This Post's for Mom

Just checking in, Mom, so you can see the latest silliness two of your daughters are up to!



P.S. A new knitted drawing's up at Quotidiart.

Pattern Release, and an Invitation

A little something to liven up your mid-summer knitting: my new Squash Blossom Bookmark pattern. It's now available in my Etsy shop and as a Ravelry download.



It takes a small amount (far less than one skein) of two colors of fingering weight yarn. I used Knit Picks Essential Kettle-Dyed sock yarn, in Grasshopper and Gold. But of course you can use any colors you like--you could make a Goth squash blossom in purple and black, or a wintry one in white and gray. Techniques include working in the round on small dpns and knitting an I-cord, making it an intermediate or advanced beginner pattern.

The Squash Blossom Bookmark will also be available in the 2010 Knitting Pattern-a-Day Calendar, where it will be the March 31 pattern. You can get the calendar later this year at your favorite LYS or bookstore, or--if you like to take care of things well in advance--you can preorder it now at Amazon.com.

And here's the invitation: This Friday, July 10, there's an opening reception from 5 to 7 pm for the Works on Paper show at the Northampton Center for the Arts. My knitted drawing Cloud Frock is one of the artworks by 40 or so local artists in the show. If you're in the neighborhood, please stop by and say hello! The exhibition runs from July 10 through August 8, and summer gallery hours are Thursday through Saturday, 4-7 pm. (Click the link for directions to the center.)

The reception is part of Northampton's monthly gallery walk, Arts Night Out. One of the other shows you can see that evening is "I Heard a Voice: The Art of Lesley Dill" at the Smith Art Museum. I've seen the Dill show twice already and plan to see it at least once more--it's that good. I highly recommend it, especially if you're a fan of Emily Dickinson's poetry.

An Addition to the Family

You know what they say about rabbits . . .







Bunny Nugget, a free knitting pattern by Rebecca Danger

Today's Horoscope

I'm taking a vacation day today. And my horoscope is just perfect:

"You're officially off duty now. And after everything you've been doing lately, even someone as hardworking and diligent as you are wouldn't be able to think of a single reason why you shouldn't be entitled to some serious, guilt-free time off. Now that you've actually been given a chance to sit back and relax, don't mess around. Do it up right. Get yourself a few movies, a pizza and some ice cream -- oh, and company. You'll probably want company."

I will definitely do my best to "do it up right." And for company, why I've got Funny Bunny, who I made last night while watching Harold and Maude:





Pattern: Bunny Nugget, by Rebecca Danger
Yarns: Leftover Berroco Peruvia and Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted Multi
Needles: US5 dpns

I discovered this cute little pattern thanks to my coworker MJ, who recently made Penelope, the Empathetic Monster, another pattern by Danger. You can get the pattern for Penelope and other awesome monsters at Danger Crafts.

Happy 4th of July to my American readers! I hope your holiday includes some time for knitting. Funny Bunny and I hope the rain stops soon.

Death by Poisoned Oysters

Every weekend for the past couple of months, I've had a long "to do" list, all the way up through yesterday, when I taught the last session of my lace class. I'm so tired of waking up each Saturday and immediately thinking about how to make time for the art, knitting, design, etc. projects I want to accomplish before I go back to work on Monday.

Today I said "to heck with all that." I hopped in the car, headed up to the Montague Bookmill for a bagel and coffee, and began a totally freeform day. I read the paper, I knit, I watched the sky cloud up, then clear, then cloud up again.

I always feel very grounded at the Bookmill, which strikes me as strange given that when you're there you're not on the ground at all but perched above a rushing river:



I discovered that the best time of day to get a seat in the cafe is early in the morning. If you know the place, you know what I mean--on summer weekends it's generally overrun by the Laptop Army, with no seats to be had anywhere, indoors or out. This morning it actually looked like this:



Imagine! There was only one other person--a writer seated at the table behind me. He was writing not on a laptop but with ballpoint pen on looseleaf paper.

From there I drove from Montague through Leverett and up Richardson Road, where I lived for four years, many moons ago. It's a steep dirt road winding through the woods. When it dead ends it meets up with the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail. I used to hike the M&M in all seasons; it was especially beautiful right after a snowfall.







I don't know why, as a Midwestern girl, I feel so at home in the woods of New England. I love the smell of pine needles, the calls of jays and chickadees and woodpeckers, the thrumming of bullfrogs in summer, whipoorwills singing at dusk, big heavy hemlock branches weighed down by snow in winter.

It's been a few years since I last hiked here. Today the pond was swollen by all of our recent rain; sometimes I had to bushwhack where water overran the trail. I reconnected with familiar landmarks:





That stone marker indicates the town line between Leverett and Montague. There was evidence all around of busy beavers:







I took lots of photos of the colors and textures that caught my eye:





After I left the M&M I headed to the Leverett Coop for a quick bite to eat. I couldn't resist photographing this inexplicable string of rubber ducks hanging outside:



Not sure what they were all about! Then I drove at my leisure through Shutesbury all the way to Route 202. Heading south on 202 towards Belchertown, I passed Packardsville Road and suddenly remembered a cemetery there, where I once found a very cool letterbox. I turned around, found the cemetery, and without much trouble located the Oyster Tombstone Letterbox. What a blast from the past! I was the first person to find the box - on October 4, 2003:



The original logbook is still in the box and in good shape after six years. I amassed an impressive collection of mosquito bites on my ankles while I sat on a stone wall and flipped through the book. But it was totally worth it, just to see this unusual tombstone once again and ponder the lives of the people it mentions (click to embiggen and more easily read the story):



Seems like a Stephen King story waiting to be written, doesn't it?

Speaking of Steeking

I am living proof that even at the age of 52, one can learn new things, even potentially scary things like how to cut your knitting. Last weekend I took a workshop on steeking at WEBS, taught by Annie Foley. As it turns out, steeking isn't scary at all. In fact it's kind of fun.

We had to knit up a 72-stitch tube in advance of the class. Here's mine, made with Vermont O-Wool:



We made a little steeked neckline on one side of the tube by placing some stitches on scrap yarn, knitting around and casting new stitches on over them, then working neckline shaping for about 6 rows. We secured stitches on either side of the center with contrasting lighter weight yarn and a crochet hook. And then - we cut! It really was not that big a deal.

After picking up stitches, we worked a couple rows of garter stitch, bound off, and then on the wrong side whipstitched down the folded-over steek. Here's how mine looked on the right and wrong sides:





After that we went around to the other side of our tube and secured stitches from top to bottom, as if for the front of a cardigan. And then once again - we cut. I was surprised at how neat and tidy the steek looked:



Is there more steeking in my future? Time will tell - maybe a Fair Isle cardigan?

I have two itsy bitsy FOs to show. The first is knit with some Valley Yarns Goshen that my sister Betsey gave me last winter (left over from an awesome shawl she crocheted). For her recent birthday I gifted some of that Goshen right back to her with Eunny Jang's Lacy Sachet, a free pattern available at Knitting Daily:





The second FO is a swatch of Quilted Lattice from Barbara Walker's A Treasury of Knitting Patterns. I made it for the Walker Treasury Project using Valley Yarns Colrain, a worsted-weight 50/50 merino/Tencel blend:





Walker comments that this stitch pattern is fun to knit, and I have to agree. And it goes lickety-split thanks to the large number of slipped stitches.

The best news of the day is that we had sunshine all day long and no rain! After work, I picked strawberries at the Brookfield Farm and took my sweet time, lingering as long as possible in the marvelous sunshine. I picked some snow peas too, and had a delish simple supper of steamed snow peas mixed with brown rice and a little butter. Mmmm.

Last but not least, I must give a shout out to Kristin, who recently finished her second Emily's Firmaments Shawl. I love the beautiful summery green she chose. As you can see from her Ravelry project page, the woman is a lace knitting powerhouse.

And now, time for more strawberry snacking . . .

Starting Stuff

What better way to deal with stress than casting on? Of all the memorable things Elizabeth Zimmerman said or wrote about knitting, my favorite is: Knit on, with confidence and hope, through all crises. My way of dealing with stress and unwanted change at work this week was to cast on a Swallowtail Shawl.

I had promised myself I would not start any new lace projects until Mimosa is finished. But Mimosa is almost done. This morning I begin the last chart--22 rounds to go!

I also started this today:


Those are a couple of "babies" from my mother-in-law tongue plant. I repotted them this morning and will take them to work. My office has no natural light, but this is a hardy plant that isn't terribly high maintenance. So maybe they'll be alright.

It's a gloomy Sunday here in western Mass. Cool and rainy. Can't be good for the strawberries - I think yesterday was the lone sunny day in the entire past week. But I'm finding today's gloom soothing. I love looking at the fog rising over the Pelham Hills:



In art news: I've posted a new knitted drawing at Quotidiart. Check it out!

Now, time to work on Mimosa while listening to Sticks and String.

Project Pileup

The secret projects that have occupied me for the past couple of months are all done. Hurray! That means I can get back to work on other things--things that can actually be blogged about. So without further ado, here's my Sunday WIP Report . . .


Pattern: Mimosa, a square lace shawl knit in the round, from Bad Cat Designs
Yarn: Jaggerspun Zephyr in Ruby


Pattern: 64-st stockinette socks
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in the Caribou Creek colorway

They're both at the heels now, ready for a daylong meeting I have to attend this week.


Pattern: Mitered Top by Norah Gaughan, from the summer Vogue Knitting
Yarn: Classic Elite Classic Silk

I'm only a few rows away from the waist ribbing! This is moving along faster than I thought it would. (It helps that the stitch count decreases by 8 on every other round.)


Pattern: Claudia Scarf
Yarn: Schaefer Anne in the Margo Jones colorway

I work on this crochet scarf every now and then, with no sense of urgency. After all, it's a fall scarf and too hot to wear in summer.


Pattern: Lace Class Sampler, a pattern I wrote up for a class I'm teaching at Metaphor Yarns
Yarn: Classic Elite Silky Alpaca Lace in Cloud Grey

I knit my sampler in laceweight yarn; the students are using DK or worsted. We'll block them next week and compare how the three stitch patterns look in different weights and different fibers. Then they're going to learn about triangular shawl construction, various cast on methods, ways to keep track of where you are, and more. Should be fun!

I finished a new knitted drawing this week, too, but am not ready to blog about it yet. Yes, you read that right. A knitted drawing. More on that another time.

I'm glad I have so many projects to keep me busy. It takes my mind off sad events. We've had some layoffs this week at work, which came as a shock since they'd told us the budget was balanced for the coming fiscal year and there would be no layoffs. One of the people let go is a dear friend, a truly creative, hardworking, goodhearted person. She's the kind of person you can count on in any situation, "the salt of the earth" as they say. It seems so unfair--to her, to everyone. I'm going to miss her a lot.

I've experienced many emotions since we got the news--anger, disbelief, sadness. I could end today's post with the words of that old pessimist, Bob Dylan. Because there have been many moments in recent days when I've felt exactly like this:

Well my sense of humanity has gone down the drain
Behind every beautiful thing there's been some kind of pain

That would be a perfectly honest sentiment to end with. But no. In honor of the upbeat, positive spirit of my friend, I'm signing off instead with the words of that old optimist, Ray Davies:

Here’s wishing you the bluest sky,
And hoping something better comes tomorrow.
Hoping all the verses rhyme,
And the very best of choruses to
Follow all the doubt and sadness.
I know that better things are on the way.

I know you’ve got a lot of good things happening up ahead.
The past is gone it’s all been said.
So here’s to what the future brings,
I know tomorrow you’ll find better things.
I know tomorrow you’ll find better things.

Sunshine State Knitting

Tonight I'm blogging while listening to rain drumming on the back porch roof at my mother's house in Florida. Seems like every afternoon or early evening, the skies open up and the rain comes down pretty hard. Being a Northerner who's not a huge fan of heat and humidity, I especially like this cooler part of the day.

The blog's been quiet as I wrap up two design projects and a birthday present. I can show you this, though. It's one of my travel projects:



That's the Mitered Top by Norah Gaughan in the new issue of Vogue Knitting. I'm working it in the round--for this pattern I don't see any reason not to. I've got a lot of stitches on the needles, but I'll take that small temporary inconvenience any day over the task of seaming.

I saw lots of lovely butterflies at Epcot Center today, including this one, which stayed motionless for the longest time:



There were other kinds of stationary butterflies to be seen. Here's my Mom posing with one:



There are more flower butterflies and a certain famous mouse in this shot:



Aside from the evening rains, my second favorite time of day here is early in the morning. At that hour, the heat hasn't built up yet and, just like in Massachusetts, lots of birds are singing. That's also when the friendly neighborhood kitty is out and about. She trots across the street each morning when I open the front door looking for her. She hops up on my lap and purrs while getting her chin and ears rubbed.



Thanks to Ravelry, I was able to meet up with a couple of Kissimmee knitters while here. My mom and I had a nice time sitting and knitting with Adrienne and Elaine at Books a Million the other night. Adrienne and I met a year ago, when my mom and I were in Michael's. I had just arrived and was wearing my Shetland Triangle shawl because it had been chilly on the plane. Adrienne--who works at Michael's--recognized the pattern and asked me about it. Turns out we were both on Ravelry, so we exchanged Rav names and have been following each other's knitting adventures ever since. It was great to see some of Adrienne's drop spindles and handspun yarn, not to mention the awesome flame socks she's knitting for her boyfriend. Be sure to check out her blog to see the Sunflower Doll she made for her granddaughter. It's incredibly sweet!

Yarny Nest and Ramen

I'm very close to finishing up a design project and am just a teensy bit worried I might run out of yarn. So I frogged one of the many swatches I made. As I unraveled the swatch, I wrapped the yarn around a book. Then I tied it and slid it off. It looked like a golden nest:



Then I soaked it in water, before hanging it up to unkink and dry. It looked like this when it hit the water:



Yarny ramen noodles! Sometimes, frogging is actually fun.

In other news, I crocheted a washcloth recently with the new organic Simply Cotton from Knit Picks. I added a coral border using Knit Picks CotLin:





Pattern: Vanilla Grit Stitch Washcloth, a free pattern from Lion Brand
Yarn: Simply Cotton from Knit Picks, color: Marshmallow
Hook: 4.5mm

Lovely yarn--makes a soft, squishy cloth that's a pleasure to use. I'm sure I'll be making more of these!

Knitting Oatmeal

My sister Jackie gave me the Yarn Harlot's Never Not Knitting page-a-day calendar for Christmas, and I've really been enjoying it. It's got Stephanie's signature humor, of course, but also tips on techniques and informative tidbits of knitting history. I look forward to tearing off the page each morning to see what the new day says. (The torn-off pages are great for grocery and to-do lists, by the way.)

The other day she talked about how knitters tend to discount the simpler things they make. About something like a garter stitch baby blanket, a knitter might say, "Oh it's nothing, it's just garter stitch." Stephanie argues that these easy "just garter stitch" projects are as worthy as anything more complicated - she likens them to "oatmeal" - ordinary perhaps, but good and necessary.

I completely agree. Though it only took a few hours and was easy as pie to make, I like this cotton washcloth as much as any complicated lace shawl:



I think one of the coolest things about knitting is that it encompasses such a wide range of techniques and levels of difficulty. There's something for every person and every situation, and all of it has value. I say, long live lace shawls that take months to make - but long live humble washcloths, too!

I'm wearing my Alpine today and took some pictures early this morning. The color was wrong in the ones I took the other day, but it was just right under this morning's overcast skies:



I have 3 1/2 skeins of this lovely Peruvia left. What do to with them? A felted bag? Felted slippers? A shrug? Hat and mittens? Hmmmm....

First May FO

My new strategy to get myself to finish a sweater without dragging it out for months has worked. I cast on for Alpine, a free pattern from Berroco, a month ago but haven't blogged about it or posted it on Ravelry. I thought maybe if I didn't show it or talk about it, I'd be more motivated to actually finish it. And it worked: one month from start to finish! (Of course, it helps that this cardi is cropped and has short sleeves . . . )



Pattern: Alpine, a free pattern from Berroco
Yarn: Berroco Peruvia in maize
Needles: US6 and US8

Modifications: Knit the body 1.5 inches longer than pattern specified, and the sleeves 1 inch longer. Wish I'd made the sleeves at least another inch longer, though.



Overall, I'm happy with it. I love the pretty neck bind off. I don't like so much the button being off-center and the way the frontband ribbing pulls out. However, you can see both of those things right on the pattern, so who can I blame? Just another instance of knitterly denial.

The fit, especially in the sleeves, is a little snug, but that's purposeful. I knit it for future-me, not current-me. I've lost 10 pounds since beginning of March and will be losing more, so I didn't want this cardi to fit perfectly right now. Having it be just a little small gives me motivation to keep going!

Even so, if I were to knit this again, I'd use the larger needle for the body and sleeve ribbing. That way, you wouldn't have to knit the front bands separately and sew them on - you could just knit them right along with the two fronts. (That might help the frontband ribbing lie flat, too.) And for layering, looser sleeves is always a good thing, so no matter what size I made this, I'd work the sleeve ribbing on the larger needle.

I'm very happy with the button. It's coconut, from JoAnn's:



Several of my lace projects remain unbloggable, because they're either design projects or gifts. But I can show you progress on a washcloth I'm making using the new organic cotton, Simply Cotton, from Knit Picks:



That's the Chinese Waves dishcloth from Maggie's Rags. Very easy and quick to work. I can't say I'm a fan of worsted weight cotton, but this yarn might change my mind. It's softer and more flexible than you'd expect from a cotton, and it's not shredding at all. I'm looking forward to seeing how it behaves after washing. There's a very informative post on the Knit Picks blog about this yarn, if you're curious.

I'm already thinking about sweaters for fall, pondering which yarns in my stash to pair with which patterns. But first things first. You know that stylish mitered sleeveless top by Norah Gaughan in the summer issue of Vogue Knitting? It's been calling to me since the magazine arrived in my mailbox. Yesterday, I bought yarn for it (on sale, natch)--Classic Elite's Classic Silk:



Swatching will ensue, maybe even today. . .

Early Morning Entertainment

I'm sick as a dog with a cold and shouldn't even be at the computer, but I just have to share the entertainment in my backyard this morning. This guy showed up while I was having breakfast:



He was soon joined by three pals:



The four turkeys performed a preening dance, moving slowly forward and backward. They sometimes looked like a lead singer and his backup vocalists:



There were a few females rummaging around in the brush. They didn't seem to be paying any attention:

Beginnings

Having finished my square for the Ravelry U.S. blanket #4 for afghans for Afghans, I'm realizing that's it's very much a win-win thing: I got to try out a new stitch pattern and use up some wool in my stash (you have to use wool or other animal fibers - no acrylic or cottons) and, when the square is joined together with all the other squares, a baby in Afghanistan will get a warm, colorful blanket.

So I've signed up to make another square--that's one beginning.

Beginning #2: I cast on a pair of socks after finishing the afghan square:



Pattern: Basic 64-st plain vanilla stockinette with 1x1 ribbing
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Caribou Creek
Needles: 2.75mm to start, 2.25mm for the leg

Betsey sent me this yarn last summer, as a prize in our Team Sennott Ravelympics efforts. I pondered it all winter...should it be a scarf? A pair of mitts? But because I don't have any socks in these colors and, even worse, don't even have any socks on the needles right now (!), I've started a pair of socks.

The weather's warming up, which means I'm doing more outdoor walking, which means I need an easy "walk and knit" project. These socks fit the bill. I don't wear socks in summer, so there's no rush to finish them. If they're not done till fall, that's fine.

Beginning #3: Meta, owner of Metaphor Yarns, has moved into a new space on Route 2 (Mohawk Trail) in Shelburne, bigger and right next to a great quilt shop. She's having a grand opening sale this weekend (follow that link for hours and directions) with some pretty amazing door prizes and incredible discounts. I'm supposedly trying to knit from stash this year, but I fell off the wagon yesterday. However, some of the yarn I got will be used for afghan squares, so it's OK, right?

I had a nice time checking out Meta's new digs. They're just as sunny and pleasant as her old location in Shelburne Falls. I only wish I lived closer!

Beginning #4, the Bad Beginning: I've felt congested the last couple of days; wasn't sure if it was allergies or the beginning of a cold. Today it's obvious--it's a spring cold.

So, time for more OJ and lots of rest. Have a great Sunday!

A Ten-Inch Square

When I read on Karin’s blog that she's collecting and sewing together squares for a blanket (actually a couple of them) for Afghans for Afghans, I decided that, busy though I am, I have time to knit just one ten-inch square. So I signed up over at Ravelry and got assigned square #11 for US blanket #4.

Here's the start of it:



The first stitch pattern I chose was working out to only 8 1/2 inches, so I started over with one that pulled in less. This second attempt is 9 1/2 inches, so it should block out to exactly ten inches. The stitch pattern is #15 from Stanfield's New Knitting Stitch Library and the yarn is Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Rain.

If you want to join this effort, see Karin’s blog post - she's got all the links there you'll need. I saw on Ravelry this morning that US blanket #5 is full and a sixth has been started, so I think more knitters are still welcome.

Everything Up to That Point Had Been Left Unresolved

It's hard to know what to blog about when almost all my current projects are unphotographable or unbloggable. I've got two design projects going that I can't be specific about right now, and a birthday present that also must remain secret.



But I can tell you a little about Mimosa, which today I worked onto two 32-inch needles to get a better sense of its true size. I'm at the end of the 4th repeat of the main chart, so it's decision time - knit a 5th repeat, or move on to the edging? Much as I'd love to start the edging, I think it's going to end up too small unless I work the main chart another time. So...I'll stifle the desire to be finished and be patient.

I got this beautiful skein of amber Mini Maiden yarn last week. It literally glows, so much so that I gasped when I opened the package:



I immediately started swatching for a design project with it. This yarn is indescribably lovely to look at and to work. So incredibly silky. I can't show you what I'm making with it, but here's a little detail of it knit up:



You can see a little bit of another design project in that photo. The yarn is Classic Elite's Silky Alpaca Lace in Cloud Gray. Here's some more of it:



This beaded lace project is pure pleasure to work on. And I work on it a lot - I need to complete at least 10 rows a day to finish it on time. I look forward to sharing the finished piece with you later this year!



I continue to work on How Long Did It Take You to Make That? (above, on Day 49) for five minutes every morning, usually right before I sit and meditate. You can read more about it, and see a new drawing too, over at Quotidiart.

And now, back to Mimosa. I'd like to finish at least one more round today ... there are currently over 400 stitches per round ...

Tudor Grace

Pattern: Tudor Grace, by Anne Hanson
Yarn: Knit Picks Gloss Lace in Celery
Needle: US3/3.25mm Knit Picks Options circular
Dimensions after blocking: 8.5 inches wide by 58 inches long
Dimensions before blocking: 6 inches wide by 48 inches long

I thoroughly enjoyed knitting this--I think it's one of Anne Hanson's prettiest scarf designs. I'm always in awe of how many gorgeous patterns she produces. It seems like every week she introduces a new one. Does she ever sleep?



This was my first time using the Gloss Lace yarn from Knit Picks, which is a silk-merino blend. It won't be my last. It has a bit more body than other merino/silk laceweights and was very pleasant to knit up. Not at all splitty and moves along like lightning on a smooth needle (and I do love those Knit Picks Options needles for lace). One skein is more than enough for this pattern.



I'm so happy with this scarf. It feels good against the skin, and the color is just right for spring. It's also possibly the fastest scarf I've ever knit (started March 2, finished April 3). This one gets five stars on Ravelry!

Earth Hour Knitting

Did you do anything to observe Earth Hour last night? I turned off all the lights, radio, and computer, lit candles, poured myself a glass of red wine, and worked on my Tudor Grace scarf.

Last year, as I recall, I was working on my Stork's Nest Scarf. I remember now that I enjoyed the quiet hour so much I thought I'd do it regularly. But then I never did. So this year, I think I'll aim for a personal Earth Hour on the last weekend of each month.

I live in a condo and could hear that not all of my neighbors were into Earth Hour. Radios and TVs were obviously still on. But that was just fine--as I knit I focused on the faint bits of sound I was hearing. "Found music" I guess you could call it. It made for a pleasantly meditative hour.

All things counter, original, spare, strange

Nature is suddenly speeding up, and it seems that on every walk I take lately, there is something new and wonderful to be seen. Like these, which I photographed on a walk up North East Street yesterday. I think they must be skunk cabbage, but if you think it's something else, let me know:



And these (May apples?), seen near the Mount Holyoke College Botanic Garden last week:



The snow is pretty much gone, which seems to delight these neighbors of mine who were out enjoying the sun yesterday:





Ponds are thawing:



Sap buckets are filling:





And the Mount Holyoke and Smith College spring flower shows are ending. I'm not sure about Smith, but if you didn't make it to the MHC one yet, don't fret. They usually leave the flowers up for a couple of weeks after the show officially closes.

Earlier this week on my lunch hour I took some pictures there. Some pretty stuff:



Some spikey stuff:



And some strange stuff (my favorite):









If you go to the Mount Holyoke flower show, you could also pop in the Art Museum, which is right next door, and check out the exhibition, "What Can a Woman Do? Women, Work, and Wardrobe, 1865-1940." It's got everything from voluminous hoop skirts to voluminous gym outfits and focuses on connections between women's fashions and changing roles in the world. I found myself taken with the excess fabric in some of the nineteenth-century outfits, like the sleeves on this black silk mourning dress from 1863 (sketch by me):



I also enjoyed sketching these bows, placed off-center down the front of a cream-colored wedding dress from 1887:



Aside from being shocked by the tiny waists on some of the dresses (unbelievably tiny even if you take into account corsets), I learned some interesting tidbits at the show. For example, during World War I Mount Holyoke students who worked at neighboring farms while the men were off at war were called "Farmerettes." People in town didn't like seeing the Farmerettes wearing overalls in public so they complained to the college president, Mary Woolley. To keep the peace, she made the Farmerettes wear skirts on the trolley and change clothes when they got to work.

Aren't you glad times have changed? And aren't you glad it's spring? It wasn't only the beginning of spring this week, it was also my Mom's 80th birthday. She grew up on a farm and is my favorite Farmerette. (Happy birthday again, Mom!)

Of Lace, Tulips, and Mohair

I got some lovely pink tulips the other day and have felt the need to photograph them with everything I'm knitting or crocheting. I want a touch of spring in all my project photos on Ravelry!

Here's Mimosa, a square lace shawl from BadCat Designs. I started this as soon as I saw the pattern last summer and have worked on it on and off ever since.



At this point, it's about 60 percent done. There are currently about 400 stitches per round, so it's not a quick project. But that's OK. I love knitting with Jaggerspun Zephyr, so where's the rush?

My Tudor Grace scarf is moving along at a clip, which is surprising since I am not a terribly fast knitter. I really enjoy this stitch pattern--it's so easy, I can even work on it while riding the exercise bike.



"Walk and knit" season is upon us. Today I took advantage of the high 50s temps to walk on our local rail trail. I don't have a pair of socks on the needles, so instead I took along my Claudia Scarf. I discovered it's just as easy to crochet and knit as it is to walk and knit.



What, you may ask, happened to the smoky blue mohair Claudia Scarf? I abandoned that version. The yarn, though luscious, seemed wrong for the pattern. The project was looking like a fuzzy rug and the more I worked on it, the less I liked it. I love the pattern, however, so I started anew with this Schaefer Anne yarn in the Margo Jones colorway.

This week I've also been playing around with some of the Habu Kusa in my stash:





More on that at Quotidiart.

March Mitts

Quick post today, as I have a bunch of stuff to do before heading over to Smith College to meet Jackie and family at the bulb show. I can't wait to drink in the gorgeous scent of hyacinths and freesia. We are lucky in the Pioneer Valley to have not one but two great spring flower shows in March--one at Smith and one at Mount Holyoke. They are the calorie-free March delights here; the non-calorie-free ones are fresh maple syrup on pancakes at the local sugar shacks.

I'll be wearing these today:



Pattern: Spirogyra, by Lynn Vogel
Yarn: Valley Yarns Huntington, a sock yarn. This was a skein of white that I dyed with grape Kool-Aid and some other orange dye. It came out a warm chestnut brown with flecks of lavender. (Unfortunately, the color isn't really right in any photos I took.)
Needles: 2.75mm and 2.25mm dpns





Spirogyra is an easy pattern that fairly flies off the needles. If I make it again, though, I'll use a slightly heavier fingering weight yarn. The fabric is a little bit flimsy. However, using smaller needles wasn't an option, because then they would have been too small.

Because spring is coming, no matter how much snow we get in March, I've started a light, lacey spring scarf:



Pattern: Tudor Grace, by Anne Hanson
Yarn: Knit Picks Gloss Lace, in Celery
Needle: US 3

Tudor Grace is fun to knit. It's only a 6-row repeat, so it goes quickly and is easy to memorize. And there's no need to use markers to set off the lace reps, because the purl columns between them make it easy to always see where you are. Love it!

Last but not least, it's Day 16 for How Long Did It Take You to Make That? Details at Quotidiart.