Thursday Flora Update

I thought I'd show you some "flora" (as in fauna and flora) we are enjoying lately. First up, our clematis, which is blooming like crazy in the garden and giving us something so pretty and splashy to see out the window!

There's a lot of dead leaves on it that I didn't get to trim before it started blooming, and I didn't want to interrupt things then, so I'll wait until its season is over to trim them. But this year it had ten blossoms altogether, which is a record. One of them was even on the ground, in the middle of some ground cover.

Of course since it's been raining so much this week, a lot of the blooms are gone, but they were sure nice while they lasted. Especially considering that about three years ago, I thought I'd killed the plant altogether when I got a bit carried away trimming out the ground cover. It just makes me so happy that it survived and seems to be thriving.

You may recall in the post where I regaled you with tales of our new door - which we are still loving, btw - I mentioned that the day after we got our new door, that we got a new tree, and I promised a photo. 

Behold, our new tree:

It's a honey locust tree, and since I took this photo about two weeks ago, it's gotten even taller and fuller! We used to have a crabapple tree in the spot that became diseased and had to be removed. The City of Philadephia has a program where they will provide you with a free tree, but needless to say, you get added to a list, they check the location, and then you wait until your turn comes around. They check the location because sometimes in the past, people have planted trees in places that are not not optimum for either the tree or for foot/car traffic. So your space has to get approval before anything else moves forward. And then you wait. But the bonus is, you don't get charged for the tree and volunteers in the program do all of the planting (which would currently be completely exhausting for the two of us to attempt).

There's also a list of approved trees for city streets. This is important because not all kinds of trees will do well in this kind of environment. Also, years ago many many gingko trees were planted everywhere in the city, and though they are lovely to see, those that fruit then drop the fruit, which gets trampled or driven over, and the permeating vomit-like smell is really disgusting. Needless to say, gingko trees are not on the list of choices! We chose the honey locust because it the particular one listed is a smaller variety that would not split the sidewalk or cause other problems. And as I mentioned before, at least right now, it seems to be pretty darn happy and growing like crazy.

And you know what? When you walk out of our new front door, our new tree is about 2 feet to the left of it. So our new tree and our new door are so pretty together when you walk up towards the house!

We were feeling pretty good about things on this side of the house on this particular street, thinking the only thing that was the next project was replacement of the carport, which has been out of commission now for a few years. But lest we start to think we are ahead of things for once, we awoke last Friday to find that part of the brick planter in front had completely collapsed. Either someone tried to sit on it, or ran into it with a car or a bicycle. So now we have that to deal with as well. It's a good thing we budgeted a little bit more than we thought we would need for all of these repairs and projects. But you know - yet another thing. Ugh.

It will of course all be worth it in the end, but finding the right people, scheduling everything, and then making sure you can be here when they are doing the work has a lot of moving parts to consider. And then of course trying to get Alfie to understand that 99% of the time, he just cannot be involved is a whole 'nother story! 😊

"You don't understand - workers need to have me there to snoopervise and help with the work. But my TERRIBLE parents refuse to allow me to be included. Just wait until someone reports them to PETA, that'll teach them!"

Wednesday FO: Mabel Sweater

Do you watch the show "Only Murders In The Building?" We love it. We have always been big Steve Martin and Martin Short fans, and Selena Gomez has now also become a fave of ours based on this show.

Anyway, her character is named Mabel, and in Season 1, she wore a light blue, bulky, funnel neck sweater in one episode that just caught my eye and I wanted to make one just like it. So off to Ravelry, where I did a lot of searching with various filters, keywords, etc. I couldn't find anything that looked just like - or even enough like - the sweater to suit me. But I found a pattern that I liked that used bulky yarn, so I decided to knit that and it would be sort of *my* version of Mabel's sweater.

Project: Mabel Sweater

Pattern: Cozier, by Tanis Lavallee

Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Superwash Bulky, in the colorway Fjord Heather

Needles: US size 10/6mm; and, US size 11/8mm

Modifications: I opted for a length in between the cropped version and the longer version (something like Mabel's sweater looked to me). I also didn't knit a turtleneck, but didn't quite create a funnel neck either. Which is fine, it's for me.

Notes: First off, I have to say that this is not my best work. There are a lot of flaws, but 1) I was making it as kind of a throw-on cozy sweater for around the house so no big deal there; and, 2) I had a hard time with the large needles - first off, I'm not used to needles that big, and second of all, I couldn't knit for very long at any one time before my hand would be killing me. So even though people say things like, "Oh using bulky yarn means it knits up SO fast," for me that wasn't the case. 

So although I am happy enough with the finished sweater, I'm mostly just glad it's done and over with. It looks fine for an around-the-house sweater, and it will be nice and warm and cozy. But unless it's some small thing like a hat or mittens or something like that, I'm done using bulky yarn and big needles. I just didn't enjoy the process, which for me is just as important as the result.

The pattern is very well-written, and I kinda sorta wish I could make one similar to the striped one shown in the pattern. But I'll just have to make a colorful striped sweater using a different pattern and smaller yarn somewhere down the road.

The photo above shows the actual color of the sweater much better. I do like the color (I guess that's why most of wardrobe is blue? LOL), and it's nice and soft. And since it's super wash, I won't have to baby it, which is nice.

So in closing, I can recommend the pattern and the yarn if you enjoy making bulky weight items. And I am happy enough with the final sweater. And putting a completely positive spin on the whole thing, I guess it was a learning experience for me regarding bulky knits.

Needless to say, your mileage may vary, as the saying goes.

I also have a finished pair of socks to share with you, but that's another post. So stay tuned!

FO Monday : Alpine Bloom Red

Hello and I hope your weekend was a good one! Mine was fine - nothing especially good, nothing especially bad. It was pretty rainy and cold, which was nice for staying inside, knitting, reading, and drinking tea. Plus, yesterday was one year since Miss Esme joined the family, so we had a little celebration for her - little, because although she has made huge progress, she's still not sure we're not trying to kill her ... it was also Hamlet's birthday, so we drank a special toast to him last night. We miss our Hammy so much!

Anyway, I'm starting this week with an FO which was a long time in the making. Partly because it was colorwork, which I am not well versed in, and partly because it was charted, which I have not really done too much. But it all worked out in the end.

Project: Alpine Bloom Red

Pattern: Alpine Bloom Hat, by Caitlin Hunter

Needles: US size 3/3.25 mm and US size 5/3.75 mm

Yarn: Barrett Wool Co. Wisconsin Woolen Spun Sport Weight; colorways Chestnut and Apple

Modifications: Are you kidding me?

Notes: This was part of a kit I purchased from Barrett Wool Co. at the beginning of 2024. I had decided that I wanted to give colorwork knitting a try, and thought a hat would be a good start.

I have not really knitted much from a chart, so that was also a challenge to me. Fortunately, the pattern was very well-written and very understandable. Though it required a lot of concentration on my part, and went quite slowly. I had to make sure that I was home by myself with no distractions whenever I worked on it! I started at the beginning of February, and finished around the middle of April, so it was a longer project (though of course it was interspersed with working on other things during the same time.)

This was also the first time I knit a pattern by Caitlin Hunter, and I have to say that it was really enjoyable. I can see why her patterns are so popular, if they are as well done as this one. (Who knows, maybe I'll try another one ...) 

The kit was good for me, because there were limited choices as far as colors go - otherwise I might still be deciding what colors I wanted to use. I like the yarn - it is cozy feeling and soft but still rustic. I think this will be a great hat to wear. The kit included a pompom option, and I like the hat both ways to be honest. Since the pompom is one of the removable kinds, I don't have to make a single decision about it, at least not right now.

Best of all, it fits my big head! I knit the Adult Small/Medium, because I figured that the Adult Large might be really large (which now I know it must be), and figured if it didn't fit me, I could always gift it to someone in my family. But too bad, everyone else, this one I'm keeping for myself! 😊

I only used about half of each of the colors of yarn, so I think this would be an excellent scrappy project. Down the road, I may look through my leftovers and make another, you never know.

*****

I hope your week goes well. I have two Dr appts on different days, but otherwise am hoping to work on some of my personal projects, in and out of the house. And I am one sock toe away from having completely empty needles - time to decide what projects are next!