Dishtowels are for weavers like socks are for knitters

And socks are like potato chips -- you can't just do one (pair). I started the third towel using the third alternate treadling, but decided I didn't like the somewhat indistinct pebbly texture and un-wove it, then started over using the same birdseye treadling as I used on the first towel. I think I'll either do that or another herringbone towel for the fourth (and final) towel. I've noticed that there are LOTS of towel drafts out there -- booklets, patterns, and Interweave now has .pdf files you can buy online. Also like socks (and unlike potato chips), towels go pretty quickly, the warp can be relatively inexpensive (compared to, say silk -- you're not going to save any money by weaving dishtowels, though, any more than you save money by knitting your own socks, since the yarn is more expensive than what you'd pay for ready-made socks or towels, but that's not the point, is it?) and you can always use more of them.

I ran out of the natural color of yarn, since I used some of that for my overshot runner, but I've ordered more. It should be here tonight. I'm also weaving a strap on my treadle tape loom, but that'll go quickly enough.

Got a bunch of work done in the garden over the weekend -- I've weeded all the beds (which means I have to start over and re-weed the first one), and have most of the mulch down. The bed nearest the camera has newspaper down under the mulch. I think I have the wrong mulch to use over newspaper mulch -- I got pine nuggets, and should have gotten shredded. I also need to put some kind of trellis in the bed where I've planted the cucumbers, since I've got beans in the beds with the trellises this year.

The garden looks pretty good. This is probably as good as it will look all year -- things start looking a little peaked over the summer, and most of the flowers I have planted do best in May/June -- so I'm enjoying it. My mom came over on Sunday to return some pruning tools, and joked that if I ever want to sell the house, she'd be interested, just so she could have the garden. She's quite the gardener herself, so that's a compliment.

I'm toying with the idea of putting in rain barrels and finding a way to capture water from the washing machine so that I don't feel as guilty when I water plants during the dry part of summer. That's been my usual problem -- when we get a dry spell and have water restrictions, I feel guilty "wasting water", but if I can capture water that's otherwise just running down the drain and reuse it, my garden would be a lot happier.

I planted two more white salvia plants and two "Blushing Knockout" shrub roses in the back beds where I have "dead" spots -- areas where stuff has died. The roses (New Dawn and Bonica) and salvia I have elsewhere in the garden have done well, so I figured that more of the same might work in those spots. These shrub roses are supposed to be blackspot and beetle resistant.

I lost a pear tree over the winter in the back right hand bed, so I'm debating whether I want to replace it (I'd better hurry before shipping season ends!) or move the Seckel pear from out in the yard. I'm leaning toward the latter. The tree that died subcumbed to fire blight, but there are suckers coming up from the stump, so I think the soil may not be infected after all. It's an airborn disease, anyway.