Knit, Garden, Hike, Repeat

 On the knitting front, I finished my pair of socks using the Winwick Mum pattern and the Turtlepurl yarn. It took me several weeks with school and everything to make the first sock and I messed up the toe part so badly that I actually took scissors to it and cut it off (!) and went at it again. Of course, the second sock went like magic and I finished it in 2 days. I was a little dismayed that the yarn ends did not weave in very well (especially as I had alternated colors for the cuff, heel, and toes) and did not improve after blocking. When I went back to look at the yarn, sure enough, the yarn is superwash wool, so will not stick to itself. If I had known that, I would not have just knit straight ahead and not switched colors. 

I am pretty happy with these overall though. 

What I am NOT happy with is the cardigan I started last summer. It is a cotton cardi with no buttons and it should be easy. I stopped knitting it because the cotton yarn was giving me no end of grief with the stitches seemingly constantly slipping off the needle. Well, I pulled this UFO out this week and had another go, but when reading the directions I was at a loss. "Selvedge stitch"--"Sew on sleeves"--"Sew on collar." I fiddled and thought and just could not wrap my head around what to do. It seemed the selvedge stitch was to be put in the wrong place--and wouldn't I need a row of those stitches? The more I looked at my uneven knitting and thought about having to somehow evenly pick up stitches on bound off stitches, I just said to myself, no. 

Alas, this project is officially scrapped. Life is too short for this kind of thing.

Instead, I cast on the Lunenburg pullover by Amy Christoffers. This may have 5 balls of yarn going all at once, but I definitely feel more comfortable knitting something like this.

Meanwhile, the flower garden is over the top! Bursting with color and variety.

Saturday, I went on a group hike up to Anna Ruby Falls, a dynamic double waterfall. 

The trail was thick with rhododendron and passed over many water ways. It was a fairly challenging ascent, but the falls at the top were a fabulous reward and a great place to stop for lunch before heading back down. 

Everyone on the hike was so nice and interesting and enthusiastic. 

 My son and I went out this morning, poking around in the woods for snakes. We saw a pair of water snakes, but didn't even bother to take a picture of them. He calls them "lowest of the low tier snakes." In other words, super common. It was really just too hot for snakes today.

 But we didn't mind. We did get to see this this glorious mimosa in full bloom!

Warm and Cold Spring

 Typical of spring, some days this week were wonderfully warm and some were seriously cold. Like sleet in April cold. That was yesterday. We were talking to someone outside when suddenly, the sky opened up and freezing rain was falling on us!

I don't mind cold weather, but I had hoped to plant my garden and get the bulk of the annuals in during my spring break.

Well, no worries, because today was warm as ever and we got the vegetable garden planted.

Every year we add a few more vegetables it seems. Last year we had incredible yields from the poblano, but the plant began to die before the peppers were mature. This year, we put the poblano in his own pot like we have traditionally done. We hope this helps the fruit mature. ??  Gardening is fun for me because each year I never know which plants will do well and which won't, and I love problem solving and trying to fix mistakes from one year to the next.

The fava beans are all finally taking off (some people call these broad beans) since the weather warmed up. And the sugar snap peas are coming up alongside the kale (Nero di Toscana). The kale seeds were free!

I also put in a ton of flowers, but half of those are seeds so I didn't take any pictures. Someone gifted us some amaranth--which grows like 5 feet tall. I sewed a few of those seeds and we shall see what results!

On the cold days, I was able to read and knit. I knitted a pretty simple colorwork hat. It is called the Nordic Fair Isle Slouch Hat. I made it with Cloudborn Fibers fine highland wool I got on closeout last year.  The weight of the yarn was an exact match for that in the pattern which is why I bought it.

I loved making a cable cast on and knitting the corrugated ribbing! I made this in one day and never had to tink back even once. I guess I am getting better--finally--at knitting. Hooray!

I also started a sock using self striping yarn from Turtlepurl in the color Bob's Camping Trip. This yarn is so soft and delicious!! It is a bit more costy than some other yarns, but when I got it out to drape over my swift, I fell in love with it. I LOVE these saturated colors. I got the pack that has the alternate color for the cuff, heel, and toes.

I am using the sock pattern from Winwick Mum. I have 2 pairs of socks I made from her pattern, and they fit me better than other socks I have made, so I am using her pattern again. It is a straight forward top down sock. So nice to knit a sock and listen to an audio book on a rainy day!

Tomorrow is back to school. I am looking forward to seeing all my youngsters again and hearing how bored they were on break and yet how boring school is too except that now they get to be with their friends. Ah! Teens.

Have a great week!

A Year of Knitting

Last summer I decided it would be the summer I learned to knit socks.  I followed the Winwick Mum sock tutorial.  I got as far as the heel flap and had to rip out several times. 

The needles were narrow and the yarn was thin.  I lost track of stitches over and over again and got frustrated and frogged the whole thing.
It turned out not to be a summer to learn how to knit socks. Too many other things were going on!

I bought a pattern for an easy garter-stitch shawl and started in on that, but lost interest as I am prone to do and instead crocheted up a chunky basket using thick yarn and a big hook. This was very satisfying!

Using the same yarn, but in a different color, I knitted up a dog sweater for my sweet pit-bull who has that super short hair which makes me cold to look at him. (No pictures yet of him wearing it--it got too warm for it as soon as it was off the needles--of course!)

I figured, by then, if I could handle the dog sweater--which involved some creative shaping to get over his big chest and then taper down his narrow waist--I could go back to the socks.  Which I did.

Obviously I am not worried about being matchy matchy.

The "good" heel flap

I ended up with one heel flap being much more tightly knit than the other (which is not visible in the picture--nor will anyone else really ever notice since that bit is inside the shoe). I am sure this was probably due to beginners anxiety as this was the area I had had so much trouble with starting out.

At the end of all this, I was ready to finish up the shawl.  It is the Beachcomber shawl from Knit Picks. I like it, but it is an unusual shape.  I am going to soak it and block it and see how it looks when it grows a little.  

Once I got going, it did not take long to make.  I like the colors a lot and the overall feel of it.  I messed up on one of the stripes--made it the wrong color.  But I can't even find where I did that anymore.  Now I just need to go the beach and try it out!

Lots of stripes = lots of ends to weave

This picot edge was particularly fun to do.

My mom got me a sock pattern and some yarn for my birthday. And I am ready to go again with socks--although I think I will use the Winwick Mum pattern again now that I have the hang of it.

The magnolia tree is blossoming, and we keep bringing in a bloom and setting it on the big table. The subtle scent is the smell of the beginning of summer in the south.