It's Definitely Summer

My Jungle is growing wildly & you just have to believe it's summer at last!! I hit the sale bin at the Home Depot after Mother's Day & picked up two sorry looking geranium baskets & one crushed pink something or other flowering basket - I have no idea what this is!! Brought them home, watered & fed them, let them sit on the floor under the table on the patio for a few days & then hung them up. WOW! All three are blooming their hearts out in hot pinks on my patio. I planted winter pansies & a 'spike' in a large pot which sits beside the door & the fern box - four feet along the shady back of the patio - is filled to overflowing with ferns of all kinds. It's a great place to spin in the early morning with a big cup of hot tea! And it's where I'll be competing in the Tour de Fleece in a couple of weeks. I'm not sure yet just what I'll be spinning - four 250 gm bags of MAGENTA Halfbreed wool or three 250gm bags of Paua - Corriedale wool in turquoise, blues & hot pink from Aurelia Wools - much prettier than in the photo to the right. And I found a whole light grey fleece in a bag in the closet. I'm leaning toward Paua simply because there's less of it, I'm tired of spinning white wool & I might just DO something with handspun sooner if its a nice color!! Ever notice how wildly colored socks knit faster than dull or dark colors??? There's that Kimono I've been drooling over after all & that very interesting wrap/shrug pattern I bought last year that can be worn backwards, forwards, right side up & upside down.

And speaking of socks - only one pair on the go at the moment. I'm knitting the second pair of Saturn Socks. I decided to put a little twist into it though & tried a simple pattern of K1, yo, K2tog just for fun. Not sure if I really like it yet & may rip it out to work a new lace pattern I've discovered @ Notions, an on-line magazine that has ceased to publish. I tried the pattern in another pair of wristletts for my niece. I like the pattern. It's a simple K1,P1, yo, K2tog, P1,K1 on the 1rst row, with Knit on K & Purl on P 2nd & 4th row & K1,P1, SSK, yo, P1,K1 on the 3rd row. It makes a nice stretchy pattern for a sock, arm warmer or mitt. The Saturn yarn may be too busy for the pattern to work well but I will definitely use the pattern somewhere else!