pot of gold?

if there is a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, it must have been right in the field across our road yesterday:) or maybe it's been on the other end - no idea where that was because I stood in my doorway to take the picture above... still, the rain had nearly passed and we had a lovely sunset. for some reason this happens quite a lot here. either we have a lovely morning and often the afternoon turns ugly. or we have a very wet day, but towards sunset the clouds are gone and the sun peeks through.

 

anyway, after the long dry spell the garden is looking much greener and happier again! there's only so much I can water and the rest has to doddle along somehow, fending for itself. right now the crocosmias are starting to flower and I just love their fiery red (no wonder they're called "luzifer"!) in contrast to the green around.

they are extremely reliable bloomers, even yucky weather for weeks doesn't deter them. they look like freesias when they flower, but just before the flowers open, they look a bit like a reptile to me - the tail of a rattle snake?

 

the perennial sweet pea is another show. unfortunately they tend to grow into everything, so I have to cut back some areas or they'll choke the shrubs behind them. but the rest of them are flowering like mad - not as fiery as the crocosmia, but they work well with the rugosa roses in pink and white, which grow beside them in the front garden. unfortunately they have no scent whatsoever. just like the crocosmia, but at least the crocosmia flowers seem to be chock full with nectar - which I only found out when I picked them and ended up with very sticky fingers.

 

even though I have so many plants in the garden, I fill some window boxes along the front of the house each summer. I just love the blues of lobelias - and the cheery yellow of the sanvitalia. they are sold as annuals, but this plant has overwintered quite neglected in the window box and with one dribble of tomato fertilizer it's gone off at full speed again a few weeks ago. this lasts until the frost - small sunflower faces that make me smile every time I look at them:)

of course I started a bit late with my solar dyeing - I couldn't find my large gherkin jars for some time. eventually I dug them out and filled them with teeswater top. the blue comes from frozen dark red and blue aquilegia flowers. which I had frozen (it makes the dye really flow out of the flowers, as soon as they are covered with water). for contrast I added some dyer's chamomile. in the left jar there is some of that, together with some black violas and  some tansy heads with buds at the bottom.

 

all in all I have 800 g of top in those jars. the right one is filled with meadowsweet, dyer's chamomile and some dahlias plus a few crocosmia flowers (it's a first, I haven't tried those before). on the left there are more orange dahlias and  a smaller amount of frozen black violas... I think I might have to wrap it in black plastic, because the weather has turned cooler and the jars don't really get very warm like that, even when the sun does come out! if all else fails and the summer turns cold and wet again - I'll bring everything inside and heat it up gently in my old electric canning "pot".

 

bad conscience

I had planned to do a blog entry yesterday - it would have matched the date of my last entry. but as usual I got waylaid somehow and woosh, the day was gone:( there is so much to do that my days are never long enough - and blog entries are the first victims... on top of that the last 2 weeks have been murder for me. I can't stand heat, anything over 20 deg. C is too much for me - and we've been having a rather unusual summer this time - 2 weeks without a drop of rain and temperatures of around 28 to 30 deg. C - in the shade! gardening time has been reduced to 2 hours in the morning and mad watering in the evening hours. even just putting the washing on the line has me in sweat and I was lucky that we had a bit of a respite on the one day last week, where I had no choice but to go to Castlebar (I have to admit that being on the train was heaven, though - AC on, nice and cool - perfect:). and of course it doesn't help that DS is on holidays - he is hogging the computer night and day and I wait for the moment, where he'll grow roots up here....

 

anyway, of course I have done some textile bits, but knitting has been down in this heat, because the yarn just clings to the sweaty hands. I managed socks - several pairs of them, mainly during the late evening. 

 this one is a sneaker, I didn't even have enough left to finish the few pattern rows and add a rib, so I used a leftover to do the latter. they look a bit odd in the pic, but that is due to the pattern on top of the foot, which pulls together a bit, when not worn. they are very comfy, though I haven't worn socks for quite some time now (too hot). I realised too late that the reddish yarn was handdyed with madder, and I was a bit anxious, when I took them out of the machine - but they didn't change colour at all, phhh.... the main yarn is regia, but I don't have the ball band anymore, no idea which colour line.

 this one is a singles, Color Flow sockwool, which I bought here, some time back. it knits up nicely, but I am not sure that the heels will last long with me. I think I might add a layer of yarn that is "woven" into the purl stitches from the inside, which hopefully adds a bit of wearing time. but I couldn't resist the colours, so it had to "move in":) I have two more balls in my stash, if it wears ok, they'll make socks - if not, I am sure I can find another use for them.

 

 they were normal socks, but instead of a rib I started with the pattern immediately (k2, yo, k1, k2tog), which gave a nice edge that rolls up and forms little waves. I have used this as a rib pattern for another pair I started a few days ago, where the leg is knitted in 4 colours.

then I used up yarn from my stash to knit a "bread and butter" pair - very unusual for me to knit socks without any pattern whatsoever - but it made for very relaxed knitting during the heat wave:)

 

this is another pair made from stash yarn, regia, my favourite sock yarn. I do prefer yarn colours with less jacquard effect. in hindsight I should have made this pair for me and the one above for DH, but now it's done (I prefer this colour way). the foot is stockinette...

 

...and the leg is 2 rows of k stitches and two rows of slipped stitches - but I've already forgotten how exactly I did those. the pattern is from "the sock knitter's handbook". The slipped stitches form an interesting pattern from the inside. it looks a bit like wet, rippled sand on a beach... (forgot to take a pic of the inside)

I worked a teensy bit on the DK border, but not a lot, some other things came in between.

 

 this one for example: I dyed some viscose fibres with the berries of alderbuckthorn. some of it turned greyish blue, another batch was more greenish in colour (when the berries are unripe, they dye yellow!). I had the tops for years, before I decided to spin them up into a fine singles. I also had a cone of fine white linen and I plied both together into this yarn - not sure if I should call it glacier or glacialis:) it looks a bit like the greenish-blue ice of a glacier..

 ...and it feels heavenly cool just now to knit with. I found the pattern for a shawl "frost flowers" on ravelry. at first I thought I might knit up a "summer scarf" - but I hardly ever wear scarves - and certainly not during summer, when it's warm anyway! I started knitting anyway - my second idea was a summery shrug. all the while I spun and plied more of the yarn - until it hit me that I have more than enough to make a sweater. the sleeves/shoulders would run horizontally, the lower part vertically. I'd have the lovely pattern on both lower sleeves and the bottom! not sure if I follow through with it, because I'd have to wear something underneath - but that's the plan for now anyway:) I loved knitting the pattern - and I am nearly finished with the one arm, though most of it has only lines of faggoting now.

not having done any blog entries recently, I still haven't shown the potholder I made to show the Connacht Textile Crafters a finished project in Double Knitting. I needed new potholders and had ordered some cotton last year. the spirals on the sides are "stolen" from the Fia pattern above, the horizontal ones were added to make a square (similar pattern, just a row more in the middle). the triskele I drew on paper myself. I'll add the chart on my new pattern page later - I sorted through my files and put it away too well:)

Edit: found the file, put it up as my first pattern on the pattern page (see above)

some time back the "leg" of my colander fell off - the metal ring at the bottom. it's not very practical to use, when the base is round and the gadget rolls around in the sink - but I didn't want to throw it away either. then the upcycling bug hit me, when I saw a guy in the local hardware shop taking off the chains of a bird feeder... they were easy to attach and I have a new hanging basket for one of my fuchsias. which looks much better now, thanks to all the sun and my diligent watering:) (twice a day...)

one of the ash trees started to grow huge fungi last year! I left them on and they fell apart very quickly. then I read about dyeing with tree fungi in a german blog and thought I might give this one a try. I am not 100 % sure that it is the same fungus, but it looks very similar and the colour on wool is lovely. I managed to take off all of the large shapes and left them outside to dry - one thing all that heat was good for! Anke only used 5 g for her dyeing - I'd have several hundred grams! I am going to give them a try later in the year, at the moment there are too many other dye plants I have to collect. I don't have all that much undyed material left just now, because next saturday I am doing a demonstration about dyeing with acid dyes for the Connacht Texile Crafters - and need all my yarns and fibres for that. there are still black violas, delphinium and a lot of dyer's chamomile waiting to be picked. then there's tansy coming up soon as well... and I have aquilegia and the first dahlia flowers in the freezer. and mahonia berries...never a dull moment for a dyer:)

 

one of the things I'd like to dye during the demo is a sock blank. the photo in the header is my inspiration. I'd like to do another picture sock, the tree in black and the part of the foot, too and the rest of the leg in the colours of a sunset. I don't know if it will work out the way I intended, but I made two sock blanks. one is just as wide as a row for a sock in circular knitting. the other one is about double the width... not sure which one will work better, but I knitted with doubled up yarn to end up with two identical socks, if at all possible.

and I changed the look of my blog a bit - when I saw the nice background water feature I couldn't resist - made me feel a bit cooler during the heat we're having:)

the last batch - for now

 this truly is the rest of my "new" books (do they still count from christmas?:) and I have to admit that several of them fall under "not strictly necessary"... I try not to ask for too many coffee table books, instead go for those with  new techniques. there's only so much shelf space (or rather: by now there's plenty of lack of space:), so I should really use it wisely. this is one of the books that is very nice to look at - but not absolutely necessary if you can make up your own patterns. I do like quite a few of the projects, but I don't think I'd do any of them for myself without change. judge for yourself... unfortunately one of the most beautiful patterns isn't on show - it's a "bridal cardigan" in white, with pink and green inlay and lace at the sleeve bottoms and along the lower edge. not for me, that's for sure - but gorgeous to look at:)

 when I saw the announcement for the book I was very keen on this one. another book about colourwork. this is in german, but the same book is available in english by now (I just couldn't wait any longer - for some reason the english translation took ages to be published). the knitting patterns are inspired by medieval murals in swedish churches. sounds odd, but the patterns are nice! a preview for the english book is here. the one odd thing about the projects is that nearly every pattern has bits in odd colours that don't really go with the main colours - at least for my taste. easily rectified though, no reason not to like the book:)

 and yes, another one about colour knitting:) obviously I do like knitting with several colours... this one is definitely more a technique book. all colour knitting techniques are described in some detail, plus there are nice patterns in it, too. I have to say though that it doesn't quite match up to my colour knitting "bible" by Margaret Radcliffe. that's not to say that it is a bad book - it's just not as in-depth as Radcliffe's book. on the plus side it does contain more complete projects (pillows, garments etc.) - and a preview is available here.

one not (only) about colour knitting:) the odd one out...  when I put it on the list I wasn't sure about the contents, I just found the under title "colour, structure and design" interesting. and the book gives plenty of ideas for this - if you're into making up your own patterns this should be interesting for you. but when you hunt for complete patterns to follow - you'll find that pretty much all the garments in this book are worked in modular style! I am not necessarily a fan of this, but I think some of the ideas the author shows can be used for "normal" (ie not modular) knitting as well. and she gives plenty of information about how to construct knitted fabric for a project, lots of knitted pattern samples, too. definitely a keeper...

another odd one out - I received this book in an exchange:) I like doing exchanges once in a while; you get rid of something you don't need any longer for something you want (and hopefully also use at some stage!). because I've planned to do some more rigid heddle weaving eventually, I was looking for a book that gives more ideas about how to add patterns to "plain weaving". Jane Patrick is well known in weaving circles and the book didn't disappoint me! I think I could spend a very long time trying out all the different ways to add pattern to fabrics on a simple loom. given that this is most likely the furthest I'll ever go in weaving, I think I can put this book to good use....

the last one - for now:) I have plenty of crochet patterns here and there in mixed craft books, but I lacked a single "encyclopedia" with all the basic information I might need. this fills the gap. all the basics of how-to are well covered, also plenty of separate patterns - plus a completed project for each chapter. those aren't necessarily sensational, but I wanted the book more to have an overview, something to check when I need to know something and don't want to hunt around on the net. the book has been revised and updated and I think it's well worth the investment.

 

those are my last books on the list - but never fear, I am sure I'll put a few on the wish list for my birthday:) can't help it, I am a book addict!

 

btw - the mystery of the missing fire pix is solved. not satisfactorily - but solved nevertheless. it wasn't a hacker - it was DS, who put up his own fire pictures - and deleted mine in the process:( the annoying thing is that I took the trouble to dig out the tripod to do the night pix properly - his are all wobbly and out of focus:(  teaches me a lesson... hide away all your pix in folders straight away - and hope for the best!

 

stormy weather

our weather has changed a lot. from cold, but dry to april showers - and storms! I don't mind the showers so much, but three storms in three days is a bit much at this time of the year! all my daffodils are flattened - and the lovely tulips, who looked perfect just a few days ago (see header) are shreddered, some broke off and the rest of them look so bedraggled that I don't think they'll recover. and my spring bulbs in the front garden look really odd now. they have full-sized flowers on very short stalks - their reaction to the cold and strong winds maybe? keep your head down and you might survive:)

 on tuesday I was invited to a "hunt for wild garlic" trip - and luckily we didn't wait until wednesday after all. it was still a bit windy, but mostly sunny - quite a nice day. in contrast to wednesday, where we had one shower after the next plus the 3rd storm!

we didn't only pick lots of wild garlic, we also found a few nice plants in a local nursery. I hadn't found any muscari in our local shop, so I snatched up this little pot, when I saw it. isn't it a lovely blue?

the skein beside it is the first batch of the teeswater I dyed on easter sunday. the colours have blended well and I chain-plied it to use as sock yarn. the teeswater fibres give a lustrous, very strong yarn, but they don't fill out very well, so I am not sure that they will be too cozy to wear... time will tell! not much good if the yarn keeps well - because they are itchy to wear:)

 after a lot of debate about what to do with our lemon harvest (and yes, they do grow in ireland - but only inside or rather in an unheated glass house) the owner of the lemon tree asked for lemon jelly (marmelade?). so I peeled three of the lemons thinly, cut the peel into the tiniest strips and sliced one nearly ripe, very small lemon. I used jam sugar and made a jelly including the peel/sliced lemon - and ended up with a little more than one jam jar full. it's really delicious - not as sweet as most jams, just right on a piece of (slightly burned:) toast! I also used the peel of the other lemons to make lemon sugar - nice for baking etc. so we used up all our lemons to the fullest - apart from the bitter white skins inside:) I have to admit I added the juice of 2 "normal" lemons though - because I was afraid I might not even fill one single jam jar....

I picked quite a big heap of garlic leaves, but just before we left I found a recipe in a german gardening magazine: pickled garlic buds. my own plants are still quite small, no buds in sight yet - but I managed to pick a small bowl full to try this out. the closed buds are put into sea salt for 2-3 days to draw out the water. afterwards the salt is rinsed off and they are pickled in a vinegar/herb/spices mix. they are supposed to be very tasty after a few weeks - we'll see about that! like capers really, just bigger in size.

 

I also wanted to show you photos of a big fire in the bog a few days ago. someone apparently took advantage of the long, dry spell and lit a fire in the dried out bog. it was sunday night and we watched for quite some time how the fire grew bigger and bigger until it stretched all along the little river in the valley:( this wasn't an isolated incident, we've had bog fires all over ireland during the end of the dry spell! the fire brigades were stretched to the max trying to keep it under control, but it made no sense to call them out here, because it is next to impossible to reach the area down there and there are no houses in the vicinity anyway. but it does destroy a lot of the wildlife and I don't understand why people light the fires in the first place. nobody is cutting turf down there anymore - I suppose somebody might have dumped rubbish and tried to "hide" this by lighting the fire:(

to cut a long story short - I am absolutely sure that I uploaded all the fire pix - but apparently my computer didn't like the fire either and "ate" all my pictures:( I hunted through every folder - but they're gone:( maybe the pyromaniac is also a hacker and took my pix????very mysterious....

Happy Easter

I can't believe that it's april already - though the weather still doesn't let up. windier than the last few days - still as cold and unfriendly as it was.... yesterday morning I hoped that DS might be too old for an easter egg hunt outside - he may be a cool teenager, but with stuff like that  he still behaves like a five year old:) luckily Dobby is too lazy now to "help" with the egg hunt - when she was younger you could always hear her successes - loud crunching meant that she had found an egg:) when I see all the work people go through to colour their eggs I have a bad conscience - but I don't like cold boiled eggs, so I have to do the job right before breakfast on easter sunday. not enough time to go fancy with tights, leaves etc. - just enough to use food colours and a simple dip:

 I put some food colourings into a mug, add a bit of water and some vinegar and dye the hot, just-boiled eggs for maybe 2 minutes. the yellow needs a bit more of the dye, because all the eggs I can buy here are brown. and I never get proper purples - they always turn out brown with a purple tinge:) luckily we found all the eggs - a few years ago we missed one and much later, when Michael cut the grass he hit it with the mower - you wouldn't believe the disgusting smell! the dogs were delighted though....

 the leftover dyes work well on wool - this is teeswater top that I "painted" and steamed after breakfast....

 and to prove that the lemon tree didn't only do one lemon (and to make you envious:)  - my whole harvest:) for now.... the last one is still a bit green - but what I find odd is that apparently all the fruits ripen now - even though some are still extremely small. we discussed our first pickings for some time - and decided to do a marmelade with it..... they are untreated, so there's no problem with using the peel in it.

 

on saturday we had a group meeting with the Connacht Textile Crafters again. the demo this time was the making and decorating of felt beads. not the usual round felt balls; you first make the bead from a piece of dyed felt (like the paper beads kids make), roll it up into different shapes and then start decorating. with metallic yarns, fine wires, beads etc... I am not really a jewelry buff, so I decided to skip making a necklace - and just made two beads, for a pair of earrings. I finished the first, but ran out of time for the second. I still have to do the embroidery and put everything together, but I can do this at home, because I took some materials with me. other than that I was extremely unproductive at the meeting!:( I already know that I never finish much, but making a single crochet hexagon must be the absolute low point for me:( and even though they are extremely simple to make - I even managed to choose a wrong colour once:) maybe I shouldn't take anything at all and just chatter and watch and do nothing at all?

not again....

I think blogger doesn't like me.... I tried to add the latest books to my list. first time no luck. second time no luck (yes, I did click on save and it showed the books both times) - third time... you get the drift. ok, at least all the books are visible in the entries. I'll leave it at that for now - maybe they are still flying around in the www and land later, when I don't watch?

 

anyway, I'd like to show you some more books (yawn:) - but this time they are not knitting books. I do bobbin lace as well and last christmas I took the opportunity to put some on my wish list. and those are the three that magically made it over onto my shelves (or rather into a book box, because there's no shelf space left.... maybe I should ask for more shelves, but then I'd have to ask for an extension to the house first!)

this is a ring binder with loose leaves. it doesn't look very inviting from the outside, but it's the best I've seen so far to teach torchon lace. this is supposedly one of the easiest bobbin lace varieties to learn, that's why many beginners start with torchon. Ulrike Voelcker publishes really good books, but most of them are a bit more advanced. this is a series of 3 parts (the 3rd one comes out this spring), so far I have no. 1 and 2 (looks the same, just red background). it's in german and english, which seems to be the case for most bobbin lace books nowadays. makes perfect sense, because bobbin lace books aren't sold in huge numbers, so authors/publishers have to try to reach as many readers as possible (the books are still quite costly, compared with knitting books).

the first part of the "book" covers all aspects of learning to do torchon lace, though you should know the very basics moves of "how to". with clear photos and descriptions, the first chapter shows the same pattern in lots of different yarns together with percentages of how to copy the pattern in the right size for each yarn. there are many patterns available - but the 2nd part is the really interesting bit if you're out for nice patterns! colourful scarves, the usual (and not so usual!) doilies, curtains, samplers .... enough to keep me occupied for a very long time! unfortunately I haven't found a good preview for the book (as is the case for many bobbin lace books. and amazon offers hardly any of them!). I took the liberty to take a photo of one of the scarves just to show you that bobbin lace is well past the look of granny doilies and old-fashioned bits! I hope the author forgives me, but maybe they should start to show more of them in those lace shops that sell the books!

the good thing about the loose pages is that you can take out just the page you need, without the need of copying etc. and you can buy each part separately. if you already know how to do it, just go for the patterns! I am going to get the 3rd part too, when it is published, though it is supposed to help understand the lace in depth, rather than give many more patterns for it....

 

 the second book I received looks rather boring at first glance. no patterns, just pages and pages of text/lists. but for a bobbin lace maker this is a small bible! it contains (probably) all available yarns for bobbin lace, exactly measured and compared, so that the lace maker can see at first glance how to replace a yarn for a certain pattern. I should really have bought this ages ago, because I always have to guess the thickness and have done quite a few false starts with that. the only "complaint" I have here is that the cover should be a bit sturdier - but I solved that problem myself by covering it with

rhino book covers:)

this is one of the few bobbin lace books that has a preview available on amazon. the downside is that the text is french - but from good photos and diagrams the patterns are still easy enough to follow. because I'd like to do a small bobbin lace gift here and there I asked for the book - just to find out that most would probably still take too much time to qualify for a quick/small gift:) but the patterns are still gorgeous, I just have to plan well ahead!

 and before you fall asleep from all the book reviews: this is the first deluge sock - with a few adaptations. it fits well enough, though as I said - I cannot really see the point of going through the trouble with the specially formed left and right toes. knitting is so stretchy that the simple ones fit well - unless you have extremely oddly shaped toes that is...

I had a bit of a problem to get close enough with the zoom and still end up with the whole foot in one pic -but missing one row of rib should be ok, nothing exciting to see there:) at least you can see the rain drop pattern, though the pattern in the foot is barely visible. I like the colour better than the one I am knitting with now, because it's less blue and more grey - but on the other hand more grey would fit perfectly with the name of the pattern?:)

 

 

 maybe I shouldn't mention the word spring anymore - hardly a blog where there's no moaning and groaning about spring - or rather the lack thereof! but if there's none to be had - I make my own! lots of greens, a bit of yellow and some white - I spun myself a snowdrop yarn! only, the snowdrops to take a photo are gone by now...one skein comes with small beads, the other one is the same, just without them. it's all merino (only the yellow is corriedale) and I plied with a commercial viscose thread. which had a live of its own during plying, that's why I had to break the yarn with beads on one - it became so kinked that I just couldn't get it apart (story of my life just now:)... all the fibres apart from the viscose are from derryaun crafts here. all in all I should have enough for a medium sized project - it's just that I have no idea yet for what. nothing unusual in that, I have to admit:) it'll go as a show & tell to the spinner's meeting of our group, the Connacht Textile Crafters this weekend, and after that it can hang in my room for a while - until the real spring arrives and I have to make another yarn. maybe one with a lot of grey and very tiny specks of blue this time - for the real spring we are having??? as you can see from the header - the fluffy clouds and blue skies are gone here! 

 

not just books

I don't only read books - sometimes I even make things I found in a book:) this is a sock pattern I found in the book of the last preview. It's not difficult to knit, the only row, where counting is necessary is the change of direction, I think in row 8. on the other hand - I think I prefer the look of the wrong side... but it's a pair of socks, not a garment that is visible from all sides, so I don't really care all that much about that.

 

 the pattern would look nicer if blocked I'd say - but I was keen to put them on and skipped on the finishing:) the pattern on the right shows RS out, but somehow I prefer the structure of the left....

 

 the finished socks, out of thicker sock yarn, I think the name is Regia "fjord". this time I put in an afterthought heel, because I always end up having holes in the heel part below the foot! easy to undo - and because the yarn comes in 150 g balls, there's plenty to change the heel until the rest falls apart as well:)

 this one on the other hand is the first "deluge" sock. you can see the right foot shaping at the toes. there is a bit of a pattern along the foot, and then "rain drops" along the lower leg part. that's the part I like a lot. I also like the v-shape on top of the drops, but I skipped most of the patterning above, because I lacked the yarn. and I agree with another deluge knitter on ravelry, that putting pattern into the rib as well was just overdoing it a bit with the pattern. also the tbl rib doesn't stretch as nicely as a normal rib. so I changed the sock (no photo yet, weather dysmal) - I frogged to the uptter part of the v, started the pattern, but only lead the "shamrock" pattern into the rib, which runs along both sides of the leg. the rest I did partly with tbl ribs, where they continue from the pattern between the v - and partly simple k and p stitches to give a bit more stretch. the sock is wearable, so I'll make the second one at some stage. I know I'll have enough yarn because of the frogging. but I also started the pattern again in another yarn, with simple toe-up and a change in the leg part... to be continued - the never ending deluge story (very fitting for our weather just now:)

 this is the proof that it is possible to untangle the mess! just don't look at the hours of fiddling it takes me....

  and I finally did start on my version of the Fia. this will be the border of the kimono style "cardigan". double knit in pure pima cotton, dark blue and lime green. it's fun to knit, as long as nobody starts talking and you can count your stitches in peace... I'll be busy with that one because DK knitting takes a good bit longer, but the main part will be quicker, because it's knitted in stockinette and not DK. the downside is that it isn't exactly portable knitting, too many balls plus the pattern (the yarn is very fine, I have three threads of the lime green and four of the blue - not for the impatient, because it's not plied and a mistake is very visible, when the needle splits the yarn! but so what - I know that I'll wear that one for decades, so it's worth the time).



not much to tell on the garden front - wind and rain and cold means that I don't do much outside. but the little lemon tree is nice and snug in the glass house - and has produced the first ripe lemon! and 5 more to come in the next few days.... the scent  is gorgeous, we are going to eat the first one raw to get the taste! if I don't blog for some time I might have to unscrew my eyes after this experience:)