ROSES ARE RED
SOME OF MY YARN IS BLUE
A huge amount of knitting has been going on but this post is mostly about my garden.
First off: the last of the Sundara Seasons club came. A gorgeous aran silky merino in a colorway called Sweet Orange Blossom. I liked it so much I bought up Gail's three skeins. It's a great color for me, not such a good one for her.
I went down to San Diego the weekend before to meet my cyberbuddy, Valerie. I cannot quite describe how much fun I had and how marvelous Valerie is. We knit up a storm, went to the zoo, ate amazing take out and just generally had a fantastic time. Valerie, thank you so much. I do hope you come up and play in the snow this coming winter. You and Rob were so welcoming. And a house piled with yarn, knitting books, a basket full of anything you might need for you knitting: measuring tape, stitch markers, gauge measuring devise. It was perfectly normal to be knitting at any time of the day or night. Heaven!
And...if that wasn't enough Valerie was culling from her stash so I scored 14 (yes, 14!) skeins of Eden Madil bamboo plus 14 skeins of some Elsebeth Lavold Chunky AL. Enough for sweaters!
All my projects are currently on hold for a week or two while I whip out little baby vests and bibs for my friend Liya. She's pregnant and due at the end of June so I need to hop to it.
The Garden
Spring is being very pleasant here at Chez Earin's. Things are very green and Hubby has been mowing with a passion.
Ceanothus. It positively glows in the morning light.
Rhododendron. Very purple.
A native iris peeping up through the ground cover with a golden heuchera struggling to be seen.
Dream Weaver climbing rose.
Cerinthe. They volunteer all over the yarn.
(Sharon is right - YARD not YARN!)
First roses. First aphids. First green worms eating EVeryTHING. Where are the beetles that chew the roses up? They're late!
Maple tree. I want another one.
Next Post. Some actual knitted items. Stay tuned!
BRAIN BETTER
Since I've last blogged I've been working hard to
regrown the lace knitting part of my brain. Overall, I seem to have made headway. I still can't knit the ribbon scarf while watching Hugh
Jackman with his shirt off. Just.Can't.
I realized I would not have enough
Koigu Kirsti and lucked out when I called
Knitterly in
Petaluma. I had purchased the yarn from them six months ago. They kindly dug through their back room and found more for me. Same colorway, same dye lot. It's a lovely store, really out of the ordinary with amazing service. Now to finish the scarf up and the gloves too.
Another thing that has taxed my limited resources intellectually is this Dakota top from
Louet. The body: amazingly easy. Short rows
around the shoulders? Well....
Decreases/putting live stitches on holders
around the neck for picking up later?
Um, close to impossible.
After several attempts I cracked the code for the back but the front just never worked out. The pattern made no sense to me so I pretty much did a version of the back. It seems to have worked out. There are a few gaps with the pickups but after blocking I'll do a look/see and perhaps do a little darning and filling in. The
Elsebeth Lavold silky wool is lovely, very light but felts if you sneeze too close to it. I will have to wash it with care. It made for felting on new yarn a breeze though. Now to do the sleeves. I think I will experiment with picking up stitches directly instead of just knitting and seaming them on.
LET ME TELL YOU A SECRET
Ollie and
Opie have been awfully cute lately. Normally, they don't do a lot of hanging out together.
Hubby went down to Death Valley to meet up with friends and ride. We had some danger and excitement yesterday when his Harley broke down past Cool over near
Coloma. There was pouring rain, bad cell coverage, a dying cell battery, and more! I had a quickie course over a garbled cell on how to attach the trailer used to haul the bike. I had never towed
anything in my life. I was being so careful but in the rain just outside of Auburn highway 49 turns into a steep downhill with tight turns. I braked for the first one and spun out. With amazement I managed to do it in a small gap of whizzing rush hour traffic. I, and the trailer cleared the road and a heartbeat later traffic roared by in both directions. I was able get the trailer reattached (it had popped off and rolled), dash back into the blind curve with another amazing gap and find hubby who was very glad to see me.
Way more excitement than I need in my life - ever.
EYE CANDY FRIDAY
We've been having a lovely late rain which helps the garden so much.
Beets. We love them.
Paper whites.
Have a happy and safe Easter. I'm going to be ever so careful and knit up a storm.
Spring is being very pleasant here at Chez Earin's. Things are very green and Hubby has been mowing with a passion.
Rhododendron. Very purple.
Cerinthe. They volunteer all over the yarn. (Sharon is right - YARD not YARN!)
