Mustn't/Must Mantra

I have a lot of diverse projects on the go.

I started drafting this post with a list of those things and honestly my heart started to race with anxiety at the enormity of it so obviously I mustn't focus on barriers, or on the dim prospects of finishing anything...

I mustn't. I mustn't. I mustn't.

No I need to just take one little piece at a time and move some part of any of it forward every day and then give myself credit for doing so.

I must. I must. I must.

'Must start by recognizing successful completions ('Mustn't think how each of these was on its way to being a blog post in real time - mustn't, mustn't, mustn't)...

I organized/hosted/cleaned up after a spring-time get together for my group of friends known as "The Coffee Ladies"...

(I was originally aiming to make this an "Autumn" then "Christmas" then "Winter" get together - obviously missed those targets but I got it done before the end of the school year. Go Me!)

A couple of family dinners were also "produced" including a celebration for My Beloved's Birthday with a cake that demanded the full brunt of my baking experience and resulted in quite possibly the most amazing fire-bearing cake ever "sung" into our dining room.

This thing was a magical combination of eggs, sugar, chocolate, butter and air served beneath a wash of kir-laced, warm, fresh cherry sauce and topped with softly whipped cream. There've been fancier looking, iced cakes around here but nothing more magically delicious and delectable. Beating and baking to just the right moment were uber tricky with this one (As ever its a Martha recipe if you want to try it for yourself !)

I've also been making the effort/taking the time to dig out/integrate things I love from storage and put them to use rather than just racing to cross finish lines with what's handy. Like these awesome ceramic berry baskets my sister gave me a few years ago...

The gorgeous table cloth that reminds me of a wonderful trip My Beloved and I took to Paris...

Assembling colour blocked stacks of well worn vintage and current cook books...

"Styling" these (and other) open kitchen shelves with colour rather than the all-white look I've used the past couple of summers...

I also put myself and attending outfits together for two successful business dinners in two nights last weekend.  The first "black tie" whereof I had less than 24 hours notice and the second that demanded creative purchasing and wrapping of a gift of wine for a young engaged couple (aka the boss's son and his fiance).

We adopted a "Candle Light and Wine" theme using an oversized vase as a "champagne bucket - style holder for the wine and tucked in a big round cande with jars of decorative gravel to put beneath it.

Added wood burned tags we made

And  a card using one of my photographs

All presented in a seasonally-appropriate beachy basket at the pool-side party near the lake.

This was super fun to do, especially since My Beloved worked on it with me and possibly also because we had some Sauvignon Blanc in frosty wine glasses as we "worked". No doubt it helped to fully release our creative energy resulting in something I was happy to see on the gift table.

We got a replacement for the outdoor porch carpet after a hot lawn mower burned a series of holes into the previous one. Lack of a new rug had been delaying the porch up set up for the summer, moving the indoor plants outside to their summer homes bla, bla, bla...its done now though!

I also need to acknowledge that last week's Peony parade  did not remain an idea in my head but actually happened and has been filling the house with the most heavenly scent for nigh on two weeks. Despite peony-knocking rains every couple of days I also continue to successfully manage the "show" both inside and out for the first time ever.

Intellectual "progress" on my attempt to build a Gallery Wall as part of my Living Room upgrades. In other words through much trial and error I am starting to get an idea of what it will take to do this successfully. This is soooooo much more difficult than I had imagined.

(Just realizing how far I've come on this as I compare this photo of the assembly from a couple of weeks ago to what's spread out on the floor this morning!)

So there are successes and progress. I must use it to spur me on to find, somewhere in this knitter's brain, affection for this knit...

I must. I must. I must. There is no reason I shouldn't. It is on gauge, on plan and has already seen many, many hours of effort.

I've also wet blocked the first sleeve as well as the body which is finished to the underarms. So I'm certain of the ultimate size and shape. The thing is, I have a feeling the sleeve could use more ease. It does fit and it is knit to gauge and my original plan so I'm hesitant to rip it out for the sake of a minimal possible improvement.

Resenting that its not done already is only further delaying its completion, turning it into a barrier to planning and getting excited about the summer knitting ahead rather than the gratifying and enjoyable project it should be right now.

Unable to make up my mind as to what to do and distracted by a billionty other things (see above) I've been dealing with the question by not dealing with the question.

I must move on this! I must I must I must!

 'Have to say writing this mantra down is adding clarity and energy and releasing the blocking anxiety already.Thanks so much for dropping by - 'feels like this little "chat" has been a big help!

This Week in Peonies

In the Garden Today

P.S.

Should have included a pic of "Dirty Blankie" the other day...

Here's a link to a first hand account about a new female Shearer trained with the help of funds from Shepherd and Shearer. Seem's they're planning a second go around of the Shepherd/Shearer program this year!

Have you seen the new Spring issue of "Wool People" from Brooklyn Tweed? Here's the super fun teaser video. Here's the actual collection. An ingenue and a more mature woman modeling. I love many of the patterns but only the ones on the younger girl. Happy coincidence? Wishful thinking? Denial? A bit of both?!

I attended an Afternoon Tea yesterday - beautifully executed with lovely little tea sandwiches, fresh baked scones, clotted cream and berries and vanilla tea that was the perfect accompaniment to everything. Look at the lovely little personalized gift bags at each of our places!

Will do my second sowing of peas today and will start some pole beans in pots for transfer when/(if?) it warms up out there.

Every day this week, including yesterday, MAY FIRST, I had painfully cold hands while walking the dog - being optimistic and wearing gloves instead of wool mitts! MAY FIRST! At least it makes getting back into my regular knitting habit easier! (As do Raptor's playoff games - WE THE NORTH!)

So despite the ice going out the other day at the lake we won't be opening the cottage for a while. We're hearing there is still a lot of frost in the ground but where its melted the soil is saturated with water that can't run off through the surrounding frozen land so cars and especially trucks/SUV's are sinking into gravel cottage roads/driveways/launch ramps etc. up to their axels. We'll wait until things thaw and dry out a bit.

'Not like I can't amuse myself around here anyway! (Is that Deco calling my name?)

Finally, lest I've led you to believe Hudson's trims make him too "precious" to go out and just be a dog everyday - this is the typical "look" he sports after an afternoon romp with his pals if the weather is at all damp. Here he's demonstrating his "On the Mat!" trick where he stays by the door until I've cleaned him up and released him to race about checking the house for any new developments that may have occurred while we were out.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Now Underway...

...Spring Planters

...Basil Crop

Deco...I want the "boxy" look Kate Davies describes in the Deco pattern notes but my figure can be a bit assertive in a boxy look. Hence I've contemplated omitting decreases. I read in one Raveler's Deco notes she added stitches (across the back just prior to dividing for the armholes I assume) to make the stitch count at the chest match those at the hip. Doing that would mean I could avoid messing with the Deco pattern at the yoke and around the armhole. My dilemma is, that turns this boxy cardigan into an hourglass shape - much like me but unlike the sweater I want.

I "carried" that conundrum with me yesterday and thought it over as I tidied garden beds of their winter detritus. By the time I came back into the house I had dirty hands, a slightly sore back and resolve to move ahead with adding 8 stitches across two rows and fairly close to the sides so as to hide their presence (an unecessary worry now that they're in and all but undetectable). Now I can work the pattern as written for the fronts. I'll just have to tweek the Deco detail across the back for the revised stitch count. Hopefully its enough. If I still need room I can always tinker with placement of the snap closures.

Much like these two little pots of Basil in an afternoon sunbeam there's nothing wrong with getting what you need from somewhere other than an obvious place right?

Now Hudson and I are off  for our morning hike. Then its back to the garden. Winter leaves quite mess behind! Have a great day and thanks for dropping by! 

Noooooo not March!

It can't be March! I'm still working on my To-be-finished-in-December January February project!

My evenings have been slammed lately and for a variety of reasons, (none of them mine!), there have been a number of very early mornings. Taken together its killing my headway on Ranger. (I'm actually sick of typing "Ranger"!)

With a weekend looming maybe the prospects could be good for an FO next week? On paper it looks promising...

• All male family members are currently skiing in the Rockies hence no cooking or skiing for me this weekend.
• Darling Daughter will of course be "out".
• I've some shovelling to do after this week's storm but there's no precipitation in the forecast to  prompt anything other than that catch up effort.

Over the weekend I have plans to take Hudson for his first Obedience Trial experiences before the real ones start to happen in the spring. There is one each day and that will eat into the time. But still...all I can do is hope and in every spare moment, Knit!

Have a great weekend. thanks for dropping by!

Lost and Found

Hips on rosa glauca species shrub rose

Lost: A couple of hours this morning (and I'm not done yet!) to shoveling the driveway and knocking heavy wet snow off badly bent branches around the garden.

Already Blooming Witch Hazel hamamalis virginiana

Found: A thrill at having had the foresight to plant for visual interest...

cornus "Winter Fire" Dogwood

 ...regardless of the season!

I have also "lost" a few inches of progress on Ranger but have "found" solice that the loss is not due to a stupid error of omission or failure to pay attention. I made a decision to interpret the instructions that was...um....wrong but it was nonetheless a decision and for some reason this makes me feel much better about it. You don't suppose I might be finding some perspective with this knitting thing!?! Nahhh, couldn't be!

Thanks for dropping by!

Good Morning from the Garden!

Things have taken a decidedly purple turn...

Maybe because their heavy scent fills the yard and if the windows are open, the house, the lilacs are calling the shots ;) Here are peeks at a few of the many who are falling in line...

...Peonies in bud

...Tulips

...Persica

 ...Climbing Rose "Don Juan"

...Clematis alpina "Willy"

...Drumstick Allium

...See what I mean?
 Thanks for taking a walk through the garden with me this morning!

'Tis the Season!

I like referencing the season outside with what's going on inside the house , trying to coincide seasonal shifts in decor and menu around the Daylight Savings Time change.

So its fitting the knitting I'm currently engrossed in is sunny yellow and all over seed stitch!

My continental technique, which I'm sticking to for this project is starting to feel less spastic. I'm able to execute it while starting to focus on relaxing my wrists and arms which I find is critical to avoiding soreness from overuse. Right now I'm suffering from tennis elbow on my right side so I'm trying to be very sensitive to only knitting until my body says enough. I find knitting with the weight of my arms hanging as straight down from my shoulders as possible while keeping the effort of my hands to a kind of swinging back and forth motion to be the best.
                                                      
Also taxing on the sore arm, but at this point no less compelling, is the garden. This morning I did some rudimentary raking of the deadfall scattered about the lawn and cut down some of the dead perrennial stalks I leave up over the winter to protect the crowns of the plants while providing interest in the snowy winter garden.

I left the Pea Tee Pees (try saying that three times fast!) in the ground last fall so as to be ready for the earliest possible start to pea season this spring. Tomorrow I'm hoping the soil might be ready to accept my first planting.

Tonight my mother's coming over to watch the Rick Mercer Report with us (the kid's were at the taping last week) I'm thinking baked ham, hot mustard, scalloped potatoes with thyme and garlic, creamed corn, spring greens salad, stewed rhubarb (the last in the freezer from spring '09) and coconut macaroons. Yes, generally speaking I do like to start making dinner by preparing dessert!

Yep, I'm feeling very "Springy" all around...dinner included!

Thanks for dropping by today!