My Miette

I've strayed. I saw a cute little summer cardigan and dropped my wool Fylingdale like a hot potato.

It didn't last long. A week later I'm back to wool, but I have to admit, I enjoyed the break.

I first saw Miette on the Ravelry Top 10. It got high marks from the people who had already knit it up, but the pictures didn't sell it to me completely. So I decided to try it on the cheap.

Having finished, here's what I've learned:
1. Yes. I will probably knit this again.
2. I like wool. Every time I try a project with a cotton-like yarn (this one happens to be acrylic--and not a bad one at that) I'm a little disappointed. I like summer weight sweaters--just not in a gauge I am willing to take on by hand knitting. Wool is good.
3. I'm glad I added an extra repeat of length on the body of the sweater. I'm 5'2" tall. I never add an extra repeat of length to a sweater.
4. I don't really need darts. Sad.

The Best Night of the Summer

Even after having endured a long delay from the time we bought our tickets and then a driving rainstorm throughout most of the event, last night's U2 concert at TCF Stadium will surely go down as the best night of the summer. As the local headline read, "Unforgettable."

There are bands, and then there are BANDS. Right? U2 is one of those BANDS that is capable of filling large arenas anywhere in the world. The crowd on Saturday evening certainly reflected the appeal--from the very young to, I'll just say, more mature, and yet here we were, all cheering and singing together.

The downpours, occasional lightning bolts, and Aquatennial fireworks off in the distance only made the evening more memorable. I'm sure that years from now, we'll still be talking about the best concert we ever saw on a wet summer night in July of 2011.

Summer Flies

I guess the summer months are more about doing than they are about documenting what we're doing. Given the choice of getting outside or sitting down at the laptop---getting outside wins almost every time. Today with heat indexes into the 100 degree range, I figured it might be a good time to catch up.

I see it's been a month since I last wrote. That hardly seems possible, but we've managed to squeeze a lot into that time. Mostly family events around the 4th and golf trips, another round of window replacement at home, movies, concerts, and the daily good fun of working out in the yard and garden.

It's been an interesting summer in the garden. Some plants have flourished. I don't think I've ever harvested so much lettuce from such a small plot. What a treat to bring in a fresh basket of greens every night for dinner! Other plants have been a disappointment---not seeming to like the swings in temperature and all the rain. I'm still looking for my first taste of green beans (maybe later this week) and several tomato buds have fallen off without setting fruit. That certainly isn't from a lack of bees. They seem to be in abundance this year, as well as toads. Everywhere! I'm afraid I take out several every time I mow the grass.

There's so much basil I'm thinking we should have some pesto soon. I have enough Italian parsley for the neighborhood. But I continue to struggle to grow cilantro. What's the secret?

Of course, that's the fun of gardening. Never quite knowing how things are going to turn out every year. It's just when you think you have it all figured out, that Mother Nature throws you a curve, and you realize you're not as smart as you thought you were.

Thank goodness for the old reliables--like purple coneflower.

RIP

That's it. That's the last picture I took with my camera before I killed it.

As the guys were putting in on the back nine at Superior National in Lutsen, I decided to snap a few shots of the lupines blooming on a nearby hill. When they had finished up, I threw the camera in my pocket, hopped into the cart, and picked them up to head on to the next hole. Bad choice.

Now any golf course is what, 98% turf/2% cart path, right? Shouldn't the odds be in my favor that when that camera flies out of my pocket as I'm driving to the next shot that it would land on a soft carpet of green instead of unforgiving asphalt? I think so, but that was not the case. Ah, cruel fate. And now it's gone.

It had a good life. It's been all over the US and Europe. It's been to weddings, graduations, baptisms, holidays, and family gatherings. It served me well and died on a beautiful hill overlooking Lake Superior.

That was the only downside of a wonderful week on the North Shore. The weather was perfect, the cabin we rented was great, and there was lots of (too much) terrific food and drink.

At home our non-summer summer continues. Rain, clouds, cool weather. The garden is getting plenty of moisture, but could sure use some sun and heat to get things going. Lettuce is happy; tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and cukes are still waiting for the temperature to move up. I'd take a picture, but...

...AND later that day. The destruction continues. In case you're wondering, you cannot put an iPod shuffle in the washing machine. Ear buds, yes; shuffle, no. I'm going to cry now.

Get Outside While You Can

Finally, gardening weather. Well, sort of. We are having a remarkably unremarkable spring this year. Okay, in all honesty, the weather blows. Cool and wet. A non-spring spring. In between the showers I have managed to get most of the garden in, but the poor seeds and sprouts aren't getting much enticement to grow. We just can't seem to string together two or three warm and sunny days in a row.

I'm hoping June will improve our lot--and my odds of eating some homegrown lettuce.

Despite the weather, the perennial beds are filling in nicely. Apparently, the heavy snow cover did a good job of protecting the plants underground. Never content, however, I have shuffled a few things around, and I can tell you, transplanting gives you a whole new appreciation for what's going on under the garden.

In an attempt to make some more room in the vegetable bed, I wanted to move an old rhubarb plant. Those roots were like tree branches! No wonder you can't kill that stuff. I thought that was a battle I might lose in the end. The phlox needed dividing and that was the same story. Those are the plants for me!

Another vigorous "weed" that I love is the Lily of the Valley. They're blooming like crazy right now and a handful of them in a vase perfume the whole house.

Trying to keep up with my regular chores along with the yard work doesn't leave much time for anything else, but I did manage to cast on a new sweater project. As tired as I've been, I couldn't resist that Webs box. I dug out the Berroco Blackstone Tweed and settled on Fylingdales from A Fine Fleece. It isn't a terribly complicated pattern, so I thought it would be a good one for an unpredictable summer.

The yarn is a soft blend of wool, mohair, and angora and is a beautiful dark blue. I'm not such a big fan of these 50 gram balls that roll around and pop out of my knitting basket though.

Before I got started, I read through the notes from other knitters over at Ravelry, and I have to agree, the directions for the set-up row of the cabled pattern are lacking clarity. The directions aren't wrong, but they sure could use some improvement. It helped to know that I had to be on my toes ahead of time.

See all that knitting? That's the result of a frustrated gardener who would rather be outside!

Webs Delivery

My box o' yarn from Webs was waiting for me when I got home yesterday afternoon. How great is that? Three sweaters-to-be. Hours and hours of fun in a little cardboard box.

Let the swatching begin!

I'm leaning toward starting with the blue Berroco Blackstone tweed and the "Fylingdales" pattern in A Fine Fleece. Since the yarn is a darker blue, I think a simple pattern is the best. No point in doing a bunch of complex cables on such a dark field. Mmmm, but the Lamb's Pride is such a pretty brown. I sound like an addict.

By the way, as much as I love this book---and I do love this book, the one major downside is the photography. It's not that the pictures aren't beautiful; they are. It's just that they don't give a knitter much information. Go ahead and do all the artsy shots you want, but throw me one picture where I can actually see most of the sweater. Ravelry pictures have been more useful than the book itself.

In the category of ta-da, I finally finished a little Cabled Baby Blanket that I started ages ago. I needed a break from Prayer Shawls as my movie watching project, so several months ago I grabbed a cone of acrylic sport weight yarn that I've had forever and cast on a blanket for Birthright.

It's true. No sheep were robbed to make this blanket, but it's just not practical to think that a young mother is going to hand wash spit-up off a blanket, so it's a good fit.

The pattern is simple to memorize. The sport weight gauge did mean slow progress--just right during our long winter. Now I think that there's enough yarn left on the cone to cast on a sweater to go with it. Maybe even booties. A baby ensemble.

Mitred Crosses Blanket

Sometimes fun projects land right in your lap. That was the case with the Knitted Quilt I finished up over the weekend.

In March I saw Kay Gardiner's post about the pattern she had developed to sell to raise funds for the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Like many of the other Mason-Dixon patterns, this is a simple and beautiful interpretation of a practical household item--and for a good cause to boot.
Before I knew it, I was hooked. The technique keeps you interested and the color changes in the yarn lure you in to see what's around the next corner of the block. I also like that it's a portable project. In fact, I'm going to start another one to keep in a basket as a take-along project for this summer.

There is one change I will make in the next one. Rather than join the squares by using a three-needle technique, I think I'll take the time to sew the squares together by hand. If I do it as I go along, I don't think it will be too overwhelming, and I think the end result will be worth it. I'm very happy with the first one.

My next project is coming out of a book of patterns that were suggested to me by a friend. (Thanks, Deb.) That book is A Fine Fleece by Lisa Lloyd.

Usually, I won't buy a book unless there are at least a couple of patterns that I know I will use---although that rule has been broken on more than one occasion for a must-knit item. This book should keep me going for a couple of years of fun cable knitting. Honestly, I couldn't decide which pattern to knit first! So far, I've narrowed it down to three or four.

I've got a box of yarn on order and will be waiting for the UPS man to deliver the goods.

In the meantime, I'm hoping that spring weather will finally come to MN and that I'll be kept busy in the garden. Last week I went from sitting at a Twins game in a snowstorm to a warm beautiful day of cleaning out my flower bed and back to snowflakes again. I guess we shouldn't complain about a little chilly weather with the terrible storms down south. I'm anxious to get digging!