Refreshing

Spring has finally reached us here up North. My native woodland garden is starting to show signs of waking up. I have flowers in my backyard to prove it:



Wild ginger





Pulmonaria





Red trillium




Bloodroot





Periwinkle (ok, not native, but very naturalized in these parts)


With the nice weather comes:

(the good)
- a mood and vitamin D booster shot of grade-A sunshine
- the strong desire to open the windows and clean the house from top to bottom
- exercising outside without freezing my arse off
- the start of Creamsicle season

(the bad)
- a massive home-invasion of resilient ants (this year they're not interested in the little Raid-catered poison buffet we've put out for them)
- being felled by a horrid combo of a spring cold/allergies that put me in bed for 5 days
- knowing that swimsuits are on the horizon and I have to somehow reconcile that with the after-effects of all that heavy, carbo-loaded comfort food I shoved in my mouth these last 8 months
- taking out my summer clothes and realizing that most of them are more than a smidge snug (see previous)

With this in mind, I've started a summery knit which will act as the perfect cover-up till I lose the little "muffin-tops" spilling out of my jeans.


I've cast on for "Swank", from Rowan #29 using Summer Tweed (70% silk, 30% cotton) in a very soft dove grey flecked with pale blue and lavender. It's evocatively named "Ghost". I've finished the back and am now working on the left front.


For the first time EVER in my knitterly life, I took the time to wash and block my swatch to make sure I'd get gauge!


But more importantly, this washed swatch reassures me that once I'm done, the crazy uneven stitches and cardboardy texture of the cotton blend will magically transform into soft, drapey, even fabric. I still skeptically look at my knitting every 5 minutes with fear and loathing, but then I fondle the lovely swatch till the bad feeling passes.