Wild and Crazy

Where was I? Oh yes, last Monday my vintage 2013 computer started typing magenta letters and the battery wouldn't charge. I masked up, packed wipes for sanitizing, and visited Computer Hardware, the local Apple affiliate. I had the new machine home less than 24 hours when the pull-down from the battery icon indicated the machine needed a new battery. Back I went. Three days later, the new laptop with a new battery and desktop is performing well. The service in that local store is excellent.

This morning I have been watching young house finches learn to navigate the feeder. There is a clutch of three little ones with tiny tufts of down sticking out from their heads. They wait for the Mama to feed them rather than brave a perch on the feeder suspended from a shepherd's crook. I wonder if the slight movement of landing and take-off deters them or if the darn thing looks odd to them. Now and then one of them twists her body sideways to look at the feeder.

I continue to knit along. This scrappy shawl is a little crazy. I took out one light lavender section and faded some darker scraps up to the solid periwinkle. I hope to remember some of the stitch patterns the next time I set off to knit a scrappy shawl. 

I reknit this cowl and like it much better. Sometimes gauge in a small project really does matter. Once the pattern was set-up, the knitting was intuitive. Knitting a large cable-looking pattern without cabling was fun.

I cast on a baby sweater. A young woman who grew up in the neighborhood is having her first baby. This simple pullover practically knits itself. I bought a mini skein of bright lime green for stripes but then discovered it wasn't superwash. I didn't read the tag very well. The main color is a superwash yarn. I pulled the white superwash out of my stash for the stripes. It seemed silly to knit stripes from a non-superwash.

Last year I thought I planted some low-growing coreopsis in the front yard. This might have been another tag I didn't read carefully. Last Spring seems like so long ago. This year the flowers are taller and a bit wild and gangly. I might dig them up and put them somewhere else this fall or I might leave them and call them wildflowers. I like wildflowers. Our approach to landscaping, if it can even be called that, is easy care, drought resistant, and informal. They fit right in to our less than manicured front yard.

How did we get to the last weekend in June? That seems wild and crazy to me too. Wherever you are, I hope the weekend brings you some bright summer hours.