Chlorpotential

So today I planted my outdoor kitty litter box...I mean garden, I planted my garden...OK, I have to be honest here...I planted 1/2 my garden...the other half I am sure will happen at some later date.
I am starting my 2 year noplant plan. This doesn't mean that in 2 years I won't have plants, this means that in 2 years I will only have to plant stuff if I want to. I am planting a corridor of perennials down the centre of my garden with annuals on the border. Next year I will fill in the border with perrenials. I could do it all this year, but that would be rather cost prohibitive since perrenials cost more than annuals...
So today I cleaned up the silver wispy perrenial (whose name escapes me...) and planted a rasberry cane that I bought at the Farmer's Market, Hostas, a hibiscus of indeterminate flower colour (one tag claims multicolour, the other white...) and strawberries for my perrenials. I also planted a border of marigolds. Now I m not a huge fan of marigolds, I don't lie they smell and I am unimpressed by the orange and yellow blooms, but they are cheap, cheap cheap. So I lay my preferences aside in the interests of being economically minded (cheap) and try to pick ones that have blooms with at least a little bit of red on them. I also am hoping that their malodorous blooms will my feline friends from using my garden as their latrine.
After I finished my planting I proudly took a picture of my lovely little garden for my blog. But when I looked at the picture I took I realized my garden isn't lovely at all (although I will admit it is little)
This is what I saw when I looked at the picture...

And I realized that when I was done and proudly looking at what I thought was my fantastic garden, I was look at what my garden will look like in the future, not what it looks like now. I can see where it's going. And if everything does not wither and die, I know it will look amazing...so if I post a picture in 2 months you'll know it turned out great. If I never mention anything again, you'll know everything died and there is a mini desert in my front yard...

I have been spinning a lot lately. While I was on Saltspring I focussed almost exclusively on knitting so now I am going overload on spinning and trying to fill up my Etsy Store with stock. I have been having fun and doing creative things, and trying to make yarn that may not appeal to me, but other people will love, like this...
Seriously...the pinkness of it makes me feel a little ill...OK a lot ill. But it's not just about me...it's about the customer.

I also made a yarn that I am extremely proud of, I think it's elegant, classy and beautiful.
It's a natural cream alpaca single plyed with rhodonite handbeaded silver thread. I knew it was going to look amazing but when I finished it I was ecstatic. I love the tiny glimmer of sivler that adds shine without being disco tacky. I can just imagine the beautiful item this could be knit into...
But now I must depart from my garden and spinning, I shall be finished my fair isle socks tonight!

The Rock

This morning I got up and went to Saltspring...really early...really, really, early...I got up at 3:15 am. It sounds crazy I know, but when I get up that early I get to my parents house at about noon instead of in the evening so it's like getting a whole extra day there! The trip was fairly uneventful (Except for the part where I really had to pee and there was nowhere to stop, and then I had a severe sneezing attack and thought I was going to pee my pants...not cool...)

I bought this cool ring in Tsawassen for $20 (on sale) it's peridot and I love how it is offset.
I took some pictures of Saltspring from the ferry. Yes I was willing to let myself look like a freaking tourist just for you my intrepid blog followers...

The mountain in the background is Mt. Maxwell where my parents live.
Honestly, sometimes I miss the ocean so much that it is almost physically painful.
After taking the photos I went back to my car and almost freaked out because I thought there was a spider in my pop.
But it turned out to be a bit of fluff. It made me miss Herman the Spider. I am sure he is on my computer patiently waiting for me to return.

In the afternoon we went to Ruckle Days and I forgot my camera. It's at Ruckle Park which is a Heritage Farm. I had a Lion Burger (which is almost as good as a slug burger) watched the blacksmith, talked to some sheep, and watched a chainsaw demonstration. I briefly flirted with the idea of stealing some of the wool from the fibre display but decided not to because it wasn't particularly high quality and if I was going ot commit a crime it should be for the good stuff.

There was an incredible rainbow this afternoon. You can say what you want about hating rain, but you can't have rainbows without it!
You can see at the bottom the little Airstream trailer I stay in when I visit (if it's not too cold!)

There were some strange goings ons throughout the day that involved some chocolate bunnies. Mom had put them in the freezer and somehow they got out onto the counter so she put the in the cupboard. After supper I walked in to see this:

How did he get there? Did he break free from the other bunnies? Is there some kind of strange Cocoa Watership Down going on at my parents house? Not gonna lie, it weirded me out a little bit...


I finished the mystery project on the ferry, which is a Wrenna sweater for Mom for Mother's Day. Here it is blocking:
I also hung out with Calypso for a bit. She was a kitten last time I saw her but now she is all growed up!
Now after a night with less than 2 hours sleep it is time for bed!

Singing in the Rain!

Today is the first time it has rained since November! I cannot even begin to describe how happy I was when I woke up this morning and heard that delightful tap-tapping on my roof! I grew up on the coast so am accustomed to copious amounts of rain. It rains so rarely in Kamloops, that when it finally does rain, it feels like a blessing. At this time of year rain means warm! It's only a few degrees above zero, but it is warmer than it has been in MONTHS. Yesterday it climbed to 12 degrees. I had the door open most of the day and the cats sat outside on the front step. They love it when the door is open, they hang out guarding the door, squinting and blinking in the sunlight.
When I opened the front door this morning, the air was so clean and yummy! It's the afternoon now and the sun is shining. Spring has SPRUNG!