THE HIP BONE IS CONNECTED TO THE KNEE BONE
One of the given about doing a major project such as remodeling the bedroom is that It.Grows.
It grows wayyyyy out of proportion to what you originally envisioned. Repainting leads to sanding and painting the wardrobe, same needs to happpen to the bed frame. All that ratty wallpaper must be peeled off. Be sure to wear a dust mask. I didn't (cough, cough).
You know, those blinds are pathetic, let's get new ones. Then the assessment of the state of the carpet. We've known for a Very Long Time that the carpets were in dire need of being replaced. Staring at them in all their uncovered, dingy, cat barf stained glory we knew it was time. Beyond time actually.
There there are the various little things that are going to be built, the cat ladder to be redone and you know, I'm tired and Hubby is exhausted. I keep muttering to myself that it is going to look so good when we are done or we are both going to end up insane and drooling locked away somewhere.
Thankfully, spring has finally arrived in all it's glory. It's been something like two whole days without rain!
The tree peony that I put in two summers ago produced 5 lovely flowers each as large as a cereal bowl.
The
redbud burst into flower.
Same with the cascading roses.
There are flowers for bouquets. Lilac, wisteria, a small spray of redbud, and one clematis bloom.
Mr. Frog woke up and started looking for love. He's got quite the croak. No sign of Mr. Turtle. He might have moved on or died.
There has been all sorts of knitting and I've messed up most of it. I am slowly frogging,
tinking, unpicking, and rethinking.
Lots of wine was bottled up at long last. Since there will be no stone fruit this year (no plums, peaches or
pluots) it's a good thing there will plenty of wine for gifts and drinking on soft summer evenings. I have hopes for some cherries, pears, and apples still.
Everything has grown a great deal from all the rain so Hubby will get to do a lot of mowing. I have weeds to pull, dead
foliage to cut back and raised beds to prepare. The greenhouse if full of lovely seedlings - melons, tomatoes and the like. We are looking forward to summer but let's have a decent spring first.
...AND THIS BOX IS JUST RIGHT 
Miss Smarty Pants, aka, one of The Squeakers, otherwise known as
OPAL, has long been mistress of how to open sliding screen doors. You hear a little "paw, paw, slide" and in she pops. The other day I walked into my sewing room knowing she had to be in there somewhere (that 4" gap is a dead giveaway) and found her curled up in my pattern collection. She snoozed there for hours and thankfully, did not appear to have shredded anything.
Her sister, Olive was quick to follow. Not able to open sliding screens she is nonetheless crafty enough to follow behind and take advantage. Olive gets by on her looks, which are considerable, but brainy she is not. It was under the cutting table for her and into the tubs of fabric. How soft! How heavenly! And the colors suit me so well. Then again. I can wear
anything!
I continue to sew. I liked the first top so much I made another and still had to arm wrestle the neckband into submission. It's very humbling.
I came down with some fast moving bug that fried my brain for a couple of days but thankfully didn't stay long enough to do permanent damage. Still, I found myself spending an hour plus trying to straighten out a relatively easy problem on the uneven cable vest. Thankfully, the new
Knitty came on-line and I fell head over heels with
Adeline. Like a flash I dropped all my current projects and cast on. I had some lovely, but alas, discontinued Debbie Bliss Cathay in a silvery blue green and hey! just enough to make the pattern up in an XS, which seems like a small step up from knitting doll clothes
This will be for my niece who spending a year in Japan teaching English and learning how the Japanese do earthquakes. Thankfully she's far away from the horror and doing fine. I'm sure she rolls her eyes and wishes her elderly aunt would stop foisting yucky homemade clothes on her but then again, who knows (and she's always polite) and besides, it's what I want to do. I suspect I will knit this pattern again for myself. It's lovely and just the right thing to layer over a simple top.
CHAOS
After 10 years of living here we have finally decided to remodel our bedroom. As will all such projects it has sprawled far beyond its original scope. The house is torn up, things out out place so I have a constant source of new bruises as I crash into chairs that aren't where they usually are. The cats wander around wondering just where their food bowl is today. Well, it does keep them on their toes and gives them a little exercise.
Still, it's going to be so lovely when it's all done. Check back in the fall for an update on our progress.
I even got to look up into the attic space and once was enough. Yes, I kicked the ladder going by and bruised my little toe.
DOES ANYONE ELSE SMELL A RAT IN HERE? 
Too cute not to photograph. FYI, it's a cookie jar.
WINTER WINDS DOWN
We went skiing one last time. After thinking the snow was done Mother Nature dumped a huge amount across the Sierra Nevada mountains so we went out again and had a wonderful time. It's melting fast though. I read that Lake Powell is still dangerously low and serious water restrictions may have to be in effect in places like Los Angeles. Up here in the north we have lots...so far.
IN WHICH MY BRAIN IS YET AGAIN TAXED
This getting old is not for the faint of heart. This nice little EASY pattern taxed my brain. I did a muslin and it sort of worked. Feeling feisty I decided to make it up in a nicer fabric. I realized that I hadn't done the sleeves quite as called for the first time but what really caused me problems was the neckband. I tried this, I tried that. After all, how many ways can a neckband go on? (Answer: more ways than you think.) I was finally reduced to Reading.The.Instructions. That, along with some wardrobe diving to try and locate something sewing in a similar manner I had my long awaited AH! HA! moment. So simple, so EASY. It always is when you know what you're doing.
Despite all the convolutions I plan to make this again and soon. Before I forget what I did.
SERIOUS SIGNS OF SPRING
After weeks of rain and cold it popped into warm and dry. As in daytime temperatures 20 degrees above normal. We should cool down over the coming week and there are possible showers but the rain is pretty much over. It seems a bit odd not to hear it pounding down on the roof 24/7 but I can cope.
ON THE KNITTING FRONT
It seems that most of my knitting projects are in a tangle. I found that the uneven cable vest was not long enough in the front part. I found this out when I went to pick up the collar stitches. Easy to fix/frog/redo but annoying.
After doing all my pattern repeats (5 repeats, 16 rows per repeat) on The Skin of the Sea I was reading the pattern and discovered a long lost errata printout. Well, $#**!!$!! A quick email to the designer who assured me the errata was the Latest and Greatest (3 repeats). I have yet found the strength to frog or tink back. Tinking would be better but tedious.
Then the new Twist Collective came out and now all I want to do is knit lovely little summer things. Must.Remain.Strong.
Chant after me. UFO! UFO! UFO!
MUST FINISH UFOS!
Dang.
