Harold! Come Back!

I'm a visual person and I like blogs with pictures so here's another hat that I have up on etsy now. I'm not too sure what I feel like writing about this morning so I'll start with the hat. I call it Harold and it was inspired by a Monty Python sketch about an English and French joint venture in aviation, the sheep airliner. A few bits later we see a farmer out in his field looking up into the sky shouting,"Harold! Come back!"
It's a beautiful day with just a hint of fall in the air. Just the sort of day that I really need at about this time of August. Back to school is in sight and honestly, I need more structure in my life. I seem to turn into a slug in August.

Quackgrass Acres

I put this picture of the Mossy Fairy Bonnet up instead of a picture of my garden because Quackgrass Acres is looking an awful mess. I didn't get there for three days and the bugs had gone to town on the squash and pumpkins. It's an organic community garden so that meant a lot of pick n' squish. Ugh. I've done so many things wrong there this first year. In the fall we are putting in growing beds with as much manure and leaves as I can get my hands on and using Ruth Stout's permanent mulch system next year. I'm taking a little comfort from the fact that she also struggled in her first years of gardening.
For anyone who has not read Ruth's How to have a Green Thumb Without an Aching Back, you really should. It's a great read rather you're a gardener or not. I've been by her home many times though I didn't know anything about her. But I noticed the house, it's my favorite in that area.
Please pray for my pumpkins!

Does this chair make my butt look fat?

Let me introduce you to my "personal assistant", Miss Lucy Mae Bumpus. It's a strenuous life she leads, following me around (especially if there is food involved), making sure all the beds and other soft surfaces in the house are nap tested everyday and dancing around complaining when she needs to go out for a walk. I snapped a picture of her this morning because I've never seen her in this little chair and it surprised me that she would want to sit in it. She usually prefers something more luxurious. Dan's chair in the living room is her favorite. She's always immensely pleased with herself to be sitting in the alpha male's spot.

Invasion of the Stash!

My son (on the left) has his friend over to get ready for some big event on World of Warcraft which means that they HAD to stay up all night on the computer that's around the corner from my sweater stash. So I got up this morning and when I saw that they weren't in his bedroom I went up to check on them. No kids. After a few tense moments looking for them Dan found them nesting in my stash. Of course we had to take a picture.

Weird Day Lilly

I noticed this odd triple blossom daylilly when I was out walking the dog. Imagine if you took apart some silk flowers and then crammed three blossoms onto one stem. I'm not just talking petals here, each section has the cup and a little bit of stem on the bottom. I wonder if it's the stress of being mowed down regularly? In fact I'm surprised to see any blossom at all because the DOT crews have been mowing on a regular schedule.

Fav New Hat and Photography Struggles

So here I go trying to take pictures again! Been doing a lot of new inventory and if I can get the photography down I can get up and running on etsy.

The Great Hair Experiment

Let me back up a bit. This whole pink hair thing came about because at my last show somebody said that if she just saw me walking down the street that she would never guess that I made these wild hats. Uh-Oh, Not Good. What in the heck DO I look like I do? Do I look >gasp< normal? This had been simmering in the back of my brain. So here is a crappy picture. There is actually more pink in there than what the picture shows but I expect that I'll be adding more. I really like it! I'm just a little concerned that it won't last very long. I've only washed it once but it looks lighter to me already. The best reaction I got was from a first grader who knew me from summer camp. He didn't say a word, just stared with his mouth open, totally gobsmacked. Probably thinking,"I've seen people with weird colored hair but never a MOM with pink hair!"

Secret Lentil

A while back as I was browsing through Flickr I found Secret Lentil, the fabulous garments made by Helen Carter. She has her website up now and I urge you to go check it out: www.secretlentil.com
As if her clothes weren't cool enough by themselves, her captions and commentary led me to believe that she was a very clever and funny individual. She has her vintage sewing machine tattooed on one arm and her old school typewritter on the other! Now that is living one's art my friends! So I've made this hat with her in mind. One of her pieces is titled Olive and Raisins Forever and it was the inspiration for the colors. I really like this colorway. Its so helpful to look at color through someone else's perspective once in a while. I've been into a rusty spice-brown-burgundy-gold mood for a long time so it was nice to shake myself out of it.
On another color note, my dear red haired son is coloring his georgous hair brown as I write this. Most people would love to have his hair but I can understand why he's sick of it. Red hair just isn't cool when you're a thirteen year old guy. To make matters worse, it's naturally curly (mine is stick straight) and the styles he likes are straight and kind of shaggy. I , myself am planning to color my hair pink Sunday. I've always wanted to do something radical like pink or purple but I used to make periodic visits to the corporate world. Now all bets are off. I just don't care what anybody thinks anymore! Should be a fun surprise when I go in to teach clay at CJ's school Monday morning.