We Got 'Em, Ellen!

The blue jay that is!

A couple of posts ago in "Backyard Visitors" I mentioned that a blue jay had dropped by a few times for a snack from the bird house in our back yard, but I couldn't get a photo of him/her because he/she was too quick to grab a bite and flee. 

This week we bought a bird seed bell and put it in one of the flower pots. Sure enough, the blue jay couldn't resist and dropped by. Got a couple of quick shots but had to take them through glass. 

I have a couple more children's sweaters knit. 

The pink and white sweater is hand knit with Berlini Smile yarn, which is a wool/acrylic blend and super soft. The fuzzy white yarn is Bunny Soft. Knit that one a few weeks ago when Hurricane Leslie blew through and we lost our electricity for a day. It did take more than one day to knit, but I got a good start on it that day until darkness came.

The red sweater is machine knit with hand knit edges with Patons DK Superwash 100% Wool. This yarn is soft enough to put next to a child's skin and not itchy at all.

Finally Finished Ellen!

The sweater featured in this post took what seemed like forever to knit! I think I started it last October and finished it last week. It took a long time, not because it was difficult, but because I machine knit the parts and then, other things that I deemed to be more fun, took priority. I intended this one to be for me so I suppose in the back of my mind I knew I wasn't in a hurry for it. Anyway, I'm delighted that it's finally finished because now I can get on to other, more fun stuff, like the silk lace scarf I have started! The sweater is knit with Patons Bamboo Silk. I pinned the back of it with clothespins when it was on Ellen because she is size 8 and I'm size 14.  I like the buttons.

Yesterday evening we took Ellen to the pond near Topsail Beach for a quick photo shoot. The road to the beach is lined with beautiful properties that contain beautiful mature gardens.  We stopped along the road and in some cases I stuck my camera in over fences to get better shots of the flowers and trees.

I love lilac trees! So, earlier this week, when we stopped by David and Alana's place, I got a snippet off their lilac tree.  Yesterday I went to the hardware store and bought some Stim-root to attempt to grow my own tree from theirs. I looked up the instructions on the Internet and planted two clippings this morning. Below you will see a picture of the tiny greenhouse I've made. I suppose I could go buy a lilac tree, but I think it's more fun if you can grow one from a clipping that's from a tree of a friend or relative. Wish me luck! My gardening skills are not consistent!

Ellen is much happier with the warmer weather.  :-)

People congregating on Topsail Beach.
You can see Bell Island in the distance.

Lots of seagull activity in the pond.

Topsail Beach through the trees.

An "over the fence" shot.

Love this garden!

Lilacs in bloom

Tiny greenhouse

Cashmere on a Snowy Day, Ellen!

Saturday I finished the cashmere vest. Ellen wanted to model it right away even though it was pretty snowy. So John suggested that we find a sheltered woodsy area, so off we went, exploring. We  found a nice woods road not too far from home and found some pretty interesting things along the way, but where we did the photo shoot was not sheltered. We didn't stay long because our fingers were stinging with the cold and we had to put Ellen in the shelter of the truck to keep her from blowing over!

The cashmere vest is hand knit with Jade Sapphire Handspun Mongolian Cashmere (100%). It's feather light and super warm. It looks a bit big on Ellen, but because I am not Ellen, it fits me just fine. I could even wear a belt with it.

Last week I took my camera to the pond when I went to feed the birds and got a pretty good close up of the geese. Usually they hiss at the click of the camera, but that day I got away with it. Then, on the way home (same day), I met Dexter and Bella, two very well behaved dogs who graciously posed for the camera.

Gotta run. Ellen is bugging me to finish the colourful Spring scarf!

Chain linking posts to keep trespassers out

Looks like C. Croft owns 8 cord of wood

Under the overpass

Graffiti on graffiti

My friends at the Pond

Bella

Dexter

Bella and Dexter

Longing For Colour, Ellen!

By the time we get to the month of March each year I start feeling like I need to be surrounded by brighter colours. I guess it's the lack of colour in nature at this time of year and knowing that things will soon start to spring to life, but not yet - at least not yet in Newfoundland. I want to knit with brighter colours, hence the scarf in the last post, but at the same time it seems that bright colours don't quite belong - yet. For example, if you met someone at the mall in St. John's this time of year wearing a bright yellow sweater, I think you'd say to yourself, "Ugh! Bright!" because mentally we are not ready. Muted shades seem more appropriate for this time of year in Newfoundland. You'll understand why when you look at some of the shots below. These were all taken in the last week.  Everything has a greyish tone to it.

Ellen's feelin' it too. It was almost a year ago that Ellen came to us from sunny California. At this point, she's done with winter, but winter is not done. To cheer Ellen up I suggested we knit an apron. It's machine knit with 100% mercerized cotton (Patons Grace), but knit in baby blue in keeping with the greyish tones of this time of year.

Ellen was just getting used to the kitchen when Alana came along and claimed the apron. :-)

Cabot Tower, Signal Hill, NL

Fort Amherst from Signal Hill

Steps of Cabot Tower

Freezing rain

our clothesline