All! The! Yellow! Things!

I make no apologies. Yellow is a favorite of mine, and it has taken me a while to find shades that I can wear next to my face and not look like death warmed over.  While I generally like my burns-in-the moonlight complexion, it can be challenging with certain shades that I dearly love.

But! I think I may have cracked it with this little cowl thing. It was some left over Malabrigo Arroyo in Sunset and I lurve it so much. 

My only complaint is that it is super wash, but that is minor. I’ve made a very good dent in my stash making baby sweaters these past months as I seem to have a lot of pregnant friends all of a sudden!  

The pattern is Kate Davies’ Sprung Rhythm, which is one of two patterns that made me spring (heh—see what I did there?) for the Making Light book in the spring.  It is gorgeous, by the way.

The other one is the Dorchas/Solas sweater, which I’m working on now in a glorious autumnal red.  Stay tuned; I’m in the home stretch on it.

Not much else to say except it was a fun knit once I got into the charted section (the ribbed bottom was tedious but thankfully didn’t take long).  And I have only the tiniest little bit left—I had to unravel the gauge swatch to bind off!  A win for the stash!

Injuries by Embroidery

So, funny story. I woke up one night in late July with excruciating pain radiating down my neck and shoulder into my fingers. Pain that barely responded to medication, exercise, or anything else. I tried chiropractic massage and adjustments, acupuncture, physical therapy, round-the-clock meds, and it only just took the edge off. Suffice to say: age 46 was off to a bang-up start.

I spent almost all of August in a haze of pain and medication and not sleeping.  My fingers went numb and I had pins and needles in my arm off and on, plus a lot of pain under my arm where the shoulder muscles come together.  

I did see an orthopedist during that time and he prescribed steroids for a week, which helped the first couple of days, but not much after. Had imaging done and: (*cue the trumpet*) I have torn my rotator cuff and pinched the nerve in my C7 vertabrae.

The tear is relatively small, so the doc wanted to start with a cortisone shot in my shoulder, which did help some.  I saw the neck person two weeks ago and she wants me to get a shot in my neck for the pinched nerve (pray for me!) as well as additional imaging.  I’ve had herniated discs in my neck for a long time, but it looks like perhaps the herniation has gotten worse.  

Here’s the funny part. I think I aggravated the whole thing with the embroidery project I finished recently. I did think initially I caused the injury that way, but that is ridiculous. Injury by embroidery! While things are better overall, and I’m on less pain meds overall, I still have to be careful.

My neck shot is in a week, as is the additional neck imaging, so I’m not out of the woods yet, but I still have costumes to alter for the fall play at my kids’s school, so I’m pacing myself with the sewing.

All that said, I’m quite pleased with how this blouse came out, pain not withstanding! I adapted a hoop embroidery pattern I found on Etsy, so it wasn’t too difficult. Sulky Stick-and-Stitch is easy to use, although I did baste it on again, since the piece was so large and I knew I would be carrying it around for a while.

It definitely makes me like this blouse more, and while I need to make some small fit alterations to it because I made it when I was much bigger than I am currently, I will be happy to wear it now!  

Apros of nothing: I do love lantana and mine are finally flowering again!

A wee summertime project

Popping in to show a little embroidery project I did in the past month.  I don't sew very much for myself any more (all my slopers are wrong since the weight loss and I haven't had the motivation to redo them when thrifting is pretty good and fabric stores in short supply).  I thrifted this linen shirt in the spring and wore it a couple of times but found it dull.  It is not quite white so I thought it might be fun to embroider it to liven it up.  I did a bunch of embroidery like this a few years back, so I had a notion of what I was in for.

I used the Sulky Stick and Stitch stabilizer because it can be printed on regular printer.  The designs came from an etsy seller that I adapted into the larger motif.  There were three designs total.  I drew out the lines of the neck and shoulders and then started placing the motifs until I had something I liked and then photocopied that onto the stabilizer.  Worked pretty well!  

The size of the piece meant I had to baste the edges of the stabilizer to keep it from moving around too much, but otherwise, fairly straightforward and enjoyable project.  It was a great traveling project.  

I'm plotting to fancy up a linen top I made a few years ago, as I like the linen but don't wear it very much now.  Maybe embroidery will make me want to wear it.  My go-to clothes this summer have been boxy linen tops just like that one, although mostly thrifted, and linen/rayon palazzo pants.  (These pants fit me like ankle pants, which was what I was going for).  I also found possibly the most perfect warm weather pants evah in the most glorious shade of yellow.  Pants are usually my nemesis, so it is nice to have a few pairs that fit well.  It isn't my usual lewk, and is perhaps not the most flattering thing, but I'm finding in this season, I don't really care: 

I know, I know, I was the skirts and dresses girl.  I still wear them pretty regularly in the colder months, and I do have a nice rotation of summer skirts and dresses, but most days lately, its the palazzos and the boxy tops.  (To be fair, the palazzos almost look like a skirt, there is so much fabric in the legs).  I will say, the biggest factor in the pants is that I don't have to shave my legs!  It is a chore that is never finished in the hot months because it is humid here and my legs still swell a bit in the heat.  And it has been HOT here this summer.    

And, finally, drum roll please...I have a (terrible) first draft of the novel I started writing last summer!  I'm right in the middle of the word count range for this genre, and while the editing road ahead is long, it is nice to finally have a big lump of dough to shape in my hands.  How's that for a mixed metaphor?!?

Summer in the Garden

Last week, we were down the Shore for a little family getaway and the weather was almost cold the first few days.  It was a nice time away, but we returned home to the start of some serious heat.

We are in the midst of a rather impressive heat wave; it has been over 100 degrees the past three days and the humidity is high, so it feels like walking into an oven when you go outside. It is supposed to rain tomorrow and cool things off a bit. My flowers in the back patio are looking a little scorched, but there really was nothing for it. I'm hoping they rally with cooler temps.

Pre-scorching, obviously.

In practical terms, it means I'm out weeding and watering before 7 a.m. just to be in a tolerable temperature. This morning it was 93 degrees by 9:30 a.m.

 

The community garden where we have our big plot also has six sour cherry trees that in past years have gone unharvested.  The president of the garden association sent out a plea to pick so we were happy to help ourselves!

By the time the girls and I got there, the low hanging fruit was gone, but we were able to get a goodly amount with a regular ladder.  I made two pies with it!  Pro tip: a metal straw is brilliant for pitting them and made quick work of the job.

We've had a spectacular strawberry harvest this year (almost double the yield of last year) and I'm happy with how things are sitting with the vegetables I put in.  

I think we got around 60 cups this year!

I've already got two cucumbers well on their way; it will be the earliest cuke harvest I've had.  I planted four this year.  I also have another watermelon, but I got proper trellises for both the cukes and the watermelon to keep them somewhat contained in their respective corners.  

One of my tomato plants came with a green tomato on it that ripened in May, but that was a total fluke, and the tomatoes are just starting to flower a bit now. Two of them were volunteer plants from the perimeter garden that I was given, so they are a bit small at the moment.

The carrots finally took! It took two sowings to get it, but the second time was the charm (weirdly, it was the same situation last summer. First sowing, nada. Second sowing, a few. This year, I've got three different carrot patches going).  I have two peppers going and the one has a couple on it that are ripening v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y.  

I moved my blueberry bushes to the community plot last fall because they were doing poorly in the back patio garden and the one especially is doing much better.  The other one was flagging pretty badly last summer, but it might rally yet.  I'm hoping another year in good sunshine will perk it right up.  

Taken in early May, when it was flowering.  The berries are looking quite nice at this point!

The raspberries in the back are coming into harvest now and we have quite a crop! I was worried we wouldn't get as many since last year's harvest withered since we were away, but it doesn't seem to have affected this year's crop much.

This was just the first picking.  We've had several pie tins already and there is so much more to pick!

And, drum roll please...the mulberry finally fruited!!  I'm so happy about it, as I absolutely adore mulberries.  Mine is a dwarf variety, and I put it in the back patio several years ago and despaired of getting fruit.  This year, we got a good handful!  

The fig tree died with the move to the big garden, but it was pretty leggy anyway and had never fruited, so I pulled it out and replanted with a healthy-looking plant from our local hardware store.  Here's hoping for some figs next summer!  Gardening is a marvel.  I learn so much every year, and it keeps me moving forward with hope. Plus, there really is no better therapy than putting your hands in the dirt! 

Raspberry Lizard Redux

Another brief note, this one an update about that sweater I posted in the fall.  I finished it a year ago but didn't wear it until cooler weather in the fall.  The length always bugged me, as it wanted to ride up in the back and left me feeling cold!  I didn't end up wearing it much at all this past season.  

I decided to lengthen the hem an inch or so, and also fixed one of the cuffs that I had made a mistake on while I was at it.  It was a fairly fast fix.

I didn't want to make a turtleneck out of the neckkline, so I made a little cowl using the pattern as a guide so I can add it if I want to.  I did the first repeat twice (or maybe three times?) and the second repeat twice before purling a few rows and then a bind off.  I like how it came out!  It will definitely be warmer than the first iteration.  Fingers crossed I will wear it more this coming winter!

And yes, it really is cold enough for wools again today!  Go home, weather, you're drunk.

Capstone Season

Just popping in briefly to say it is capstone season around here and life is busy.  I'm just trying to survive it, to be honest.  The summer is already over-scheduled and I feel slightly crazy.  Piglet starts his senior year in the fall and there are Things to Do to get ready for the college admission process.  

 The garden is putting out an incredible number of strawberries (I picked at least 16 cups today, probably more) and the raspberries are coming in nicely.  Did a bunch of heavy work pruning the rose that came with our plot but hadn't been dealt with in a long time.  

I also need to thin the irises (again!  I did it in the fall and they seem to have sprung back with more than ever!) and do some other work in the larger part of the garden as part of our community garden contract. 

 

I'm making baby sweaters to stay sane.  (Lots of new babies in my life!)  At some point I'll post about them. 

I did finally get to the end of my superwash stash so started a cowl from Kate Davies' latest book.  Watching Elementary like it is comfort food and liking Jonny Lee Miller more and more.  (I liked him in the Austen films/series, but couldn't get into his other work.  Really enjoying his take on Sherlock Holmes).  

Христос воскресe!

 Christ is Risen, Truly He is Risen!  

Well, we made it!  Holy Week seemed very long this year, but the midnight celebration was good.  The kids went back to school today after having the week and yesterday off for spring break.  

I didn't get pictures of all the services this week because I sing in the choir, and our church doesn't do Bridegroom Matins on Monday and Tuesday, but here's a few pics of the latter part of Holy Week and Pascha.  Some of the pics are from other parishioners who shared them with the parish.

Holy Thursday morning Vesperal Liturgy for the Last Supper

Holy Thursday Passion Gospels

On kliros for Holy Friday Vespers midafternoon

Before Lamentations on Friday evening

Holy Saturday morning Vesperal Liturgy, 15 Old Testament readings

Blessing bread after the Holy Saturday liturgy

Almost ready for Pascha!

Reading the Acts of the Apostles before the Midnight Office and procession

"Come receive ye the Light that is never overtaken by night!"

Midnight procession around the city block

Singing ‘Christ is Risen!’ on the street in front of the church.

All lit up and open for the feast of feasts!

Agape Vespers on Sunday evening

Approximately 4:00 a.m. Sunday, because I know you are dying to see what I wore...I had so much sturm und drang over clothes this year. My original outfit involved sweaters and heavy skirts, but the weather turned suddenly summer-like overnight and so I went with this instead after much dithering and hand- wringing.  The skirt is a new purchase and I had planned to return it because it is too big, but it was the only thing that really worked for the weather and color scheme. So here's me with needle and thread altering the skirt at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday before heading to church at 10:00, but I'm quite happy with how it all came out!

As I wrote previously, this Lent was...a lot.  To be honest, I'm still feeling it.  Having three teenagers and a tween is intense!  I did better with the Slavonic this year--every service gets a little better, but my brain still gets tired after thinking in Russian and Slavonic for several hours.  I would love to get to the point of fluid chanting in Slavonic, but for now, I'm happy to stumble through the choral bits.  For whatever reason, I basically didn't sleep last night, so with the sleep deficit still from Pascha night, I'm a bit foggy today.  Here's hoping for a better night's sleep tonight!