Sadness

We lost a dear family member over the weekend so I will be taking a little bloggy break. I won't be gone long... I just need a little time to myself.

Knitting

I really am addicted to sock knitting. My blue socks are almost finished. I once again stuck with a very plain rib pattern and concentrated on knitting a good sock. When I was a young girl and just starting out with knitting I wanted to jump right in at the deep end and knit a sweater with a lace pattern for my very first project. I can still hear my mother telling me that I should learn to walk before I run! So here we are all those years later and I finally did listen to her and made two pair of plain decent socks that I am quite happy with. But now.... ....well I think I am ready to run a bit and get a bit more adventurous! Look at this scrumptious yummy sock yarn. I just couldn't resist buying some. It's lovely and soft and I can hardly wait to get my little itchy sock knitting fingers on it!
But it will have to wait for just a little bit as my daughter and I will be going to the annual Lavender Festival in Sequim on Friday. We love taking a trip there to see and smell all the wonderful sights and to indulge in our all time favorite... Lavender Ice Cream! If only we could bring a trunk load home with us. So it's been a bit of a busy week trying to get everything finished around here before we go. We will be leaving quite early on Friday so we can get there at a decent time. I should have lots of pic's to show when I get home. Now that our weather has warmed up enough we have been having our dinner out in the garden. It never fails that there is at least one uninvited guest that shows up. This time it was a little chipmunk. He sat up in our pine tree staring at us while we ate. I think he was hoping for us to share our meal. Such cute little things, aren't they? Earlier in the day... and I mean really early we went out for another nature walk. It was around 7.30 in the morning and it really is a lovely way to start the day. We were the only two people about so it was nice and quiet and the air was fresh and cool. The young Barn Swallows are all leaving their nests now but still trying to get that last feed from mom. I am amazed that one of them didn't fly into us as they were swooping down everywhere. The highlight of the morning though was watching this amazing..... ... River Otter. There were actually three of them. We think it was a mother and her two babies. They splashed and played and even caught a good size fish which they all squabbled over. We stood for the longest time while hubby happily clicked away with his camera. I don't honestly think that they would have stuck around as long if there had been more people about. Lucky us!

Well that's it from me until after I get back from my little trip. Enjoy the rest of your week. See you soon!

Wool and Mink

Well these are definitely not the prettiest socks in my drawer. But they are certainly the warmest. I had this yarn laying around the house and I wanted to see if I could knit and also enjoy making socks. Well yes to both! Although not very pretty they will be wonderfully warm this winter paired up with my boots. In fact I enjoyed making these so much that....... I have started another pair! With the temperatures starting to warm up here I find sock knitting much nicer to do right now than my big ripple blanket. It is going to get just a bit to warm to sit under my ripple while crocheting it. As you know I do so love knitting with thin yarn. So making socks with this type of yarn is just so much fun. I have started off with a very plain pattern but as time goes on I am hoping to get a bit more fancy.

Now for the Mink part, I bet you are all wondering what I am talking about. No I didn't knit a pair of mink socks! But we did see...... this wonderful little Mink down by the river while walking. Isn't he wonderful! He was happily rolling about on the bank in the sun. We also watched as he went back into the river and nabbed a fish for lunch. This is the first time we have seen a Mink while out walking. I hope he sticks around. We also saw a mommy Wood duck and her babies. She was being very protective of them and kept them all very close to her.

Now I am off to catch up on all the things that were put on the back burner while we were enjoying our long July 4th weekend.

Have a super Tuesday!