Branching Out

My wonderful friend Tammy gifted me some of that luscious Manos De Uruguay Silk Blend and I'd been wanted to make the Branching Out scarf in a worsted weight ever since I saw Lynda's.The silk and wool blend are so beautiful to touch. It has a classy and subtle shine to it and knits like air.
The first skein had some wonder variation in color, while the second was from a different dye lot and is much more solid. I am hoping that I've achieved a graduated effect with this scarf's color, but not so sure. DH saw it finished and thought I might have accidentally bleached part of it. But what does he know?

Summer is here and we're having belated birthday parties and the two eldest are helping with VBS while I stay at home and revel in home life with the two youngest, soaking up hugs and books and poolside knitting.
This poolside pic if from a party not too long ago, to say bon voyage to good friends...Carole, we miss you and yours!Tennis Anyone? I've been playing...even int he heat. :-)

The Party is Here!

I've mentioned it before, but I'll say it again....I love it when we babysit large groups of kids. It is so fun to have several family groups here at one time. It is like a party: the Food, the GAMES, the TRAMPOLINE and the sleepovers can't be beat, or so my kids tell me. All my normal rules are relaxed and we get to have so much more play time. And this time I even relaxed the food rules quite a bit (shocker!). I am usually the food Nazi (no junk food for you! *growl*).

I wrote down a few of the numbers of visitors, but I got overwhelmed by figuring them out: suffice it to say that there were A LOT.

Yes, we've had lots of extra kids here really consistently for the last two weeks, but with enough breaks for us to get work done, in between. It's been a good life.

If you are reading this and you are a mom who shared your kids with us over the last couple of weeks, THANK YOU for giving us an OTS (opportunity to serve). We love it, and are glad. Using some restraint, I left my camera mostly alone, keeping the privacy of your kids (mostly) intact.

Among other things, we watched Emergency with some of the kids:

Does he give any other "Lost" watchers the chills?

And this:

Do you have kids who collect cat's tails and then explode them ALL OVER the backyard? Our neighbors must have been quite annoyed? Was the the guests fault? No. Mine own son. Our backyard looked like it had snowed.

This is a pic of the flowers from my sweet DH, and I pass it on to the mothers who shared their kids. Thanks. I needed the break from the routine.

Oh, and photos of the impulsive cast-on from the other day:

I had it 25% finished and tried it on. Too tight. Frogged.