Cottage46 Knitter

I. Have. Made. Vegetables.

Or grew them, at least.  I'm still in the throws of beating back the grass (resilient stuff that), but we have produced veggies.  My butterhead lettuce (which is under the green beans in the photo) is bitter.  Any suggestions?  The summer has been remarkably cool which is wonderful if you hate sweating and mosquitoes like I do.  But it is slowing down the tomato ripening. 

My sock mojo seems to be coming back to life.  I got Wendy Johnson's toe up book and am waiting for Cookie A's Sock Innovation to arrive.  I'm working on a plain toe up sock with a heel flap because I couldn't picture how that was possible.  In all the excitement I forgot to do the slipped stitches.

But I did learn Judy's magic cast on which is wonderful and my new go-to toe up cast on.

I've also been working on Chic Knits CeCe which seems to grow at a seemingly imperceptible rate.  Seriously.  I was going to try to squeeze Cassidy in before fall, but I'm not sure I'll be able to.  Maybe that will be my backup cable project during the Henry VIII KAL.

The summer has been bone dry as far as indexing, so I've been happy to get 2 projects in the last week.  Yay for yarn money!  I'm thinking of some Frangipani for Fulmar.

I'm keeping up with my reading challenges.  I've been listening to Haven Kimmel's memoirs on audio.  OMG is she funny.  And she is soooooooo from a small town in Indiana.  I've been chugging around the track at 5 a.m. listening and laughing like a loon. 

2nd time's the charm

Spring Forward Deux is done and it fits!

And it was chilly enough last night that I even got to wear it. 

Pattern: Spring Forward from Twist and Turns
Yarn: Cotton Ease in Blossom
Needles: US7
Comments: My first attempt at this sweater was too big, but I knew I'd knit it again.  I wanted the neck opening to be smaller so I lengthened the saddles and moved some of the neck stitches to the saddles.  I also took out some of the moss stitch on the sides and added a diamond cable to the front instead of a larger moss stitch panel.  I'm quite pleased with the results.

We're having a leisurely 4-day weekend at Cottage 46.  We've gotten back into the walking habit and are doing 5 miles most mornings.  My feet are not adjusted yet and keep blistering.  Very annoying.  I'm working on a baby sweater for a library silent auction while I contemplate what to knit next.  Maybe Cassidy from Chic Knits, or I might do something from a Fine Fleece.  Henry VIII is impatiently waiting for the KAL in Sept. 

I just finished reading The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe.  I devoured it in 2 days.  The main character is a grad student who is preparing to write her dissertation.  She discovers the existence of a 17th-century book of magic that was owned by one of the women executed in the Salem witch trials.  It made me miss academia.  If we ever win the lottery, I'm going back to school and staying there forever. 

The garden is growing well, but we're still spending a lot of time trying to beat back the grass that had been growing there.  We've had 2 tomatoes off the largest plant (which were fabulous) and the other 48 (!) plants have tiny tomatoes on them and are ready to be staked.  Now that we've spent $45 on tomato stakes we'd better have lots of tomatoes!  I guess we'll be investing in Ball canning jars too.