conspicuous lack of knitting . . .

look how pretty—i caught this hydrangea in mid-bloom this morning. i think the transitions in hydrangea are the prettiest thing about them. first from white to bright green buds, then the flowers open and you can see a mix of bright green and blue. then afterward, they melt to pink but remain tinged with blue. like this one.

even though i’m doing well with the two-things-a-day rule for my desk work, i’m still having trouble applying it to my knitting. it’s too easy for other stuff to get in the way. i mean, it’s me that’s allowing it—i have to figure out how to stop that.

which is a long way of saying i have almost no knitting to show you today, despite my very firm statement on wednesday that i was running off to start knitting right then. apparently, i get distracted VERY easily.

‘course, the distractions are not frivolous ones—david had time to do some photography and we had several items piled up, waiting for modeling shots. i’ve been taking time to ride my bike (the weather this week is glorious) and the garden produce just keeps on coming in—remember when i sent all my friends home with bags of squash the other night?

well, a mere 24 hours later there were 8 or 9 more to pick, almost oversized

though, i have to say, the varieties i’m growing this year are really nice, even at a bigger size than we usually like them—still smooth-skinned and tender, not seedy. these will go into the freezer while the rest

along with some of last year’s tomatoes, a few eggplant, and peppers—all from the garden— went into a big pot of ratatouille this morning

i love cooking early in the morning like that—by 10 am, dinner is all taken care of, with the added benefit of having all day for the flavors to meld. it just needs a few big handfuls of basil thrown in right before we eat—nice.

i started the second nate sock in a different yarn to show off the newest fiber that briar rose chris is dyeing with—the yummy 2-ply merino sport from mountain meadow wools. it’s not on her site yet, but it IS available from her booth at shows and will be listed on the site very soon.

the yarn is really squishy and heavy with lanolin; you can feel it as you knit. in fact, i switched from wooden needles to metal ones so it would slip along a little better. this yarn is a bit heavier than grandma’s blessing (what i used for the first nate sock), so i went up a full needle size for the leg; i might use a smaller needle for the heel to strengthen it.
i know it’s not much to look at yet, but the pattern will develop quickly and soon you’ll be able to see more.

yesterday i spent a good deal of time editing the photos we took on wednesday evening. while i got that organized, i put the fruit of the vine scarf on to soak—i was really looking forward to blocking it.

the yarn, which was already so soft ad poofy to knit with, bloomed beautifully in its bath and the color stayed nice and true

one of the things about this yarn that revealed itself over time is that the color variations knit up as large washes of subtle tonal; shifts

like a color breeze is passing over the surface of the fabric. it really personifies the name of the yarn for me—colorway sea grass in cashmere lace by shivaya naturals.

this little vine pattern really spoke to me, but i didn’t know what relationship was being formed, at first. as my garden began to develop in character, i saw it, deep in the corner where the watermelon plants are vining up the wire fence

it’s really fascinating to me how this worked—just around the time i was putting the plants in the ground, i got a very strong urge to cast on with this colorway, which i’ve had in my stash since last fall. suddenly it was the IT color and i had to have a scarf from it. and it had to be this stitch pattern. i usually just go with urges that are speaking so loudly, so i cast on and took it to TNNA, to knit at friend’s houses, in the car—it’s been a great traveler (like any hardy vine, i guess).

today, before i even made coffee, i unpinned it—it’s done. it’s a scarf.
it’s green and summery and i love it.

look for the pattern in a few days—we just need to take a few nice modeling photos.
have a great weekend; i promise there’ll be more knitting next time