Spring Mittens

With spring on the horizon, I decided to try something new and join a knit-a-long (KAL). What is a KAL? Well on the fiber art community known as Ravelry, one can find patterns, follow designers and join groups and from here people come up with KALs for people to follow within a certain time frame on a specific pattern. I was intrigued by this KAL because it used self-striping yarn, which I've never knitted with before, and it was for some basic mittens that would be good to wear this spring. So I decided to join in on the Linden Mittens KAL by Jane Richmond to knit myself a pair of mittens (and be entered to win a skein of yarn). The KAL lasted two weeks, March 10th-24th, and I was able to complete my mittens on time, despite working eight 10-hour days in a row during the two weeks (yes, I said eight 10-hour days)! I'm pleased with the finished object as the color will go well with one of my jackets, plus they are shades of green and very spring-like, which I'm in dire need! This project may have even introduced me to a new addiction of self-striping yarn, so I'll have to try knitting some socks soon. Here are the photos of my progress over the two weeks, of which I really only knitted on them for four or five days.

I would also like to take some time in this post to say a goodbye to the family cat that we've had since I was in elementary school. She would have been 19 years old this year, but unfortunately my mom had to put her down on March 26th. Rest in peace Cricket aka "Big Kitty," you will be missed.

Spring Update

The Hollyhock bloom. Unsure of which type it is right now.

Ahh yes, time to cue the generic "it's been way too long since I've posted" blog post. But I must say lots has happened since the last post. The garden is almost completely planted and everything seems to be settling into their new homes fairly well. Some of the annual seeds are sprouting, we have flowers on some tomato plants and we have our first bloom of the season on a hollyhock. As of this week, there were 42/45 dahlias and 8/12 calla lilies sprouting. Now that it has officially heated up down here, it's only a matter of time for everything to start blooming. Next week we may even see the first daylilies of the season. All of this growing just gets me excited to see all the color in the yard!

My February Sweater being blocked.

As for the knitting....I did finish my February Sweater, however, I still need to find buttons for it. I am pleased with how it turned out, but it ended up too long after blocking. A few weeks ago I started my first shawl; it is a free pattern on Ravelry called 22 Little Clouds. I am using some of my Malabrigo yarn, Rastita, for it and it is super soft! Too bad I won't be able to wear it until the fall now.

Most recently, I started a new job as a part-time cashier with a local garden center. It doesn't sound too difficult, but man it can be pretty stressful. The phone rings off the hook, lots of customers and too many plants to learn!  It is apparently their "busy season" right now, so I'm hoping it will get a little easier. One last bit of news, I have a new orchid! It is a beautiful all white one that Brendan's mom bought me last weekend when she was here. Quite a surprise!

 

Now I think I'm caught up! I will definitely try to keep up as the flowers start blooming! Here is one last picture I'd like to share with you all....this bird was absolutely stunning!

A visitor at our bird feeder, an Indigo Bunting.

Snow, snow, snow

It was a bit of a surprise waking up this morning to see a thin blanket of fresh white snow on the ground.  I thought spring started almost a week ago?  Well, it's hard to believe it as the temperatures have been 25-30 degrees below average the last few days.  

Towards the beginning of the month I had spring fever hit me...I wanted to go to every garden center and see all the new plants for the season.  I even bought a few pansies to liven up the front of the house.  They've had some rough nights though, being out in 20 degree weather.  So last night I brought them inside and will keep them in for a few more days.  They are just so cheerful sitting in the living room that I had to take some pictures.  

Let's hope for some warmer weather next week...