Knowing When Is When

So there’s this knitting thing I have been working on for a while. It’s called the Swallowtail Shawl (by Evelyn Clark). It’s a lace knitting project, and I am knitting with some nice alpaca I bought from the yarn shop garage sale person.


First effort took me to the 5th of 14 repeats of the first lace pattern before I saw I had erred irretrievably, but that was okay. With lace, at least for me, sometimes there is a learning curve, and I didn’t swatch/practice this pattern. I frogged and started over, considering this as my lesson.

Second effort took me the 9th of the 14 repeats before I saw that my stitches were not giving me the desired look. Something was amiss, and 1) could not be fixed, and 2) would not be lived with. I even tried to take it back to the last repeat and re-knit to no avail. In fact, this pattern does not lend itself to doing this successfully, to my thinking. Frogging ensued and another re-start.

Third effort began with much promise. I have learned to see how my stitches are happening, (how the k2tog K SSK build the ‘buds’, where the YO K YO build on either side of the previous K, etc...trust me, Brother, it happens....), as well as having ‘learned’ the pattern. I was (note the past tense) really clicking along. The knitting was not perfect, but I found mistakes as they happened and compensated immediately, such a good lace knitter I am! O pride….how she goes before the fall. I finished the 10th of 14 repeats with trepidation, knowing all was not right with my Swallowtail world.

At this point, I knew another re-start was required, and to quote (more or less) one of my favorite southern ladies of fiction, ‘as gah is my witness, I will knit that shawl! I will!!’ One day….but not this day. This day the yarn was rewound and laid away for now.

Christmas knitting calls, and I know when to say when.

Remains of the Season

Cool nights and warm days, even if the warm days bring no rain, give a certain vibrancy to my yard. While much is way past prime, some blooms are coming out fresh and bright and worthy of the camera.

The asters just started opening this past weekend. I am looking and watching for just the right time to cut them. All the dried flowers in the house (that have been there for…ummm…some years) are being replaced this year.

I didn’t get as much monarda cut as I wanted. After I made my first ‘harvest’, I saw how much the hummingbird was liking it, so I let it go. I am a sucker for the wild things. Hopefully there will be enough asters to compensate.

Or maybe I will just have empty vessels. Because the old stuff is leaving! It is time. Past time!

Biking Weather

When I recount recent weather, I believe I sound like my mother. I remember hearing her speak of current weather trends often and thinking to myself, ‘Whatever could be so interesting to the other person about that?’


Maybe nothing. Maybe I just like hearing myself. Maybe that’s what the whole blog thing is about, after all.

Anyway.

It’s been warm here. Unseasonably. But I don’t mind at the end of September. It’s stretching summer out a bit longer, and for me that’s not a bad thing.

That being said, the unseasonable warm doesn’t happen until the afternoon, so when I am riding my bike in to work, there’s a chill breeze as I zip along. The day starts out somewhere around 45 to 50 F, and ends around the high 80’s. Today we may set a record in the low 90’s. That’s a pretty big temp range to dress for commuting on the bike.

But I manage. I will meet my goal tomorrow, surpassing 600 miles on my bike since May. And the season isn’t quite over for me, as long as the weather remains….unseasonable.

Taking A Risk

I may be posting photos of what every other Colorado blogger is posting this week.

But I have to.  This year the aspens are mighty pretty.  Or at least they were last Sunday, when The Guy and I loaded up into the mighty Nissan once again and traveled back into the hills.  Or along the Peak to Peak highway between Estes and Nederland, at least.

How is it that today is the first day of fall?  Where did summer go?  Of course, when I look back, I see all that I did this summer, and recognized where the time went, but oh my!  It does seem to fly by.

I am getting a few tomatoes every few days. And they taste wonderfully, too, but it's interesting.  This year I have something eating on the fruit of my vines, as it were, on the ripe tomatoes.  Sort of looks like the work of slugs, which is interesting, because slugs aren't really a problem in this arid climate.  One year I had white flies.  Most years, not a pest at all.  Also, this year the grasshoppers are scourge like.  Well, not really scourge like...not like in the Bible or anything...but there are lots of them.

I have started knitting on Christmas gifts.  Actually I started while on the South Dakota trip.  (Kate, we did not stop at Cosmo's, but managed to see much else of what the area offered.)  Pretty fair planning to start mid-September.  Let's see if the momentum continues.  Let's see if I can keep the secretz!

And I am closing in on my bike miles goal. Still have a few left so not claiming victory. I rode home in the rain yesterday, but I am neither sweet enough nor evil enough to melt when wetted.  It was pretty neat, though, smelling the dampness of the dried grasses and leaves...very....fall-like....

So there are my fall colors, my bright spot in the slipping by year.  Christmas knitting momentum?  Holy cow!  I only have 3 months...

Yard Stuff

So I plant Morning Glories.  I think they look really neat on my antique garden gate in full bloom.  And they do.  When they bloom.  This year I planted a variety of colors.  Just this past week, this color started blooming.  I have had about six blooms.  Earlier I had some ittle bitty red ones. Cute, but not the ones I wanted.  I wanted these!  So here it is.  Late September, and finally...FINALLY, I get a few meager blooms.  See how close to the fence?  This one had stuck it's head through and was showing off for my neighbor!  Now I like my neighbor and all, but darn it, this bloom is mine.  I reeled it back through the fence for the photo.  And for the day.



My other favorite color of Morning Glory.

The last of my hollies, which are now tall and straggly and spindly stalks, loaded with seeds.  The guy is all 'are they ready for trimming?' Oh ho ho!  Silly fellow! If I did that, how in the world would I get my volunteers for next year?  The Guy and I?  We have differing philosophies.  He likes a neated up space.  I see things growing freely and think...hey, what a green thumb have I!

As evidenced by my volunteer sunflowers this years...that provided us a bower over the walkway to the gate.  Then a barrier....complete with bees!  Fine, I said, and deadheaded, but only because I knew that would extend the blooming!

About 5 years ago, I bought my only hyacinth bean.  Since then I have grown my bean trees from seeds.  Like magic they are!  They thrive despite me.

My other flavor of hollyhock.  I wonder what sort of babies I will get next year?