Spring things

Knitting, knitting, knitting. That's all I want to do! I have so many projects going and I want to knit on all of them. There just aren't enough hours in the day! I know. We all feel that way, at least sometimes. I am feeling it very strongly right now.

My Chic Knits hoodie has a completed body and part of one sleeve. I am taking it to knit night with me, so I hope to get more sleeve knitted tonight. I *really* want to finish socks, though, so I might be adjusting my priority list so that socks are highest on the list. Last night I knit on Bob's Escalator sock. I have only about an inch and a toe to go - so close to being finished that I can't resist pushing on to finish that 1 sock. I picked up the gusset stitches on the Maze sock and have started those decreases. It will be tight to finish that before the end of the month but I am trying so hard .....

Sunday is my 60th birthday. I thought I would be more stressed about it than I feel. Maybe it's because I battled cancer last year and so everything is more valuable to me now. Maybe I have changed my outlook on things in general and numbers don't really mean much in the big picture. I like birthdays in general. I love a cake and cards and gifts. I don't feel that this birthday, significant number though it might be, is any more special or any worse than any other, so we aren't doing anything special. I have surprised everyone by asking for a strawberry shortcake rather than my usual chocolate but other than that I just want sunny weather and some time to knit and spin. (I hope to get pretty far down the foot of that Maze sock on Sunday). I hope to get some shetland flicked and maybe spin a basket of it, too. I enjoy doing it, plus I want to empty those bobbins in preparation for the Tour de Fleece.

I have yarn coming. I know that I said that I wasn't casting on for anything new but ..... The crackerjack scarf/cowl idea caught my interest. The idea is that you choose 4 colors for your baseball team. Each color represents home wins, home losses, away wins and away losses. You knit a row (or 2) of the appropriate color after each game, illustrating your teams win/loss record for the season in color. I have to say that I don't really care that much for baseball but my son and several of my friends do, so I have gotten caught up in cheering for the Baltimore Orioles. The scarf, however, will be for my son. The yarn is on the way. :-)
Each night I will knit 2 rows of the appropriate color on the scarf depending on the previous days game results and then move on to sock knitting.


DH is adjusting the size of the veggie garden down. Not only is the blue spruce tree growing into the garden space but the garden is also large and an odd shape. It will be smaller and rectangular, with an actual gate to open instead of having to step over the fence (which is just a bit too high for me to do comfortably). We have to change some of what we usually grow for this year - we had problems with lots of beetles on the green beans last year and some sort of mildew on the cucumbers. It might have just been the weather last year but the master gardeners told us to change the location of what we plant and to avoid some things some years. So the plan is to grow corn, tomatoes, green peppers for sure and possibly green beans, cukes and lettuce in another location this year. I hope it's dry enough to till the garden soon so I can get seeds started. Last year, despite my warning that I would not be able to keep up with the gardening, DH planted a full load. Sure enough, I couldn't keep up and he finally gave in and did the weeding. ;-) This year will be different.

Maryland Sheep and Wool festival is coming up shortly! I can't wait to spend a weekend immersed in fiber! I have no great plans to purchase anything major, though I have no intentions of saying that I won't buy anything. Maybe a skein or two of sock yarn for the Tour de Sock ..... I want to look at samples, feel yarn and be inspired by other people's knits. I want to see sheep and other fiber animals and just experience.

Well, that's all for now. Have a wonderful day.