well, looky here . . .

Posted on Posted in designing, lace/shawls, projects, yarn and dyeing

just like clockwork—it’s the beginning of march; must be time for the bulbs to sprout. i’ve been checking obsessively for signs of life from the crocus and daffodil beds and today, my vigilance was rewarded.

ditto for whatever these are—maybe the grape hyacinth?
now truth be told, i think they have been sprouting for a while, but the tops were burnt and curled back, so i wasn’t sure if they were a holdover from last year or not. however today, i saw a fresh, new sprout.

next thing you know, the hostas will be stirring awake . . .

i have very little knitting progress to show you—i’ve been writing up patterns and continuing to hack away at paperwork. but my yarn was dry and ready to be photographed this morning so i have some spinning prøn for you

my little skein of 2-ply—just look at the gleam in its eyes . . . clean, white wool is so pretty isn’t it?

while coopworth isn’t terribly soft, it’s quite soft for a longwool; the real attraction though, is its lustre—you can’t buy beautiful sheen, it must be bred and fed in the animal.

and here’s the 3-ply

now i have to decide whether to dye it or not—i sorta want to try some of the things we learned from lilith about layering the color on this wool; i think it’s a great vehicle for making a glowy undercolor pop . . .

i do have one project that has seen some progress

i’m juuust about done with my mink hat. i really, really wanted to finish it up last night but

i was literally falling asleep at the wheel and that wasn’t working out too well—i had to stop. but tonight for sure—i think i have just three or four rounds left to go.

the other day i was craving beets and asked david to pick some up when he went shopping. they are not nearly as good as the ones we grow in our own yard, but lacking those, i tried something new. i roasted them covered, with oil, garlic, and rosemary, then removed the cover and added orange juice, orange zest, and clementine wedges for the last half hour. for the most part, i like the results, but i wouldn’t add the clementines again—they turned a little bitter with the roasting (not what i expected). i probably shouyld have peeled them, but i’m not going to try again. not unpalatable; just not my fave.

i have a bunch more yarn to show you some day soon—the box containing the periwinkle sheep arrived from turmpet hill and i took photos of everything. i think i’ll save it for next time though; it’s a gorgeous day and i really should take advantage by getting outdoors.

this is me, going for a walk now . . .

28 thoughts on “well, looky here . . .

  1. Are you kidding? Green things sticking up out of brown earth? Outside my window it’s been snowing and blowing all day and my garden is under several feet of snow. I didn’t know Ohio was in the banana belt!

  2. I could not believe my eyes…there is so much snow here that I think it will be July before I see my lawn again.

  3. I bet tossing in fresh clementines after roasting would be dreamy. With a little feta, maybe? Now I’m sad that I ate our beets last night. 🙂

  4. The sprouts are such a beautiful sight, even more so this year. We still have a ton of snow here, but the other day I noticed a few of my irises slicing through the ground, where the snow has receded from the foundation. :happy dance:

  5. Ah, roasted beets with orange, a favorite.

    I can’t believe you have things sprouting out of the ground! I don’t even expect to see my ground for another month at least. You are lucky.

  6. oh i love beets! will definitely try that, maybe oranges after.

    and ooo the yarn looks sooooo purdy. love!

  7. I agree with Mary-Heather that your beet dish would probably do well if the juice and zest were added at a cooking stage but the tangerine segments just tossed in with the cooked ingredients before serving.

    Perhaps it’s better that I don’t describe how green it is in my neck of the woods. . . or how the fruit trees are beginning to blossom. . .

    Periwinkle sheep? Are they bred in that color now?

  8. Don’t you just love it when the flowers start to wake up? My daffodils are coming up and I expect flowers in about 2 weeks – maybe. LOL
    I almost hate to see you dye the coopworth, it looks so pretty and shiney just being white – but it would be fun, too, to see how it takes to colors.
    Well – the beets and clementines LOOK really yummy at least!

  9. oh, sprouting green things!!! Very exciting. Here there is nary a hope for anything for ever so long yet. -18C today and they’re predicting a “cool” spring. Keep posting gardeny things for those of us still locked in the deep freeze.

  10. Love the sprouty things–I’ll have to start looking for my daffodils soon. More power to you Anne…I have never craved a beet in all of my 48 years! I will tolerate them roasted, but they’re at the bottom of my list. Lovely Coopsworth–not sure I’d have the heart to dye anything that pretty, but if you do I’ll bet it will be gorgeous.

  11. I’m so excited that you have sprouts! I love hearing about your garden almost as much as the yarn and knitting and spinning:-)

  12. We are under piles of snow made crunchy and mean… from rain followed by a hard freeze. Nasty. Seems like Ohio is close by, but your garden clearly is in a different zone than Lansing, Mich.

    Beets! Love ’em. Found a recipe for black bean/beed veggie burgers, must try.

    Stay warm! We are singing songs of spring here, until the weather catches up.

  13. I’m as green with envy as those sprouts! Here in Calgary it’s been hovering around -40 Celsius (which is -40 F) for 2 weeks now. Spring is but a distant hope, but my fingers are crossed for a Chinook wind soon to warm us up. The knitting and veggies are equally inspiring, as always.
    Thanks Anne 🙂

  14. Isn’t this just the most beautiful green found in nature? The first sprouts after a long, coold and gloomy winter?

    Even the birds seem to feel somewhat impatient for spring to come – singing along in this awfully freezing mornings as if it was already sunny and warm. I take it as a good sign!

  15. The winter will never end here, so it’s really nice to see some green sprouty things. Mine may come up in July. Sigh.

  16. Roasted beets with sweet potato and a lime juice / fresh ginger dressing – that way you get sweet and earthy and a spicy citrus kick!

  17. Yay! There is life afterall. This winter had been looong! Your yarn looks amazing. I am just beginning to spin so I frequently check the blog for some inspiration.

  18. Try adding the citrus raw, after roasting. Stir in some goat cheese and pecans or walnuts… heaven.

    Looking forward to seeing that hat – I am already sure I want the pattern.

  19. gorgeous fibers! Lol, our crocus almost froze the other day when we ended up with snow after they were blooming. Buds are on the rhodies, the heather is blooming, tulips about 4 inches tall….
    I have been craving beets too, was thinking of making borscht tonight. Like the roasted idea!

  20. Hooray for signs of spring! I loved roasted beetroot too. Your spinning looks wonderful – I look forward to seeing it once you’ve dyed it.

  21. I hope you don’t mind, but your hand spun yarn was so pretty, I snagged picture of your 3-ply to use as the wallpaper for my phone. It’s keeping me calm through a stressful move. 🙂

  22. *sigh* Super jealous of your spring stirrings. It’s been in the -20 degrees centigrade up here for the past few days. Nice to see it’s making it’s way up to us, slowly but surely 🙂

  23. Oh Please, stop bragging. I’m still covered with snow!

    Just wanted to let you know – I found you in a book! I took out “Brave new knits” from the library, and I was flipping through… and there you were! right on 168. I like that neckwarmer pattern you have in there too!
    There are a couple other patterns I like, nice book!

  24. Roasted Beets sliced, interspersed with sliced oranges is an awesome treat! I can handle the pics of yarn and knitting, but the gardening leaves me utterly desirous of a green thumb – and fresh veggies! Keep ’em coming – maybe through osmosis….

  25. Wow. So unfair. I don’t live all that far north of you (SE MI) and no way any greenery coming up – way too much snow to go through!

    Roasted some beets myself the other night. No oranges though.

  26. I agree with Harriet – unfair! I live a couple hours SOUTH of you, and we don’t have sprouting things yet. Just rain…lots and lots and lots of…rain…heading off to build an ark…

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