Earlier this Spring, I cast on a Wool Peddler's Shawl in a soft gray shade of alpaca and a Greenfield Cardigan in a soft blue wool/mohair blend. I also had an ever present wash cloth on my knitting needles. All three projects are knit with the humble garter stitch. When I needed a respite from the end of school year paperwork on my desk, I set aside the more complicated Tintern Abbey socks and finished the wash cloth. Then I spent evenings with either the sweater or the shawl. We recently traveled to attend my niece's high school graduation and I worked on the sweater during the trip. Eventually the finished sweater will hold memories of a beautiful young woman singing at her graduation as well as her weekend celebration with happy friends and family. The shawl will tell a different story which I'll save for another post. Both projects have grown in size so they will be stashed away for knitting on autumn afternoons or winter evenings. In August when the fall semester and paperwork begins again, the garter stitch projects will be ready for knitting.
Right now summer beckons with less hectic longer days and warmer evenings. I look forward to more time for reading, walking, and playing with my grandchildren. I have two bedrooms to paint. I'll also spend some time tending vegetables and herbs while keeping the weeds from wrapping around the wildflowers and tomatoes. As quickly as I clean bindweed from the perennial flower bed, it grows back. I've tried bark mulch, a natural weed killer made from corn, newspaper covered with dirt as a mulch, hoeing, hacking, untwisting, and pulling. The weed is stubborn. Ground cover may be my next solution. The bind weed and sedum can wage a turf war while I sit on the deck and watch the lettuce grow.
