So the Tropicana sock is frogged and there’s already a new one flying off the needles. This is Leslie’s Double Eyelet from Mountain Colors and it’s much easier on the hand and couldn’t be easier to knit as is evidenced by the amount of sock already produced.  Mountain Colors doesn’t have very good pictures of their socks on their patterns but Elegant Ewe has several sample socks knit up so it’s easy to see how nice they are. I definitely need to collect some more of these patterns!

They’re baaa-aack! The sweet peas have just begun to bloom. I’m really looking forward to having fragrant little bouquets of sweet peas on the table all summer. They colors seem a bit different each year. Last year I had strong dark colors and so far this year seems to be more pastel. As long as I don’t let them dry out they’ll bloom all summer. It helps to deadhead them of course but since I cut them so often for the table there isn’t usually much need for deadheading. They can dry out pretty quickly in their pot so this weekends rain will really be good for them as they were just beginning to brown a bit at their bases.

Usually as soon as I get out of bed in the morning Gwen hops right up and gets into the warm spot. Often if I’m not up quick enough she’ll come and walk on me until I get up and leave. yesterday morning when I went up to shower I discovered her in a new bed. Jason was up earlier than normal to get the smoker going for me and had left open his dresser drawer. Gwen promptly made herself right at home.

I’m not sure why but I really prefer my mac and cheese with broccoli in it. I steam the broccoli and stir it in at the end. Perhaps it seems a tad healthier? This was a new recipe I tried with a bit of cream cheese, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce stirred into the usual cheese sauce but I wasn’t too fond of it. I’ll stick with my basic cheese sauce next time.