should have seen me riding the bus! if you had gray hair, and had an empty seat next to you, watch out!)

While i was thinking of Netty, i was watching my hands go through the motions of pulling the little weeds, and it occurred to me that i was looking at my dad’s hands. My dad has always been an avid gardener, well, as long as he has had access to a garden. When we lived next door to Netty, we were renting a flat in a house. The owner, another one of my adoptees, Miss Lucas, could not tend to the yard (she was legally blind, yet still managed to ride a bike everywhere), and was very happy to hand it over to my dad. Between my dad and Netty i felt like quite the little gardener. I didn’t think i was paying that much attention to his movements, i was all too excited to get to plant my beans and marigolds! But, i guess i was, since it seemed to me that i have seen him go through the same motions i was going through this morning a thousand times. I also thought about my latest tutors, MIL and FIL, who have been giving me invaluable advice about gardening. I thought about MIL as i pruned back the lower growth on my mulberry tree, and mulched the veggie bed along the garage, and about FIL as i pinched off those little growths on the tomatoes, which i would never have thought were an issue until he started pinching my plants last year (i was shocked, why was he picking those little leaves off!)

It is very gratifying to me to be able to apply the knowledge that has been so generously passed on to me as i tend to my little garden. When i finally take a bite out of a tomato this summer, i will smile as i think about the many hands that helped guide my own.

Sigh.  I don’t usually lose things.  I am not saying i am very organized, heavens no.  But, there is a method to my madness, i can almost always find what i am looking for with little or no trouble.  Today is not that day.  This morning, since it was sunny, and i can’t afford photography lighting, i thought i would pull out my cloud dome thingy, and take some new pictures of my jewelry.  I looked and looked for that dome thing, no where to be found.  I took it as a sign that i could no longer avoid the reorganization of my work space.  It was on the list anyway.  So, i started cleaning, and at last, i did in fact find the dome.  Ok, still sunny, lets take the pictures!  Alas, my camera batteries died.  Obviously, today is the day to clean that shop, so i went back to it.

Now, time to put up that shelving i bought months ago, so i can move some stuff up off of my bench.  Now where did i put the hardware for this shelves….   This house is going to look like it exploded by the end of the day.

I don’t think i have ever been tagged before, so i’ll play.  Freaky Knitters Unite tagged me.  So, i am to tell you 7 random things about me.  hmmmm….

My first scarf took me 10 years to knit.

I was born a month early, and with a full head of hair.

I have flat feet.

I learned how to ride a bike at the age of 31.

I learned to speak Spanish before i learned to speak English.

I have a Masters degree in the Social Sciences (ethno-history).

I have no trouble getting tattoos, but hate to skin my knees.

yeah, that’s pretty random alright.  Here is where i cheat.  Go tag yourself. ha!  So, i guess that’s #8, i’m a cheater.

I’m back to the land of blogging at last. Funny, i had this silly notion that i would have so much more time to get things done once i was working at home. Turns out i am busier than ever, and little seems to get done. The home is like that. Weeds will always need to be pulled, stuff will continue to get dirty, and those little repairs i could once put off now are in my face every day.

Yesterday i tried my hand at a different kind of crafty: plumbing. One of our faucets leaked from the handle whenever the water was running. Now that i have been home, and use it all day, it had to be repaired, but what do i know about plumbing? Not much, but i can use Google just fine, so i looked up my problem, took apart the faucet, saw a part that looked broken to me, went back to Google and looked that up, and called the hardware store to see if they carry such parts. The repair was a success, and the faucet no longer leaks at all.

I’ve also finally gone back to some forsaken projects, like soaking freshly spun yarn to set the twist, so i can actually use said yarn. It’s the first yarn i have spun with the spinning wheel, and we’ll call it bulky thick and thin. I also finally took apart a sweater i had saved from being thrown away at the old job, and unraveled it. I now have plenty of yarn for a sweater, since the original was way too big for me.

Here is the original sweater (46″ around the chest!):

And here is the yarn the sweater was made of:

Cool, huh? I have 2 more sweaters that are getting the same treatment. Oh, wait, 3 more since i need to frog the first sweater i tried knitting for myself. Forgot about that one.

Really, my biggest challenge is budgeting my time. I still have a lot of work to do on my studio space, and CAD work to do as well. But i still want time for the home and garden. Whew!

Hey, a reminder to my crafty readers: this Saturday is the World Wide Knit in Public Day! We’ll be in Millennium Park from 12-4pm, and from there we are off on a yarn crawl to Loopy Yarns and Knitwerks. Please join us if you like to knit, crochet, spin, or want to learn how. We’ll meet at the Cultural Center if it rains, please check the link for more details.