Dear Jan,
Spring seems to be having a hard time finding the Twin Cities. True, it’s been delightfully warm this week, but we still are mostly snow-covered and the piles of snow covering the crocuses that line our driveway are thigh-high.
Lucky for me, I had a business trip that took me back to Columbus and Ohio State. And the witchhazel bushes (Hamamelis vernalis) that used to greet me with their delicate, ribbon-petaled flowers as I walked to class at the end of winter quarter were still there, in full bloom. I can go back to Minnesota feeling sure that in a few weeks we’ll be seeing blooms of some sort at home, too.
Not a lot of knitting time this week, but airports and knitting go hand in hand and I made some time on my Daybreak. I’m into the border, now, but may make that wider than specified in the pattern as I cheated on the striped section when my brown yarn ran out and fear the overall shawl would otherwise be a bit small for good neck draping.
I did tiny bit of the last brown row in blue - we’ll see how often I notice that when I wear the shawl. I’m sure I’ll notice the lovely hand that this yarn has - Mirasol Nuna, a blend of bamboo, wool, and silk, and bringing the best properties of all three. The bamboo feels cool and drapey, the wool makes it a comfortable knit with enough spring in it, and the silk luster adds the finishing touch. On a size 4 needle the fabric is fluid but far from sheer.
I also made some progress on my traveling socks - finally getting to the heel on this fine fingering weight. The Ty-Die sock yarn is a wonderful knit with every changing colors (not well represented here - much prettier and greener rather than brown), and I’m working on my Signatures (thanks, K!), so the slow progress is still plenty of fun. But I can’t wait to get to the interesting stuff in this pattern by Cookie A - a lacy butterfly stitch that swings across the arch.
It will have to wait as I have a surprise knitting project in the works. Unbloggable for now as the recipient may read the blog, and not very big, but big enough to keep me from knitting the sock at all odd minutes.
I should really be using these odd minutes to catch up on some work email that piled up while I was traveling, so I’ll sign off now. And try really hard not to pick up my knitting bag instead of signing on to work.
I hope your weekend is filled with the work you want,
Love,
Ellen
Jan and Ellen are identical twins who have always had an innate fashion sense. Crafting is an integral part of their lives and they stay stitched together sharing their love of knitting, family and community.
March 20th, 2011 at 1:54 pm
So that’s what witch hazel looks like in the wild?
Welcome home. And now, having read this, I feel like working on a long-neglected sock.
March 20th, 2011 at 2:24 pm
gosh - so wish i were closer and could go to stephens w/you.
maybe sometime….
i had to put my not daybreak, um….dang. ah - akimbo! aside for a bit as i have another hat to knit - ahem - and a pair of fingerless gloves and so on and so forth. am really hoping to get back to it before the hand surgery, as i do not think the cast will be as forgiving as the splint, re knitting.
meanwhile, i live vicariously through your lovely pics, of project and furballs - gosh - can hardly believe our kiddens are so grown up….
xo
March 20th, 2011 at 7:34 pm
I have thought of planting one of those bushes for awhile. What a lovely Spring taunting!
The flowers that bloom in the Spring — tra la!
March 21st, 2011 at 2:27 pm
Eek! You’re WAY ahead of me on Daybreak - I picked up this new sweater and don’t seem to be knitting anything else (oops); Daybreak will be going to Yosemite with me next week, I think - perfect car knitting. Yours is gorgeous. As are your socks; I think that’s the color I knitted that yarn in, and I just love them (Kivrin’s lucky she ended up with them, I was so tempted to keep them for my ownself).
March 21st, 2011 at 5:10 pm
Two really key items culled from this post…One — you’re knitting something for someone who reads this post…maybe it’s someone who writes for it too! And, Two — how could I have missed the valuable point about bringing one’s knitting bag to work? (I did knit during some internal meetings last fall, but haven’t brought it in since….must change that!)
March 22nd, 2011 at 8:14 pm
Secret knitting does make for a blogging challenge. Sounds like it won’t be for long, though! Keep knitting in those odd moments; work will always get done somehow, and you’ll probably get a lot farther in your knitting than your email! (Says she who is many, many emails behind and really must catch up one of these days…)
=)