June!

By the looks of the morning this is NOT going to be a "Knitter's Spring" day. Instead its going to be a gorgeous day in June - sunny, comfortable with little humidity. Ahhhhh!

This is the first June in a couple of decades I've not had a child in school and so not had to navigate/manage the likes of...

Academic year end meetings, parties, concerts, report cards and teacher interviews, information nights for the upcoming school year, recitals, trips, graduations, playdays, track meets, proms, teacher/coach/instructor gifts, sports finals and semis, baking and/or cooking contributions to any and all of the above mixed in with auditions and tryouts and course selection for the next school year. Never mind the "Summer" programs and activities that start before the school year ends, overlapping to an almost cruel degree the frenzied finishing up of the stuff that's been going on since the previous September.

...the June stuff.

So I decided to embrace my "new" June this year.

Instead of making food for school events or pot luck suppers related to the kid's activities I'm making lovely light dinners for us here at home enjoying seasonal ingredients like Rhubarb, Asparagus, Scallops, Mint, Peas, Lamb and Lemon. I'm taking time to set the table in the garden where the floral action's in full swing after a sip (or two!) of wine on the patio where I keep an eye on the BBQ.

In time for the start of the month (instead of the end of it) I switched out the linens, pillows, throws, area rugs  to light, bright cool cottons, sisal and rafia. (Okay a couple of times this June we've had to put the furnace or gas fireplace on but the point is things looked like summer!)

Rather than just brute force garden taming I'm indulging, a bit each day, in seeing to the finer details that make a June garden feel luxuriously well tended. (You know sweeping path edges and fluffing up the soil, plucking wee tiny weeds just as they emerge - that kind of stuff - as if there's a staff seeing to it - the staff happens to be me but still, luxurious!)

All this while prepping the dog for the next Obedience trial in a couple of weeks and knitting and hunting down yarn for summer projects at the lake and I even plan to get out to the DKC meeting next week!

It feels like a triumph. I wouldn't change Junes passed for anything but we did them up big to the point of being "done" so now I can move on happily and in full appreciation of what this June offers...

Today, after our walk, Hudson and I are headed for the grooming table. Everyone's out for dinner this evening leaving me to enjoy leftovers, knitting and "sipping" on the patio taking in the garden views with a clean fluffy dog at my feet!

June - I'm loving it!

Knitter's Spring

Last evening after a dark, cool, dreary day, I retreated to the TV, with new projects in tow, looking for mental respite from the lousy weather.

I turned on the Golf Channel to see what was going on at the U.S. Open. (I love knitting while watching Masters' Tournaments - the manicured verdant fairways and greens 'so "Edenesque".) But last night every interview was from beneath a Golf umbrella with the loud sound of rain drumming upon it.

Change the channel, 'see how the Jays are doing...ah baseball, summer's game, that'll feel nice to watch for a bit....but you can't really see the game being broadcast. The field is shrouded in dense fog.

How about flipping around to see what else is on...oh here's an ad for the Jersey Shore encouraging tourism in the wake of Perfect Storm Sandy.

Sigh. Climatologists told us this would happen. There's no escaping it, even watching TV. They were right. What are we going to do?

I glanced down at the work in hand and thought "at least its good for knitting", then "hey we're having a Knitter's Spring!". 

'Not too hot to hold needles and wool yarn. No trouble dreaming of the prospects of mittens or cozy socks and sweaters. My wardrobe of knits are getting more than usual wear - wool scarves and fingerless gloves for morning walks with Hudson and more often than not donning a wool cardigan when we get home.

So what's ahead today? More crazy weather? Yup but its also going to be another perfect Knitter's Spring Day! That's how I'm going to look at it. (I'm also going to walk to the store for a few groceries and leave the car at home!)

Thanks for dropping by!

Two

As I finished toe two on the Tyroleans (they're currently in their pre "debut" bath) I indulged in vicarious casting on to the point where I couldn't settle on just one project to start.

So during the final new episode of Foyle's War last evening, arms aching from two big days in the garden pruning shrubs I cast on for two...

#1 The planned twined mitts to match my newly finished Zen Hat.

#2 Pair two of Resoleable Socks from Interweave's Favorite Socks. (The book attributes the pattern to two adaptations of EZ's Moccasin Socks by Wayne Pfeffer adapted by Anne Merrow for the book.)

I like the characterization of "adapting" better than "inspired by". To me it assigns the original design idea to the one who came up with it rather than someone who tweeks details and releases it as their own. Do you notice how often that kind of stuff pops up on Ravelry? It seems the original designers don't make any objection at all.

Anyway so I now have two new projects. Two times the Cast Ons for two times the fun this week.

Happy Monday! Thanks for dropping by!