be-twix-t a winter and a spring place

 Moderate weather means more outside time!  At first glance, there's not a lot of life out there yet...

...but I'm seeing more signs.

Bean Blossom Bottoms, a 700 acre nature preserve with nearly 3 miles of suspended trails, is only 15 minutes from our house.

Because it's bottom land, and naturally boggy, it's unbearable in the summer:  heat, humidity, and mosquitoes.  Spring, though, is another story.  It's alive with so many frogs, birds, and animals.  The Sycamore Trust, which protects and maintains this and many other properties, set up trail cams and has caught some remarkable things.  I love this short video of a bobcat family!

On our other walks, we're seeing a bit of color...the beautiful purple of bare blackberry bushes...

...and even the greening of moss is a nice harbinger of spring!

A bit of red, too, in the infrequent berries spotted on bare branches of various bushes.

Speaking of red, we recently celebrated Valentine's Day.  I was still feeling unwell, so we had a low-key day at home.  A red velvet recipe that made just four cupcakes was the perfect amount...

...and, for my "gift," I made a punchboard out of plastic cups.  Insert a treat and a terrible pun, cover the opening with crepe paper, and you're magically transported back to your second-grade classroom.

Feeling better means that, besides finally able to get back to work in a meaningful way, I've also been able to work on hobbies.  I hadn't worked on a puzzle in many weeks, but as I slowly improved at the end of January and beginning of February, I got to work on a 2,000 piece puzzle that I absolutely loved.

I also got back into knitting.  I've been working on my Deco cardigan off and on for the past few months, and had nearly finished the body and both sleeves.  I've been woefully unobservant this year, and realized belatedly that I had stitched a child-size sleeve on to the adult-size body...sigh.

Grimly, I ripped the arm back to the shoulder and began again.  I'm nearly halfway through - relief!  I've already picked out my next sweater, and it's one that I've knitted before.  

Shadow sweater, photo courtesy of Brooklyn Tweed:  Wool People

Here it is as a nearly-completed project in 2015:

The problem?  First, I used a silk-blend yarn, and silk has absolutely no stretch.  Neither do cables.  And because I'm a fairly impatient knitter, I didn't bother to knit a gauge swatch.  Most of the time, these swatches are knit in stockinette, or "plain" knitting.  This pattern, however, wanted me to knit a swatch in the cable pattern and then measure it.  I didn't do it and just guessed, and this sweater was WAY too small.  I frogged it last year.

Last week, I broke down and knitted the swatch:

Bingo!  Perfect gauge on size 7 needles, and I also found the perfect yarn.  This is Brooklyn Tweed's Shelter in the Fossil colorway.  Normally it retails for $16/skein, making this a fairly pricey sweater at $128!  I found someone selling it for much cheaper on Ravelry, although it will still be (gulp) $80.  A bitter pill to swallow for someone who still prefers to get clothing from thrift stores...but it's good-quality yarn and I know I'll love wearing this sweater when it's finished.

Skies are increasingly blue here...

...and temperatures are slowly warming.  I'm still feeling well and am cautiously optimistic about continuing this trend.  Looking forward to many adventures as the season progresses!  Even in the garden, which I'm determined to control this year.  I'm talking to YOU, weeds, ticks, and chiggers!

side garden in spring from a year or so ago, pre-weed invasion

Have a great week!

a fine Alpine

 Just a bare dusting of snow...but plenty to see.

I love photographing snowflakes.  Some are filled out with flat ridges of ice...

...and some are all prickly shards.

You can see in the first picture how different each snowflake looks.  We are supposed to get between 3 - 8 inches of snow this week - a white Christmas!! - so I'll have more chances to find new shapes.

It's been dry, cold, and quiet here.  The front pond is frozen...

...and even sunny mornings are foggy and atmospheric.

The kittens seem to know that it's a sleepy season.  I put a small wooden bench by our front windows, for the kittens' viewing pleasure.  I decided to go one further and added a cat bed.  It seems to be a success...

...even more than our bed!

Busy busy, but I'm making time for some creative pursuits.  I'm slowly picking away at my Vintage Christmas quilt, having finished all 15-square side pieces (see left section) and the wide patchwork alternating sections (see right section).  I'm working on the middle section, blue stars made up of different styles of fabric. It's very colorful and cheerful, so I'm excited to see the finished product!

I've also picked up my knitting again.  I'm knitting this cardigan:

Deco, photo courtesy of Kate Davies

The dress is Alpine from Lindy Bop...must buy!!

I put it away for a while, because I had Christmas knitting and other time-sensitive projects.  It's knitted in an unusual (to me) way.  You make a basic vest, and then pick up the stitches around the armpit hole.  You knit in a back-and-forth fashion (short rows), picking up an extra stitch each time, until you've worked the entire circle.  This creates an excess of fabric at the top, where you need it.

Then you can knit in the round, making a tube.

After both arms are finished, you have to pick up stitches for the hem, neck, and front button bands. It's a bit confusing, and I'd chosen this cardigan as an easy knit.  But I love a challenge and look forward to conquering these techniques!

Colder weather is coming, Christmas is coming, and it's wonderful to have so many fun projects to work on in my free time...the aforementioned, as well as working hard to beat my personal post-college best for the most books read in a year.  Bring on the snow!!

Have a great week!  

knitted ladders and insect adders

As we get closer to fall and cooler weather, there's an uptick in my cold-weather craft projects.  I'm knitting a Kate Davies cardigan called Deco...

It's a stockinette cardigan without a steek, meaning that it's knitted back and forth instead of in the round (as a tube that is later cut).  Long purl rows are boring, but at least there's an interesting row of slipped stitches that form the front of the cardigan.

I've had a burst of energy with my postage stamp quilt, too.

Outside, the season is progressing nicely.  A volunteer pumpkin vine in a front bed...

...gives it a dash of fall.  My pumpkins in the back bed are going crazy, too.  The pumpkin flowers are open for business!

Once they're pollinated, they will begin setting fruit.  During my last inspection, I was surprised to see what I initially thought was a small group of spiders on one of the leaves.

These aren't spiders, though.  They're squash bugs, and once I knew what to look for, I found much more evidence of their presence:

Squash bugs are terrible for the garden.  They inject liquifying toxins into pumpkin vines, and even attack mature pumpkins.  I made short work of these invaders with a bit of soapy water.

Deer are everywhere...

...and we're seeing more and more geese, common in the fall.

I noticed a head sticking out of an overgrown garden section this week:

Turkeys are out and about, another frequent autumn occurrence.

I see a pair of singles quite a bit, and also this parent pair with their 11 - 12 poults.

  

Of course, Warren is out every day...

...and he's quite territorial, chasing away a younger rabbit who dared to approach our side garden this week.

As usual when the weather starts to cool, praying mantises are (gulp) hanging around in unlikely places, like this window screen:

Goldfinches, and although I've yet to get a picture, indigo buntings.

Hummingbirds, too, are out in force.  I'd say that a pair feeds pretty continually in the front and side gardens.

I've been watching them and I think that they're nesting in our apple tree.  I frequently see their silhouettes there.

I will definitely be nest-hunting this November!

Inside, we've got kitten mischief...

...but still, a whole lotta napping.

They're loving our open windows this week.  Atypical for August:  low humidity and cool breezes.  A nice transition into September. 

Have a great week!