I realized a little while ago that I would soon be receiving my sock club package for May/June and hadn't really done anything but swatching with the yarn from March/April. I still don't care for either of the patterns that came with the kit but it didn't seem appropriate to knit special yarn into a plain sock. I spent a bit of time on Ravelry hunting for a good pattern and eventually settled on the Leyburn socks (Actually the process went something like this: I'd be looking for something else, come across the Leyburn pattern, think "Ooooo, that's pretty", try to add it to my favourites, discover it was already there, and return to my original search. At some point I make the important connection that I needed a pattern for my sock yarn and I really liked this pattern. Sometimes I wish my brain would go a little faster.)


There is a whole bunch of slipping stitches in this pattern so it goes really quickly. I love the way the lattice stitch works with the multi-coloured yarn: it shows off the yarn and the yarn show off the stitch pattern - perfect.

I was making good progress on my socks but put them aside last week when I remembered that this little jacket (yeah - I know - it doesn't look anything like a jacket - I'm trusting in the pattern and the thousands of knitters who've already made it) is meant for someone who will be arriving in about a month and will probably grow out of it by September.


I was working on this over the weekend and I'm now a little farther along than this picture shows. I've finished the decreasing and started the increasing (it still looks totally weird). I thought the linen would be really difficult to work M1's in but it seems to naturally form loose stitches and they are no more difficult that if it was wool. It looks like there will be more counting from now on as there are a few spots where I increase across the whole row and a section where I only work the stitches between the markers.


I love the way the stripes look with the decreases. So sharp. I'm planning to add in another thick band of orange towards the end of the sweater so that it will show on the fronts. I don't seem to have any proper crochet markers so I've drafted a couple of paperclips to do the job for me. They actually work pretty well and don't fall out when my knitting gets shoved into my purse or tossed on the table

Buds on our ornamental crabapple tree.


A raven on a piece of ornamental mining equipment in city hall park. They're such big, scruffy looking birds.


A pumpkin plant freshly transplanted into my new garden beds (more on those soon).


Buds opening into blossoms on the crabapple. I love all the frothy pinkness.


Keeping track of my garden and planning out the last two boxes.


I wore my favourite sundress out to Rob's staff barbeque. The blue flowers matched my toes.


I dusted! There are only two weeks until this year's tea party and I thought that it might get a little less crazy the day before if I start cleaning up well in advance.

I'm drinking tea right now. This book always makes me want to have tea; it's just mentioned so often. It also makes me enjoy housework and really want to make preserves.* This is one of my favourite and most frequently read books as shown by the faded spine - it used to be pink - and worn corners. There is something so fantastic about Anne and the ideas she embodies. It was given to me as part of a box set sometime between age ten and twenty. I can't even remember who gave them to me now but I'm very glad they did.

Do you have a book you read over and over?

*Right now I'm thinking of trying out a recipe for Cinnamon Watermelon Rind Pickles but a bit unsure if we can finish off that much watermelon without drafting friends to help.