I just don't seem to have the drive to write long blog posts this week so this is a super quick update for my two major projects right now:

Number 1: The Crepe Dress

I got the sash cut out and sewn together on Sunday and attached the bodice to the skirt. I have a dress (and it fits too!) lacking only a hem and a proper photoshoot in order to be considered complete. This weekend is a long weekend so hopefully I'll manage to do both of those things.

Number 2: Rob's Sweater

As of right now all the pieces (front, back and two sleeves) have been knitted and all the ends woven in. I'm going to seam it up and knit the collar tonight. This means I'll be steam blocking instead of wet blocking but I think I can get away with it. We're having some family pictures taken tomorrow and I really want the sweater to be finished in time. I know I've said it before but I still love this yarn.

Gratuitous Critter Picture:

Ollie spent most of lunch time trying to fit herself in that box. Abby helped out by alternatively supervising and chewing on the box.

That first trip to the greenhouse in the spring is always a bit special. So colourful and so fragrant. All I was getting was a few bags of potting soil but I took my time looking around first.

I checked out the animals: chickens, goats and a couple of donkeys were all I could see but a friend of mine said she saw a couple of sheep last week.

The shrubs and trees outside are still very bare and grey looking but inside the green house is moist, fragrant and colourful.

If you also happen to be bespectacled you'll know what happened as soon as I walked into that warm, moist air after being outside in the chill.

So for the first little while things looked a bit like this. Still smelled fantastic though.

Once my glasses had adjusted to the humidity I was able to enjoy the beautiful colours before me in much more detail. Some plants are so strange looking; I want to get some just because they look so odd. If you look closely you'll see some of the smallest workers in the greenhouse keeping an eye out for pests.

Thanks to warm temperatures and a bit of rain over the weekend and this afternoon, there is only a tiny patch of snow left in our yard. I walked around when I got home today just to see how things were and was happily surprised to discover signs of life. The weeds were not a big surprise but it was nice to see some chives coming up - I wasn't sure they would make it over the winter in containers. I pulled the dead leaves away from the rhubarb and found new growth there as well. The beginnings of rhubarb always look very strange and primordial to me. A squirrel came to the feeder while I was in the yard. He got a little nervous when he noticed me but ultimately didn't seem to feel that avoiding my presence was worth abandoning the peanuts.