Livin' La Needle Loca

...it's been a week!  I've had a ton of work and very little time to breathe!  I did manage to take some eye candy pictures this morning. The sunrise: The fava beans are starting up again: and the cherry tree went wild with blossoms: A week ago, I bought myself a dozen tulips and kept them on my desk at work. Here's the last of them: Up this weekend: Our company holiday party is tomorrow. For the comfort food theme, I'm making pineapple upside down cake. I need to track down a couple of white elephant gifts to take, too.It should be a lot of fun. Most of our employees work from home or at client sites, so company parties are one of the few chances we get to see each other. On Sunday, I'd love to do something crafty. It's been such a busy week that I've been late getting home every night and I haven't knit at all. I even skipped craft night on Tuesday because of work. Sleep would be good, too! .

...because I'm working on a big client deadline.  Yes, I know I missed Eye Candy Friday.  If you're a Facebook friend, you saw my pictures posted there. You can also see them in my Flickr photostream . Gotta jet! .

...cuz this day got totally away from me! Here are the two Muir Woods Moss bobbins, ready to ply: I'm not sure when I'll be able to ply them. They might have to wait until the weekend. I didn't have enough time today to take pictures of the Carousel socks, or anything else for that matter. By the time I get home, the light will be gone. Oh, well... .

...if a "host" is two! This is all that have bloomed so far, but we planted many more. I hope they all bloom! Spin-In was great, as usual. I ended up making Pistachio-Lime Biscotti. I frosted half with white chocolate and left the other half plain. I hadn't tried this particular combination before and I liked how they turned out. As an added bonus, the Husband took most of the leftover biscotti to his running partner the next day. No biscotti staring me in the face is a good thing! In honor of the day, I started spinning some Royale Hare top called Muir Woods Moss. It is shades of green that turned out to be a lot more neon vibrant than I expected. I spun 1 bobbin at Spin-In using about 2 ounces and spinning it just as it came out of the braid. I split the other two ounces into smaller strips and spun the second bobbin on Sunday. I'm going to make this a two-ply and hope that the plying will tone down the colors. I started spinning the second bobbin of Occ...

...so let's get right to it. I have the greatest husband in the world. Seriously. This man goes out of his way to stock the garden with colorful plants and flowers just so I have something to photograph for Eye Candy Friday. How cool is that! Here are pictures of some of the new things he's added in the last week. First up, pear tree blossoms: I didn't even know he'd bought a pear tree until he asked me whether I'd taken a picture of it yet! And he knows I love pears... Heart him! A gold pansy with very pronounced veins: A pale yellow pansy with lavender edges: Ranunculus: and Shooting Stars (nemesia cheiranthus) Up this weekend: Spin-In tomorrow!  I need to come up with something suitably green to make for St. Pat's day. I could always make scones and lime curd or zucchini bread, but neither choice is compelling at the moment.  Maybe something with pistachios... Before I leave for Spin-In, I'll  get the corned beef into the...

...this time a spinning WIP. Last month I started spinning Occidental Orchids at Spin-In. I finished the first half of the bump: but haven't touched the second half at all.  I guess I can finish spinning it at March's Spin-In on Saturday. I really should find something green to spin because Saturday is St. Patrick's Day. We'll see if I change my mind before then! .

...we really need the rain, but it made for a slow drive into work this morning. I'd forgotten about the time change until Saturday night, so I spent a good deal of Sunday checking and re-checking the time. Sunday flew by so fast!  And then I couldn't get to sleep Sunday night. I was kind of a zombie yesterday. Over the weekend, I started the Carousel socks using my beautiful skein of Wollmeise. I knit the first 9.5 inches as indicated in the pattern and started questioning my yarn choice. The Husband said it looked like something Tim Burton would create right about the time I was thinking that it looked like something out of "Beetlejuice."  It was not something I wanted in my socks. Fail. I really wanted to see how this sock construction was going to work. I looked in Ravelry to see what others had chosen for their socks to get some ideas. Then I did another stash dive. The Loopy Club gave me a second option.  One club installments was a skein of Paca-Ped...