Welcome, Spring.

Spring came just in time this year. The weather change usually sneaks up on me, and before I know it, it's summer. But this year, the cold of the winter really got to me. I found myself hitting the snooze button more and more just to avoid the chilly air. I was really starting to think it would be gray outside all year. Thankfully, yesterday the gloom faded. I was woken up by sunlight (!) instead of the blaring alarm.

To celebrate, I purchased my very first ever watering can!

Isn't it cute?

And then, when I got home and checked on my little seed starting kit, this is what I saw...


I never thought that plants could be so exciting. These little green sprouts made me squeal with delight! I hovered over them for a few minutes, examining the little fuzzy white parts and smiling at how they lean toward the sun. I can empathize with those little things. It's been a long winter, but today I don't have to stretch so hard to feel the warmth of the sunlight.

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, The Sad

"Knit on with confidence and hope, through all crisis."
-Elizabeth Zimmermann


The Good:
1. The Hemlock Ring Blanket is done blocking and is folded up nice and purdy. This might just be my favorite knit ever. I loved the rhythm of the feather and fan, and the yarn was so soft. It was just a really comforting project to work on, and I hope the finished result brings the same comfort to my dad and my step-mom!

2. Well, this is bad in general, but good on the knitting front. Since the huge storm on Tuesday, I haven't been able to get my car up the driveway. The roads are completely clear, and most people have resumed their normal lives, but I haven't been able to get ANYWHERE...no class, no work, no trips to the store so that I can bake something that involves ingredients other than eggs, milk, and butter (which I did sort of manage to do). This left me with plenty of time for knitting and watching movies that I would only watch alone. Yesterday I watched The Last Kiss, which pretty much says it's ok for 30 year old guys to act like babies, but it was still entertaining in a mindless, middle-of-the-afternoon kind of way. So, I cast on the Reversible Cabled Brioche Scarf. Super fun. Seriously, it's kind of addicting. I'm using some Berroco Peruvia in Deep Red, and calling it a Project Spectrum...Project. I'm feeling the red. I've been pretty angry/emotional lately (see The Sad, below), and this scarf is fiery and bright.


The Bad:
So when I said I baked today...well. I don't even know how to finish that sentence. I tried. I really wanted to make some cute little lemon tea cakes. And, I'm not bragging or anything, but I'm usually a pretty good baker. I bake cookies every week, and I bake bread and croissants and cakes...I just really don't understand what went wrong today! I used a recipe for basic genoise batter and added some lemon juice. Everything looked ok until I tried to take the cakes out of the pans. The butter had somehow settled and formed a waxy, oily layer on the bottom of the cakes.


So I set the cakes aside, planning to show my mom when she got home and have a good laugh. Except that by the time she got home, the cakes were GONE. Oh, Jake. He seems to have a thing for baked goods. He's been known to steal a chocolate chip cookie or 5 from time to time. Well, at least someone enjoyed the nastiness that was those cakes. Even after 6 eggs, 2 cups of sugar, some flour, and butter, Jake managed to wolf down his dinner. He even licked Willie's bowl clean for him. Thoughtful.


The Sad:
The bowl that Jake licked clean was from Willie's last dinner. My mom has decided to have him put to sleep. Tomorrow. D and I are so torn up about this. He's such a happy, playful puppy when he is around familiar people, but he can't be trusted outside of our house or around new people. We're going to miss him so much. It's such a shame that when people choose to mistreat animals even for a short period of time, it has such a lasting effect. I wish we could have met Willie earlier and saved him from this, but I'm grateful to have known him and given him the love he deserves even for this short time.

So I start a knitting blog, and what do I post about first? Sewing. I was poking aorund on The Purl Bee, and as soon as I saw the Bias Tape Purse, I had the urge to dust off my machine. I haven't sewn in 6 years...now that I think of it, I haven't sewn since pretty much the day I learned to knit. And now I remember why. Whereas knitting relaxes me and allows me to get completely engulfed in a project, sewing always seems to frustrate me. I feel like I have less control over the outcome of the project. My pressed folds are never quite straight, and things just don't seem to fit together quite right. Maybe I just hurry more when I'm sewing. Any tips would be so greatly appreciated. :)

My latest knitting obsession is Brooklyntweed's Hemlock Ring Blanket. This pattern is one of the most addicting that I've worked. The combination of the buttery Eco Wool (who would have thought that untreated 100% wool could be so soft?)and a varied but easily memorized lace pattern is just what I was looking for as a break from sock knitting. I love the symmetry of each pattern repeat.

I can't wait to block it and open up the lace!

New Year's Resolution

Fearlessness.

      It’s the middle of January already, and I’m just solidifying my resolution today. Sometimes you just have to let things roll around in your head for awhile before it all comes together in one idea.
      I’ve been reading a lot of blogs lately about “Fearless Knitting.” Many knitbloggers have resolved to knit fearlessly—trying out new techniques or patterns that seemed too difficult or confusing. I’ve always knitted fearlessly. Knitting is MY personal hobby. No one else has to approve of or even see what I knit. Because I look for no approval, I knit without fear and take on patterns that force me to improve.
      Outside my private realm of knitting, though, I am not so fearless. I am a knitter, but I am also a writer. A student writer, but a writer nonetheless. I call myself a writer, but the truth is that I don’t actually write much. Outside of school, I don’t write at all. I am afraid of writing. Every paper for every course I’ve taken has been an emotional, intense experience for me. The finished product is usually pretty good, hence the labels of “writer” and “English Major,” but the process is long and draining. So, I’ve decided to write fearlessly this year. The only way I see to learn how to do this is just to WRITE MORE! So—hi, this is my blog.