Oo! Projects

Although it's been a year since my last blog, I've been very busy teaching my last year as a faculty member before retirement in mid-May. Now I have three weeks to clear out 40+ years of academic books and papers!!

To cheer me up, my first garden surprise of the year was this clump of several yellow columbines left from last year.

I bought a few pansy plants in March, and they've grown really well.

On St. Patrick's Day, I planted various radishes and also sugar snaps. The French breakfast radishes were the first to be advanced enough to pick. I love radishes before they turn hot!

Violets have always been among my favorite flowers, and this year they have grown in the grass, in flower beds, and between rocks--all without my planting them.

The Fine Shetland Lace group on Facebook has started a KAL (knit-a-long) with the Little Secret pattern.

One of the local knitting stores has a KAL of mini-skeins in a rolled design, which should be very warm when the cold weather returns.

And then I ordered an Estonian mitten kit and a new Estonian mitten book (not in English, but it's the charts which matter). No, I haven't yet started them!

And two of three colors destined for another shawl: my local knitting guild's Goldfish Memory shawl. (The third color is tan.)

And an LYS (local yarn store) KAL , but the pattern is done around the country: Breathe and Hope shawl). Not yet wound.

And I have an online tapestry class to work on, and another small cut pile "carpet," so I'm dealing with the stresses of these times by undertaking too many projects, all linked by Oo! Another lovely project and soft yarn: everything from very fine laceweight yarn to fingering wool to weaving wools.

Summer arrives in about two weeks!