Make Concrete While The Sun Shines

I’m tired! T-Man has gone back to work today after having had a week plus two days off. We spent the last two days working on the Cobblestone Project. We’re attempting to pave another section of our back yard from the side gate to the lower deck in order to eliminate the mud puddle that area of grass tends to become in winter. T already pulled out the bricks that paved the slope from the gate and reset some of them along with some concrete wall caps into 3 steps down last week. Then he dug up the grass and leveled the area, added landscaping fabric and sand and leveled some more. We got out our plastic mould (a Lee Valley item) that makes cobblestones using concrete that you mix yourself. It took us 3 days total and 13 bags of concrete mix to fill the area. Whew! Believe me, our job doesn’t look nearly as good as the photograph on the Lee Valley page and the later cobblestones definitely look better than the first ones. However, it does match the area we did years ago on the other side of the deck and they’ve lasted very well, even if they do look rather funky. I’ll take a photo when we’re completely finished. There’s still some filling around the edges to do. Next year’s project will be to continue the cobblestones along the deck. Maybe. The grass doesn’t grow well under the walnut tree anyway.

Meanwhile I squeezed in a little spinning and got the last two yarns finished for the Icelandic Lace Shawl. This one is the same Polwarth as the orange except that I dyed it denim blue:


And this one is another one of the Ashland Bay merino colour mixes called Baltic, with blues, yellow-green and a smidgen of red:


And here’s the whole family, together at last:


Now I have to wind them all into balls and get started knitting! Unfortunately the vacuuming is calling me first. After all the outside work, the inside of the house has been sadly ignored. The dust bunnies are attacking my legs as I walk by. I also have to pack up my teaching supplies for Baby Spinning Lesson 2: Plying this evening. The weather is absolutely gorgeous so I would much rather just sit on the deck and knit. It’s not going to stay this way for long and I should enjoy it while I can. We’ll find out whether housework wins over knitting.

In other crafty news, I’m cruising down the feet on the Crosshatch Socks. It was daughter-in-law’s birthday last Saturday so I’m running late. (I know, so what else is new?) It would be nice if I could finish before next Sunday when I have to babysit the grandkids because that’s the next time I’ll see her. Not holding my breath though. And the socks that Darling Daughter dyed the yarn for are heading down to the heel flaps. I guess I just can’t go without some plain knitting to do no matter what else in on the needles. It’s not like the other things aren’t getting done as well, but I’m not just sitting and reading with my hands empty. These socks are really pretty so I hope to get a photo soon.