stay inside weekend

It rained all day Saturday then by early Sunday 

evening the clouds began to clear.

I stayed in, drank copious amounts of green tea with ginger

and inspired by V's beautiful mittens, started a new knitting project.

Narcissus bulbs are now nearly a week grown, the photo is from last Wednesday.

I read somewhere to start bulbs out of direct sunlight to prevent them from growing too tall.

Mine always seem to topple over when they bloom!

The painting was also part of the visiting collection from the Hague

and gathered almost as many admirers as the Vermeer.

The Goldfinch, by Carel Fabritius

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

xo, j

a weakness for things that grow...

I really ought to know better than linger in the flower section 

of my favorite grocery store…

This lovely globe of bromeliads found its way home with me.

I'm out of windowsill space so I'm taking to the air!

Hope you're having a fine week.

xo, j

stolen afternoon

I was able to leave work a little early today so I dropped by the

grocery to pick up some tilapia and an ear of corn and then went home.

I repotted my chives, tomatoes, basil, rosemary and strawberry plants,

then cooked up my dinner and settled in with the latest issue of Selvedge.

The scarf is an ongoing project; easy to pick up and put down.

It's been raining steadily all day and should carry over into tomorrow.

The robins are laughing as earthworms crawl out of the soggy ground,

escaping the water only to be gobbled up, an easy meal.

I'll knit a bit then curl up with a book and go to bed early.

My stolen afternoon...

sunday at home

the sweetest little pink flowered strawberry plant 

complete with 3 berries and more to come.

I did all my running around on Saturday 

so I could stay home and work on Sunday

First, I bound 25 signatures in another coptic book.

Orange endpapers and thread with a finished thickness of 1 3/4".

My ever watchful assistant was fascinated by the thread as I sewed.

Then wound three skeins of un-dyed merino wool, each weighing 2 lb.

An hour simmer in the mordant bath and then a rinse and dry in the shower.

Tomorrow I will boil the daffodil flowers and then steep the dye overnight.

Hopefully the yarn will be dyed on Tuesday night!

Whew!

And I also finished one sleeve of my sweater, only one more to go.

I hope everyone had a great weekend too.

Greenhouse & Green Mitts

sweet basil, lights, white cyclamen, norfolk pine
and yellow paphiopedilum 

baby alpaca mitts

Today I opted for the heady rush of exhaling plants

and made a trip to the greenhouse not a half mile away.

The yellow orchid stole my heart...

So busy at work lately...