Wordy Wednesday

I have a couple more pictures from the retreat in Sorrento. I had two adventurous knitters in my lace group.  Zephy, our youngest ever participant, added a new edge to her triangular shawl sample and ended up with a very nice kerchief.

This is a lace jellyfish in its early stages. It's so neat to see the techniques I demonstrated being put together in new and unique ways.

Here are some shots of the late spring action around the townhouse:

Tomorrow it will be June!

If you haven't yet seen Geninne's monthly desktops, I suggest you check them out. May's was a joy to see every day. Her blog is lovely, too, of course.

Snapshots from Sorrento

I slept in the apartment on the lower right this year.

 I've been waking up ridiculously (early) these days, so this morning I grabbed the camera and headed outside before 6. I discovered the light is beautiful for pictures then at this time of year.

Apple blossom

Drifts of cottonwood fluff

Cottonwood blossoms

Oriental poppy

Lily of the valley

A woman showed a gorgeous lily of the valley-patterned shawl at show and tell last night. I think I need one!

Apple blossom

Another sun-dappled glade - different ecosystem from Friday's

The lilac is perfect this weekend and the fragrance is everywhere

The labyrinth - I got a chance to walk it this morning

A tiny perfect pansy growing in the labyrinth

One participant's work area, tidied for the night

Another participant's samples

A shawl sample being blocked

Sorrento weekend again

I'm not sure if it's quite ironic, but I have been too between work and getting ready to teach at a knitting retreat to get much knitting done myself. Or even to summon up the energy for a blog post! However, I'm in Sorrento, the sun is shining, I have a great group in my Foundations of Lace course, and we had a beautful drive up from the coast yesterday.

We made the traditional pit stop at the information centre in Merritt, and had time for a bit of a ramble up the hillside through the pines. It was just warm enough for that lovely pine-y smell but not too hot to walk uphill!

Vetch on the edges of the woods

A sunshine-filled glade

Arrow-leaf balsam root with vetch

I've been making progress on my Kayla shrug, too. I'm a couple of rows from finishing the seemingly interminable k1p1 rib portion that makes up the sleeves and the portion between them. I'll post a picture soon, but it's pretty much just a sage green rectangle at the moment!

Socks and greens are growing

Good weather has meant lots of time spent gardening, and less time spent knitting. I have managed to finish one long sock though. This pair will be for Joe, whose feet are size 11. The yarn is a Regia self-striping.

Here are some pics of what is growing on the patio today:

Nasturtiums I've been growing from seed.

Comfrey

One of my tomato plants, just transplanted into a larger pot.

Lush mint, with lemon balm in the background.

Today I made a bit of time to start a project I've been meaning to get to for a while. I got the yarn and pattern in Toronto last year when we stumbled on the Americo Original store. I need to get cracking, as it's time to be wearing this, not just knitting it!

The actual colour is just a bit greener than this - a very pretty sage green, and it's going to be a Kayla Shrug. I tried the model on in the store last year and loved it. The yarn is a pima cotton, and is really nice to work with. It doesn't appear to be causing the hand strain that some cottons do.

Sheep and sunshine

My Sheep Heid is blocked and I'm really happy with it. Here it is being modeled on a jar of quinoa, as I didn't have a human model available! Thank you to the brilliant Kate Davies, for designing this hat!

Happy May Day, everyone!