Spring has finally arrived in northern Iowa. The flowers are beginning to bloom ..... from the top - columbine, clematis, lupine, and blanket flower. Our vegetable garden is growing well .... tomorrow we'll eat our first leaf lettuce.....tomatoes are beginning to bloom, as are the peppers, onions, zucchini, cabbage ...... and even though the rabbits tried to stop them ...... the broccoli and cauliflower were helped when we placed red clay tiles around them. I've made at least three batches of rhubarb sauce with either frozen strawberries or blackberries added after it cooled a little plus a strawberry/rhubarb pie when dd was home for Mother's Day.
I joined the Operation Knitted Gater on Ravelry to provided a 9-inch knitted gater for troops during deployment. They are knit from colorway 275 (actually chosen by the commander of the unit to match one of the uniform colors) in Cascade 220 superwash. The details are available on the group's forum, so check it out if you would like to help provide these. The group was actually started by the wife of a deployed soldier, wanted 155 gaters by Oct. I knitted one that I gave to a df's sil who leaves next week-end for his deployment. My df said that he had mentioned that "neckware" was needed. I gave it to her today since they were going to "the lake" for one last extended family outing before the sil leaves. Now, I'm ordered a bag of 10 from the yarn shop in Washington that suggested on the forum since she will sell a bag of 10 for the price of 9 if used to knit the gaters ... the first two skeins I ordered from a yarn shop here in the midwestjust to get them quickly. Dd and I will probably knit some while at the Estes Park Wool Market in June and they will be good knitting on the flight out to SS2009 in August.
I'm closing in on the end of the gussets on the Sailor Delight Socks that I started earlier this month. They will be my June socks for the SAM KAL. They are an easy knit since the st pattern is easily memorized,
I had decided not to join RSC 2009 because I didn't care for much of the last year's offerings. Well,....dd is still in and I have loved every one so far this year. I went to BMFA and you can still join ....... so pretty soon I will have three of the kits in my mail. I'm also expected the ETL club offering .... I have looked at spoilers, so know I'm going to like both the pattern and yarn...... it's cashmere with beads!
On the school front ..... three more days ...... actually just the semester final tests days. Then I have to pack up the contents of my room for a move to the other end of the building. Luckily, a lot can be packed in a base cupboard that will be moved to the other room by maintenance staff. I'm so ready for summer ...... this has been a very trying year with students that don't want to even try to learn Spanish words ...... but they do want to learn Spanish. Don't understand.
Happy knitting. TLGB
Oh, my big purchase was from Conni Tögel prints - purchased three 5x7 as my "nativity scene" purchase for 2009 ... "Welcoming the Real King", "The Road to Baathlehem" and "Do You See What I See?". Pictures for the stash room will include "Hanging By A Thread", "Leap of Faith", and "Occupational Therapy". You might check out the artist here. .JPG)
Spring has finally arrived in northern Iowa. The flowers are beginning to bloom ..... from the top - columbine, clematis, lupine, and blanket flower. Our vegetable garden is growing well .... tomorrow we'll eat our first leaf lettuce.....tomatoes are beginning to bloom, as are the peppers, onions, zucchini, cabbage ...... and even though the rabbits tried to stop them ...... the broccoli and cauliflower were helped when we placed red clay tiles around them. I've made at least three batches of rhubarb sauce with either frozen strawberries or blackberries added after it cooled a little plus a strawberry/rhubarb pie when dd was home for Mother's Day.
These socks were the last of a two-pair commissioned job from a silent auction at church in mid-November. Knowing I had a lot of Christmas knitting to do, I told our associate pastor that I would start the socks after Christmas. I started his wife's on Dec. 31. Then, the hand pain from toooooo much knitting for Christmas hit. I slowed my usual three pair on the needles down to just one pair. Finished that pair the end of February and started these right away. These, however, were for a size 12 wide foot. I still had to take it slow ..... listen to the hand pain. Just finished these earlier this evening ..... May 5th.
I started a second Mystic Roses KAL with JaggerSpun Zephyr in the Chanel colorway, a bright rose ..... some may call it fuschia. I had trouble conquering row 27, but after three or more tries, my latest lifeline is on row 30. For now, I'm placing them every 10 rows but will make it about 4 or maybe 2 rows when the rows are longer. I've been using my KP Harmony tips but will probably change to the Options since this yarn blends in with the color of the wood especially at night. The sts show up better on the silver tips. Here's a pic of the shawl so far (taken on a pillow top that I knitted 30+ years ago). My goal is to have the shawl completed before Estes Park Wool Market in June or the BMFA Sock Summit 2009 in Portland Aug. 6-9. 
Also, I signed up for the STR Leyburn Socks KAL. The KAL members are trying to use as many different colorways of STR lightweight or mediumweight, so I chose Dixie Chick. I have yet to cast on the socks, however, school has been cancelled today because of the extreme cold. It started off at -3F and has been falling since. It is to "bottom out" at -30 to -40F before the cold spell ends on Friday. That doesn't include the wind chill which may approach-60F. I don't ever recall this frigid of temps in northern Iowa in my almost 60 years. Today may be the day to cast on since I usually have at least two different pairs on needles at the same time.
