Time

It seems I have some time on my hands. This is not a bad thing. The past couple of years have flown by (yes, years; I’m quite aware that my last post was in May, 2020). Even through the entire Covid pandemic, I stayed busy with making soap, preparing for markets and, once things opened up a little, attending markets with my soapy wares. Our little market, though, has gone from a market every Sunday, to every other Sunday and, this year, to once monthly. That has provided me with some much needed down time, time to create, to regroup, to spend time with my husband and friends, even to do some cooking and baking again. Not a bad thing, really.

Now that spring is here, some of that free time will, of course, be spent outdoors. We’re not planning a garden, per se, but we are planning on planting some vegetables and flowers in pots, as we’ve done for the past few years. I can tell you we’re certainly looking forward to being outside again. We even sat out in the sunshine with a couple of friends this past weekend. It was lovely to sit in the sunshine but when the breeze picked up and the clouds covered the sun, it sure got cold fast!

If you’ve visited the blog before, you may notice a few cosmetic changes. It was time to update a few of the photos, especially the ones of me, and revitalize the header. I’m sure I’ll make a few more changes as I go along, tweaking and updating here and there. If you’ve made it this far, let me know what you think. Now that I have some time on my hands again, I’m hoping to do a little more blogging. One never knows, though, what life will throw our way. I’m not making any commitments or promises, other that to say that I’ll write a post or two when the urge hits.

Knit Happens

Sorry.. bad pun, I know. It’s true, though. Knit happens when you least expect it. I haven’t been doing much knitting lately at all. John’s slippers still aren’t done.

However, while perusing through patterns on Ravelry, I came across one that I thought I had the perfect yarn for. Turns out I was right.

The yarn is King Cole Soft as Silk, 100% acrylic. The pattern is Baby’s Car Seat Blanket. Whether this remains car seat blanket sized or wrap sized remains to be seen. As written, I’m already one quarter of the way through the knitting. The lace pattern is an easy one to read and to remember. The yarn is a joy to work with. I don’t usually like acrylic but this one lives up to the name, soft as silk. It’s also knitting up very quickly as it’s worked on 4.5 mm needles.

Unfortunately, there won’t be much knitting time today. I’ll be picking up the grandkids and a few tomato plants (not necessarily in that order) today. The plan is to do a bit of gardening, tidy up some of the beds, plant a couple of tomato plants along the driveway, plant some garlic in pots, and then to roll out, roll up, and bake the croissants that have been resting in the fridge since yesterday. It will be a busy but productive day.

 

Happy Valentine’s Day

The middle of February… already! And, yes, today is Valentine’s Day. It’s pretty gorgeous here today. Right now, the sun is shining and it’s about 9ºC (48ºF). It’s definitely a day to get out there, something I intend to do shortly.

I did wander about a bit this morning, checking on the garden out front. I wasn’t surprised to see bits of green showing.

This is a stand of poppies, the nice big, bright red ones. I was surprised to see it, and the other stand, as green as they are; I think they may be the first to flower this year if they keep growing like this!

Even the roses are starting to put out buds; I noticed the irises and daisies are starting to come up, too. I did tell John that I’d wait until the beginning of March before getting into clean up mode but we may have to start sooner if this weather keeps up.

This is all that remains of our January snowfall. At one point, the kids had tunnels in this pile; it really was a big pile, higher than the kids were tall. They were even sledding down one side of it.

Now, though, spring is on its way and I, for one, am more than ready for it. We’re coming in to my favourite time of year.

This past week did see some progress on the knitting front.

That’s the first of John’s pair of slippers. I always chuckle as the size of these slippers before the felting process; they’re huge! I still have the second sole to complete but the knitting, at least, is done on this slipper. The second sole has been cast on. It doesn’t take long to knit the sole but it does demand some concentration; if you’ve ever knit this pattern, you’ll know what I mean.

I’ll try to get this pair done this weeked but I have every intention of enjoying this mild weather while we have it. In the meantime, I wish you all…….

Coming Back to Life

I suppose the title of this post is appropriate in more ways than one. Spring is coming on in our part of the world.  I know that in parts of Eastern Canada, they’re still struggling with snow and all the nastiness that comes with it; I’m certainly not trying to rub in the fact that our weather is lovely and that things are starting to come up. Spring has arrived here; our season of new life has arrived. If you’re still buried under mountains of snow where you are, I can empathize. I was, after all, born in Winnipeg.

Just a few minutes ago, I took the camera out to our little flower garden out front and saw these:

The tulips are doing well. It won’t be long before there’s colour outside our door. I’m not sure how many tulips we planted last year but there should be a nice showing of tulips before long.

The irises, too, are green with new life. I’m looking forward to seeing the masses of white irises. They always make me feel happy.

And then there are the gorgeous, big, red poppies, the show offs of the garden.

Even the bergamot is showing signs of life. Is it any wonder why I love spring?

As I said at the beginning of this post, the title is appropriate. Even I am noticing a “coming back to life”. It’s as if I’ve been hibernating through the winter and, now that spring is in the air, I, too, am reawakening. I’ve already been out for a few walks, enjoying the tinge of warmth in the still brisk air, relishing the sunshine, looking for all of the signs of spring.

Hopefully, I’ll be more inclined to update this poor, neglected blog a little more often than I have. The last couple of posts have been nothing but bad news. I promise you, there is good news coming!

I have been knitting but not much. I’ve been reading but not much. I’ve been painting but, really, not much. I’ve been waiting for spring and now that it’s upon us, I’m finally feeling more alive, more inspired, more desirous of “doing” rather than just “being”.

 

 

 

 

In Like A Lamb

Well, March certainly hasn’t come in like a lion; John keeps hoping it will but yesterday was definitely a “lamb” day. The daytime high was into double digits (12ºC) and it was sunny. Today looks like it will be heading the same way. I am not complaining! I love it!

 

Most of the snow is gone now. All that remains is the snow that was piled up beside the driveway. Before long, the guys will be out in the garden. That reminds me; I should check on my garlic. It could be poking out of the ground soon.

 

And the birds! When I took these pictures (about half an hour ago), it was absolutely noisy out there! I don’t mind that kind of noise, though. Outside my back door, spring is definitely showing as well.

 

It won’t be long  before there are flowers. Spring really is my favourite time of year!

There has been knitting, too. I’ve almost been a bit annoyed that I had to work this week. All I really wanted to do was work on the Lowtide cardigan. I had hoped to be a little further along than I am but sometimes you just have to put the needles down, you know?

 

At this point, one of the lace panels for the front is finished and the second is more than half done. Then the back lace panel will be knitted and stitches picked up around the bottom edge of the lace panel and worked downward. Lastly, stitches will be picked up for the sleeves and they’ll be worked to the desired length. Sounds simple enough. I’m pretty sure that, once the stitches are picked up for the body of the cardigan, it will knit up quickly.

When I showed John the pattern, he couldn’t understand why anyone would want a sweater that doesn’t close at the front (apart from buttons at the lacy section). I tried to explain that this isn’t a cold weather sweater to keep one warm but that it will be perfect to wear over a short sleeved t-shirt at work but he just didn’t get it. Sweaters are for warmth, after all. I shall persevere!

Lastly, as I commented before, I think I shall keep a pair of socks for John on the go at all times. Socks are, after all, the perfect mindless knitting project, something I can almost knit in my sleep!

 

John’s sweater is stalled in the design process at the moment. Even though I’m itching to get started on his sweater, I need to take the time to measure him and get some ideas and numbers down on paper. I’ve done a swatch and shown it to a few people for input. That was an interesting exercise.

I cast on 30 stitches on 4.5 mm needles for the swatch. After about 20 rows, I switched to 5.0 mm needles. I then showed the swatch to three men and three women, not by design; it just worked out that way. All of the women preferred the look and feel of the knitting on the 5. 0 mm needles while the men all preferred the tighter knit.

John and I discussed the merits of each gauge and I’ve decided to knit his sweater at the tighter gauge. I think the fabric will be more stable, with less stretching out and because it is slightly denser, it may be a little more durable and perhaps even a little warmer. Incidentally, there’s only one stitch difference over 4″ but I’m quite surprised at the difference that one stitch makes.