Unexpected Beauty

 Dave and I were away over the weekend.  We drove Kloe down to Houston to spend the summer with her mother.  While there, we shared a lovely dinner, and a nice long visit with Dave's daugher, Robin, and her husband, Roc.  Later, at the hotel, I couldn't sleep (surprise), so I googled yarn stores in the Houston area.  We found one called, Knitting In The Loop, which wasn't far from the hotel.  Dave took me by the next day, and Oh My, what a beautiful store!  I saw yarns there I'd never seen before.  Dave was in full vacation mode, and in a very good mood, enabling me to purchase some gorgeous yarns.  After we left the yarn store, we drove down to Galveston, where we shared a wonderful seafood lunch, and went for a nice walk along the beach.  When we got back to Houston, we spent the early part of the evening in the hotel swimming pool.  Since it was Sunday, we had the whole pool to ourselves!
Monday was check out day.  I was a little sad leaving the hotel, but after we got on the road, I began to feel excited about getting home to my cats (we've discovered that if we leave two trays of food, three water dispensers, and three large litter boxes, the cats will do fine for two to three days).  Our last stop was the Costco in Rockwall, then it was all homeward bound from there.  I didn't know then, but our trip held one last pleasant surprise.  We were just south of Cooper when we saw them.  Sunflowers!  Several fields of bright, cheerful sunflowers planted along HWY 19-24!  Dave pulled over to the side of the road to allow me some photo time, and I picked out the best pictures to share with my readers.  I hope they brighten someone's day. I know they brightened mine.

This picture was taken from the car window. 

For this picture, I walked around to the side to get a closer shot of the sunflowers' faces.

Hoya Pubicalyx Pink Silver

This plant looks amazing this year!  I'll let the photos speak for themselves...

 I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Woven Scarf

 I went to Ewe-nique Creations today to check out the new yarns, and there, on display, was the scarf I'd finished weaving for Marianna!  I had just about talked myself out of buying a loom, but seeing this made me want one again :(

So the question still remains, "To weave or not to weave?"

Knitting Kool-Aid Dyed Yarn

Three years ago, I became interested in dying yarn with Kool-aid.  I had several natural colored hanks of Cascade 220 wool in my stash, so I decided to give it a try.  I bought non-sugared Kool-aid packets in a vast array of colors and flavors, and spent several weeks transforming these off-white wools into colorful delights. Sadly, this yarn dying frenzy only lasted a short while.  It was during this time we reluctantly decided to rehome Max, only to have him escape and go missing for two and a half weeks.  This sent me spiraling into a severe depression, causing me to lose interest in yarn dying, and everything else.  I thank God every day that we found Max and later was able to bring him home! He's not going anywhere ever again!

Ok, enough of that!

To continue my story, I had stashed all these newly colored hanks of yarn.  Because I never wrote anything down, and I dyed each hank individually, there is no way I could ever duplicate any of the colors.  I had to limit myself to patterns that require 220 or less yards of yarn.  This task has become much easier with my recent scarf obsession, and I'm happy to share pictures of my first project made with yarn dyed by me. If memory serves me, and it may not, I'm afraid, this yarn was dyed using 4 packets of blue rasberry lemonade.

A close up of the lace.  Beautiful!

In this picture, I tried to shape the scarf as it would be worn around the neck.

My blooming hydrangea bush makes a perfect background.

The pattern is called 198 Yards Of Heaven, a free Ravelry download, designed by Christy Verity. Offering both charted and written instructions, this project is perfect for beginner lace knitters, and anybody who needs a quick, last minute gift.  The pattern is written as a kerchief style scarf, but you can easily adjust it bigger with more pattern repeats.  I chose to knit the pattern as written because of my small amount of yarn, I love the results!

From The Garden

Not much to write, but I wanted to share some pictures from my side garden.

This is the pink hydrangea that came with the house.  I've grown to love it.

The hydrangea Dave and I bought from the side of the house has grown so much.  Hydrangeas seem to do very well in my yard.

My pot of red salvia has its first blooms.  

This is the ground cover we planted three years ago.  There are a few thin spots where the rain spills off the roof and drowns most plants, but overall I'm very pleased.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!