we finished up our maryland weekend with a trip to a nearby asian plaza to visit lotteMart and grab some soups at a korean lunch counter.
now you know me—any place that offers such a riot of color appeals to my inner child. they have everything here from groceries to sushi to spider strainers. and rice; lotsa rice.
and more hello kitty than you ever knew existed.
pretty things too. and good food. we weren’t the only ones there for lunch—soon after we arrived the place began to get busyl and soon a cacophony of family noise was rising up to fill the air like a happy, super-social umbrella.
james helped us pick out some spicy soups to start the day off right—chock full of octopus, mussel, and shrimp, with lots of veggies in a great broth. mmm.
david was very pleased—he and james got right to work while i snapped a few photos (gotta feed the blog, too!)
the baby next to us happily played with a fat, gluey rice noodle in a dish the whole time, trying to puzzle out its complex, slippery rubberiness while his parents shared a quiet conversation. he was completely engrossed in that one simple thing. fantastic. must remember that one next time i babysit.
after lunch we said our goodbyes and headed west to home. it was a nice weekend; we’d miss james and diana and champ
ok, i admit it; this last paragraph is mostly an excuse to use this picture, which cracks me up very time i see it—just look at that dog. she thinks she’s human.
but we were happy to be heading back, too—lots there to look forward to as well.
the back yard is awash with blooming hosta variants—lily of the valley just coming into full bloom and the scent is almost (but not quite) obnoxiously heavenly.
it seemed like a good place to take a picture of the new white scarf, now that i have several repeats finished. this is an easy, fun knit; it changes often enough to be intresting but not taxing, you know? totally good for TV knitting.
ooops, i just noticed that the hem end seems to be a slightly different color—it looks like it could just be dirt, but possibly it’s a mix-in of a darker fleece from the mill. hmm, i’ll have to look into fixing that—it might just be easier to rip back and reknit. amazing what you don’t really notice in artificial light.
scattered among the LOV are purple violets by the dozen, one of my favorite flowers. this patch also shares space with the variegated solomon seal
or nature’s nupps as i like to call them.
the fiddleheads are uncurling from the last bends of their fetal shapes
unfurling their fans. i missed the fiddleheads for the painted ferns—they snuck up on me, being so tiny and i didn’t notice til the full leaves had opened. must make a mental note for next spring to catch them earlier for photos.
a little ways over the epimedium rubicum (red bishop’s hat) are spreading out like mad and the tulip sock makes a nice counterpoint to their colors
as you can see i’m past the heel on sock #2—these are just flying off the needles, thanks to some car and TV knitting. kim sure knows how to take colors from nature and invest her yarns with them. sigh.
BTW, she says she has a bunch of newly-dyed bambino in more colors just about ready to add to her site, so if you are looking for mama mia (like my sock), you just might find it soon.
i finished another sock in classes yesterday
i love this sock. i was thinking that since i’m going to be getting some sock patterns ready for sock summit in august with chris’s yarn, i might do a little series of man socks named after the men in both our lives—david, roger, and nate.
this one is definitely david; rugged and cozy with a bit of the librarian in it. i’ll have to get some ideas from chris about the others . . . i know roger and nate a little bit, but she’ll need to guide me on colors and yarn weight (hear that, chris??).
it’s just a way to put a twist and a challenge into the next few designs, but i think it’ll be fun.
now i’ve also made some headway on the gold maze sweater (must get serious about picking a name for this one) since i got back. there’s just one word for this legend yarn—aMAZing.
how is it that i never knit with this yarn before?? chris had been dyeing this base for a long time, but i never tried it. it has everything—nice twist for great stitch definition (but not stiff at all), soft, squishy feel, and takes color like nobody’s business (oh, the highlights; oh the low tones. where’s my fan?).
so yes, i’m enjoying this knit quite a lot. i’m trying to make time here and there for the gray version as well but work has slowed by necessity to make room for this one—no worries, i’ll get back to it.
i’ve got a jillion things on my to-do list so i better get to-doing them. til next time . . .
36 thoughts on “back to work, you”
Welcome back to reality! Gee, am I really first? Woo hoo!
Lillies of the valley and violets—bring me back to going to visit Nana and Grampa in the spring. Thanks for bringing me back there. Love the aMazeing sweater
Hmmm…”Ariadne” for the labyrinthine sweater? The cable reminds me of Ariadne’s clew leading Theseus through the labyrinth. (Jeesh, labyrinth is a weird looking word!)
Wow, tons of pics in this post! Love the lily of the valley, mine are just opening!
ooh, I just ordered a skein of the legend yarn in gorgeous reds, I can’t wait to get it!
As always, gorgeous pics of your garden!
I love the shot of that scarf in the Lily of the Valley patch! The dog and David are pretty cute too!
Ah, childhood memories of lily of the valley. Do you know that if you put it in a glass of water that has been tinted with food coloring, you will get striped flowers? Cool, eh?
I’m working on a lily of the valley design right now; single repeat of the modern pattern from “Latvian Lace,” enlarged to include 7 nupps on a bulky alpaca with large needles. Knit in two pieces, grafted in the middle.
Trying to work out increases on the two ends to start at the base of the pattern and increase out to the full pattern width. Still haven’t decided to do it with actually increases and fewer cast on stitches or short rows.
It is amazing how much Hello Kitty stuff is for sale; I always wonder who buys it.
Maybe a name for the sweater that plays off maze/maize? (it is a beautiful golden corn color after all)
Oh, lilies of the valley are my favorite flowers. I always used to miss most of their season when I was at college–my mother would save the very last ones for me when I came home for the summers.
I love that picture of David and Champ! Classic. The knitting and the garden are looking fabulous, and even better together 🙂
I love that dog! Mine sits the same way, but he plants his butt right next to me and leans over. Pressing his side to me. Always right on my knitting arm!
I’ve become quite proficient at stationary left arm knitting.
What a great blog post!
Something for everyone – animals, flowers, toys, food, and the knitting, what beautiful projects!!
PS – is that a remote in David’s hand? ‘man pose’ or what 😉
My friend Stephenie Gaustad stopped by for a few hours this morning (I was between point A and point B in her trip so got lucky) and, since she has low bandwidth at home, I sat her down with my laptop and your blog.
She loved everything about fernfrost, studied and admired the neckline on ondule (sp?) and she gave the nod of approval for your gray briar rose bfl handspun. She’s a fan! I’m going to buy her some Anne Hanson patterns for her birthday this summer.
Thank you for the inspiration!
love the photo of david and that dog
love the fiddleheads
love the gold yarn
love everything 🙂
You need a doggy like that. That picture made me giggle…Also, how do you like bamboo yarn for socks? Does it make the bottoms of your feet burn if you wear it too long? Sometimes certain yarns will do that to me.
The photo of David and the dog is adorable! She looks like a buxom grande dame sitting there, ever so proper.
ha! the picture of david and champ is priceless; it’s easy to imagine that champ has the same facial expression that david does.
and speaking of more hello kitty than you knew existed, i actually own a hello kitty sewing machine that i bought because it was 50% off– it’s a fully-functional sewing machine that normally retails for $90, but for *some* reason target must have been having trouble convincing people that it was not a toy & therefore worth the money. so i was happy to take it off their hands for $45!
Wow, I’m behind on my reading! You’ve been busy and there’s lots to see on your blog. I’m getting ready to visit my family up there and I’m glad to know that so much is blooming!
Okay that picture with David and Champ is amazing. Love the look they’re both giving each other. Chica is a little jealous; you can let David know.
What a great post! So many wonderful things to see and read. Love the dog picture – it’s almost as if she’s miffed that David’s on her side of the sofa AND USING HER REMOTE. Do dogs even know how to use a remote? Glad you had a fun time.
I really like David’s sock! And I had to smile at the pic of the tulip sock and the plant, beacuse that plant is called sock flower in Swedish 🙂
I just had to delurk to say I love the pictures of your garden (and your knitting of course!) I am always amazed by how much knitting you get done, one summer I knit a lot but then my garden was shot. And that dog picture is hilarious, the dog looks so offended that she has to share her sofa!
Oh my…..I LOVE the gold in your sweater…it’s such a beautiful shade…..but Anne, truly? You ate octopus? Ewwwww!!
That picture of Dave and Champ is priceless!
Anne- I can’t get past the picture of David with the dog. You should have put a beer in his paw.
I don’t really have a name for the maize sweater, but something “Aztec” comes to mind…
Mmmm, that soup looks ‘lish. And hear hear on the man socks! I need to get me some of those 🙂
anne – thanks for the babysitting tip – I will be a first time grandmother in October and will definitely try the noodle trick! I agree with Kim though – octopus – yeck.
That picture of David and the dog is priceless! My dog does almost the same thing – check it out! Funny thing is, it looks like they’re both the same kind of dog… Wonder if it’s a boxer thing?
http://klarastraat.blogspot.com/2009/04/cinder-and-car.html
You realize that you might not be David’s only soulmate right? Seriously, I love boxers and if I didn’t have allergy men in my house I would definitely have one. They are Terrific Dogs.
Oh variegated Soloman’s Seal! Love IT!
I’m glad you posted your pretty spring flowers, that reminds me that I need to go out and look for my mom’s….assuming the sun shows its face again soon….
LOVE that photo of David and Champ – what a hoot.
The dog picture is funny! A friend of ours has a dog who thinks he is totally human too.
I have a window box of LotV and Solomon’s Seal (our apartment gets NO sun, so I needed shade-lovers) and there hasn’t been so much as a flowery peep from either of them! How is it that they’re suddenly in full-bloom in your cold neck of the woods? I am jealously awaiting that lovely smell.
Hee hee! Korean grocery stores are awesome…I spent many a sunday afternoon at one (mom would drag the whole family there after church!). and being almost done with being in my 30’s and still loving hello kitty is probably why you saw so much of it!
I finished petite Maplewing and I LOVED knitting it. I am totally casting on for the regular size once I have finished my snowflakes in cedarwoods shawl.
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