Weekending

D was away on a guys' weekend, so I spent time with all the 4-legged girls here at the house.

Friday, I had a photo shoot down in Santa Fe in the morning.  I'm thrilled with the photos we took AND we actually got everything I needed to photograph done before the rain started.  (Although there was plenty of thunder and dark clouds threatening while we were working away like mad to get things finished!).

Saturday, I had another quick photo shoot here in town for some kids' things and then did some knitting and some spinning, and enjoyed our new deck.

We decided that our side deck was pretty much wasted space on the house.  It's the side of the house that gets the brutal afternoon sun and we never sit out there, despite it also being the side of the house that tends to get lovely breezes coming down the hill from the caldara, so we have been having a porch roof over that side of the deck added, plus had the deck sanded and restained (and had an ancient hot tub we never used hauled out as well).

Here's the before picture:

The hot tub is just out of the line of sight in this photo to the left.

And while the guys aren't quite done yet (they need to do a bit more finish work on the roof and put our benches back in place now that they've been finished, here's the after:

Here's the view looking NE towards Taos mountain:

It's wonderful to be able to sit outside and enjoy the cooler air during or just after a rainstorm.  (And we had more rain this weekend, which is always welcomed!)

Weekending

I think my DH and I are finally both done with travel for a month or so - it's been crazy since about March, with one of us gone almost every week, and not a lot of downtime in between trips.  He flew in from a trip on Saturday, and was home mid-day.  So I worked in my studio on Saturday a.m. for several hours, so I could have the afternoon freed up to spend with him.  

We both are kind of worn-out and tired, so we spent a very quiet afternoon together.  I read and knit while he dozed and read the book he had started on the plane.  

We've been having hot and dry weather for the last few days, so I've been taking advantage of that and getting as much dyed as I can since it dries so quickly.  I've been working on several large wholesale orders, plus my normal club things right now.  This week I'm hoping to get one of the orders completely done and the other one mostly done, as I'm trying to clear my plate off as much as I can so I've got some time to spin during the Tour de Fleece. 

I was able to finish up the upcoming (September) Heroines shawl and get that blocked, and the draft off to my TE for review, and I started on a really bright and fun cowl that'll be a coordinating project for the simple tee I'm working up with a gorgeous Pima cotton.  I'm hoping to get the cowl sample done this afternoon and then I can cast on for the tee to start the week off.  I've wound up with several garment projects to design for this fall, so my plan is to try to focus on those and get one finished up each month between now and October 1st.  The tee is the first one that needs to go out the door for a September deadline (and I'm hoping it will be a fairly quick knit, all things being equal), so I've started with that one.

Weekending: May 10, 2015

This weekend was all about photo shoots for designer clients.  Saturday a.m., we finished up a large collection of gorgeous Fair Isle sweaters - barely dodging an incoming snow storm and high winds (WTH?  It's mid-May and we are usually well done with snow by now, but it was COLD out in that wind yesterday for sure).  We had a ton of fun with the shoot - my models laughed a lot, which is usually a good sign, and we tossed in a few lovely shots with a friend's horse and our dog which I'm anxious to see.

Today, Sunday, I've got another shoot for a couple of different designers with various accessory-type pieces.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate a bit more for that - it is currently sunny, but it was in the 30s when we got up, which aren't exactly spring-like temperatures!

D and I have plans to meet for dinner up in town after the shoot for a little casual meal at the brew pub, and otherwise, will probably make it an early night here before the official work week kicks off. (We have transitioned Lizzie to sleeping through the night, which she's doing great with, but we are also getting up pretty early to make sure we get her out since she's still young enough we'd rather not chance having an accident overnight.  We're all about success for her!).

Upcoming this week, I'm back to the studio with a vengeance to work on more wholesale orders that arrived last week.  I'm also dyeing for the Albuquerque Fiber Arts Fiesta, which is in just under 2 weeks, and trying to get a few odds and ends tidied up as well before I go to the TNNA summer conference at the end of the month!

Weekending

Whew!  This didn't feel much like a weekend this week.  I wound up working on some freelance copywriting work I do occasionally Friday and Saturday, interspersing that with a ton of dyeing in the studio, plus a photo shoot on Saturday.  While I was working away, D drove to the NW corner of Colorado (about 8 hrs of driving each way) Friday and Saturday to pick up his new puppy.

Here's Lizzie!

She's (obviously) very cute, but even tho she's only 7 weeks, D picked out a pretty strong personality! She's been trying to boss the two older dogs around, and she's absolutely fearless.  Figured out steps already after one hesitant trial and then she was off to the races.  We are getting her into the groove of the schedule here - and D's going to take some time to stay at home the next few mornings and get her onto an established routine.  She's already been pretty good about trying to learn things - she's already figured out her name and she'll come bounding over when she's called.  We are working on the potty-training and keeping her from trying to nip or jump up.  She's been 100% on not having accidents in her crate already - D got up mid-night with her last night and she went right out, found her bathroom spot, and came back in and went back to sleep without just a few token whines - nothing serious.  (OMG - when we brought Rowan home, after the first night when she was exhausted, we had several weeks - WEEKS! - of the screams of the damned coming from her every night, for hours and hours.  Fun times.)

Today while D is on puppy duty, I'm going to run out and pick her up a few other chew toys and things to entertain her.  She's already very fond of her stuffed duck - but it's good to give them some options too.