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I was away at camp this weekend.

Well, not exactly camp, but a crafting retreat- in Langley, WA.
Langley is a really neat little laid-back place down on the south end of Whidbey Island.

And this time of year it is really gorgeous with the lilacs, dogwoods and wisteria blooming everywhere you look.
Sorry, I didn’t really think to get any pictures of all that stuff.

But they also have Shetlands down there!
Yes indeed. I do have pictures of them! (of course)

And Wendy Sundquist, who keeps her sheep just outside town was kind enough to let me visit Saturday morning-
Here are some beautiful sunny morning shots of her girls-

That’s Butterscotch. She’s the love-bug of the flock. Comes up for scratches and digs in your pocket for alfalfa pellets. Very sweet sheep.

The other girls were a little more suspicious and standoff-ish.

Was a great way to spend some of Saturday morning!

Then I spend a good part of the day finishing up the gradient sweater.
Here it is posing in the nice little park area where I’d planted myself to work in the sunshine.

and reclining on the lawn furniture

Will have more pics later once I do the finishing. Still have a little edging to do on the neckline, and then tucking the ends in.

Ps. Also picked out a few more lambs on my way down to Whidbey Island on Friday afternoon! They are currently known as Homer, Bart and Bo at Schoonover Farm. Not sure if the names will stick,, but I’m awfully excited about the little guys!

Yes, I’m pretty sure that frogs and ducks are about the only ones enjoying our current weather system.

Rain, rain and more rain.

So, no outside shots today.

The current knitting project was reduced to laying on the living room floor for our photo shoot.
Poor sweater.

But, as you can see, I’m getting back it he groove. If I can keep making steady progress, I figure I’m about a week or so out from completion.

The “if” is the problem.

I’m hitting that point where I start to get distracted by other wools.

Exhibit A:

I think this is suffolk, or suffolk cross. (I’m branching out a little here!) Got a little from my mystery-wool-connection a while back, and hadn’t really done anything with it until now.

Seems like a really good sock wool. Nice and springy. So that’s what I’m doing.
Plain ole vanilla sock pattern.
The wool has a bit of a yellow cast, so they look kinda french vanilla to me.

And since the weather is so cruddy today, I’ll post a couple of pictures from last weekend when the sun was still in residence-

Peonies:

Rhubarb:

Apple:

Rhody:

So, this week we managed to add a window to the chickenhouse-

And I did a little mindless stashbusting spinning-

Started to get some garden beds turned over and weeded-

Then there was the mowing-

Somehow everything seems so much more orderly and manageable when the yard is freshly mowed.

Unfortunately I have no knitting progress to report.
In a moment of self doubt, I ripped back a few inches, and have not yet gathered the strength to make another run at it. So, I’m now further from my target than I was last week this time.
Oh well. It isn’t likely to get worn until next fall anyway, right?

Take care, and have a good week-

Denise

Ps. Anyone who can identify where I stole my title from this week wins a yet to be identified prize.

The Finished Object (not wool related, but bear with me!)-

Chickens are out of the shop and into their new digs:

Just finished the coop and got the girls out on grass for the first time this afternoon!

The WIP (starting to feel like the perpetual wip!) is finally all on one needle and creeping slowly towards it’s saddle-shouldered, v-necked finish:

And the New Acquisition- is a beautiful book I happened upon at NW Handspun yarns this week.

It’s Poetry in Stitches, by Solveig Hisdal, and while I just discovered it, I guess it was published quite some time ago and has been out of print for a bit.
Lots of fabulous colorwork- Just what I’ll need after finishing the gradient project!