Jobo Designs

It has been such a treat having a vegetable garden again!  When we moved last year, it had been too late to plan anything, so we didn't have any homegrown vegetables at all. This year, Marky built me some 4x4 foot container gardens for the back yard so we could resume the gardening!  I planted tomatoes, onions, carrots, herbs, several types of lettuce, spinach, and yellow beans... most of which have come up and are doing pretty well.  The spinach and lettuce are big enough now to chow down on, and the beans should be starting to flower soon, so the beans won't be far behind. 

Ruttiger is also enjoying the fresh summer vegetables!  Throughout the winter months, he got treats of whatever we were eating at the time, but having a garden in the backyard means that I can go grab a handful of bunny salad anytime I please.  He's been getting bits of fresh grass, timothy hay, clover, lettuce, spinach, and all sorts of goodies.  (I think he might eat as many vegetables as I do these days)  At least on the days when I know the heat is getting to the little fuzzypants, I can give him some wet veggies and know that he is getting the proper amount of water and isn't getting dehydrated!

In other news... fresh Island Strawberries are also out - another classic taste of summer here on P.E.I. yummmmmmmm.

I think it IS! 

The fuzzy little guy has been following me around the house a lot lately... shaking his furry little butt!  For a small little creature, he never ceases to amaze me with his quirky sense of humor, and quick wit. 

The other day, we had a sleeping bag out - the kind with the swishy smooth nylon fabric on the outside.  Well, Ruttiger hopped on top to see what this "bag" was all about, and for some reason decided that the bag needed to be smoothed out of all lumpy and bumpyness!  Go figure, lol.  So he proceeded to go over the entire surface, pushing the swishy fabric out away from himself with his front paws.  I thought in the beginning, maybe he couldn't get any traction, but No, Stupid Mommy, He was *Purposely* smoothing out the fabric.  duh. 

I'm a little embarassed to say, but the sleeping bag has been lying on the floor in the living room for a seriously excessive period of time, but I can't put it away yet... it's too funny to watch Ruttiger play "Swishy-Swishy" every time he hops by it.  (I think my husband kicks lumps into it every time he walks by. just. for. spite.)

I've tried taking videos of the "Swishy-Swishy" action... but it's usually at night, and the cell phone camera doesn't take very good videos after dark.  One of these days I'll stop laughing long enough to take a decent video to share.

You might have noticed the swatch under Grampy's Scissors in the post on Monday... What WAS that anyways?  Well... it is the latest Angora swatch... testing out some lovely traditional Estonian designs from a book I bought recently Haapsalu Shawl by Siiri Reimann.  The book itself is amazing!  It isn't exactly a step-by-step pattern book, more an anthology of wonderful traditional patterns and motifs.  Drool Drool.

The yarn (or dare I say "Thread") is a soft blend of "Blue" English Angora fiber (from my "Private" supplier *wink wink*) and some  Handpainted Seasilk Top that I've been tiptoing around in my stash.  The Seasilk is dyed in Blues and Purples, reminiscent of lazy purple sunset clouds and the color of perfect faded blue jeans.  When mixed with the Angora, the result is a very light, very soft hand, and a delightful muted purple tone.

To give you an idea of size... this swatch was knitted on 2 mm needles, with the light 2-ply laceweight, and still looks quite airy!  The blocked piece is around 4 inches by 5.25 inches.  Not very large, but full of movement, and very light and drapy.

The motif featured is a variation of "Lily of the Valley" - with lots of nice Nupp stitches (basically little bobbles) interspersed with lacy YO loops, and an alternating Maple Leaf.  I worked these nupps with 5x wraps, but I think if I actually go forward with this I might do 7x or 9x just to make them extra full and textured.

My goal is to choose a traditional pattern and make a classic Haapsalu shawl from my own Ruttiger Fuzzybutt fiber... complete with a sewn on border, and the proper Haapsalu dimensions.  I'm guessing I will need somewhere around 1500 yards of thread to accomplish such a project, but that shouldn't be a big deal if I can finalize my fiber blend.  I'm not sure how much the thread will fuzz up, or whether that fuzzing will obscure the lace and the nupps.  I plan on abusing the swatch a little and then I'll gauge from there if the yarn will serve the purpose.