well, hail.

Beautiful, destructive, awe-inspiring hail poured down last night. 

It pounded the house from all sides, roaring with a force I've never heard before. It sent gallons of water streaming through our kitchen ceiling and tore through our window screens. It ripped my little garden greens to shreds and pockmarked our car. I've heard the phrase "the sky opened up" before, but had never experienced it until last night when buckets and buckets of hail fell in a matter of minutes. 

After a restless, rainy night, we're headed out to survey our house and the neighborhood. We've got a lot of tasks ahead: taking stock, repairing, making insurance claims. We're thankful to be safe, though. And we're completely bewildered at the strength and power of nature.  

sparrow

A little bird flew my way this week--four skeins of Sparrow yarn. It's gorgeous! The delicate twists of linen feel cool and smooth. It would be just right for summer knitting. But you know I can't wait until summer, right?

For my knitting group's next knit along, we're doing something different. We learned from our motivation-draining BSJ mistake and are making a project for ourselves that we can use right away. We're making bags! Only we're not all knitting the same pattern; we've each chosen our own pattern and craft. Some of us will knit bags and others will crochet. It's a rather loose knit along, but I think it still counts.

So, last night I settled in with a mug of tea, a favorite show (Felicity), and a new pattern, the Dejeuner Bag. The provisional cast on scared me, and I don't know if I did it correctly, but now that all 110 stitches are on the needles, I'm not going back. The basic pattern stitch looks manageable, but the cast off and finishing seem difficult. I'm going to try to focus on the beginning and worry about the ending later.

Come summer I'll be the one in the straw hat and sundress carrying a linen bag and looking for a beach to comb. And since beaches are hard to come by here in Kentucky, I'll settle for a pool and a lounge chair.

canary cardigan

canary cardigan

In February a few of us started a knit along at my office. We decided to knit Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket. We figured that since it's all garter stitch, it would be easy enough for beginners. We thought that knitters who had never made a sweater would find the size manageable, and the unique construction would keep us all interested. The fact that none of us had babies seemed to matter at the time. We were all excited to jump in for our first knit along. Two and a half months later, our 10-member group is down to five and we've completed only two sweaters. Ah well, we may lack motivation, but we're certainly having a good time. We meet once a week at lunch time to knit (or crochet--we're a welcoming group), talk yarn, and just hang out.

Even though this cardigan felt like it took forever to knit, I'm happy with the results. The deep yellow hue is sure to brighten up some future winter day. I couldn't find my stash of yellow buttons (they must still be hidden in a box from our move), so I chose gray buttons instead. Yellow and gray never gets old.

My (still nameless) bunny looks a little bare, doesn't he? I think he's wishing for a canary cardigan of his own. :) 

early spring hike

redbud

K and I recently took a weekend getaway. We holed up in a cabin in central Kentucky, read, knitted, played games, and watched college basketball. We planned to have some lazy, do-nothing days, but the weather was so warm that we couldn't help going for a short hike. We hiked to the top of Natural Bridge, which isn't too strenuous, but is rather steep. The views from the top make it worth it, though. We also saw plenty of early spring wildflowers. 

Virginia bluebells

* * * 

The time away from everyday life felt wonderful.  

Where do you go for a weekend getaway?

little bunny

this little bunny just hopped by to say happy easter!

* * *

{my little bunny}

{pattern}

yarn along: a bunny-to-be and hometown pride

yarn along

This week I'm racing to finish a knitted Easter bunny. The pattern looked so cute that I couldn't resist! It's the Well-Dressed Bunny pattern. 

Sewing my knitted projects is a weakness of mine, though. Weaving in ends and stitching up seams is like punishment. I carefully hid almost all of the loose ends for this photo--there are actually around 16 that still need to be woven in. So I need to summon quite a bit motivation to finish this little guy. I'm hoping the holiday deadline will help.

* * *

Yesterday the first good mail in weeks arrived in the mailbox--a Martha Stewart Living magazine. As I flipped through it I was surprised to recognize a three-page spread of local places and foods. My hometown of Louisville, Kentucky is highlighted as a weekend getaway! Check it out. It's a cool city that I'm sure you'll want to come visit. 

* * * 

Are you yarning along this week? 

What are you making and reading?

seedlings

sunflowers

billy buttons

Lately every time I walk through the kitchen I find myself stopping to spend time with these seedlings. More than once I've found myself eye-level with the dirt, scanning to see if more seeds are on the verge of sprouting. I give them a spritz of water and a bit of encouragement. This is the first time I've grown anything from seed, and I am amazed at how quickly they've gone from seeds to plants. The sunflowers grew their first true leaves, so I had to re-pot them to give them enough room to grow. And I just pulled my lavender seeds from their month-long chill in the refrigerator a couple of days ago. Already I can see a tiny speck of green in the soil, a tightly curled ball of leaves waiting to unfurl. 

Now I just need to start working on the yard so I'll have a place to plant all of these seedlings... 

* * * * * 

{good links lately}

• My friend Kristen is already hard at work in her yard.
• I feel like I can do anything when I listen to this Fun song.
• The sweetest photos.
• A pretty (and handknitted!) cardigan.
• Alice's spinning wheel makes me want one something fierce.

* * * * *

What's going on in your part of the world? Anything growing?