More Rocks

more rocks
bigger rocks
different kinds of rocks
it's been all about the rocks







More pics of rocks here.
if you really feel like you need to look at more rocks....

Some of the other rocks from last week migrated to the back yard. This is finally how we want the rocks in the front. So now we will talk about and make plans for plants. Yeah, green stuff!

Something other than rocks...

There were nice clouds tonight.

Dish Cloth Swap

What I got in the mail today:





What is going in the mail tomorrow:
(along with some goodies of course)

Landscaping Phase 2

I mentioned in my last post that we started to redo the front area (would you call it a yard still?) by first removing all of the grass and replacing it with rock. Well now we have bigger rocks to add some interest and break up the flatness of the bottom layer of rock. It was like a blank canvas that needed a skyline.





When we were at the rock quarry, it was hard to judge how much rock we needed for the look we were going for. I think we were a bit too conservative. I need more rock, BIGGER rocks. Another delivery is in order before the plants start going in.

Who Stole Our Grass?

When I came home from work today I discovered that someone stole all of our grass in the front yard!



And they left all this river rock.
Actually we are Xeriscaping.
This is just phase one.
There will be plants and flowers at a later date.




a welcoming little walkway was added too.

Playing Catch Up

I can hardly believe that it is July already!



I have noticed that time goes faster the older you get. Remember when you were in grade school, summers lasted FOREVER!! Now, it seems a couple long weekends and it is fall again. But that is ok too, because I like fall/autumn.

Estes

Anyway, we went to Estes Park for the Wool Market again this year.

We stayed in a really nice cabin that we liked from a trip to Estes Park five years ago. The staff was really nice too.



We made a four day weekend out of it. Funny, because we stay longer every time we go up there!

We visited all the regular vendors (Plain & Fancy, Brooks Farm, ect) and a couple new ones as well.




DH enjoys the llama events and the food. That's okay, he is a guy. I am glad that he does enjoy going so much.



We also went to the campers' campsite for dogs and smores Saturday night. Thanks ladies for having us again, it is always so much fun.

But this year, the best part of the trip was the hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park.



I did so much better than last year. We have been working on the hiking, exercise in general really. I went further and felt great!!



I can't even put into words how good it felt!



But if a picture is worth a thousand words, than I shouldn't have to say much!



On Sunday, after an adventurous morning hike, we found a nice spot overlooking a meadow to have a picnic lunch. A herd of elk thought it was a nice meadow too!



Here is the set of pictures I took at Estes if you want to see more.

Knitting

There has still been lots of knitting going on. Summer weather does not keep me from the yarn. It might if I lived in a different climate I guess. And I feel bad for those knitters that live in the hot, humid, sticky places. But it is far from that here in Colorado.

I have discovered that I like making mittens almost as much as making socks. I showed the noro mittens I made last post. But I was not totally happy with the afterthought thumb. So I tried another way to do a top down mitten - a reverse thumb gusset!

I am happy to share the technique, but I did not invent this. I am just passing on what I learned from others at knit group and from patterns available online.

I did the thumb first.
I am going to do a reverse thumb gusset of sorts.
kinda like Knucks, but a mitten.




Details:

Yarn: Plain and Fancy Sheep and Wool
Needles: 2.5mm

Thumb:
I provisionally cast on 24 stitches
worked 30 rows
decreased every other row (k2tog every stitch)
3 times (6 stitches left)

Main Hand Part:
I am working the mittens top down.
I magic cast on 14 stitches and increased every other row until 56 stitches around.

Attaching the thumb:
take out provisional cast on and put thumb on 2 dpns
attached on the side (corner) of mitten
tinked (unknit) 1 stitch from the right needle back to the left where the thumb stitches are
place maker
ssk last hand stitch to first thumb stitch
knit till last thumb stitch
k2tog
place marker
knit aound to 1st marker
knit 1 row plain
decrease every other row
(ssk after 1st marker, K2tog before 2nd marker)
until back to original number of stitches
knit 5 rows plain
2X2 ribbing 2.5 inches
KFB every stitch
knit 1 row plain.
modified Russian bindoff

Notes:
6/23/08
I worked on these most of the weekend.
I attached the thumb and decreased back to the original number of stitches.
it took a couple tries to get it just right.
the thumb was too long, I shortened it by about an inch.
I am onto the cuff now. easy 2X2 ribbing.






This has turned into quite a long post.
I shouldn't wait so long before posting again.
I know.