visiting home

gone for only a few days and look at how big everything has gotten. i’m home for just a visit in between trips, but ran out between the raindrops this morning to record the garden’s progress in my absence.
the hostas have gone from stubby points to unfurling leaves.

even the lime leaf miniature hostas are up now

the epimedium are in full bloom while their leaves mature a bit more; soon their bright green heart shapes will be rimmed with red.

and my very favorite in the cuteness department—may apple

these little gnomelike sprouts make me laugh. nearby, the fiddleheads are showing the smallest signs of life, but you have to be watching closely each day to see it

right now their little chicken heads are just rising up; i’m hoping that when i come back from sock camp next week, they’ll have started uncurling.

next to them, the red astilbe is beginning to emerge, while a little further away, the pink one is well ahead of it

i’m a little sad that i’m missing so many days of observation during this intense period of resurgence, but i’m making myself feel better with a constant supply of fresh flowers

this week, we have pretty double jonquils with a frilly center, the big hyacinth flowers in three colors (and wow, i’m almost fainting from the scent that fills the house), more tulips, and gorgeous apple blossoms.

heartbreakingly delicate; they make me pause every time i walk by.
david is already scouring the garden catalogs for more bulbs—he thinks we need more flowers next year. i love a guy that loves flowers.

you might think by now that all i’ve got today is distracting pictures of the garden, but i’ve been knitting too. while i didn’t knit on much else besides my sock in philly, i’ve completely widened my scope since i got home.

and not just knitting, but finishing things—i’ve gotten three projects off the needles since sunday night. i worked the last couple repeats and top border for the baby blanket in class yesterday.

since i wouldn’t be able to block it AND take photos for the pattern cover before leaving town again tomorrow, i’m putting that on hold til my return home on april 25th—i’ll work on it when i get back and release the pattern at that time.

it never hurts to fill the time with looking at all the beautiful colors of knitting notions classic merino sport yarn you could use to knit one though . . . i used less than three skeins for the smallest size blanket and the other two sizes probably require four or five skeins respectively.

remember my last little pine and ivy shawlette, the one knit in fibre isle magique? i changed the pattern to make it a regular triangle and eliminating the shoulder shaping means it takes more yarn. lo and behold, i ran out just before the finish.

sylvie sent me more yarn, which arrived while i was in philly, so this morning i finished it off and put it on to soak right away.

you know, when i got to philly it was beautifully sunny, but chilly and windy and guess who didn’t bring a scarf to wear? what an idiot—this is just the weather all those little nothings are for, for heavens sake.

and i’m tired of being the only person without a chic little scarfy thing happening—like i don’t have fifty-three of them or whatever. i tend to dress more for speed and agility, if you know what i mean (for those of you that don’t know, what that means is that i’m too rushed and klutzy to really pull off the look; i tend to get, um, tangled and messy).

for my own satisfaction, i want to try on this next trip to look a little more pulled together and maybe keep warmer in the bargain. and what better thing could a person have than a little shawlette to serve both purposes?

especially one in such a luxurious yarn—cashmere and bison; YUM.
it’s drying as we speak; i should be able to unpin it in the morning before i leave.

and then there are the socks—done. i couldn’t be happier.
in socks that rock mediumweight (a rare gems colorway similar to hot flash or dragon dance), this was a quick, fun sock, all finished just in time to go to camp.

we even got some nice modeling photos of them today, so i can release the pattern to celebrate my first trip to sock camp.

(can you tell i’m excited to go to camp?? i think the socks are, too)

what then will i be bringing for knitting?
well, no shortage of projects laying around, that’s for sure.

i’ve just barely started my little campanula lace scarf, and it’s the easiest of travelers, so that’s definitely going in my bag

this project is so compact i can fit it easily in one of my mia bags, which takes up no more room than a cosmetic tote. it’s a no-brainer for a trip—small, light, and easily memorized. and the yarn, great northern yarns 100% cashmere laceweight, colorway cherry blossom, is so touchable, who’d want to leave it home?

and then i have my twinings stole to finish up; i’m just a couple of repeats in at this point, so there’s plenty to do on it. i am falling in love all over again with this rubicund colorway and the squishy, yummy, laceweight merino from fearless fibers.

i haven’t knit with so much pink in a while, but i’m glad i am right now—it’s just what i needed in my knitting palette. i like all of the pinks i’m working with (heh, there’s a third pink in the wings you haven’t seen yet), yet they are all very different.

speaking of fearless fibers, i also have that cabled sock on the needles in deb’s MCN luxury—a merino/cashmere/nylon blend

now that i’ve got the other socks off the needles, i can focus on these plump, delicious beauties in colorway sublime.

so that’s what, three projects? for 6 days?? . . . hmmm, i may have to find another one to bring along. unfortunately, it won’t be the lace beret;i haven’t had time to figure out what i’m doing with that yet; it will have to wait til i get home.

i may bring my swatching project for the next shawl design, even though i haven’t fixed the charts yet for the second draft. i might have some alone time to work on those and then wish i had the yarn and needles to swatch with, right? or maybe not . . .

oh yes—that’s right. i also have my longjohn socks to finish; those will be wonderful takealong projects. even bringing one of them will be a good idea. problem solved.

you know what? i’m talking like i’m going out the door already and haven’t even packed for camp yet—i better get going.
here’s some more flowers—enjoy.