My evening primrose are really thriving this year. I love their sunny yellow cups!

This photo:

Inspired this dye job:

Which lead to these socks:

The scarf from yesterday may have been a bust but nothing soothes a defeated knitter like a simple pair of socks. And while they are a bit more blue than I intended, I declare these a success! Why?

There is no pooling whatsoever.

The yarn is squooshy.

And they will always remind me of my maple trees in the early spring.

Now that these are done, bring on the Summer of Socks!

First of all, Dale wants to thank each and every one of you for your warm birthday greetings, wishes and even videos. He reads every comment on my blog anyway but when they are directed at him, well, he reads them over and over again. When he’s supposed to be mowing the lawn. And then he feels the need to repeat to me what you all said. Over and over again. It was a fun day. Heh. Seriously, though, I’m glad you all enjoyed the video and I love that you all took the time to wish my man a happy birthday. You made us both feel really special.

Now, on to the business at hand. It’s not all about vacations and birthdays around here, you know. It’s about knitting, too. And today it’s even about finished knitting because I finished (and blocked) La Dentelle Belle Scarf.

The pattern is free and available from Knituition. It’s a truly fabulous design and I love it. The yarn is Brooks Farm 2 Ply Kid Mohair that I bought at Rhinebeck last year and I love that, too. However. The yarn and pattern together? Not feeling the love. It’s not that I hate it – I just feel sort of “meh” about the whole thing.

Let’s get those compliments comments flowing. Change my mind, okay?

Today is Dale’s birthday and I can’t think of a better way for you all to be a part of the celebration than by giving you the chance to watch a video clip of his band.

Happy Birthday, Dale! I love you. And I’m pretty sure all my readers do, too.

Here’s what I did for the rest of my vacation last week:

The back of Ambrynn’s shirt says “My Grampa Rocks”. How cool is that?

Went to a Dale and the Duds show. This one is in my town and it’s a great chance to catch up with friends and hang out with family.

Picked up our first share from our CSA. We ate the strawberries plain – mmm. And I’ve cooked the peas and made lentil & beet green soup and a wonderful salad and also rhubarb sauce. This is going to be a lot of fun and a great way to try some new recipes, too.

Went to the beach. I’ve written about this place before. It has special meaning for me for lots of reasons but one of them is that it’s where I learned to knit.

Went to a parade. The nearby town of Plympton celebrated their 300th anniversary this weekend and the parade was loads of fun. Dale dropped me off on the parade route while they went to set up the band equipment on their float. I sat alone and watched the crowd and knitted for a glorious hour and a half. The parade was pretty good, too.

Other things I did for which I have no pictures:
~walked on a beach on Cape Cod
~had fish tacos – yumm
~had lunch on the waterfront in Plymouth
~sat on my deck A LOT
~watched movies

It was a fabulous week!

Hydrangea from Worlds End. Such a gorgeous shade of pale blue. Have a great weekend.

I neglected to mention that I’m on vacation this week. See, as a public servant, my vacation time goes July 1 to June 30, and I can only carry over one week, so I had a few extra days to use up this June. Librarians don’t make a lot of money but there are some decent perks – like 5 weeks vacation per year. Anyway, this vacation is a little different than the last one because Dale is also off and Hannah is done with school as of Tuesday. We’ve tried to do something fun every day and Tuesday’s fun was fishing.

I’ve loved fishing since the first time Dale took me out in a canoe and handed me a fishing rod. I didn’t know what I was doing back then but I’ve learned a lot in the last 10 years. Not that all my time and effort did me any good this time.

We went here.

And here.

And one other spot where I neglected to take a photo. Sadly, I got nothing. My companion was more successful than I, however.

A lovely pickerel – which was promptly put back in the pond and sent on his merry fishy way. Catch and release, that’s how we do it.

Despite my lack of success with the fish, well, you know what they say, right? A bad day fishing is better than a good day at work.

It’s been a long time since we’ve taken a walk together, hasn’t it? I’m really excited to tell you about a new place that Dale and I walked the other day. We owe it all to Martha, too. First, because she told us about it and second, because when we got lost trying to find it she answered her cell phone and gave us directions. Thanks, Martha!

The place is called World’s End and it’s owned by the Trustees of Reservations. It’s about 40 minutes from home for us and well worth the trip.

Since this was our first visit and we wanted to get a real feel for the place we hiked the largest loop around the property. It’s about 4.5 miles of trail and we enjoyed every bit of scenery.

The trails are easy to walk and many of them are nice and shady – great on a warm day!

you can make this one bigger if you want to

The salt marshes provided views of wildlife.

this one gets bigger, too

And the openings between the trees provided views of city life. That’s the skyline of Boston, in case you didn’t know.

We really enjoyed our trek to Worlds End. The birds provided a wonderful score as we walked and Dale and I talked and talked and really caught up on things during this time together. I was tired when we finished but it was a great feeling. And boy did I sleep good that night!

It must be summer because my three most recently finished projects are cotton. And flowery.

Behold:

A reverse-bloom flower washcloth. The pattern comes from Weekend Knitting and the yarn is Crystal Palace cotton chenille and only requires one skein. These make a great gift, especially when you include a fabulous bar of soap. The washcloth will be off to it’s recipient this week.

An Eyelet Sun Hat. I just think this is the cutest thing! The pattern is from Knitting at Knoon and the yarn is Tahki Cotton Classic and like the washcloth it only uses one skein. This is a birthday present for Ambrynn – can you believe she will be two at the end of the month? And, as you may recall, they are moving to Florida so a cotton sun hat seems like just the thing.

A Petal Bib. Also, so very cute and also a gift. The pattern is from One Skein and the yarn is Debbie Bliss Cotton DK and, again, only uses one skein. And talk about fast! I knit this on Sunday morning.

These one skein gift projects have been just the thing for making me feel oh-so-accomplished. But honestly, I’m ready to sink my teeth into a bigger project. I think a shawl is coming up next!

I’ve been reading my DailyOm Horoscope since Margene first told me about it and that was ages ago. Sometimes I have a hard time applying what it says to what’s going on in my life on a given day and then other times it’s so accurate it’s frightening. And that’s what happened on Saturday.

Here’s what I got in my inbox:
June 16, 2007
Lively Social Activities
Virgo Daily Horoscope
You may be feeling uplifted by the possibilities of all the social activities available to you today, which could make you feel lively and excited. As you gather your friends to share in the fun, you may feel that the world is one big party and that all in attendance are friends. This outgoing sense of connection puts you at ease in any surrounding and allows you to share your joy with anyone in the vicinity. In truth, your positive energy ripples out into the world, affecting everything and everyone and tipping the balance of the world’s energy toward the positive. It may be difficult to imagine that a party in our neighborhood for no particular higher purpose can have a positive effect on world peace, but it creates an atmosphere of acceptance and camaraderie that uplifts those involved. Their positive energy ripples and joins yours as they enter the atmosphere. By socializing and enjoying life today, you uplift others as you share your light.

Another positive outcome of social gatherings is the forging and strengthening of a sense of connection between strangers. When we are having fun, we are more likely to let down our walls and overlook arbitrary social divisions. As we melt into one group of people sharing a common desire for joy and peace, a vision is planted in our hearts and minds, making it easier for us to envision a world at peace. Being outgoing today is a joyful way to create unity in the world.

And here’s what I had planned:
An afternoon of knitting and spinning with Blogless Sharon, Martha and Maryse.

Clearly the universe was working in our favor! We gathered in the early afternoon and sat in my kitchen and chatted and knitted for a while. Once the sun was over the yardarm we indulged in margaritas and various cheeses, breads and crackers. We eventually made our way to the deck and spent the early evening hours spinning. It was wonderful and relaxing and FUN. We made connections and solidified friendships and shared our common interest in all things fibery and it was just as good as my horoscope said it would be. I didn’t take any photos, but Maryse took some beauties and you can see them here. Really, go look. It’s worth it.

So, yeah, it was a really fabulous afternoon and evening. I just love it when the planets align.