I know, I know

I can hardly believe it myself. But it's a hot, humid day, so it's a good time to sit at the computer in my cool sewing room and do a little update.


In April we flew to Iceland for a few days. It's a place I just had to visit, and once we saw a great deal including flights, hotel, and a one-day tour, we grabbed it at Travelzoo.

We spent our time exploring Reykjavik, touring the area, and enjoying the Icelandic spirit.

 The "lampshades" are made of fish hides.

 I found a man's face in my beer!

 Of course I came home with some lovely Icelandic yarns.

 Our final day in Reykjavik could not have been more stunning.

Iceland is only 4 1/2 hours from Boston. That's my kind of flight!

Done with winter

I’m done with winter 2018. It hasn’t been a particularly good winter, given all the below-average temperatures and the two major blizzards in March. Today is quite mild, for a change, and the snow is disappearing fast. Soon I’ll be able to walk, not wade, across the front and back lawns. It,s always a joy to get our grounds back.

I’m yearning to do some gardening, as you can see from my header. Most of those pots of basil will be for my oven-roasted tomato sauce in September, and a few I’ll give away. I bought one packet of Fedco sweet basil seeds about six years ago; the tiny seeds in that packet are still producing basil seedlings each spring. Amazing.

I noticed today that the goldfinches at my feeder are getting their yellow feathers back. That’s always a sure sign of spring. And a friend at exercise class this morning said her lilac bush is developing buds. Lilacs are still 1 1/2 months away, though. I dug up, divided, and replanted several flower bulbs last fall. I’m eager to see how they do this spring.

I’ve begun saving coffee grounds, egg shells, and banana peels. Those will help enrich the soil when I plant tomato seedlings in June. My compost bins, too, are looking ready to be emptied into the garden plot.

So my mind is on spring and flowers and planting my garden.

This winter

At the moment it's 9*, according to the thermometer, which is being bathed by the sun, but according to the local weather station, it's -19*. Sounds reasonable, since we've had nothing but frigid weather for the past two weeks or more. I don't even remember the last time Sage and I were able to go outside for a decent walk. I take her out briefly for her bathroom breaks, then we skedaddle inside.
Here's a goldfinch trying to chip ice off the lilac bush outside our kitchen window this morning. Poor little duffer. I've noticed the goldfinches, juncos, and chickadees are keeping their feathers fluffed-up for maximum insulation these days. I've been wearing my trusty Cuddl Dud long johns and my hand knit woolen sweaters every single day.

As you can see, too, from the photo above, we have plenty of snow in southern Maine. In fact, one blizzard pretty much ruined Christmas Day for many folks. Luckily my family decided, after hearing the forecasted storm, to have Christmas on the 24th instead. So we celebrated here and had a good time together.

The cold and the snow provide a great atmosphere for knitting. I'm working on a Minimalist Cardigan.



This cardigan has been on my "to-do" list for years, and sitting in my yarn stash was a bag of ten skeins of Luxury Tweed Aran, by Tivoli yarns. I decided to combine the pattern with the yarn and knit myself a sweater. Trouble is, I'm not sure ten skeins will be enough. I bought the yarn in Ireland about eight years ago. I did some searching of various knitters' yarn stashes on Ravelry, found two skeins of this yarn in the same dye lot (what are the chances???), contacted the owner of the skeins in Ottawa, and we closed a sweet deal. The yarn should arrive this coming week.

Now I can relax and enjoy the knitting as the snow and the frigid temperatures surround us outside.