Spring Ephemerals

Take a look at this picture. Notice the lovely pale blue sky and light cloud cover, the bare stark branches of the deciduous forest, the slight hint of green lurking underneath it all. I just took this picture at our house in Indiana. It is the 25th of March at around 6 in the evening.

What do you suppose the temperature to be? 40 degrees Fahrenheit? 50 degrees? sixty? Oh, ok maybe it's a remarkable 70 degrees Fahrenheit this fourth day of spring. By the way, it was in the teens just a few days ago.

No, the temperature here at this moment is an astounding and worrisome 85 degrees!

All the spring ephemerals, just now pushing up from the forest floor, are looking heat stricken. I can relate.


This is where we are moving this spring:

I guess we're ephemeral too.

Progress Notes

I thought I should post some progress pictures. The gold in my restart on Taylor's sweater. Its going much easier. I love the color and the sweater will be very nice. Zoooming along!












The left mitten got me to learn the magic loop approach to circular knitting. Much easier for my lumpy fingers than doublepoints.















And then of course there is Donegal whimpering in its basket while I play with these other projects.

And then, I joined a knit along to make a pair of fantastic gloves! more on that later in April.

And then, I made the delicious error of going up to a new yarn store in Indianapolis the other day. Of course they had a sale, of course Noro Silk Garden was 40% off. Of course I had to buy them out of their entire stock. Yikes! But honestly, who could resist?

And then I had to get a start on the jacket in Noro of course. Here's the start of a sleeve and the front right panel:



I'm knitting this aran weight 40% silk wool blend double stranded on US 4 needles. This sweater will be bullet proof baby! And OH! the colors! I'm mixing up all sorts of their color combinations, what fun!

I just got new glasses, and what a difference a little clarity makes.

So, that's my update for now, gotta get packing, I'm driving out to New Mexico tomorrow to go house hunting. Wish me luck!

Spring?

We woke to snow this morning. It was 60 degrees yesterday with lots of wind. A full moon and eclipse tonight. Must be spring.

Al woke up before dawn to greet the snow. This is the driveway.

Norsk Strikkedesign

Well, I finally could afford a copy of Norsk Strikkedesign. What a wonderfully inspired book. The patterns are beautiful and complement the objects made perfectly. I am intrigued by the stranded pattern Betty Harmansen created for her Jacket and hat. So I knit up the charcoal yarn previously for Aberlady with some Wintergrass Aran weight tweed I had in my stash. I knit this swatch on US 1 needles, which made for a very tight stitch. But what I am thinking of would really benefit from the structure this approach yields.

Anemoi Mittens Redux

Wow, I think this has got to be the prettiest thing I have ever knit. I love this pattern, and the mitten is intelligently designed. Can't wait to finish the left hand.

I was so excited about this I haven't yet done the finishing work, and it shows. But isn't this neat?

Emma had to get in on the action. She just got a haircut.

The colors of this picture are pretty true. The burgundy is a very fine wool thread that had to be doubled to make the fingering weight of the gold color. The gold is a very very soft fingering weight wool called Wensleydale lustre longwool. very fine and soft.

CableKnit Jacket

This is the first sweater I tried knitting. As you can see, it came out a little large. I was so concerned about knitting something too small....

It is a pattern called "sweater Jacket" published by Sandnes Isldvarefabrik under their "tradition" collection #TD0006. Its knit in a very spongy aran weight marino on US 4 and 7 needles.

My friend Gordon gave me the lovely buffalo head nickel buttons. the white knobly thing on the chest is a gathering of rose quartz crystals I sewed on the sweater when I loaned it to my Aunt to wear in the chilly hospital. She particularly loved the yummy warm quality of this oversized sweater. Sadly, Rita has moved on to places you hopefully don't need clothes. I love that this sweater now has this history.

Over the years it has seen a lot of wear. I like the pattern and design so much I'm now thinking of knitting it up again. Only this time I will be using a sturdy tweed on smaller needles. More for outdoor work than indoors with a good book.