Thursday, March 31, 2016

Sleeveless in South Mississippi

It's not that I don't want to finish The Husband's sweater.  Really, it isn't.  I have the front and back done.  All I have left to do are the sleeves.  Easy peasy.  But here's the thing:  I really hate sewing in sleeves.  Really, really hate it.  So I got the idea that I would seam up the front and back of the sweater and then pick up and knit the sleeves in the round, top down.  I've been assured by a trusted advisor from my knitting group that this is indeed possible.  And yet...no sleeves.

Something's missing here

The Husband is trying to be patient.  After all, this is South Mississippi and spring is in full gear which means daytime highs of around 80 degrees.  There's no way he'll wear this thing before next winter and he knows it.  But still, the yarn is beautiful, the pattern is nice...his anticipation is understandable.   I can't say I'm afraid, exactly.  I just want to make sure I get them right.  The difficulty comes in with short rows.  I'm getting better at them.  But I've never done shorts rows for a sleeve before and I'm a little unsure of myself.  And I might be lazy.  

Speaking of spring, things are greening up around here, largely due to the rain we've had.  This past weekend was very rainy.  

They're aliiiiiiive!
The two pots you see at the bottom right are two of my Japanese maples trees we planted last year in the yard that I thought we'd lost.  With our yard made up of 99.9% hard clay and with us being novice tree-planters and all, we thought we'd killed them last summer.  I decided to dig them up and plant the pathetic little sticks in some potting soil in pots and hope for a resurrection.  To make a long story short, both little saplings are budding now even though we were sure they were dead.  My willow tree has leafed out as well and I'm hoping the Eastern Redbud comes back too (but I'm not holding my breath on that one).


Indoors, one of my orchids is blooming again:


I've also decided to try a little horticultural experiment.  This past weekend I put up some avocado in the freezer (for how to do this neat little trick, click here - it actually works), and I wondered if I could grow an avocado tree from the seed of an avocado you purchase in the grocery.  Turns out, according to Google it is possible, and so I set up four seeds to see if I could at least get one or more started.  

Number 4 is by a different window

I know, strange, right?  I find myself amazed by the miracle of growing anything from a seed - although my previous experiments have not been all that successful - and so I figured, what have I got to lose?  I'm sure you'll be on pins and needles too (or not), so I'll keep you updated.

In other knitting news, I've just completed my Trapeze Tunic for the second time and just need to seam it.  If it doesn't fit well this time, I'm going to take it out to the street and run over the thing a few times with my car.  It will fix nothing, but I may feel better for a moment or two.  

I'm still on track with the healthy eating and daily exercise routine.  I managed to lose a couple of pounds, so that has been motivation to keep going.  I can honestly say I feel better.  Unfortunately, the workout time has cut into my "sitting in front of the TV and knitting" time each evening.  If only knitting burned more calories than aerobics.  I'd be golden...


Casting off, (cute, right?)

Lisa