Flowers, yarn, etc.

I've been meaning to mention my visit to Kaleidoscope Yarns while Ken and I were in the Burlington, VT, area for the early June wedding I mentioned in a previous post. I'd been dying to see this yarn shop, and whenever I'm in a new area, Ken knows it's inevitable that I'll ask to stop at any and all yarn shops.

Kaleidoscope looked downright yummy on its website, so I originally made a mental note to remind myself (as if I'd forget!) I'd need to go there at the end of this July, when we're in the Burlington area for a conference. But then the June wedding came up, and I just couldn't wait any longer to see this yarn shop.

So one morning good ol' Ken, who knows when something is a must for me and always makes it happen, drove me to Essex Junction and Kaleidoscope Yarns.

I wasn't disappointed. Four rooms full of delicious yarns, tons of patterns, oodles of knitted samples, and even the beloved Bryson Fix-It Tool, which I'd been wanting to get my hands on. (I've used it several times since purchasing it and feel it's worth every penny. I wish it were available with a smaller needle, like a 4 maybe, on one end and a smaller hook on the other. But I digress.)

The reason I decided I'd better fire off a blog post about this yarn shop right here and now is that I received an e-mail from them about 30 minutes ago, announcing they're offering FREE SHIPPING to all US addresses from now through June 30. Not a bad deal! Just use code FSSUMMER to get the free shipping. (Are you reading this post, Linda??) Actually their normal shipping rate isn't bad: $4.95 on all orders under $75, free shipping on orders over $75, but free shipping on any order is even better.

So that's the first thing I wanted to mention.

Second, yesterday on the Today Show, a clever lady showed how to make attractive flower arrangements out of not much of anything. I was struck by her using hosta leaves, which grow in abundance around our house. So today, while out doing my errands, I trotted into AC Moore with my 40% off coupon in hand, selected a low, square vase, which I'd been craving anyway, bought it for $8 minus 40%, brought it home, cut some hosta leaves, cut two stems of whatcha-ma-callits...ah! primrose. (I knew it would come to me.) Cut a tiger lily. And voila! I have an arrangement on the coffee table. I pulled the dust off the stamens of the lily, a la Martha Stewart's hint a few years ago, so as to avoid dark orange dust, which stains miserably, on my doily.
So there you have it.

And finally, my purple Jackmani clematis vines are in bloom. I always look forward to this event.

They're blooming earlier than usual this year, which is par for the course in this area for 2010. I have five purple Jackmani clematis vines, but this one in the photo is the most showy. The only problem is, the blossoms are blooming delightfully on the backside of my little picket fence! Why they're hiding from public view, I don't know. Shy, I guess, although I haven't known them to be shy in previous years.

I have two other varieties of clematis, one which has gone by already and one which will come into bloom next week, from the looks of its bulging buds. I do love clematis vines.

A friend told me recently that she's "tearing up" all of her perennial beds because she's sick of the care they require. I almost had a stroke when she made this announcement. Yes, perennials require work, and I'm no fan of weeding, but I love going out to my flowers in the summer and putting together an arrangement of some kind.

Oh, here's the shy clematis vine. Almost forgot to include it.