Rusty's Summer Haircut

Rusty loves his new haircut, he might not look it on the photo though. He can run a lot faster now too, causing the carpets to go flying in his wake. His little sister Zara wasn't too sure who this new guy was when we were done cutting his hair, but she soon figured out it was her brother Rusty, can you believe she actually growled at him, poor guy. Jojo and Dakota were also a bit unsure at the beginning, but now it's as if nothing ever happened

Mittens

At the beginning of April, my LYS had a workshop for making gloves/mittens. During the workshop we learned two ways of making the thumb gusset, and we made a mini mitten, which would probably fit a 2-3 yr old. We got some lovely Rowan Kid Classic (50g=140m/153yards, 70% lambswool, 26% kid mohair, 4% nylon). I wasn't going to start them straight away as I had a lot of other things to finish, but one of my fellow workshop friends told me on Sunday that she'd already started, and I caved. I completed one whole mitten in about 4 hours and started on the second one, but I couldn't finish it that night and finished it he following day. The pattern is so easy to follow, so thank you Xana & Ovelha for the pattern. In case you're wondering this colorway is 841 - lilac, I also got a really nice burgundy color to make a pair for myself, but I'm first going to finish some other things that I have on the needles. Besides, spring is here, apart from the occasional rainy day, it is no longer cold enough to justify wearing mittens.

Spring has arrived in Portugal

This onion doesn't really have anything to do with the post, it was in my very dark pantry for quite some time, and I guess it mistook the coolness and the darkness for soil because it started growing, although I have no idea where it got the moisture from, becuase there is definitely no moisture in my pantry. So when I went to get some onions to make some soup, this is what I found. My dad ended up planting it at the farm, because I wasn't going to eat it anymore, so lets see if it gives us some more onions to eat later in the year.

Anyway, I've been spending quite a bit of time at my parents' farm lately and from week to week I've noticed that spring had arrived. Each week there are new flowers in bloom.

I love this red flower, I have no idea what half the plants are at the farm, and I'd not seen this one last year, turns out my dad had seen it along the roadside somewhere and picked some and planted it not knowing whether it would survive or not. Obviously it did, and it multiplied, we have a whole section of a field filled with them. I fell in love with this Rose, I love roses and I'd seen this type before, but never her in Portugal, so when I saw a guy selling them at the market , and he was only asking 8.5 Euros for it (It's quite a big plant), I had to get it for my mum, who also loves roses. So it was my gift to her on Mother's Day which we celebrated here last Sunday. (It was also as a way of an apology for my naughty dog's behaviour while she was taking care of him one day last week, the little rascal peed on the brand new curtains, and he had the nerve to be looking right at my mum as if to say, see I'm being naughty and you can't do anything about it). These lovely pink flowers below are growing in our garden, but this picture was taken inside the house, as my mum cut some and put them in a vase to brighten up the table by the TV.

Before you know it I'll be picking blackberries (I have a great recipe that I'll share some time soon), and figs, as the fig tree is already full, and so in about 2 weeks time we'll be picking the first figs, and if it's like last year, we'll be picking them all the way till the end of September. I'm really looking forward to all the fruits I'll be picking this year.