Saturday Sky

What gives with some Saturday Sky folks posting their photos on Friday? Or a dusk photo in the morning? Aren't these supposed to be Saturday's skies? This Saturday's?




This Saturday my sky looks a lot like it did last Saturday --- very blue. Vine maples are a native tree to the Northwest, very pretty in the Fall. Actually, pretty all year. Franz had wanted a vine maple for years and we finally planted this one last year. In addition to the vine maple, this photo contains kale seed pods. We don't really harvest the kale, but it volunteers throughout the garden, growing 5 to 6 feet tall. Sometimes the plants overwinter and end up more like bushes. I let them grow because the birds love the seeds. For the past couple weeks, the yard has been taken over by the house finches gorging on the ripe kale seeds. They don't seem to have competition from the larger birds, perhaps larger birds cannot perch on the delicate stems. Unlike the larger birds who live here, crows, stellar's jays, starlings, even robins, the finches are very skittish. I suppose they have to be. But it means that every time I go out back, heck even walk past the window, the whole flock leaves the kale and seeks shelter. Makes me want to go "argg, I am not a predator! Don't waste calories escaping me!" But they'd never understand. So if you see me tiptoeing around the house avoiding the southfacing windows, you'll know why.

I dyed a pound of yarn in a semi-solid coral-peach color for Cinxia. It's a finer gauge than the yarn used in the instructions, but I swatched and calculated and think I will be happy with this yarn and pattern choice. Of course I found and read the knit-along blog, the yahoo group, and myriad knit-bloggers who attempted (and some even finished) this pattern. I think I will make some modifications, probably make raglan decreases as some blogger suggested.

A question for all you knitters with more experience than me. Why does everyone suggest the long-tail cast-on over the crochet cast-on? the crochet cast-on doesn't leave you guessing as to how long a tail you will get, it looks nice on both sides and is not any harder than long tail. And why do provisional cast-on instructions tell you to crochet a chain, then thread the chain onto the needles? Why not just do a crochet cast-on using the waste yarn? I have a heck of a time getting the crocheted chain on the needles in the one perfect way that will allow the waste yarn to unzip. So much easier using a crochet cast-on.