Spring patio

The parsley overwintered this year.

Kale seedlings popping up in the coldframe.

Fresh mini-pansies

Apologies to those whose gardens are still under snow - maybe this will give you hope?!

A good book

I just love it when I come across a great read. It's even better when the author has written other books as well, especially about the same character. My friend and I were discussing good books recently and she asked whether I'd read Laurie R. King. Well, I hadn't, but immediately queued up at the library for The Beekeeper's Apprentice. I'm now devouring the book and I love the main character and the premise. The idea is that Sherlock Holmes was a real person, and that in his fifties he meets a fifteen-year-old young woman who is as observant and sharp-witted as he is. The story takes off from there and I'm finding it compelling. It seems that I am now a reader of mystery novels. I didn't used to be, but I guess I hadn't come across the right authors.

A bit of sunshine...

The sun came out this afternoon after a very wet morning, so I took the opportunity to take some pictures. First are my tomato seedlings. It has to be spring, regardless of torrential downpours, when I have these little guys on the go. I have fun transplanting them repeatedly until they are ready to go outside for the season.

I finished that sock last night. This pair will be for our friend and neighbour, Rob,  who has been deemed sock-worthy due to how much he appreciates his first pair!

Today I finished another pair of socks. They were actually finished except that I had mistakenly bound off the two socks differently... oops! So I ripped out the sewn bound-off from the first sock and went with Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-off, because I like how it makes the finished edge look like ribbing. These socks are for me, and knit from my current favourite sock yarn - Schoppel-Wolle Crazy Zauberball. I knit them toe-up, with after-thought heels aforethought (ie: I put in waste yarn to mark the heel's future location rather than coming back and cutting into the yarn after the tube was knit).

Finally, this is our beautiful new yarn bowl - a gift from our friend, Sheila.

A sock and a Mook

When I don't have the brainpower to knit sheep I can still manage socks:

This one is knit according to my fall-back top-down sock pattern out of Meilenweit Cotton Fantasy from the Wool Station.

Here's Mookie wondering what I'm doing outside his window:

Sheeps

About six weeks ago Kate Davies mentioned in a blog post that a kit was now available for her Rams and Yowes blanket and Sheep Heid tam and I decided I had to have it. After a bit of a coordination with a friend to order two kits at once and some patience while the wooly goodness traveled from the Shetland Islands and negotiated Canada customs the sheeps arrived and I am in love.

This isn't an easy knit for me, which I figure is good for me. I'm not usually a big fan of patterns with a lot of colour work - the look of them doesn't usually appeal to me as much as textured knits like lace or cables (except for quick baby knits using self-patterning yarns), but these patterns are different. For one thing, I very much admire Kate and love her blog, and I think it's also the fact that these patterns use nine natural (undyed) shades of Shetland wool, and oh yes, I'm kind of into all things sheep-y lately.

This project has coincided with me having less knitting time than I would like so I'm slowly plugging away at the tam and learning to knit stranded colour work with both hands, and having to tink and frog a lot, but loving it all the same. Last night I finished the yowes (ewes) chart and was so excited about my little sheep!

peek-a-boo sheep

Not a super picture, but the best I could do with one hand and a full spectrum lamp. It was sunny today so Dave and I ended up moving everything off the patio and scrubbing it clean and then we rushed over to our new garden plot to take advantage of the break in the weather and get some things planted. I didn't think to bring the camera  - it was work work work - but hopefully I will next weekend. We worked really hard and I got home so stiff and creaky I had to soak in a hot Epsom salt bath but it was totally worth it! A heron has its territory in the field next to our plot, the red-winged blackbirds were singing, a few eagles were soaring overhead, and the sun was warm and wonderful and full of spring's promise.

By the way, Kate's second issue of her on-line magazine, Textisles, is a good read. It features a history of knitted bathing costumes and two great patterns. I did a research project on the history of the bathing suit when I was in grade 9 - Kate's is much better!

Happy April, everyone!

Finished Itty Bitty Pinkness

The crocuses are still blooming...

My latest sock project:

The yarn is another ball of Crazy Zauberball from the Wool Station. I love this yarn - it feels great to knit, and the colours are gorgeous. It's also fun because of how long the colour repeat is. You can knit two socks without a repeat! You can see a couple of hyacinths coming up beside the crocuses. The spring flowers seem to be in slow motion this year, maybe because it's been quite cool and rainy (and snowy a few times recently too, like just last Tuesday).

Dave knit this Baby Surprise for a friend who had a baby a few weeks ago. We got the buttons at Laura's, along with the Peter Rabbits I'd put on my latest BSJ. So cute!

It turns out that the baby, Tiana, is tiny, and that this BSJ won't fit for months, so I decided she needed a sweater she could wear sooner. Tiana's mother says this baby is all about pinks and purples, so I found some leftover sock yarns that fit the bill and made this tiny Scrappy Socky Stripy Cardi. Here it is being blocked. I've found a pair of cute little purple buttons in the stash that will go nicely.

This little jacket knit up really quickly, partly because it's tiny, and partly because I got lots of knitting time on the bus and ferry last Tuesday. Dave and I went to the big teachers' rally in Victoria that day. Here was the view from our dining room window before we left:

By the time we all gathered in Centennial Square in Victoria it looked like this:

The square was less than a block from Beehive Wool Shop, so Dave and I ducked in there before the march started to buy a souvenir skein of yarn!