Sep 07 2010

Swimming Against the Tide

Category: Knitting,Life & Stuff,Spinning,Vending,dyeing — Mistress Rows @ 7:24 am

Labor Day weekend was, at very least, a weekend of labor for me. Not only was I in full dyeing/vend prep mode, but I had to work a company event as well. We had the Clearwater Sloop come and do educational family tours on the Hudson for lucky employee families, I was there as company photographer and face painter of children. Fingers crossed, it’s supposed to be over time and we could really use the money. On the yarn front, I dyed 35 skeins of yarn, re-skeined 11, finished the shawl I’m wearing to mom and dad’s re-wedding, battled Tempest the entire weekend (she’s chattering, and yes I oiled/took apart/adjusted), and watched almost the entire first two seasons of Dexter.

Tempeste doesn't like me right now, but we're working through it.

It feels good to have so much new shop stock in the house, and a few of the skeins are dyed in a style I don’t do very often but will be more so in the future. Rich, complex, and still kettle dyed. The kind of yarns that make your fingers itch to cast on for a sock or shawl that’s full of sultry goodness. The thought that this should be the last big dye session I have to re-skein by hand leaves me breathless and my shoulder, neck, and arm whimper in gratitude.

Guilty Pleasures sock yarn in the new "Earth Golem" colorway.

Finishing one of the bridesmaid shawls also left me temporarily giddy. I almost didn’t know what to do with myself. I can’t say it’s truly ‘done’, it has to get over-dyed yet. Yes, mom and I decided that dyeing it plum would be best, and I can finally not force myself to love the copper/burnt orange color. I’ll do a test dye on a swatch before I throw the whole shawl in the pot. Gives me the willies just contemplating it, but it needs to be done. The shawl is HUGE. Huge. Already shawl size, unblocked, just like the one I made mom to wear herself. I’ll have to be very careful handling it when wet and blocking.

Shawl size, as you see, unblocked.

Tiny House has been under a bit of a pall lately, I’m sad (literally) to say. Work has gone from bad to worse, becoming a toxic stew. The kind of environment that is tailor made to trigger a major depressive episode, which I am struggling very hard against. I really don’t want to have to put on my mask again. It feels rather like swimming against the tide. Steve, friends, and family, have been something to hold on to while I figure out what direction I can realistically take next. For now, I’ve got a remix (and free download) by one of my favorite groups on repea

<a href="http://beatsantique.bandcamp.com/track/fratres-for-violin-and-piano-arvo-part-remix-beats-antique">Fratres for Violin and Piano &#8211; ( Arvo Part Remix &#8211; Beats Antique) by beats antique</a>

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Aug 31 2010

Tempeste in a Teapot

Category: Life & Stuff,Spinning,Vending — Mistress Rows @ 10:38 pm

Work is full of crazy. Crazy like I’ve never been crazy before. I went from not nearly enough to do in a day to more work in one day than I can actually finish, and more coming my way. Having egg on my face is so not fun. I’ve started to get heartburn on a regular basis, also not fun. I’ll have to start stocking my desk with the cherry soft-chew antacids. Job security. Yeah. I know. My brain is leaking out of my ears.

For the life of me I can’t remember if I mentioned this, but let’s assume I didn’t:

For the second year now, I’ll be vending at the Garden State Sheep Breeder’s Festival, forever after known as Jersey. Last year Carolyn and I shared a booth, and it was a lot of fun. This year I have my own booth, and I’m going to neighbors with Leann of Forbidden Woolery. Not only will we be neighbors, but she’s putting me up for the night so I don’t have to pay for a hotel room. WOOT! Jersey is a fun show, but the fairground is DAMNED hard to find. Seriously. Last year the weather was bleh and foot traffic was low, and to be honest I sold more in one day at Clermont, but I had fun. This year I’m hoping for increased traffic and corresponding sales. It’s my only two-day show at this time, and I love how immersed I get as a vendor.

Yay!

As such, dyeing will commence tomorrow to round out my stock that’s leftover from Clermont and WOOL. I’d like to get another full bucket of yarn done up, at least. That’s going to take just about every skein of base yarn that I ordered. I have more red and teal dye in stock which means… more Concubine and Dragonfly! Wish me luck, if all goes well and sales are good, this will be the last time I’ll have manually re-skein dozens of skeins. I am getting myself a motorized winder with my profits, no matter what.

How handy!

In CPW news, I am still in love. I spin on my new baby for at least 30 minutes every day, sometimes longer. I can’t wait for the WoodBeams polish to come in so I can bring her up to her full potential. For now, I am happy to say that she at least has a name, and that is Tempeste. It really, really feels right rolling off the tongue. The spelling is from a French baby name list, where I also found the other option I considered, Lyonette. Tempteste won though, and Tempeste it is.

She's in remarkably good shape. Not shown is the stick I have in place of a peg (for now).

Spinning on her is just what I need to let my mind go from the work-fail. She purrs and hums, and I watch a favorite show while I just let it all go. You can see the rest of her photo shoot over at my Picasa album. Isn’t she lovely?

CPW

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Aug 29 2010

Who’s That Mysterious Lady?

Category: Friends & Fun,Spinning — Mistress Rows @ 8:20 pm

Not too long ago, you’ll remember that I was over the moon about a wonderful opportunity that Jessalu made possible, wherein I could take home her Emma, a Kromski Symphony, and pay it off in installments should the wheel and I prove to be a good fit. Alas, Emma’s ergonomics meant that I was a sad, painful woman while spinning on her for more than 20 minutes at a time, and she had to find a new home. Harriet was thrilled to make her welcome in her home, and she adores spinning on her. Yay! But boo for me, no production wheel.

What’s the big deal? Well, a production wheel, especially a CPW (Canadian Production Wheel), is meant for making large amounts of yarn quickly. For those of us who love to spin finely, it’s the best of both worlds. Fine yarn spun quicker than on a regular wheel, with less effort. I went back and forth between whether I wanted a CPW or a Symphony, and after Emma I knew that if I wanted a production wheel, it would have to be a CPW. I’ve spun on Becky’s and others, and I’ve always enjoyed the experience. They are beautiful, and I’ve lusted after their cast iron festooned details for well over a year. They are, truly, beautiful in both form and function. Becky, a recent convert to the CPW fold, has REALLY wanted to get me spinning on one. Though they’re affordable, running about $250 for a wheel that needs little to no refurb to be spinnable, it’s not like I have a couple hundred dollars hanging around. Cue Becky, and her trip to Montreal, and her fervent and iron-clad determination that she would, indeed, come home with a wheel that would be not only the dark beauty I’ve dreamed of, but would also be the deal of the century.

Becky brings me... pieces?

Becky+Kijiji=Epic Win.

Becky points out some of the finer features that make up a CPW.

Kijiji is Canada’s version of Craig’s List, and through it she found it. I almost had a fit when she messaged me via text, Facebook, and Ravelry, telling me that she had done it. She had found me a wheel that needed no immediate repair, was dark and lovely, had lots of cast iron, and was… get this… $100. *swoon* I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect outcome. I honestly didn’t have any real hope that she’d find it, and I was completely shocked. I don’t even have to sweat coming up with the money. I have $60 in rolled coin saved up with absolutely NO purpose, and here we are. A gorgeous, 100+ year old wheel is in my living room, and it is mine. I knew it was meant to be when I tried he hand forged orifice hook that Steve commissioned from my friend Robin after I brought Emma home, which had been sitting unused until now. I didn’t have any hope that it would fit considering how tiny the orifices are on CPW’s but holy crap, it fits perfectly, and the wheel even has an odd little screw to hang it from. It’s fate.

It's fate.

Today I spent a good hour going over her with a damp cloth and a very diluted Murphy’s Oil Soap solution. I don’t want to scrub her and lose that nice dark patina, but I did want to get the worst of the dust and grim off. I purchased a tub of the highly recommended WoodBeams online and will buff her up proper when that comes in. The CPW lovers board on Ravlry is a fabulous resource for  a new owner like me, those gals (of which Becky is a member) are seriously knowledgeable and big time enablers. They’re going to flip when they find out I’m all “official” now.

Spinning outside after a good wipe-down is a great way to spend an afternoon.

I don’t have a name for her yet, but I want it to be something just as special as any other wheel I’ve named. She spins like a dream, and I am 100% pain free while working with her. My inaugural fiber is Into the Whirled BFL in the Rambutan colorway, a WOOL purchase that I was itching to start. Beautiful fiber for a beautiful, battle scarred, antique wheel… my ancient beauty from the wilds of Canada. I cannot thank Becky enough.

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Aug 22 2010

Into the Vortex

Category: Knitting,Life & Stuff,Spinning — Mistress Rows @ 9:09 pm

Where has the time gone? It’s gone into the vortex, that’s where. I looked up and the week was gone, I swear.

My position at work has changed, and I no longer have to worry that my position will be eliminated, though it has changed. I had to leave my home office of 11 years, and tomorrow I report to the corporate office a couple of towns over. It was a very hard to pack up my desk and leave behind and people that I care about very much. The drive is the same to the new office, but my duties will be very, very different. I’ll be receptionist, personal assistant, with assorted other duties. It’ll be a return to the position that I used to have, and miss very much. Some things will be new, but I’m happy to have a more secure position. Still, leaving work on Friday was so very, very hard.

Nuala helps make smiles happen.

This weekend has been a good one though, with lots of time spent with my parents and a lot of laughter. I did a little photo shoot for mom and dad’s re-wedding which I think came out very well. Other than that, and a visit to Albany for wedding craft shopping, it’s been a quiet weekend, something that’ll be in rare supply as September and October come along. The weddings, and evens leading up to them are making for a very busy late summer and fall.

35 years of getting up to no good. :)

Knitting is smoking along very well, and I’m THIS CLOSE to finishing the Copper (Flamenco) shawl. Only 4 working (front) rows left! Sure, that probably works out to around 3,600 stitches plus bind-off, but who’s counting? Sooo close. To break things up I’m also working on a sock. I need something that isn’t a mass noodly stitches to work on when I’m around others or out and about. It’s a pair of plain Jane socks in Knit Picks Felici Sport in the Seaside colorway.

All teal and sandy goodness.

There’s been spinning too, some gorgeous beige over-dyed BFL from Spunky Eclectic, a birthday purchase courtesy of Jessalu. I adore how it’s spinning up, there isn’t enough over-dyed, non-white top in the world! You can see why I fell in love with it in the booth a Cummington, can’t you?

Sagittarius BFL from Spunky Eclectic.

Absolutely delish.

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Jul 28 2010

Tour de Fleece: The Big Finale

Category: Spinning — Mistress Rows @ 7:27 am

Things are getting very busy in Tiny House, leading up to WOOL next week. Since I don’t want the TdF wrap-up to get away from me, I’m going to throw this together while I have a moment.

The last two days of the Tour were actually completely stress free, at least in so much as the Tour was involved. I had already finished plying my yarn on Thursday, and by Friday evening my yarn was resplendent and dry after a good bath, whack, and day in the sun. Saturday, while my company played Dungeons & Dragons, I got down on the floor and took my glamour shots.

Skein #2, much more consistent than the first.

It’s going to get a proper FO post at some point, so I won’t steal so much thunder from a future day. Suffice to say that I love how the yarn came out, and I have 7.5 ounces of dark blue, three ply happiness. Since I was short on the contrast bobbin, as with the previous Tour skein, I ended up with a 1.5 oz skein of solid blue two ply from the leftovers. Not enough to really do anything with, so I’m going to stash it away until an idea comes to me.

So, my thoughts on the Tour. I enjoyed my challenge this year, in some ways more than last year’s “finish stuff’”goal. Last year’s goal was worthy, and it was satisfying to finish up bobbin mates and old fiber. This year, however, I really pushed myself to put the fleece into the Tour de Fleece. Spinning from fleece I hand washed, hand dyed, and hand carded, for two batches of three ply yarn was a push.

Skein #1, which left something to be desired.

Should I have been pushing during Shawlfest 2010? Absolutely not. I could have finished at least one of the shawls already and had it to show at WOOL, one thing checked off the list. But I had fun, and I’ll still finish them in time for the October weddings. I don’t regret the Tour challenge a single bit, and I’m looking forward to next year.

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Jul 22 2010

Tour de Fleece: Days 12-19

Category: Spinning — Mistress Rows @ 12:45 pm

This batch of fleece, which I have named Lapis, has utterly enchanted me. I’ve processed the whole thing with hand carders and I’ve enjoyed it immensely. The spun yarn is still a little rustic, but these locks seemed much more silky and tender than the ones preceding, probably because they were dyed with lower temps. When they came out of the bath and dried in the hot summer sun they were much closer to the undyed (but washed) locks they came from. Plump, silky, and a pleasure to card.

A poor simalcrum of the beautious actual lock.

The extra batch of blue I dyed to augment my supply was lighter (on purpose), with wandering shades of sapphire, denim, and green thanks to “Twilight”, the only sapphire blue dye I use now. Twilight may break in strange ways, as evidenced by the colors I’ve experienced, but it’s pretty and doesn’t give me shit the way that “Bright Blue” does. That blue sometimes doesn’t take at all, leaving green behind, and the rogue blue particles are a devil to get out of the fiber. Yes, I’ll take Twilight any day, and be grateful for its witchy ways.

Slightly darker than reality.

I carded the first two bobbins to be a fairly rough blend of the navy and mixed blue locks. The resulting bobbins were, from a distance, homogenous dark denim blue, but when you look at them closer you see that there is movement in the shades. Love! Unfortunately, I had the same problem I did with the olive and maroon yarn, in that I was quickly running out of locks by the time I got to the third bobbin. Not wanting as stark a ragg look as the previous skein, I decided to extend my blue by mixing it 50/50 with the natural colored locks. I have plenty of those left. I still ran out of blue before the bobbin was full, but at 2/3 full, I’m not complaining.

The contrast bobbin makes my heart happy.

The mélange of colors makes me very happy. It’s this gorgeous heathered blue tempered with silver and sand, and I adore it. Seeing how pretty the blend spun up made me wish I had much more of it to spin, almost making me want to cast aside the dark and moody bobbins that preceded it. Last night I began plying, ready to find out what my yarn would look like and I wasn’t disappointed. It’s dark, worsted or thinner (yay!), and the contrasting single is the star of the show. Because some rolags had more silver, and some more blue, the silver twinkles through the finished three ply. Sometimes it’s the star of the show, and sometimes the darker sections blend in more with the blue strands, and then it pops back up again.

Imagine these three all tangled up.

I wish I had a picture to show you, but evening shots in Tiny House are just too diasappointing. I’ll take one this evening when I get home and share it later. I’ll be finished plying some time tonight, and by the time I get home from the doctor’s office tomorrow afternoon the skein should be dry and ready for its photo shoot. I may not love the heat, but summer certainly has its compensations.

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Jul 19 2010

Navel Gazing & Locks of Wool

Category: Internettage,Spinning — Mistress Rows @ 5:00 pm

Imagine you have a hundred dollars, but you couldn’t keep it. You have to give it away to a person or charity. Who would you give it to? What would you want them to do with it?
My hundred dollars would go to either Planned Parenthood or the local food pantry. Both provide services that I consider to be critical on a local and personal level, and both have missions that I believe passionately in. I would hope my funds, if given to either organization, would go to programs and services that help people who are struggling to meet their basic needs. I can’t think of a better use than keeping a woman of limited means healthy and in charge of her life, or putting food in hungry mouths.

If you could cook any meal for your friends or family, what would you cook?
Easy! A spiral baked ham, topped with my spicy mustard and ginger glaze, homemade mashed potatoes, steamed sugar snap peas, homemade fresh beer bread right out of the oven, salad, and for dessert a chocolate silk pie topped with real whipped cream. As I’m not a baker, that last bit would be store bought.

List 5 things you want to do in your life.

  • Learn to speak Spanish well
  • Open a yarn store and dye studio (if doing so wouldn’t bankrupt us)
  • Travel to Europe or New Zealand
  • Lose 100lbs
  • Wake up feeling refreshed and pain free

Answering these internet meme thingeys may be the purest form of navel gazing (aside from having a blog at all), but when the questions are fun, I figure why not?  Since there are dozens of people reading who I have never met, it’s one small way for them to get to know me a little better. Now, what I’d love is to get to know YOU (anonymous blog readers) better, so if you’re moved to, why not answer one or more of the questions yourself? That would really make my day.

This was the weekend of rest, in which we tried to keep running around to a minimum. It still included a visit with Steve’s grandparents and the next town over annual garage sale, but there was resting. There were naps. There was catching up on True Blood, and Leverage, and White Collar. There was a whole bunch of spinning and knitting! Honestly, though? The naps were my favorite part, which is kinda sad.

Bobbin #2

I have finished the second of three blue bobbins, and I definitely don’t have enough wool left over for a third. My plan of having a multi colored bobbin will be one of necessity now, at least if I intend to have another three ply skein as my TdF goal states. There’s enough of the blue wool left over that I can choose to blend it half and half with the undyed silver, or I can play around with moving from blue to mixed to silver. That sounds like fun, so I’ll probably try that.  

Look at that crimp! I <3 Romney.

The shawls are coming along, slowly but steadily. I doubt that I’ll have even one of them finished in time to show off at WOOL, but I know they’ll be finished by October 1st. I don’t even remember what worsted weight yarn feels like between my fingers, so I think a pair of house socks will be just the thing.

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Jul 14 2010

Tour de Fleece: Days 8-11

Category: FO,Spinning — Mistress Rows @ 4:31 pm

This isn’t a proper spinning UFO post, but I will share my first finished three-ply of the 2010 Tour de Fleece. Mind you, I haven’t spun a proper three-ply since 2007, and that was my first. I’m not big on the whole delayed gratification thing, and when you spin mostly 4oz braids… well, that’s how it goes. Anyway. Onwards!

I plyed the yarn on Saturday while we had company visiting and finished it while watching Sean of the Dead. It went really quickly because my third bobbin, the maroon one, was only 2/3 full. Yeah. I kinda ran out of maroon locks and I was NOT going to dye up more at that point. The leftover bits from the other bobbins went to make an all green two-ply that I will probably give as a gift to a swap recipient. It felt really good to be done.

Bulkiest yarn I've ever spun.

Holding the yarn, I love the heft of the skein. It’s 7.5 oz and 224 yards, and 11 WPI (wraps per inch). So that’s Aran? Bulky? Certainly the bulkiest yarn I’ve ever spun. As you can see, the finished (as yet unnamed) yarn is… interesting. During the smooth bits I’m terribly pleased with the structure of the yarn. Where the nepps I didn’t yank out show their floofy faces, well, it’s rustic. Can’t-submit-to-competition rustic. That’s all right though, Steve really likes the yarn and it matches his wool winter coat. I’d say that’s fate. He’s due for a new olive hat, and he always wears them with pride. “My wife made it for me”, which is always the first thing out of his mouth when his hat is complimented, will take on a whole new meaning this time around. “My wife made it for me, right off the sheep!”

Umm... yeah. Rustic. Now you know I haven't been exagerrating all this time.

The next morning I hopped to it and dyed up a whack of locks a fantastic blend of all shades denim blue with a hint of green. It’s eerie, in a really good way, and I absolutely love the color. These locks are being blended with the dark sapphire from my first go ‘round with the dye pot locks. I’m using my hand carders for now, and it seems like the prep might be more thorough than on my drum carder. Of course it takes longer too. These singles are thinner, as I hope to have yarn that clocks in at less than worsted.

I have an idea that the first bobbin will be dark and medium blue, the second bobbin will be all medium blue, and the third will be medium blue blended with the undyed silver. Thoughts? Ugly? Intriguing? Meh?

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Jul 11 2010

Tour de Fleece: Days 1-7

Category: Spinning — Mistress Rows @ 11:08 am

Now that I have a moment to breathe… Tour de Fleece! That’s right! Yes, I have been spinning, despite the fact that I was out of town for the first day, and despite the fact that until two nights ago our house was effectively without air conditioning and clocking 90F even after sundown. Oh yes, I have been spinning. Sure, it’s after work and dinner and chores, but I’m spinning. But first, I’d like to reiterate and clarify my goal for the tour.

I will card and spin all of the fleece I have dyed, dyeing more if I need to, ending up with no fewer than two distinct batches of true 3-ply yarn. I will do this while still knitting on both wedding shawls, though at a reduced rate.

My drumcarder and I have to make friends. It's a process.

The first thing I did was get ready by carding up the green and maroon/brownish batts I’d spin while out of town. I don’t use the drum carder properly, and it shows. Nepps in the prep tried my patience through those first two bobbins. My first four batts weren’t anywhere near as refined as I would have liked, despite taking forever and a day to process. Admittedly, the fiber is a little tough in spots because I let the dye bath get too hot. I rarely dye locks, and it’s a delicate business. But most of my issues stemmed from the fact that I wasn’t opening up the locks enough, and I was trying to run the batt back through the second and third passes in large strips.

Little batts, all in a row for the first day of the tour. 6.5 oz total.

Last night I pulled out the carder again and prepped the fiber for bobbin #3, the negative image bobbin. Instead of green with lots of maroon, this one is maroon with a small amount of green. This time around I took the time to tear off small batches of first-pass fiber and ran them through again that way. What. A. Difference. There are still nepps here and there, but the spin is so much smoother that it’s like night and day. It helps if you use your tools more than once or twice a year.

I definitely didn't process it as well as I could have. Still pretty to look at though.

Somewhat... rustic. Trust me, there are a lot of bumps in there.

I don’t have high hopes on the elegance of this first skein due to the carding issues and having to pick out nepps every two seconds, but that’s all right. Who knows, it may be lovely. After plying, next up will be the blue locks, but I have to dye up some denim to go with them. Sapphire and denim, with a little of the natural silver thrown in… it’s going to be gorgeous!

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Jul 01 2010

Sigh of Relief, Reproduction, & Road Trip

Category: Spinning,Uncategorized,dyeing — Mistress Rows @ 10:46 pm

Though there’s a lot going on at work, and despite the fact that we’re going to be out of town visiting Steve’s Aunt Susan in PA this weekend, despite all that… oh yes, I am excited about the Tour de Fleece starting on Saturday. Woo! I can be happy now because yesterday’s freak out is over. Since I couldn’t start carding the fleece I’d processed and dyed last year because it had gotten another rinse (dye residue), I decided to have Steve bring me up the bag of fleece so I could dye more. Only… he couldn’t find it. We both looked everywhere in the basement, and I looked in my wool room. Nothing. All that work, a week of washing the loveliest fleece I’ve ever had the pleasure of getting to know, just GONE. I – Lost – My – Shit. Just lost it, at least in my head.

I was so angry and depressed that I felt like I was vibrating with violence. I wandered the house aimlessly, checking and rechecking, thinking I might have found it twice, but no. Then I checked this green, opaque popup storage bin thingey I have, and wouldn’t you know, down at the bottom, where I’d put it to keep it safe and upstairs so I could find it, there it was. My relief was palpable. I guess I’ve been stressed out lately, eh?

Wine, celery, red, and sapphire.

So I dyed up two pots, one in dark sapphire blue and another in brown that was splashed with fuschia leftover dye halfway through the process. Gorgeous. The brown will be used to temper the green and the red, while the blue will have to wait for another batch to be dyed up in colonial (medium denim) blue. I put it all out to dry this morning and I spent the evening carding. I had to get as much done as possible tonight so that I’ll have enough to spin while we’re away at Susan’s house. I always bring my wheel when I go visit friends and family, provided they have the floor space, and they’re all very supportive. I know we’ll be busy running around, but I’m going to have to build in down time anyway so I’m not crying come Tuesday when I have to go back to work. Spinning will be perfect. If I don’t get enough processed? Well, that’s what handcards are for.

I was aiming for a redding brown to compliment the green, but I think wine will do nicely too.

Meh, yellow.

Yesterday I had a nice surprise when I came home, our first year flower bed has blessed me with blooms! We planted a mixed bag of gladiolas, a mixed bag of Asian lilies (white to pink and white), and alternating with the mixed lilies I added a bag of Star Gazer lilies, one of my all time favorite flowers. When fall comes I want to add in some Monte Negro lilies to give the pinks some depth and contrast. And we still have half the bed to plant. Pardon if I don’t do a full shot of the flower bed, we haven’t added our mulch yet and have some weeding to do before then.

Star Gazer lily (or at least a very close cousin, it's a little pale).

The gladiolas are pretty, but disappointing in that they’re all yellow so far, one of my least favorite colors. The lilies, on the other hand, are my pride and joy! We planted them in April and were stunned to see that of the 12 we planted, 6 of them naturalized immediately, giving us another 6 plants already, in the first season! Totally blew me away. So I have 18 lilies, two of which are already blooming. Isn’t the Star Gazer a gorgeous flower?

Pepper buds, woot!

Baby squash!

I have baby squash, beans, and pepper flower buds too, which absolutely thrills me. Last year I got just one pepper that grew in the community garden, which someone then stole off the plant over a weekend so I never even got to taste it. I have to harvest another round of lettuce tonight, now that I’m watering the gardens with feed once a week they’re going crazy. I can only imagine what I’ll have to look forward to when we get back from Pennsylvania!

Green bean babies.

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