Vegetables, Iris, and Lots of Knitting

What a wonderful week I've had. On Monday night I met with my Monday night knit group and we actually accomplished a good bit of knitting. Donna is still working on the afghan for her niece and Nora was working on a new afghan for a granddaughter. Pat and Bonnie were each working on an intarsia bag and I begin knitting the Widget using some Lily Chin yarn that I bought especially for that pattern. On Tuesday night I knitted at my LYS and again I worked on the Widget, finishing it off while there. We had a variety of project going at this knit night. Dolores and Glen were both working on their Nicky Epstein Bags (mine is still 'in the bag'), Cindy was working on a new lace shawl pattern, Kathy was designing and knitting a hat using 'Scarlet Fleece', a line of yarn that she's launching. We had a few new ladies in the group, one a teenager. She was knitting on her first sweater and it really looked good, nice straight rows and tight neat stitches, she is going to become a good knitter I think. One of the other ladies was also knitting a sweaters and one a child's sweater, the other was working on a beautiful afghan.

I bought some Marks & Kattens Carat yarn, a gorgeous ribbon yarn with yellow and soft blue/green ribbons and a gold thread running through them. I've already started a should shawl with it that I can tuck around my neck and wear with a pair of jeans. Next weekend my Knitting Guild is having a weekend at Graves Mountain Lodge in Syria, VA; a wonderful place to go for a quiet and restful weekend. I'm afraid that won't apply to our group; I'm expecting lots of talk, giggling, and knitting to be taking place. I'm not sure what I will be taking to knit on but know it has to be a no-brainer since I need to have quiet to knit anything with a detailed stitch pattern. My memory doesn't serve me as well as it use to. I have a mitered purse started for a sister and I bought some of Iris Scheriere's hand-painted silk Artyarn to knit one of her modular scarf's. She has created some of the most beautiful colors and the silk has a really nice feel to it, good for spring wear.

Our dwarf bearded iris bloom is in progress and we're busy weeding, digging, and planting in the iris and the vegetable gardens. This weeks rain has slowed us down but we've still be able to manage at least an hour or so outside each day. Look at this beautiful little iris. It's name is Pilgrims Choice and was hybridized by a wonderful man, Mr. Anthony Willott, whom we met at the National Convention a few years ago. It is one of my very favorite of the dwarf bearded iris because of its unique grey color. Next to bloom will be the intermediate iris and then the tall bearded. That’s when our gardens are alive with the 'Rainbow Flower'; all the colors of the rainbow can be found in an iris garden when it is in bloom. The tall bearded generally peak about Mother's Day then we will have some bloom on into mid-June.

In the vegetable garden the strawberries are blooming and the purple top turnips are up. Seed potatoes are in the ground and cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, and a few herbs. By mid-month I hope it will be warm enough to plant beans, green, string, or snap, what ever you choose to call them in your part of the county. To me they are green beans, having strings that should be removed, and you snap them into small pieces to cook. I can't wait to have them fresh from the garden and perhaps as early as July I'll have some new potatoes to cook on top of them and a fresh tomato too.