This Old House

House Progress

We finally got some real work done on the house. Along with the new rooms we're repainting the outside. It desperately needs it. Right before I bought the house the previous owners decided to "scrape and paint" it. But the only painted the areas they scraped. So, the house has lots of brush strokes of blue that are just slightly different in color than the rest of the siding. When I looked at the house it was raining and I thought it was just wet. Oh well. It's really shaping up though. We finished about half of the first floor. I really want to get done before Memorial Day weekend because it will start to get really hot at that point.

Gardening

I love gardening this time of year! Mom and I went to a big garden center. I behaved myself and only bought Dianthus, a hanging basket, one pot of verbena, and 2 flats of pansies. I'm going with a purple, yellow, and red/dark pink theme. It looks really good against the light blue house as a contrast. I was able to plant everything exept 2 little packs of pansies before the rain really started pouring.

I also noticed that the lilacs are just about ready to bloom. And the dogwood is in full bloom in the backyard. It's really starting to look like spring out there!

Knitting

I was very good this weekend and didn't start any new projects. Can you believe it? I didn't get much knitting done though. Mostly because of all the house work and the fact that my hands hurt from the scraping. So no pics today. I should get in a few quality hours of knitting tonight at Perkfections with the girls though.

I also sent Carissa a set of tank links for her contest. I LOVE that ribbon so I'm really excited to see who wins it. Me! Me! Me! Pick me! In browsing for patterns I came across this one from Berroco that I really liked.

And finally, I'm considering making a lacey poncho. I've loved the Charlottes that are out there but I know I'll never wear a shawl. This weekend at a bar I saw a girl wearing something similar but made into a poncho! Hers was the 2 rectangle type but I think I'd like the look of knitting the lace into Vs at the front and back. This is just in the pondering stage so nothing to really report yet. Koigu would be an obvious choice. Any other suggestions?