Long Time No Post

Back again, we are, after a much too long silence.

What's been up?

* A "pay day" (a/k/a settlement - what a beautiful word!!) for me, Mavis
* "Christmas in April" volunteer day for Schavis Construction (it was delightful)
* the annual spring street festival here in my little MerryLand town (perfect!)
* gardening ... oh, how we love spring gardening ....

Here's a beautiful clematis - gift from my Mom 3 years ago -- sorry, I don't know the variety:
and False Indigo (Baptisia australis), also in its third year:

Knitting? This is supposed to be a knitting blog, so of course there is knitting:

The back is finished on "Aran Rose":

... and I started yet another new project:

This is a Fisherman's Rib baby sweater for my niece's babe -- who was due a week ago but has not yet emerged. Here's why I started this project:

Gretchen decided she was ready to try something new and came over to sift through my vast stack of magazines, books and leaflets. She had narrowed the search to a baby sweater and what eventually caught her eye was the very first baby sweater that I made! My notes in the margin remind me that I made this sweater and matching hat for TWO BABIES! Yes, my neighbor was pregnant with twins and I made two sets - one pink and one blue - for little Robbie and Cassidy. (Sadly, I never saw the babies wearing them, but that's another tale).

Anyway ... Gretchen went yarn shopping and came back with the only yarn that she liked ("off-white" color was the goal) but which was not the right gauge. I was out and about the next day and found Bernat's "Softee Chunky" in three terrific shades -- off white, pale grey, and "Medium Sea Green", so I bought them all! For the sake of nostalgia, I decided to knit it again, along with Gretchen.

The next night was Friday Night Pizza. Gretchen came over a little early and we knit together until the wine made her decide to stop. I am reckless and kept on! Since them I have manged to scrape together enough seconds to do the back up to the shoulder. I'm not sure how much progress my pal has made.