"And They Called It Puppy Love..."

A few days ago our good friends added a new puppy to their family. We of course had to visit. Meet Aero...(and his 'big brother' Bo)  {smile}

Between Miss M. and myself we made over 150 photos so it was very hard to show you only a small collection. You get the picture though: cuteness overload!  <wink>

Orange & Pink...

Just some pretty colors on this lovely Sunday morning...

Who?

Look, I finished a fun hat this afternoon!  {smile}

Found the pattern on Ravelry as usual. Below you can see the owl detail up close...

Fun and fairly easy to make! 

The yarn is the same I have used on the Lady Sweater cardigan.

Well yes...

Not edited!  {smile}

... I will be turning 48 tomorrow! 

Feeling great in my mid-years! I'm still juicing and I've been able to get my running going again. This last week I ran 4 times, between 2 and 3 miles each time. It has been a very hot summer so my runs have had to be very early, but I really want to be able to run some in Holland (only a couple more weeks to go) so I am ramping things up a bit. Can't wait to run in the 'polders' (= fields) and on the dikes and through the little towns. (and hopefully not twist my ankles on those cobble stones...)

Here are some of the views during my runs here locally...

It was a giant 'Little' Red Wagon!
(the strawberry was at least  9 feet tall...)

Not bad either!  {smile}

Some Knitty Gritty! (blog hop)

Ha, finally I can show you my finished Lady Sweater: Tadaa!!! Just in time for my trip to visit my family in The Netherlands in a few weeks time, where it is much cooler than over at this end. (we've had the a/c on two days in a row, yes, we live in the Pacific Northwest!)

I used a very simple and not expensive acrylic worsted weight yarn from Lion Brand called 'Heartland - Mount Rainier', isn't that fitting? Unfortunately I ran out of this color with only 10 more rows to go in the last sleeve. Since I didn't have time for a few days to go to the store, I decided to knit up this very quick hat for Mr. G. (although modeled here by Master C.) You can find the free pattern here.

I used the same yarn as above, only in the 'Smoky Mountains' colorway. The pattern only came in one size and I must admit it is tad bit roomy so for the next time I would knit fewer stitches but otherwise it was super easy and fun to make!

--  **  --  **  --

So yesterday I was tagged by fellow blogging friend Katie from Randomnest in a blog hop! My first thought was "Holy Cow!" (pun intended). I've never done any of these kind of short interviews before and I find it a bit scary to be honest. Here it goes:

#1 What have been the doings/makings/scribblings at your desk over the past week or so?

Well, the summer months are a bit low on creativity I must admit. The kids are home for three (high school) and almost four months (university) and since my husband works in education he has the whole month of July off. This basically means that I have no alone time during those months, which is when I produce most. (during that alone time I mean) (oh boy, I'm rambling already...)

I've been busy knitting, as you can see from the photos above, and I did start sewing a sleeveless blouse but that has actually ended up in the bin (first time ever I think!) since I didn't have enough fabric and the fiddling with extra fabric just didn't work out. I painted a few furniture items and I also repainted our bedroom and then sewed up some new curtains, so all and all that is pretty creative right?

#2 Where are you currently finding your inspiration?

My fellow bloggers of course!!! I follow quite a few blogs as you can tell from my side bar here on the blog. I started knitting in the Fall and have now added a whole category of knitting bloggers. Some of my favorites are: Fringe Association, Kate Davies, Untangling Knots and Brooklyn Tweed, but not to forget our local yarn store of course -Tolt Yarn & Wool.

I don't read a lot of magazines because the internet is basically one big one!

#3 How important is being creative to you and how do you blend this with your work/life/family balance?

I simply am creative every single day, in one form or another. I just love to make and or create something. Not only physically making something but also 'just' visually with my photography. I bought an I-Phone this Spring and am having fun with some of the photo editing software in it. I do feel that my daily life has to be in order for any creativity to sprout, so right now I'm cleaning out closets (my clothing closet for one, but also the pantry) and am reorganizing a bit. That makes my head feel clearer and gives me more room (in my head) to think of something new to make.

Well, that was about it. I will leave you with this picture I snapped the other day while shopping at a nearby Outlet Mall: I so want a cow like that for my back yard!  <wink>

To be clear here, it is a statue, not a real cow!
{smile}

PS Oops, I almost forgot to tag somebody for the next blog hop. (I hope they don't mind???) May I present to you Janina from Elke Dag Zaterdag ("every day Saturday") and Nina Nixon. Both are very creative in their own ways and I enjoy reading their posts every single time...

On Top Of The World Again!

Wow, within the span of two weeks I was on two mountains!  (and yes, singing that song again...)

Last week Mr. G., Miss M. and myself decided to go for a hike at Sunrise, just North of Mount Rainier. It only took us 2 1/2 hours to get there so I think you can say that Mount Rainier is basically in our backyard. How lucky are we? (as long as it doesn't explode on us of course...)

It was super hot and there were millions of tiny black flies (Midges) that ate Miss M. alive (she has very strong reactions to all sorts of mosquito bites) so that was all a bit of a pain, but the views made up for everything! 

No words necessary, just get ready for a barrage of pictures. First some panoramas, which you can enlarge by clicking on them....

And here is the rest...

This last picture above is where Mr. G. and Miss M. went onward all the way up Mount Fremont and beyond to the fire look-out. That trail had too much elevation for me so I stayed behind for a bit and enjoyed the views after which I leisurely strolled back to the parking lot.

Here are some pics from the fire look-out, taken by Miss M.:

It truly was an amazing day!  {smile}