flowery wet sanding

now, there's a strange title for you! we'll start out with the flowers, ok?




first up are some of the chives. i just love these guys, not only for cooking, but for their flowers and their wonderful perennial nature. even here, i can cut them fresh for cooking eight months of the year or more, they freeze really well, too.



intertwined with the spirea is a volunteer native dew berry. you can tell a dew berry from a blackberry in that when the berry is pulled off the vine, a white core is left on the bush. they bloom at the same time of year, so it's quite a show! looks like there may be plenty of berries for cereal and shortcake and maybe even some will get put up in the freezer.

ah, the nearly wild roses! a precious old friend this bush is. grandpa bought two of these for mom after dad died and this one is still doing well. not bad since 1961, right?


yes, there is wet sanding, too.


what is wet sanding? instead of using sandpaper to even the joint compound, you take a squeegie mop and water and mop it down.joint compound is water soluble, so it just smooths right out. no dust!!!


how's the dizzying stairwell grab you?

in the knitting-to-recenter front, the 'drooping elm leaf' has been started (posted on my ravelry project page). i absolutely love the double twisted loop cast on for this project. (stanley,p.66)i had tried a long tail cast on for a swatch and it looked tight, strained, totally uncharacteristic for lace. this cast on is picot-esque, stretches easily and adds to the elm leaf creation rather than cramping it. elm leaf pattern is found in volume 1, Barbara Walker treasury, p. 217. i'm knitting with the cascade heritage yarn from lake michigan when sarah and i went searching for a yarny souvenir. the addi lace 24" #6 circular is working well so far. i'll give full credit to anne hanson of knitspot and tkga research for inspiration.