fruits of summer

Posted on Posted in Bare Naked Wools, book reviews/events, designing, food and garden

dogwood06_17

SO nice to be home again—and to be in one place for five weeks straight. with summer in full swing, it’s time to enjoy what the season brings us. dogwoods were in full bloom when erica, emily, and i went to one of our city parks this week for the final immersion club photo shoot.

if you are part of the club and haven’t downloaded the chapter yet, you must go see—emily is gorgeous modeling our last blue project. and if you missed out on the blue club, please consider joining us for pairings—it promises to be lots of delicious fun.

strawberies06_17

speaking of delicious, it’s that time of year again when there are so many yummy foods right at our fingertips that we can hardly manage them all. first up, strawberries and you have to get those right away if like me, you want to freeze enough for winter. so the day after i got home from DC, barb and i got ourselves to a grower and i bought two flats. at home i set up a production line to get them washed, topped, and into bags to freeze. i remembered to keep some aside for a pie; i like mine with rhubarb and i plan to bake one or two tonight.

peaches06_17

we couldn’t believe our eyes when we saw they also had peaches in from south carolina—last year they were available much later. i bought some to eat, but i know now that i should plan to be freezing a batch before long, if they are coming in early everywhere.

illasCiesHemp06_17

with so many distractions pulling me this way and that, i am trying hard to stay on schedule with my knitting and design work (but summer fever lurks at every turn!). when i left for DC, i was up to the armhole bind off on this pullover project in our hempshaugh fingering yarn, so i left it behind to save space in my bag. once home tho, i was determined to finish it up so i could wear it. last night i blocked the pieces and today i started the neck finish during our morning sweater knitting class.

wait til you see it done—the fabric is surprisingly shimmery. it’s going to look great with my shorts (that i haven’t started yet, HA!).

greensGarden06_17

our garden is exploding with goodies as well and growing faster than we can keep up with. the greens grew about a foot while i was away last weekend! believe me though, i am thrilled—it wasn’t that long ago that we had trouble growing plants this thick and lush. they are badly in need of more thinning—a task for early tomorrow. the good thing about getting that job done is that we will get to eat some baby greens this week.

greensDinner06_17

not that we’ve been starving; we’ve been eating from the garden as often as i have time to cook. here we have asian greens, thai basil, and cilantro . . .

greensDinnerA06_17

with snap peas, garlic scapes, spring onions, and mushrooms (those, we bought). with some ginger and tofu, we’ve got a fantastic stir fry meal; you can’t eat fresher than that, mmm.

sorrelScarf06_17

and here’s another fresh item—a new little scarf pattern, in stone soup fingering yarn (mmm, SO soft and squishy). aren’t those little leafies adorable in the marble shade? i had two other projects packed to take to DC but i cast this one on just before we left—you know, in case i needed it. well, lucky me because guess what?? i DID need it (thus reinforcing my compulsive overpacking of knitting projects for travel). see, i would have preferred to work on those other projects but everywhere we settled down to knit, it was very dark. and those projects were dark too, so they just didn’t work for me. thankfully i had this one along and made excellent progress on it. and now i know the pattern by heart so i can take it even more places; it will be finished in no time.

sweaterSleeve06_17

this is one of the darker projects that got sidelined during my trip. it’s a sweater for david and for the next ensemble collection too. it’s a remake of a favorite sweater inking him years ago, this time in the mussel shell shade of our kent DK. it’s the perfect guy sweater in the most subtle of patterns that looks like woven fabric. just enough texture for him, just enough entertainment for me not to slit my throat from boredom—it’s a win-win.

funny, i had hoped to knit, oh, at least two sleeves over the few days i was at the trade show (dream big, i always say). as you can see, i did not (i know, what was i thinking??). in fact, we barely sat down the whole weekend, logging over eight miles each day; when did i think i was going to knit? most of my scarf knitting i did in the car on the way home, knowing i had to have something to show for myself this week, haha.

sweaterClass06_17

well, i’m home now and happy to be here for a while. i met with my sweater knitting class this morning and they are rocking right along on the whitfield shorty—the perfect first sweater project; it has all the parts and shaping of an adult sweater, but in a manageable size. paula is having so much fun with hers (and is so far ahead) that she even bought yarn today to make a second one. go team!

trees06_17

it wouldn’t be right to complain about all the knitting i have to accomplish and then run on and ON about nothing so i’m going to stop now, but i wanted to share this one last photo with you—isn’t it cool? it looks like a group of druids gathering on some misty scottish moor, but actually, it’s just a garden area in our park on a very humid morning. so pretty.

11 thoughts on “fruits of summer

  1. I can practically taste those strawberries from here!

    Nice to see the garden doing so well. And of course, another leaf-patternscarf is sure to be right up my alley!

  2. You have dogwoods blooming in June?!? Ours were done before the middle of April. It’s been brutally hot and dry here in North Alabama. Enjoy those southern peaches! They look delish!

  3. If my understanding is right, those are converted druids wearing their christmas attire.

  4. What a gorgeous garden bounty! I’m spending most of my “summer” in the southern hemisphere, and lovely as it is, I have to say I’m missing summer produce from the garden — thanks for sharing!!

  5. That’s a beautiful fabric in the sweater you’re making for David. I’m looking forward to the pattern release.

  6. Yep, I agree with stash dragon–the texture of the sweater pattern for David looks wonderful. I’m looking forward to it.

  7. I support packing too many projects whilst traveling after my blizzard experience. I had packed light to spend Christmas with my parents and decided not to take multiple projects. An unexpected blizzard stranded me and I didn’t have projects to work on–uber frustrating!

  8. My sister is always disapproving of my luggage, even though I only take one carry on suitcase (admittedly as large as possible). She just doesn’t understand the need to take multiple projects. I’m so glad to hear other people are like this.

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