life with a chronic disease and a really big yarn stash
Knitting in the garden
Yesterday was a quiet day for me; I was recovering from the long days in the heat at the alpaca ranch last weekend and had entered basic slug mode. What could be better than to take some finishing tasks out to the garden swing to finish off. 🙂
Why do I keep doing this? I have 5 pairs of mitts all ready to go except… the thumbs need to be finished. Ugh. Basic boring knitting. Here’s the project page for these mitts at Ravelry that also has the pattern written out in the project notes.
Luckily it was a nice day. All my flowers in pots continue to bloom like champions. Both cats moved out to hang with me. I started the sprinkler on the lawn which always draws birds. There was a lot of wildlife that stopped by to entertain me. OK, since I was bored I snapped some shots. Here they are!
This orb weaver spider had set up shop between two of my trees! I really like these spiders with their huge elaborate webs and insect catching habits. I had one on the deck last year that spun her web every evening and then took it down in the morning. OK, I’m a geek, but I was a biology teacher so what did you expect?I ate some pumpkin spice mini-muffins with my latte while I was knitting. This squirrel started barking at me from a branch above the garden swing. I guess he felt that he was entitled to the muffins too!Yellow Boy was snoozing in the garden swing with me. When the squirrel came down the tree trunk he finally chased it off. Sometimes he can be brave.I haven’t seen many of these lately but as the morning warmed up more a Swallowtail stopped by the lantana. I love these guys. Luckily Yellow Boy was busy with the squirrel and left this one alone.
By noon is was getting too hot to stay outside. My mitts were done and the wildlife was disappearing. The cats and I headed inside.
Woohoo! Time to knit the Drachenfels shawl. I’m making progress on it and hope to show it off at the end of the week.
I weave, knit and read in Aurora, Colorado where my garden lives. I have 2 sons, a knitting daughter-in-law, a grandson and two exceptionally spoiled kittens. In 2014 I was diagnosed with a serious rare autoimmune disease called systemic sclerosis along with Sjogren's Disease and fibromyalgia.
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13 thoughts on “Knitting in the garden”
We live right by the woods and have a TON of those spiders and their giant webs all over. That squirrel is no joke! He looks like he would cut you in a second.
Yay to showing off your Drachenfels! I can’t wait to see more of it!
It must be so much fun but sometimes frustrating trying to knit with cats around. Did you ever read the ladybird book Smoke and Fluff as a child? It was one of my favourites and they get up to all sorts of mischief including winding the wool all around the tea table legs with the obvious result! 🙂
I don’t know that book. My boys do get up to lots of trouble with the knitting. Mostly they reach a point where they decide I must give them attention and there will be NO MORE KNITTING! Slashing and yarn chomping occur as they move onto the knitting while purring madly. At that point I have to put it away. 😦
Oh dear, they certainly know how to get your attention!! x
Lovely post! Made me feel like I was sitting outside with you. And those mitts–that yarn is gorgeous!!
Yarn, Books & Roses 
We live right by the woods and have a TON of those spiders and their giant webs all over. That squirrel is no joke! He looks like he would cut you in a second.
Yay to showing off your Drachenfels! I can’t wait to see more of it!
I was afraid that he might jump on me at one point, and then he headed down the tree trunk. Luckily I had the cat there to clear him out for me. 🙂
Love your photos, as always 🙂
The butterfly was the hardest!
Congrats on the wildlife shots
With my phone!
What an interesting morning with lovely visitors 🙂 I look forward to seeing your shawl. x
I’m making good progress when the cats let me knit.
It must be so much fun but sometimes frustrating trying to knit with cats around. Did you ever read the ladybird book Smoke and Fluff as a child? It was one of my favourites and they get up to all sorts of mischief including winding the wool all around the tea table legs with the obvious result! 🙂
I don’t know that book. My boys do get up to lots of trouble with the knitting. Mostly they reach a point where they decide I must give them attention and there will be NO MORE KNITTING! Slashing and yarn chomping occur as they move onto the knitting while purring madly. At that point I have to put it away. 😦
Oh dear, they certainly know how to get your attention!! x
Lovely post! Made me feel like I was sitting outside with you. And those mitts–that yarn is gorgeous!!
It’s 20% cashmere too!