this old house

We've had some odd weather here.  First in the 80s, then in the 40s, then rain.  Random warmer days pop up, and in those days, we've been outside working.

Even the cats have been getting in on the action.  Who cares if it's a one-story fall from the deck?  I want green grass!

The azaleas are just budding out...

...and the redbuds look amazing!

I have been so busy with house projects and work that my quilt pieces have sat, forlorn and ignored, on my sewing table.  At night, I've been knitting to relax.  First, a simple striped cowl that has been desperately needed on cold hikes.  So often cowls are wide enough to be looped twice or just hang open at the neck.  That seems to negate the purpose, so I made this cowl fairly narrow.

I've also been knitting a sweater.  It's been a real learning experience for me.  The sweater is meant to have zero "ease," which means that it's meant to be snug against the skin.  To get the correct size, the pattern says that I need to have 18 knitted stitches per 4 inches of fabric.  I managed that number with size 8 needles on my practice piece, and cast on for the sweater.

The arms were knitted first, and then the body, from the bottom up.  I "got gauge" (or had 18 stitches per 4 inches) in the first few inches, but I didn't measure again for 7 inches of knitting.  Then I discovered that instead of 18 stitches, I had around 16.  So each 4 inches of fabric was off by 2 stitches.  No big deal, right?  But when I measured the waist, I discovered that I had an extra THREE INCHES of fabric.  I thought about ripping it all out and starting over, but decided to keep moving forward.  Three inches will (hopefully) just give it a bit of room, but not cause bagginess.  I'll soon see.  I'm getting ready to start the yoke of the sweater, which will be a stranded star design in shades of purple and white, similar to the cuffs.  I still struggle with stiffness and pain when I knit, and I have not discovered an easy or pain-free method of knitting, so ripping out enough half of a sweater to switch to a slightly smaller needle sounds horrible.  But if I'm wrong, the entire sweater will have to be remade.  Fingers crossed!

Todd and I have been doing a lot of future-planning this spring, thinking about where we want to live, how we want to live, and the meaningful activities in which we want to engage.  I've been thinking a lot about my great grandmother, who lived close by when I was growing up.  She had a lovely white house with gingerbread accents and a front porch full of rocking chairs.  A big weeping willow tree, rose and grape arbors, and a special long bed for her 50+ varieties of irises.  The back yard was almost completely converted to garden space.  On one side, row after row of flowers, and on the other, vegetables. 

Incidentally, my grandfather sold the property and it fell into disrepair.  A flood in 2006 destroyed the whole neighborhood, which was converted into a public park.  Someone took a photo of the house before it was demolished.  Porch torn off, trees uprooted, walls sagging...such a shame.  Thankfully my great-aunt Ruth, now 101 (!), is going to send me some photos of the home in its heyday!

My great-grandmother, Grace, founded the first animal shelter in Anderson (Indiana), and continued to be involved in animal charities.  She was always surrounded by her cats and dogs.  She was very poor, but gave everything she could to the needy, from cutting old sheets into strips for leper colonies (apparently more prevalent in 1920!) to taking her famous vegetables and flower bouquets around to sick neighbors.  Her daughter, my great aunt Ruth, was a clever seamstress and regularly made over thrift store clothing to improve it and then donate to homeless shelters.  She and her family also brought their instruments to shelters and had singing time.  They were really inspiring women.  This is how I remember them both:

Todd and I have talked about wanting to have a similar life:  in a community of family and friends, downsizing, simplifying, beautifying our space with large gardens, surrounded by our pets, and engaged in social justice causes that are important to us.  I think the next year or so will bring some major changes for us...stay tuned!