PippiKneeSocks.com

Or obsessed…….
Since the weather broke, all I want to do is be outside.
Mostly I sit squat with my coffee and watch the garden grow.
It’s pretty interesting.

So I tend to take my camera out with me. That of course leads to some borderline OCD behavior with the flickr.
I even created a new garden group, We Grow Food! (so if you do, join, why don’t you?)
That teeters on my other obsession about obsessing about (meta obsession!) my relationship with food, specifically food as a consumer product. Money for food, Growing food and eating food. (humm, I never realized what a funny word food is until I just typed it out six times… Say it 50 times slowly, then try to tell me otherwise.)
Food, we all use it.

Apparently, it is also a good distraction. Keeping me otherwise not focused on the things I need to do.
(Speaking of that, I have yet to update the sidebar with the reciprocal links I spoke of in my epic the other day. I will get to it! I swear!)

Now, I must get back to my garden squatting, before I miss something.

♥

Holy crap! (Some stream of consciousness forthcoming, watch out!)
I went to bed at 8:30 (in the PM) last night, and just got up for the day a bit ago.
I don’t remember the last time I slept so long.
My son did wake up at 4am trying to tell me something. (Being so early, or late, whichever….It was nothing I was able to understand)
I smelled an awfully strong skunk smell, not too terribly unusual for the thicket. So, I did the proper thing and ignored.
I shuffled him back into bed, then did the zombie shuffle back to bed myself… 4:10 am seemed to early to wake up today.
Upon going outside to water the garden (when I was awake for good this morning,) I discovered that a skunk was in our mudroom and tore everything apart.
er, YAY! (Humm, I wonder if the skunk tried to get in bed with the boy… He smells kinda bad, the skunk could have mistaken him for another skunk… I bet skunks would find him cute..)
At least I’m well rested.

Seriously, who else gets skunks in their house? Honestly?
How did that skunk know I was not going to wake up and kill it?
Moreover, how did the skunk get in the door?

Hopefully the 10 hours of smell, er sleep has done me some good and I can tackle the day, wrestle it to the ground and get all my shit done (and clean up the mudroom.) I do not remember the last time I slept so long. I don’t think my brain & body know what to do.

I wonder what he thinks of the rancid smell round here?

The projected high temperature here today is 92F! (to that I say ‘What the eff’ crazy!)
On the bright side, perhaps these reach full bloom, and eliminate the stench.

If the computer holds up (stays on) I’ll put up the rest of the photos I took of the garden this morning, over on the Flickr, in my (sadly lacking) Garden set.

♥

It’s been a spell since I’ve sat down to blog, so perhaps there will be a fair amount of spew here. (ugg! Meta blogging! I’ll stop that right now.)

Life has been exceedingly busy. The juggling act sometimes gets too much, and I get paralyzed. To cope with that, and to keep from being completely idle, I’ve been doing grunt work. Total grunt work. It is good for the soul and sometimes it is just what the doctor ordered. (But, now it seems I need a chiro up in here ASAP.)
Behold the magic of rocks…

We are putting in a new garden. The spot where we had our veggie garden last year was miserable.
Since most of our yard is very slopey, we needed to do something to keep things put. I had a few rocks here and there, outlining the new patch, all shoddy like. And I said to Mr. Pipps, “Hey, can you help me get some more rocks.” Next thing I knew, we had a stone wall in progress. Now, I say we here, but this type of thing is the mister’s forte, his thing. Which, isn’t surprising.. He is like a rock in many ways. Cold, hard, and you have to hit him with a hammer really hard to get him to break. There are more photos on my flickr set “And it stoned me” . It may not seem impressive, but it is to me. We gathered each stone either from the woods, or the river. A real hands on project.
As I had mentioned, Mr. Pipps really excels at this type of thing. I got quite discouraged when he had a six foot section complete, and I was still plugging away at my 12 inches. So, I took on a different project, left the wall building up to the expert, and fiddled with the creating of this.

Eh.. Eh, but functional… It comes off of our back stairs and will help keep the mud out (hopefully.)
Again, all those rocks were hauled out of the earth with my two hands, and I collected all of little river stone myself, buy putting on my mud boots, getting in the river, and shoveling stones into a milk crate to filter out dirt and stuff that was too small. One can only hope I did a good job at laying the guard stones, and all the little river rock won’t wash away with the first heavy rain.

I do wish it would hurry up and get just a bit warmer. It looks like we will still be in danger of frost for the next few weeks. (We had some last night & the night before.) Luckily, peas are hearty.

(and weeds… weeds are hearty, those little effers.)

Goodness, I have so.much.more. to say.
But, my brain is so scattered, there is no way for me to cohesively put together all of my disjointed thoughts.
Hopefully next time I am able to pop my head up from work, I’ll be able to string together what I have in my brain, before it slips away. (And, I feel guilty blogging when I have a ton of writing to be getting done, preparation for the class I’m teaching on Sunday, laundry & dishes to wash, and children to entertain.)

♥

as the title implies, i’ve been doing some ‘effing round these days. (but not only with fiber, i admit. plenty of the ‘in general type’ effing around. perhaps it is some growing pains; perhaps. i’m not too sure these days which end is up; let alone trying to figure out why up is up and sideways is sideways..)
it has been so hot and so humid for too long now, it seems. my dyepots have sat inactive, and the fiber on my bobbins has nary been added to.
yesterday, i thought it would be a good day to go outside with the garden hose and attempt wet felting again. i’m always trying, and my skilz are limited to balls and soaps, they are pretty rudimentary. i look at some of the felted creations out there and just go ga-gah. what i’m about to show you is FAR from that level. as matt said about them yesterday “they look very elementary… no, they look kindergarten-y” (then again, i don’t put too much stock in his opinion; he never likes anything i make. with the exception of some yarn here and there. i can’t even tell you the number of hats i have made him in the past 6 years. i’ve given that up…. and he won’t wear hand knit socks… there is no accounting for taste, i suppose…~ it will have to be one cold day in hell before i knit him anything else.)
i digress; what i am about to show you is slightly embarrassing & quite elementary honest.
but one really can’t acquire new skills by osmosis. trial and error are needed; or in my case, lots of trial and much error.

i used to be the person that was afraid to show off my mistakes; but i discovered that was being dishonest.
and even the best one is seriously lacking

you can’t tell by the photo, really, but the hand print is black, and the other elements are purple.
taking a class would be cool, but who has time or money for a class? not i.

another one of my elementary skills is knitting.
i did a bit of that this week.

i am enjoying the simple elements here. basic, basic. (i have more to say about that, which is another post in and of itself.)

i love the way the recycled silk sari pops up every here and there & how the fabric glistens.
nothing fancy. (and that is what is said about the yarn once i finished it too. it is it’s overall simple nature that demands emotion out of me.)
although, it is a pisser that i have SSS while the first one is still working…. (i’m acutely aware of the fact that i won’t have time for knitting much in the next two weeks.)

i also did some grunt work this week. i forced myself to tend to the weeds in the garden.
i tended to the peppers and carrots mostly. and i’ve deemed the greens ‘done for’.. we have this woody vine all over the property, and i tried and tired to keep it out of most of the garden; but it just creeps back up. sigh.
tomatoes are still green. i check on them at least twice a day; but still green. (watched pot syndrome??)
i do have a few cukes tho!
.
and some happy little flowers

it is already miserably hot and humid, again today. i’m really contemplating turning on the AC. i haven’t been turning it on during the day, tying to conserve energy and all of that good stuff. but, i have a feeling i could actually get some stuff done, if it wasn’t a million degrees in here, (with a heat index of 2 million)

well, i’ve gone and rambled enough for one post.
the children are requesting some pancakes for brunch & it seems i need to brew another pot of coffee, because this pot tastes like ass.

♥

moms has been in town all week. this translates into lots of shopping (i loathe shopping, unless it is for yarn and fibers.)
and not alot of other things getting done in these parts.
but, “we” (er, she) was shopping for school clothes for bella.
so, shopping, cranky PMS me, two kids, and my mom. good times; good times.
since i live out in the middle of nowhere, shopping involves driving.
riding in my mother’s car drives me ape shit.
now i know how matt feels when he rides with me. it must be crazy making.
but, for the amount of driving we did, we only got into one near accident.
gotta love yelling “HEADS UP MOM!!” just in time for her to slam on the brakes to avoid plowing into the turning car in front of us.
gotta love reminding her, “the speed limit is 50 on this road” (very embarrassing, as i could here the thoughts of the people in the line of cars behind us… ‘dayum out-of-staters’)
i digress, shopping…….i feel for everyone who works in retail; what a thankless job. but, i need to know who on earth does the hiring at one office supply store; (rhymes with maples). every time i’ve ever been to a ‘maples’ it has turned out bad; or at least left me shaking my head in disbelief. maybe because they sell office supplies, they are picking up default office rage? could be??.
another interesting observation i had, was the retail shopper. they have this look in their eyes.. no where else is this look more apparent than at the ‘christmas tree shops’ (no good rhyme for that. bistmas lee mops??). but, in case you aren’t from new england, you aren’t going to understand the hypno powers of these shops. it is crazy. people are in actual trances as they go up and down the isles of cheap goods made in china. all i could think about the whole time i was there (well, besides, ‘could i find a fiber storage system’ had to try hard to shake that thought out of my head….) was …”people! world war 3 is happening outside your door, and all you can do is purchase that 4.99$ plant stand?” i don’t know what else to say about my retail experiences these past few days, but it was a good metaphor for the total apathy that is so prevalent here in these united states.

so, all these days i’ve been spending shopping, i haven’t been spinning or dyeing much (plus, the oppressive freaking heat! i’m wilting) today, i did wash up 3 huge hanks i spun last week. this time “off” was very poorly timed. i find myself even further behind in projects, and stuff for the shop; aye!

my gardens have been suffering too.
the lower garden is pretty much done for. it is over run with horsetail and other weeds. it is so sad.
the front patch is okay,
some cukes.

the side patch is doing better, but i was too lazy to run many extension cords out there to get a photo. ha.
~

i was wondering, anyone with school age children out there; that don’t vax?
if your kids are attending school, how did you go about getting the philosophical exemption.
vermont allows it; i am just clueless how i go about submitting that into our school. (do i just print out the law and hand it in??)
any pointers would be most helpful. TIA!

♥

i’m so happy that folx are finding the coil article thinggie i did for the new issue of knitty useful & helpful. look! proof!
speaking of the the new issue of knitty, i love all those sockie patterns! i especially love the fact that they are featuring handpaints. go go knitty editors, you have your fingers on the pulse of what is going on! (duh, like that was ever really in doubt.)
i’m pretty shocked at the amount of people who stopped by this here blog yesterday. i mean, i knew i was going to get some hits, but, youza.
then it dawned on me that my blog is, um, not very interesting? well, folx, sill more of the same. i gots nothin.
well, not entirely true.
i’ve got a ‘prize cuke’

it isn’t winning any prizes now, but, just you wait! it is the showcase of the upper garden. (not saying too much, since the lower garden is doing rather poor.)
i also have some lovley peas. (now if only i can stop matt from picking and munching on them willy nilly)

~

~

somehow, i’ve developed a spinning injury. my first.
i pulled something in the back of my treadle leg. i think it has something to do with spinning upwards of 100 yards of coils the other day.
(do the math, that is alot of yarn. heh.) i think i spun well over 3k yards of yarn this week. i digress, the back of my leg is all hurty, from the knee region, to my foot.. (and my foot goes numb on occasion… whaaaa???) i have poor circulation anyway, but i can tell this is different.
anyway, i’m going to push thru it and finish this today.

big blue (yes, like the ox)
(it won’t be as big as the pound of sunshine) but that’s okay by me. after spinning that, i kind of lost my thick and thin mojo for a few days. hopefully, i can get it washed and it will dry in time for an update of the shop tomorrow.

well, kids are up; and i should get some more coffee!
yum! coffee!
♥

i’m so very excited! we have peas! (or pea blossoms)

seeds from amy boogie

yippie!
we also have some ‘mater blossoms and some mini peppers, but my camera won’t reach that far… (the internal battery charger is fried.)

another jumbotronic hank of yarn, 286 yards. (bulky)
this one won’t go up on pippi until after the first week in july.
(oh! is the suspense killing anyone yet?)

ok! hate to post and run, but we are off to dip our fannies in the mad river. (sorry to be vulgar, for those whom are across the pond.)
have a splendid weekend! i’m going to chill out and watch season 2 of soap.

i had a big monkey wrench thrown in my morning.
i woke up to no internet! oh the horrors! (and it wasn’t even for a lack of payment!!) what a way to spoil my morning rituals!
i called after i re-booted everything; spent 45 minutes on hold, to be told that there were some “issues” and they had no idea when they would be back up. they told me that they would call me when it was resolved. well, they didn’t. good thing i’m impatient and checked for myself. shame on you GMA with your over priced services, and slow ass DSL speeds. did i mention they are a monopoly? yes! if you want a telephone where i live, you have to use them. if you want cable, you have to use them. if you want DSL; you have to use them. i’m sure it has something to do with no other company wanting to do infrastructure work.. but still, they run the show.

anyway, so, i’m running way behind in getting pippi updated.
i hope to get these handspun yarns up in the next few hours.

after that; if the rains hold out, i’m going to try to get these cukes in the ground.

mere sent me the seeds! her garden is FAB, i hope some of her green thumb rubs off!

ok! enough procrastinating from me. i should get on working on my update.
♥