Tiger Swallowtail

What's summer without gratuitous butterfly pics?


There are three of these working over the butterfly bush in our yard right now.

I saw a hummingbird earlier out there this morning, too. We haven't had many of those this summer.

Butterfly Season

This Swallowtail emerged in our garden yesterday. I got this image of it while he was still drying his wings.


Here's a closer view of his face:


I tried stalking a monarch in the last couple days, but that one was too manic to stay put for even a second. Later in the season they settle down more and pose for pics.

Update

The spinning of the last few days

This is 3 ply from the Brown Sheep mill ends; wool and mohair. I didn't ply the earlier yarn I made from this as tightly as I did this, so not sure how well it will all work together in one project. You can see some of the earlier effort in the upper left of this picture. I'm considering running the older skeins back through the wheel for a bit more twist, as I've come to realize that I'd been under-plying my yarn up until about 3 weeks ago. Of course, there's so much fiber waiting to be spun, maybe I should just move forward from here and not try to go back and fix earlier efforts.

Last night I went to the knit night party at The Sow's Ear. They had a big turnout and I saw a couple of my favorite local blogger/knitters, Molly B (whom I'll never manage to call by her correct name), and Dale-Harriet. I met Dale's delightful daughter, Mary, and chatted a bit with Heather B. Also bought the Interweave Gifts issue (LOVE the cover hat!), the new Spin Off, and a couple big balls of locally made roving in wonderful subtle shades of grey, black, blues, and purples.

Today, I'm happy to report, The Little Emperor seems well! Hallelujah! His voice is almost normal, fever is gone, and appetite and energy levels are returning to normal. I hope we don't get any more bugs like that one this school year.

Also today, I went to the supermarket and stocked up on everything. Spent $175! That ought to hold us a little while.

While I was out getting pictures of the handspun yarn, I noticed a monarch working the butterfly bush flowers:



I got about 6 good images before she flew away.

Summertime Pursuits

As we've moved into summer I find precious little time to pursue solitary knitting in my basement lair. Even when it seems like everyone is happily engaged with their own stuff, I know from experience that it's only a matter of minutes until the situation changes and a crisis erupts. Maybe that's why I find that summer is spinning time for me. I sit on the screen porch and spin. I'm aware of activity inside the house and out in the yard. I can stop and start as needed without trying to find my place in a chart or a pattern repeat.

Here's the final portrait of the yarn I made from the Ashland Bay English Top I bought a couple weeks ago.

One pound of fiber turned into five skeins of yarn. I could probably make my mom or another smaller woman a sweater from it. I'm planning to make a simple vest for me. It'll make a nice extra layer in those weeks when the cold weather is coming, but before we get into the full-fledged frigid months of winter.

Earlier today I was out in the yard looking for things to point the camera at, and this Red Admiral landed right in front of me.

I guess he really wanted to be in the blog today.