Happy Memorial Day!

It's the un-official start of summer and what a beautiful weekend we've had to get the season going. Here in MN, you can never really count on the weather cooperating, but this year has been the rare exception.

During the Twins game this afternoon, the broadcasters broke into the game at 3pm to join the rest of America as they took a minute out of their day to honor all the men and women who have died defending our freedom. It is important to remember why we're home today to rest and watch baseball.

With the warmer weather, it's been time to work in the garden. I took a couple of days to run around looking for all the plants that I wanted and then took this last week to get them in the ground. The gardens look good, my body is sore, and my fingernails are still dirty. Life is good.

I didn't need too many perennials this year. Despite our very cold winter, almost everything came back again this spring. I did decide to try delphiniums and foxgloves again, and I couldn't resist a red and white columbine, or a cute little dwarf catmint. There's always room for one more. Now that the planting is over, it's time to get some pictures and make a few notes for my garden journal. It's always fun to look back to see how the gardens have progressed over the years.

Last year I had the good sense to pot up a few of my herb plants to have right off the back porch, and I did the same again this year. I can't have everything that handy, but I like having the most common ones close by--basil, parsley (Italian and curly), mint (Mojitos), and cilantro.

I also finished up the Bobbled Braids cardigan last week--just in time to store it away for the summer. I'm such a sucker for cables and bobbles, and I especially liked the bobbles in this pattern because they are made without turning the knitting. Each bobble is made by working P1, K1, P1, K1 in one stitch, and then passing the first three stitches over the last one one-by-one. This creates a more subtle bobble that gives texture without being too pronounced.

The pattern runs a little big, so I shortened it by a couple of inches--not a problem for the body, but a bit tougher for the sleeves. I kept the stitch count the same, and if I were to do this again, I would probably reduce the numer of increases so that the sleeves were narrower at the body, but not a big deal. Even the length adjustment was tricky. I wanted to end the cable design to have a crossover at the seam, and one less was too short, one more was a bit too long, so I opted for a longer sleeve.

Overall, I'm really happy with the finished sweater. As this one was drying on the blocking board, I was already casting-on the next project--a cottony summer cardigan. The pattern is one of Kim Dolce's called "Fitzroy." I've been itching to get at this one so that I could knit it up to wear this summer, but it's just not in me to start a new project without finishing the one I'm already knitting. So, if you see me at the July 4th picnic with my wool cable cardigan on, be kind.