This week’s knitting is due for some literal unraveling. Here you see the beginnings of a baby blanket. Unfortunately, eight years happened between the first repeat and the second, and I knit far more loosely now than I did then. I’d hoped it was obvious only to me, but Rudi could pinpoint where the change in gauge occurs, so rip I shall. While I’m going to see the parents-to-be later this month, baby isn’t due to arrive himself until July, so there’s time to do it right.

I continue — still — with Word by Word, which I’m enjoying, but slowly. I also began Finding Wonders, a non-fiction, middle-grade book in verse about the lives of three female scientists, which I picked up after reading Raidergirl3’s review. I was familiar with two of the scientists and had even written about one of them for work, but the format of the book allows for different information to be conveyed. I finished my mystery novel and my audiobook expires tomorrow, so I really need a new piece of fiction. The Hate U Give is overdue, so it really ought to be that. We’ll see…

Unraveling with AsKatKnits.

This year’s Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival was just over a week ago, part of a a surprisingly damp and chilly first week in May. As usual, I went on Sunday, always less crowded and, this year, a far drier day than Saturday.

I was pleasantly surprised to find the weather was conducive to knitwear and finished weaving in and trimming the ends on my Partridgefield Cowl (you’ll get a better picture later in the week after I’ve blocked it) before heading out, so it could get its debut this spring, rather than having to wait until next fall.

This led me to get a later start than I would have liked (this seems to be a recurring refrain for me with this event), and I didn’t arrive until 2 p.m., giving me three hours until the festival closed.

I started with the sheep barns: (more…)

The recent rains have left my garden lush and green, filled with unruly violet leaves and impertinent creepers, and I’m sure a new crop of broken glass (a prolific crop in any urban community garden) is pushing forth into my plot.

I hadn’t visited in two weeks. Since they’ve been cool and rainy and I expected nothing to be ripe, the only real risk to a prolonged absence was that the weeds would overrun the plants I wanted to grow. When I’d last been down there, we’d harvested our cauliflower and some of the sorrel, which has shown its displeasure by becoming even more overgrown. When I head down again this week, I’ll need to make sure to bring a bag big enough to pick several handfuls.

The tallest shoot of my peas has grasped its way to the height of my waist, and others are climbing up our string trellis in fast pursuit. The vines are strong and covered with flowers, with one transforming into a pod.

It’s impossible to tell I pulled out violet leaves at the start of the month to give our strawberries more light, but it doesn’t seem to have harmed them any. All of the plants I could see had early berries on them, which means they should be red by Memorial Day.

Whatever seemed to be munching on my bok choy has moved on, and all three plants are looking good. The basils, too, are solid, as are the rest of my herbs. And even this 42 Days tomato, the lone one we’ve planted so far (my Sheep & Wool plants remain in my hallway), is thriving, with yellow flowers cheerfully promising fruit to come.

Later this week, I’ll need to head back down and plant tomato and pepper seedlings, beans, and potatoes, but for now I’m pleased with how the garden grows.

Three beautiful things (belatedly) from my last week:

1. Rudi’s surgery was a success and he’s in significantly less pain than he was before his hip replacement. He’s home, and the cats and I all appreciated being able to curl up next to him in bed last night.

2. After a combination of irritating and exacerbating events over a long day, there were Samoas to eat, Sarah to reassure me, and a door to slam really, really hard.

3. The hospital where the surgeon Rudi wanted to use has operating privileges is 45 minutes away (as opposed to the four hospitals within 10 miles of our house). But they also have a healing garden, which is a far nicer and safer place to take a mid-operation nap than any of our urban hospitals can offer.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. On Monday, I took the day off from work, and Rudi and I drove to Delaware for the day to go to Bethany Beach. There was a steady 20 mph breeze, which meant that a fine shower of sand literally rained down upon us for several hours, covering our blanket — and us — with a layer of granules. Otherwise, we had a lovely day. We waded in the water, soaked up some sun (clear skies and low 80s), and ate fish sandwiches and Dairy Queen Blizzards (our favorite ice cream shop just off the boardwalk is still only open on the weekend at this point in the season) and doughnuts from a new-to-us chain. We stopped at a farm stand for strawberries and pickles. And we were home in time for our favorite tv show.

2. The purple irises at the park by our house have bloomed, filling the hillside verge with deep violets and greens.

3. We finally got to our first baseball game of the season on Friday when the Mets came to town. It was a pleasant evening for a game under the lights and, despite a shaky showing by the bullpen, the Mets pulled off a win. (We also went today for a day game with Sarah and one of her friends, in which the Nationals held off the Arizona Diamondbacks.)

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world recently?

What you see there is the Points of Light baby blanket I began making nearly a decade ago. Clearly the 8-year old no longer needs a baby blanket and a new baby is entering our greater collected family this year, so I’ve pulled it out of storage. I have the intention of putting it back on needles and getting moving on it in the hopes that it’s done before he is. (Obviously that did not work so well the last time.) The pattern has been rewritten since I last worked on it (thank you, Ravelry, for housing updates for me) and now has a chart, so I’m hoping that will make things faster/easier.

I finished The Girl from Everywhere tonight, so am about to begin The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. I continue to read and enjoy Word by Word, but I’ve found it’s the sort of book I don’t want to power-read through; I want to consider her points and digest the information. In my ears, I’ve been listening to Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney. Obviously I’m only part of the way through, but it has the feel of a book that Bridget or Nan would enjoy. (I actually assumed I’d found it through their recommendation, but instead it was through Largehearted Boy.) It’s about an 85-year-old woman who goes out for a walk on New Year’s Eve 1984 in New York City, where she reminisces about her life as an ad woman, poet, and flâneuse.

Unraveling with Kat.