Remember how I said Mr. Lucy was very generous? He did it again today:

These were delivered to me at work this morning. I have a hard time picking a favorite flower, but I really do think peonies are wonderful. What makes them more special, for me, is that they don’t grow in Southern California. Since we live in the mountains, we thought we might have some luck, since it does freeze in the winter. We planted a peony bush, and it’s come up every year, but we’ve never had any blossoms. I’m going to enjoy these for the rest of the week and take them home Friday and see if I can’t get some better pictures. Office lighting isn’t the most flattering for flower photography.

Good grief, this is adorable.

UPDATE: I am not the only one loving peonies right now.

Since the animals in our home are our kids, when I read about Anna’s swap for pets, I signed right up! Little did I know that I would get so lucky. I, er, Reggie, Bear, Dune and Gigi, I mean, got a package in the mail from Alicia. Everything was so sweetly wrapped, felt ball toys for the cats, a tin of treats for Bear, but I was just awed when I opened the package for Reggie:


Our photo shoot didn’t go quite as well as the one Alicia did with Audrey, Reggie found a bit of bone that Bear left in the yard, and was rather distracted, so these are about the best I could do today. I was trying for a portrait with daffodils in the background. Instead I ended up some nice pictures of our weeds, but don’t let them distract you from how darn cute that sweater looks on him. And it’s crocheted from cashmerino, one of my favorite yarns ever!


"Mom, let me go get that bone!"


"Oh, here it is!" (Look at the cute buttons she sewed on the collar!)


"Yummy! I have a bone to chew on!"

I can’t say thank you enough, Alicia! I’ll probably make him wear it every night, while it’s still cool out. Oh, and although I’ve never known Reggie to eat a slug, he does like to check the cat box for disgusting things. Why do they do that? Okay. I’m grossing myself out now, time to change the subject.

I’m behind on sending my animal pal package, as my spam filter seems to have blocked the e-mail informing me of my swap partner and I, silly that I am sometimes, didn’t bother to ask when I would be informed. Luckily, if I need to buy v!agra, hood!a or a fake rolex, I’ve got plenty of e-mails telling me how I can order such things. Nice work, spam filter. Well, my point is, that later this week, once they’ve arrived at thier destination, I’ll have pictures of the goodies I’m sending.

I also took some pictures of my recently finished embossed leaves socks:


Indoors, on a cloudy day.


Outdoors on the porch, where I think they look quite at home. Although my feet look like paddles. The yarn is Fleece Artist Rose Garden colorway. I think it was just perfect for this pattern, the colors are subtle enough that the pattern doesn’t get lost. I love the way they came out and they’re so comfy. They are to be a gift, but it will be a little bit hard to let them go. I enjoyed knitting them, so it won’t be hard to make another pair for myself. They’re only my second pair of socks, and I have a question for all the expert sock knitters out there. What method do you use to cast on for top-down socks? My cast on is a little tight, so they are a little hard to put on. I tend to knit fairly loosely, but I guess I cast on quite tightly. It just seems like if it’s too loose they’ll be too slouchy. Any advice would be appreciated!

Another birthday gift:


A friend gave me tail light covers for my Beetle! Aren’t they cute? This is also a self portrait, see me squinting while I take the picture?

Speaking of birthday gifts, my internet friend Yvonne treated me to two books from my wishlist, which was a wonderful surprise! She is the best ever! I’ll take some pictures of the Vintage Fabric book so you can get a look inside, Yvonne!

I spent Saturday at Summer’s Past Farms for Sweet Pea Day. It’s been so chilly the last few weeks that the sweet peas were not very big and there were not many blossoms. So I didn’t get to cut a bouquet, but I did come home with these little pretties:


How could I not?

I also did a bit of crafting, inspired by one of my Japanese craft books:



I can’t find my zipper foot, so I had to stitch the zipper in by hand. It seems to have worked out okay. This was an easy little pouch, and I think there are lots of different ways to make it, with applique’s or beading or quilting, so you could have lots of different looks. I will definitely make more.

I like blue!

Can someone please talk me out of buying the 7 kinds of sock yarn that are sitting in my shopping cart at knitpicks? The total is only $40, which means that I need somebody to give me a serious reason why I shouldn’t buy this yarn. There may be a prize for the most convincing argument.

I’m so sick and I’m at work on my birthday. Pity me.

I have gotten some very nice gifts, however. I will share pictures when I feel better.

After my yarn disappointment last week, I decided to comfort myself with some other sock yarn, and I bought some of this:


Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock yarn in Daffodil. I started knitting a pair of Jaywalker socks. I have no idea what I will wear with these socks, but they’re so cheerful! This is the first time I’ve used Lorna’s Laces, and I really like the way it’s knitting up. It also inspired me to go out and pick some of the daffodils that are blooming like crazy in our yard. I’ve been sick for the past 4 days, so the fresh air was quite nice. I think I better go lay down now, I’m worn out.

I also finished a sock using the Fleece Artist yarn I bought last month, but I don’t have a good picture, it’s been a cloudy day. I used the embossed leaves pattern from Interweave Knits Winter 2005, it’s such a pretty pattern, and much easier than I expected.