It was unseasonably cool when we arrived in Florida but we did have a few really lovely days in which to take long walks on the beach. I’ve never been the type to lay on a towel but I did sit long enough for a delightful picnic of smoked mahi mahi and guacamole with chips. The birds thought it looked delicious too. We always enjoy seeing all sorts of waterfowl and other birds but this trip we were lucky enough to spot some manatees as well.
With the impending loss of Google Reader, I have switched to BlogLovin
See you all there!
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This is a quick photo of my Easter egg. I figure a sheep belongs sketched onto an egg around this time of year. Incidentally, this was also my lunch.
We had a lovely weekend around here. It was bright, warm, and sunny. We went for long walks, decorated eggs, cooked a little bit, and played at the park.
The seeds I planted two weeks ago are finally germinating. Welcome to Spring. Finally.
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Hi friends! It’s Sarah, your friendly neighbourhood sweater-knitter. I’m so pleased to be back to talk some more about my Ojai-coloured sweater-in-progress!
At the end of my last post, I mentioned a provisional cast on. The Hooray Cardigan has a really neat double layered collar: first, you work a provisional cast on (the red yarn in the photos!) I used the crochet provisional cast on shown here, because it’s so easy to undo when you need to liberate those stitches!
Halfway through the ribbed collar piece, you add a turning ridge: a row of purl stitches on the right side that helps the collar to fold naturally.
When you have an equal length of ribbing on each side of the turning ridge, you undo the provisional cast on.
Then you fold the collar over so it’s double layered, and work the cast on stitches together with the live ones on the needle!
The effect of the double-layered collar is both that it’s firm enough to stand up on its own, and that it’s very warm and cozy 
Once I finished the collar, I got started with raglan shaping, reverse stockinette and CABLES! This sweater has two types of gorgeous cable:
This one:
And two varieties (left and right leaning) of this one!
I really love cables, partly because I think textured knitting is so beautiful – especially when it shows off a special yarn like Juniper Moon Farm’s share yarn!
I also find cables really satisfying to work because the effect of a simple action is so magical. Working your stitches in a slightly different order suddenly results in these amazing, dynamic, twisting shapes!
Well, I think cables are magical anyway
These twisty green cables are starting to remind me of vines – or maybe that’s just wishful thinking. It’s definitely starting to feel like spring on Vancouver Island!
Sarah hangs out with her cat, drinks a lot of tea, sometimes eats pie for breakfast and knits as much as possible in beautiful Victoria, BC.
- by Joan -
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Tagged flowers, mosaics, Photographs, spring
April’s picture is of part of a Campground cottage… I liked the flower boxes on the fence and the splash of red on the door. I took this in May 2012.
- by Joan -
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Tagged architecture, calendar pictures, Campground, houses, Martha's Vineyard
We spent most of last week in Florida visiting relatives and my birthday fell on the second day of our visit. There’s a local fish shop that is essentially just a room with ice chests filled with the daily catch and it doesn’t get much better than that. At my request, we cooked at home for a stellar seafood dinner. We made shrimp with garlic and basil oil, spicy beet bites, roasted fennel salad, marinated and grilled snapper (recipe works well with most fish), and for dessert Jason did creme brulee. My printer ran out of ink the night before we left so I grabbed Laura Calder’s “French Taste” cookbook and tossed it in the suitcase and most of these recipes come from that.
I would simply peel the shrimp and leave them whole next time. They were the tiniest smidge overdone and leaving the tails on is just annoying when you are trying to eat them. I would also just cut the beets into pieces and toss with seasonings but it’s nice to be fancy for a special meal. All the recipes were wonderful and I’d cook every one of those again in a heartbeat.
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If you follow me on Twitter you may have already seen this picture of Hughes. If you don’t follow me on twitter now is a great time to rectify that situation.
Violet and Imogen taking a snooze.
Thomas
Grantham
Amy and Paul came over on Saturday with Oona and we were treated to lethal amounts of adorable.
Then, on Saturday night, Jeykll gifted us with another set of twins. Both ewe lambs, one black, one while. (Insert your own “ebony and ivory” based platitude here.) My friend Cris wanted to name one of the ewe lambs after Beryl Patmore, the cook on Downton, so I present to you– Beryl and Patmore!
Only two ewes left to lamb. Is it possible that we could be finished before I leave for Yarn Con in Chicago on Friday?? BTW, here are 8 Awesome Reasons you should go to Yarn Con. I am number 3, which is beyond flattering!
Finally, you all have been asking lots of questions in the comment lately and- due to internet suckage– I haven’t been answering them promptly. I’ll be making up for that this week.
First, I should say that internet access at our house has been spotty; the ongoing Cyber Attack that has been in the news has affected people and websites everywhere, and we are no exception. Whether or not I can access my blog host is hit or miss lately, so bear with us until this works itself out.
Onward to spring!
This past week I finally started my tomato and pepper seeds inside. I used the tutorial from By Hand Magazine, found HERE to make soil blocks.
The crazy thing is that I had sprouts the next day!
The garlic I planted in the fall is coming along nicely, and I am seeing sprouts from the arugula I planted outside about 2 weeks ago now. I planted carrots, beets, peas, and radishes as well. I’m not positive, but I think I saw the faintest hint of beet sprouts starting.
In a few weeks – once we’ve past our last frost date – I will direct – sow the squashes and cukes along with potatoes and horseradish. I plan on buying a bunch of berry plants this year as well to get them started.
Paul’s been hard at work clearing the remaining tree trunks so I have a larger spot for the squash garden and all of the wood burning we’ve been doing means we have lots of wood ash to add to the soil with the compost. Hopefully we’ll add bees in the next few weeks as well and our garden should fare much better than past years.
In the meantime we are airing out the house whenever we can and slowly putting away all of our winter clothes and boots. Everyone is happy to see the warmer weather return and I’ve got an itch to make dresses and skirts.
Summer really is just around the corner.
We’d better get a move on if we want to be ready for it!
