Spring Has Totally Sprung

These lilacs are on the table as I write this, and I occasionally lean in for a rejuvenating whiff. I also have tulips, and they are beautiful.

 I abandoned the Dan Brown book. I may go back to it later, but really, I probably won’t. Instead, I started The Hobbit again, on audiobook, which is my bedtime listening. Usually it makes me go to sleep readily, but last night it didn’t. Oh well. 

Yesterday I borrowed a Kindle book to actually read, The Golden Thread: How Fabric Changed History by Kassia St. Clair.

It has been on my want-to-read list for a while, and I got it for free yesterday. Out of the blue, Amazon sent me a credit for this particular book; I don’t know why, but I’ll take it! I haven’t started reading it yet, but it sounds good.

 

My Aran sweater is progressing. I have the back done, and the front is 85% done, so in about one or probably two days, the front will be complete.

Then there are just two sleeves and the neck and sewing it up to do, and it will be finished. I’ll try to get it done by June 1.

Spinning has been really slowwwww, but I have only a little ball of fluff left to spin, and I have found as I get to the end of something that has been fun to spin, it’s hard to finish it. So, I have spun, but only a little.

My primrose throw which I have been crocheting has also been going slow. I got the top row of half-primroses done and four whole primroses in the next row:

It’s really pretty, but I think I need to finish the Aran sweater before I crochet much on it. Also I think I need to take it out to the table so I can make myself do at least one primrose a day, in the morning. That would be good.

 I found a little scrap lace weight yarn to knit on my scarf! Yay! 

I knit that bit of red-pink-orange-yellow, and now it is back in hibernation.

This spring we did a major overhaul of Stuff that was cluttering our house, put things back on shelves, and in the process re-discovered items that I had thought lost. One of them was this:

Such cute little sheep! But wait, what is lurking behind them?

It’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing, licking his chops! Yikes!

By the way, this little sculpture is also a box:

And inside, you will find the ultimate source of why the wolf was licking his chops:

... lamb chops. 

Beware of a wolf in sheep’s clothing! Keep smiling, keep knitting, crocheting, spinning or reading, and look up some good lamb chop recipes for supper.

Time Flies When You Are Having Fun!

My goodness, is it May already?? Wow. 

I finished a couple things. The red Mystery in March shawl is done:

It's more of a scarf, a decorative scarf I guess. I like it quite a bit and it used up the red yarn I had, and I actually have worn it a few times. I finished it on March 30 but didn't get it blocked and photographed for about a week.

I finally finished my six foot long Amy's Scarf!

This has been in the works for nearly a year, though I sent it to hibernation for a good deal of the time to work on other things. It may turn out to be more or less than six feet long; I haven't blocked it yet. I absolutely love this scarf and the pattern was easy, once it clicked into place in my mind and I could just knit without any charts.

 And yes ... it is more red. And the Harpswell Inn cowl was red. Everyone needs more red in their knitting! Remember when you were a little kid and your favorite color was red? Well, mine was anyway. What was your favorite color when you were five years old?

My project that is currently on the needles and going at a great pace, I might add, is a Hitchhiker Scarf made with Lang Yarns Jawoll Color Superwash that I got at the Harpswell Inn Knitting Weekend. 

    I love 

It is called "Hitchhiker" because in the words of the designer, "The name? Well, if you use a 150 g skein of Wollmeise 100% Merino for this, you can make how many teeth? That‘s right, 42. The answer to the question about the universe and everything, according to Douglas Adams‘ wonderful book „The Hitchhiker‘s Guide to the Galaxy“. So don‘t forget your towel, and happy knitting!" 

Pretty clever! But I am not using Wollmeise Merino, so I don't think I will get all 42 teeth on my edge. We will see. It is knitting up very fast and unlike Amy's scarf, it is all garter stitch and easy peasy to knit. I love it!

Sometimes a Trip Down Memory Lane Can Be Pretty Horrifying

From McCall's Needlwork & Crafts Fall-Winter 1961-62:

From McCall's Needlwork & Crafts Fall-Winter 1964-65:

From McCall's Needlwork & Crafts Fall-Winter 1971-72:

And now, a word from a sponsor:

 

As an excuse, I can only say, it's cold. The frost has invaded my brain!

The Little Knitter

This has always been one of my favorite knitting pictures, The Little Knitter by William-Adolphe Bougeureau, 1879. The little girl looks Italian, or French; she's on a street in Rome, or Paris, and somehow you just know that despite the fact that she makes stockings, she is barefoot underneath her skirts. But behind that expression that says, "Oh, right, another artist? Sure, I'll stand here knitting -- while you pay me!" (somehow I don't think she got paid much), she is happy. She knits while she fetches things from the shops for her mother, or while she goes to tend goats or sheep or whatever, but she is really happy, because she can knit. It gives her something to have pride in, and it's a way to earn solid money. She knows it's fun, too. 

William-Adolphe Bougeureau was the greatest artist of his time; but he is little known now. He painted at the best schools, in the Academic style, won many awards, and exhibited in the Paris Salon for his entire working life. He was known throughout Europe. He married, had children, bought a big house in Montparnasse. He rose steadily in his career and never had a setback.  But as much as he was loved by the traditionalists, he was equally reviled by the avante-garde. In the words of the bumper sticker, "He who wins the war, gets to write the history."

So you have probably heard of artists like Monet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne -- and their work is beautiful, I don't want to say otherwise -- but after his death,  after 826 paintings, Bougeureau was outcast, he wan't even mentioned in many encyclopedias. 

But, I have always loved The Little Knitter.