Spring May be Here

We're finally expecting some nice weather this week. That's good, because we had a lot of greenhouse damage during a severe windstorm on Oct. 25. Managed to get 2 greenhouses repaired by the end of November, then the severe cold hit. We're running out of room, so we're working hard on plants and greenhouse repair.

Finally, a finished project. This is my first completed lace shawl. I enjoy knitting lace, but don't enjoy knitting finest yarn on large needles. But I love the product so I will certainly do more. This plum-colored shawl is from the Victorian Lace Today book, and I used Jamieson and Smith's 2 ply laceweight.

I'm still plodding along on the large, large alpaca man's cardigan. 1/2 sleeve and a front to go. Hope to be done by Easter. I've never done so much ripping in my life, because I get the basket-weave pattern offset one stitch and don't notice it till 2-3 inches later. But I'm happy with how the sweater is turning out. I'll make sure the next few alpaca sweaters have a simpler pattern. This is when I wish there were no copyright issues. Since my friend is selling the sweaters, I have to make all original designs, so it's worth the time investment for the first one, because then I can just follow my own patterns, then it's mindless knitting.

My next shawl project has been on the needles for a long time. This one's a Cobweb lace shawl, a very fine thread-like 1-ply Shetland lace yarn. When the shawl is done, it will be very large, but should be able to be pulled through a wedding ring. It's not that I 'm not enjoying working on it, but other projects always come up that are higher priority. The picture shows a 2mm needle to the right of the cobweb thread.

Till next time: Upstretched arms make grandmas put off rheumatism till tomorrow. (Julie B. Jones)

Good news, crazy news. We're planning a big family dinner for Easter Sunday. I don't really enjoy the everyday cooking, but I love to put on a spread for family gatherings. Because it's such a busy time, I had the menu all planned, the shopping all done. On Saturday I got news that we can expect another 8 to come on my sister-in -law's side (I did invite them). With having taken a substitute teaching job on Wednesday, my week is going to be insane: greenhouse, cleaning, cooking, teaching, shopping and, maybe a tiny bit of knitting.