eye candy friday

Sunset on Tuesday.

From Madison Square Park last Wednesday (the 25th)–this was intended for last Friday’s eye candy, but I didn’t have my computer with me and thus never quite managed to borrow enough computer time to post. I got a “look, someone’s taking a picture!” comment while I was stopped to take this. I was amused.

Also from my Thanksgiving trip to New York:

We went to see the Mapping the Hudson exhibit at the public library, and stopped first in the children’s room to see the original stuffed animals that were the basis of the Winnie the Pooh stories. They’re clearly well-loved… And Piglet is a lot smaller than I’d've guessed!

I haven’t done all that much fibery stuff lately, but I knit half a sock heel at the Paul and Storm/Jonathan Coulton show last night. They turned the (rest of the) lights off after the intermission, and I couldn’t see well enough to pick up the wraps as well as the stitches, so I’ll have to finish it either at lunch or this evening. (The concert was great, though.)

 

eye candy friday

Last Sunday’s sunset, from my kitchen window.

(Check back this evening or tomorrow for a post on All The Cooking I Did Last Weekend and some weaving.)

 

eye candy friday

Whee!  It’s been a long week, with lots of frustrations.  So, sort of appropriately, here are two photos I took last Saturday, after I couldn’t do the work I’d planned on because of maintenance work in the building:

Not such a bad “silver” lining…  My big plan for tonight is to go home and spin for a handspun swap.  And then go to bed early.

 

eye candy friday

These’re a couple more photos from that trip to Valley Forge, partly because I haven’t processed my Rhinebeck photos yet, partly because there wasn’t much bright sunlight so these are prettier.

Happy Friday!

 

eye candy monday

Is it overkill to post two ECF things and more pictures today?  I hope not…

I spent yesterday afternoon walking through Valley Forge National Historical Park with Anju, though we bypassed most of the historical stuff in favor of trees and flowers and fungi and the river.  It was a pretty good walk–about 8.5 miles–and a beautiful day to be outside.  I even brought along my film camera for the expedition, and it was well worth the weight.

 

eye candy friday

This is from the biopond garden, late last month (though I think these’re still flowering). I’m pretty sure it’s some variety of geranium.

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I’ve had a bit of a cold this week, which has not helped my energy levels at all.  Still, work is progressing, and I’ve managed to spin on most of my walks in, first some seawool from Creatively Dyed, and now some mostly-corriedale tan wool blend from Amy Boogie.  I was amazed at how much more smoothly the wool blend drafted this morning–I think that 5 ounces is going to go pretty quickly.

 

eye candy monday

Friday kind of snuck up on me last week, and I figured that people could use eye candy on Mondays, too, so here’s a flower in one of my new favorite gardens to walk past.  (This is the garden with the sunflowers and goldfinches.)

I got a bit of spinning done over the weekend, and I’ve started the next lace pattern on my chai shawl. I’m not sure when I’ll have pictures, though, since I’ll be at work quite late both tonight and tomorrow night.

(Speaking of work, do any of y’all have recommendations for automatic backup software for Windows? I’ve gotten pretty spoiled by Time Machine.)

 

friday afternoon eye candy

These are all from my (new) walk to work this morning, and all shot at eye level. There’re a few particular gardens I’m going to miss passing every day, but I’m not exactly going to be short on flowers to admire.

And, because this is sort of a fibery blog, here’s a photo of the shawl I’ve been working on lately:

It’s the shawl I’ve been making up to go along with my Chai yarn from Enchanted Knoll Farm. I’m running low enough on the Chai that I’ve started spinning the Phoenix roving I bought to go with it, since I want this shawl to be bigger than it would be with just the 4 oz of Chai. I’ve also started looking through my lace books for the next pattern to use; I think I’ll add one more lace pattern to the body of the shawl and then do a knitted-on edging.

 

still swamped

Okay, some of the swamp is the recent weather, but I’ve been trying to fit science in and around packing and moving. I should really have started the culling/packing/cleaning process weeks before I actually did…so this week is especially Not Fun. On a positive note, though, my new place has lots of light.

This is part of the kitchen (and the view out the back windows):

And this is a lovely present from a college friend. I think she said she got it in Scotland. It arrived yesterday and improved my mood about a hundredfold.

 

friday

It’s not exactly eye candy, but that’s just about the only non-work photo I’ve taken this week. Packing and moving and science are absorbing pretty much all of my brain right now.

There has been some spinning. Good photos will happen once there’s been plying and washing.

 

eye candy friday

Crown vetch, from my walk to work last Sunday. It’s a weed, and not something I’d want in my garden (if I had one), but it’s much nicer than plain grass for an awkward hillside.

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I’ve been really busy with work this week, but I continue to spin while walking there and back. More of the rust-colored Jacob, which I hope to finish spinning next week.

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I said last week that I had some knitting to post. Here’s my most recent finished object:

It’s Cisco, with several modifications, some intentional and some less so, none of which are all that important. It now belongs to my new first-cousin-once-removed; I hope he likes it. (And, at least as important, that his parents like it.) (The yarn is superwash merino.)

I’ve been working a bit on my Estonian lace scarf, too, but I don’t have an updated picture yet. Maybe next week.

 

eye candy friday

From a walk home, sometime last week.

Discoveries re. spinning and walking: I can’t spin and carry a mug of coffee. Nor can I spin and carry an umbrella. Yet. I’ll have to work on that…

 

eye candy friday

From last Saturday.

Today’s big excitement: I really can spin while walking at my normal pace. If I actually do spin on my way to work (as I did today) every not-raining day this summer, I’ll have a lot of laceweight to weave with by the time I start to weave.