Exhilarating Spring, 28 Degrees...

Good Morning Everyone!

The only good thing about below freezing temperatures in the morning is, the mud crystallizes overnight. Hard'ack was a sloppy mess a few days ago forcing Bernie and I to take our walks around the neighborhood tethered to each other. We've been much happier up on the hill these last couple of mornings taking in all that the woods has to offer. I love watching the sun come up over French Hill, hearing the songbirds sing, and dodging the streams and puddles. It certainly exhausts him more than strolling the neighborhoods, he has so much energy to burn. I also could feel the difference, although that hoof up Brainerd Street can certainly get the heart pumping. That said, it has been ideal conditions for sugaring and that makes me oh so happy! I know that warmer days will be here soon and I'll get to finally finish up the yard work that was left last Fall. I do enjoy cleaning out my garden beds and discovering the fragile little buds that are peeking through the dead leaves.

I'm still juggling my projects of course, my Kirby sweater is completely finished, I sewed the buttons on yesterday, SUPER CUTE!!!! I'll be posting the FO today, be sure to give it some love. I haven't progressed past row 3 of the intarsia work on my Fleurine, anyone surprised? That said, I hqd a major epiphany while on a rant about the bobbins that would be hanging off of my sweater as I continued my quest (SEVEN BOBBINS, UGH). I was only up to 2 bobbins and a skein of main color and the vein in my head was starting to show, well, throb. So I'm discussing my issue with this whole process with Annie and Jeanne, and it occurs to me, duplicate stitch, holy shit I'm a genius. I decide mid thought that I could easily knit the flowers in a solid color and then go back and duplicate stitch the centers, easy peasy lemon squeezy...Makes perfect sense since the very thought of having all of those bobbins hanging was giving me anxiety, not to mention the number of ends that would eventually need to get woven in. Annie agreed that it was the perfect solution since the original plan was obviously making me miserable. Kathleen and Wanda gave me an extra shot of confidence by telling me that it would give the centers some dimension and a nice "pop", WIN, WIN, WIN!!!! I love being right lol....

Of course all of this deliberation and decision making about the best course of action forced me to focus on my Avena and Addie's Sipila. I spent Friday night Zooming with Kathleen and Wanda going round and round on my Avena, it seems to be growing. I have my cute little progress keeper hanging, reassuring me that each row is getting me closer to those 13" before I start the ribbing. I stopped to measure, thinking I had at least 8", nope, 7 1/2" keep going Katy. The colorwork on Addie's sweater is coming along nicely, I'm anxious to have it finished, but of course that also means, miles of mindless knitting lol. It's so funny, I get excited to finish the colorwork and then complain about how boring the body is to knit. That's usually when I grant myself permission to start another project. This time, I have my Fleurine to focus on, which now that I have a solid plan, doesn't seem as daunting, stay tuned.

The other reason I've been focusing a little more on my Avena is we are meeting this Saturday, March 26th for KAL. I think there are 3 that have finished their sweaters already, Barb, Joyce and Carolee, anyone else? It's certainly not a race, but we need to start thinking ahead to the next project. Will we be ready to cast on a new one April 23rd??? Come with some ideas Saturday and hopefully we can decide what to do next. We will be meeting tomorrow evening from 6-7:30 for Stitch and Bitch, I hope you can join in the fun. I do have some foldable chairs, but be sure to bring one just in case. Masks are not required for those that are vaccinated, if you feel more comfortable wearing one, that's fine too. Make it a great day and I'll see you soon!

Katy