Hello Gentle Readers. May treats us to beautiful warm days. A few honeybees frequent the salvia in the pollinator garden. The garden begins to grow. Last night I snipped a few fresh lettuce leaves to add to egg salad sandwiches. A ripe garden tomato would have been tasty but those are six weeks away. Even in May, one can't have everything.
Today I link with Kat and the Unravelers. This week I made progress on the Gemma Shawl. I usually knit one repeat of the mock cable/lace pattern each evening. It is a peaceful way to end the day. The shawl pairs well with The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower. I'm currently listening to Volume 6 and enjoying all of Emma's adventures. I get a kick out of the names Brower has chosen, for example Mr. Penury as the banker and Mr. Enamel as one of the St. Crispian committee members. Even the name of Emma's home, Lapis Lazuli, is fun. Each one of these novellas is more fun than the next.
I frogged the first five inches of the back of the Avenue Vest. Experience has taught me to check gauge and other measurements before knitting too far. The piece seemed small and I was right. After wet blocking, my gauge per four inches was four stitches smaller than in either of my swatches. This is strange because I knit both the swatch and the beginning of the vest flat and generally my knitting tension is loose. I also knit a small in-the-round swatch for the rest of the vest but whatever. I bought another skein from my LYS because I don't want to run short of yarn as I knit another larger swatch. Maybe now isn't the best time for garment knitting. Working in the garden is so nice and we are beginning on a partial bathroom remodeling job. Plan B might be to work on the shawl and socks for now.
After returning a few books to the library unfinished, I've begun reading Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton. My reading list for summer includes older books by authors I've previously enjoyed. I feel badly for authors who work for months and more to write, revise, and publish a book that has such a short shelf life. How long can/do booksellers keep books on shelves before the next advertising blitz comes along? I imagine it's a short period of time. I'll not go on with my rant.
After avoiding the grocery store over the long weekend, I need to make a list and buy some produce. I hope you enjoy some warm late Spring days.
I'm sorry to hear your gauge failed you on the vest, but as you noted, maybe now just isn't the time for it. I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually. We won't have any tomatoes for a while yet, either, but I checked on my plants earlier and they've about doubled in size since I planted them last week. I guess all the rain we've been getting has been good for that!
ReplyDeleteIt seems like my taste All Things changes with the seasons . . . the foods I want to eat, the projects I want to work on, the books I want to read. Tom calls it my "Seasonal Adjustment" -- so I know just what you mean about putting a project aside or working on something else for awhile. I say . . . enjoy your time in the garden! The growing season is so brief, so soak up every moment out among the flowers and veggies.
ReplyDeleteWorking on your Gemma does seem like a nice, gentle way to finish your day. I really like the socks; the ribbing mid-foot looks very comfortable. Enjoy your produce and look forward to tomatoes! (We just planted ours yesterday.)
ReplyDeleteSuch fun socks Jane! And Gemma is lovely. With Fletch's brother here I've been busy (mostly cooking and keeping out of the way) so I have not knit or stitched anything and read hardly at all. Oh well, there are more days for those things. Fletch put in our Sun Gold Cherry Tomato plant today. It had been on a windowsill in the kitchen but was getting a bit out of control! Hopefully it will be productive. Our regular tomato plant (that we bought at the greenhouse) is in and growing, but slowly. I'm longing for garden tomatoes! So glad you are enjoying the Emma Lion books! We listened to Raising Hare and thoroughly enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteI just started my first Emma M Lion book. I'm not far enough to know the names of any characters yet but I'll be looking forward to running across some of those interesting names.
ReplyDeleteMy tomato plants seemed to have grown a foot over the past week. We've had nothing but rain since last Thursday and it seems to have made them very happy.
Gauge swatches are a hit and miss thing for sure. I'm sure you'll have that vest back on track soon.
ReplyDeleteThe thing I hate about bookstores is they rarely carry "older" books. It can be very frustrating.
As always, Jane, it is a delight to stop by and sip a bit of iced coffee and catch up with you! I think Gauge is a very fickle friend. I hope you have figured out the issues and can progress with confidence! I agree... warmer weather arrives and other things clamor for my attention. And by the time I sit down at the end of the day my brain bandwidth is waning a bit. I am fortunate to have a very good independent bookseller near... they are extra special because they will even find older books for me! In fact, they helped me find a much desired Franz Wright translation of my beloved Rilke. A good bookseller is a treasure!
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