nearly may!

it's nearly may - and the countdown is running to finish my "museum" socks! I've nearly all yarns spun and started knitting the first sock today - finally! it's a good thing I didn't plan for a sweater, because I doubt that I'd be able to finish that in time! I also put the test sock on hold, for once because the all green of the foot is boring to knit - and also because I'd run out of time with the "important" socks if I continued.. I still have the second "old-fashioned" sock in handspun jacobs to do for mindless knitting anyway.

 those are the blends I carded for stone walls, grass, path, sky and shrubs. plus a bit of purple to make the corolla of the fuchsia  and a few beads. I had planned to knit in tiny flowers, but there is just not enough space to do that in socks. the downside of faster knitting is not enough space to knit in special features. I'll add some beads instead.... I might also add a few other colours such as yellow and white in beads for flowers in the cottage garden, but I'll decide that on the hoof while doing the embroidery....

the fuchsia flower (crocheted) is in the middle; I spun some fine silk and plied it to make it more stable. it can't be too big, so I used a crochet hook in 1 mm.... the other yarns are all singles to avoid too much muddying of the colours. and even though I blended some blues/whites and greys for the sky - I decided not to use that finished yarn, because it was too well blended. in the end I just grabbed light blue, added white and very little grey for clouds and some darker blue for streaks of blue in the sky. I like it better now and to make the clouds in white stand out a bit I started to do short row parts (in the leg part of the sock) in garter stitch, so that there is a bit more "depth" in the sky part.... no pictures of that yet, because I could only show you about 10 rows:)

I also finished all the fibres I dyed with the leftover easter egg dyes.... all of them are plied with fine cotton, also remnants, which I dyed last year with procion mx dyes. I didn't have enough blue to ply the two skeins on the top left, so I finished half of the second skein with a dark pink... I like the greens best and the one on the right side, because the rosewood cotton worked so well with the rest of the colours. I've no idea yet what to do with the parrot colours bottom left,  so it all goes into the stash for now.

I also finally picked my wild garlic - and used it to make a load of pesto. given that I started out with only 3 little bubils about 15 years ago - I think it multiplied nicely under the leafy trees:) I managed to fill 6 kilner jars - and probably DH will finish it all by himself (actually, he already emptied 2 of the jars....). of course those jars will not last for more than maybe another month, but then I don't really like the idea of having everything available all year round! I think we appreciate certain foods more if we can't have them 24/7! I don't eat strawberries in winter or asparagus, so when the time comes I am really keen on them and indulge with more gusto! same for the wild garlic pesto. maybe I'll start freezing more of the wild garlic, once I have enough that it really is worth it. the pesto does not last a whole year, so I'll have to find another way to store it - provided the plants self-seed freely some more:) I also "help out" with propagation by collecting the ripe seeds (when they have turned black) and sowing them immediately. they need the cold in winter and germinate readily the next spring! I read somewhere that the green fruits can be used like capers, but if I try this I won't have any to spread out, so this has to wait, too....

I also finally updated my link list a bit and figured out why the page for recipes didn't show up! it helps if you click on "showing" instead of "hiding":) not that there's anything in it yet, but I do plan to put in bits and pieces during the next few months... if I can bring myself to write them down, I might even add a pattern page in time - but don't hold your breath:) still more to do - I have read more than just 3 books and there are more interesting textile books on my shelves, too....