It's Officially Spring!

A couple of things I’ve forgotten to mention in past messages:

The rhubarb we left out in the alley in pots got happily adopted by someone. My rhubarb roots on the other hand, are still in a bucket. Hope they don’t either dry out or mould before I can get to them. Oh, and the ones we replanted are doing ok thankfully. They have larger leaves and some new ones peeping up.

Somebody actually bought the super-expensive house next door. The For Sale sign has been gone for awhile and some inspector was checking things out. There are still plenty of things undone, such as repainting the front porch and stairs and finishing the fence and gate. Maybe moving the trees that are parked under the power lines and too close to our yard for comfort? Nah, nobody will notice them until they get big enough to be a problem. And then they’ll prune the poor things within an inch of their lives and they’ll look horrible. We want to know what’s happening with the back fence between our properties before I plant the section closest to it. Don’t want stuff all tromped upon but the dough-heads the builder hires. Time is getting urgent or I’ll be planting somewhere else in the garden.

Speaking of gardening, I got some woad seeds from my friend Chris of Joybilee Farm.

I hope I’ll be able to find somewhere to put several of these rather large plants. At least they’re prettier than my madder! This article on cultivation is by her teenaged daughter Sarah who has done a lot of experimenting with woad. I hope she will complete the planned article series soon. Meanwhile she’s taking her knowledge to the national science fair. You go, girl! I need to send Chris a thank-you gift and I know exactly what it will be. But I have to make it first.

Have I mentioned before that I’ve charted out the shaping for the Hepburn Cardi in pattern? Just so I don’t make any major blunders. I’m not good at winging my knitting when trying to carry on a complex cables-and-lace pattern while doing things like “BO 4 st eor twice and at the same time dec 1 st at neck edge every 5 rows 3 times and then every 6 rows 8 times.” I made that up, but you get the picture. It’s even worse when you have to pick the specific number for your size out of the middle of lists like “2 (2, 3, 3, 5, 7)”. Yes, I’ve used highlighter pen to single out my size out of the blur. But the words “at the same time” get me every time. So I use Knit Visualizer (I’m loving the new version 2!) and chart out each section. Sometimes I have to wait until I get there so I know which row of the stitch pattern to start the inc/dec/BO — but that’s ok. Knit/chart/knit/chart is much easier than knit/frog/knit/frog. Yes, I’m a bit anal like that. I have one last chart to do for the front neck area. I have to wait until I get there, but meanwhile I just have to knit as established for 15”. Easy-peasy. For this part I don’t even need the chart I made. At least until I get to the underarms where I use the same chart I already made for the back.

Well, I’m off to my weavers’ guild meeting this morning. Thank heavens for sock knitting to take the edge off the executive meeting. Happily I have to leave it early for my Library Volunteer job. I like that one. Play with books and magazines and chat with everyone who comes in. Best guild job I’ve ever had.

Happy Spring Equinox!