some knitting -- no clever title

It was a quiet weekend in Madorville, lots of knitting accomplished. We had intended to go to the Seattle Riot exhibition game on Saturday, but the weather was really really awful. Sorry, Shannon.I worked on the Mountain Stream Scarf. This photo was taken about a quarter way into the fourth pattern repeat. I now have five repeats done. I am getting faster, but have a ways to go to get to a decent sized scarf. The recommended length is 14 pattern repeats. I am really liking the pattern. It is very well written and the size is just right for a first lace project as it is easy to notice and correct mistakes within the row. Someone very familiar with the pattern would be able to tell that there's a mistake in my scarf. The short rows near the bottom are too loose. Well, they are also symmetric, so they could be a design element.



I made 1.2 dishcloths. The second one I cast on and knit while watching House of Flying Daggers. While there are subtitles, the plot isn't heavy on the verbal, so I was able to knit a bit. There is a mistake in a slip stitch early on though. You can sorta see it from the photo. Heck, this is a dischcloth; I am so not going to worry about it.





This Dulaan hat was finished a while ago. It was made using a strand of Melinda's homespun and a strand of Lambs Pride Worsted. It will fit a child with a head circumference about 16-18 inches. Toddler or preschooler?

I also finished the first sleeve of my red sweater, no picture though. I tried it on and modeled if for Zach. (Franz wasn't home at the time). Zach' s only question was "would you actually wear it?" Well, sure I will, and proudly. But not in public or anything. I am too close to finishing to give up or frog it. I will wear it around the house, maybe to garden in. I want to finish so that I can throw it in the washer and see how the fabric (cotton wool blend) holds up. See if some of the unevenness will be less noticable. I really like the feel of the cotton wool blend (Cascade Sierra) and want to finish the sweater mostly so I can determine if I like the yarn well enough to make another sweater out of it. I am thinking of making a log cabin blanket out of it also. This is a top down raglan designed on the fly. Since I hadn't touched it in months, it will take some calculations to get the second sleeve to look like the first.

This is our asparagus patch! I just get a kick out of having asparagus growing in the yard. Please note that there are two stalks, and that they are starting to flower. Yes, this is the extent of the patch. Franz bought the house from a little old lady who lived here for over 25 years and spent all her time gardening. The asparagus has survived the past 19 years of complete neglect. In fact, until a couple years ago, exactly one stalk grew each year. A male stalk. It grows over five feet tall and is really ferny, pretty when it flowers. I don't know what we did to merit a second stalk. Right up against the south facing wall of the house was probably a wise place for it at the time. But look how hard the sun damages the paint. The ground near the house, especially under the windowsill, is full of paint chips, very likely lead filled paint chips from before our time. Even if we had a healthy crop of asparagus, I don't think I would eat it given where it grows.

Franz cooked asparagus last night and it was yummy. He got it free at the store. Shopping late afternoon on Easter, the selection was picked over. In fact, it was the very last bunch and the produce guy was dubious about it so told Franz he could have it for free. Looked fine to me, and it tasted great.