Randominity

7 Small Shawls: T - 220 days and counting down.

Wow, the days are flying by! I enjoyed a bit of sun today - actually more sun than rain. :)

Today we assembled all the items for the 4-H kids' garden barrel for the FFA Fair this weekend. The idea behind it is completely awesome, and as such is very hushush. But I can tell you it involves an olive tree. This olive tree, in fact.

It was very very kindly donated to our 4-H club by the Olive Tree Company, a local (about a block away!) grower. It's a lovely little Maurino tree in full bloom and it will be the centerpiece. The nurseryman showed us the tiny fruit forming in the center of the blossoms. You can see it a little bit in this picture.

Not much swatching happened today. There were a lot of other things happening: gathering things for 4-H, sending out packages, making shawl pins, roasting almonds.

But I did find a moment to model my freshly blocked garter stitch Merope.

The Wolf Creek BFL sock yarn is amazing. Incredibly soft and bouncy. And it smells wonderful too, because I washed it in Kookaburra wool wash! Yummy.

Another thing about today: it was a Good Mail Day.

I'm in a thoughtful mood today. There are wonderful things about living in this small town and area: the cemetery is owned by the same man who owns the general store and the water department, everyone watches out for the kids, people trust each other and know one another. But there are other things, like this, that we are really trying wrap our heads around. Knowing your fellow townspeople means that when something happens, you have a greater chance of knowing the people it happened to. Sometimes it even means you've seen them every day walking by, and the anonymity of the newspaper article is broken, and you're left pondering and wondering how this could happen to such great people.

We're still getting ready for the Fair and the twilight parade tomorrow. I'll be able to knit some on my shawl, but not much on the swatches. And I'm just not feeling the love for them yet. Maybe after they're blocked....

Oh, and the almonds...to roast almonds, heat your oven to 350 F and spread the raw almonds in a single layer on a baking sheet. I put them on aluminum foil to remove them easily. Bake for about ten minutes and then put them on a cooling rack immediately. If you like them salted, just sprinkle some salt on them while they cool. Yummy and easy.