double down

I finished the sweet pea sweater and got the library book back on time.  Score!  Even had the time to knit most of a second sweater out of the book, a very simple one that went quickly and was no problem to finish without the book.  Wrapped them up and sent them off to the baby shower in Florida.  I hope she likes them!

Here's the finished sweet pea sweater:

 

I'm really happy with it.  I think it's so cute!

The other sweater is a little Chanel jacket style.  It doesn't look quite like in the book, it's a little shorter in proportion to the size, but I didn't check my gauge first, so may it's just that the body is a little larger around than it should be.  Anyway, even if it's a bit of a cropped sweater when she wears it, that works, too.  The yarn is a synthetic yarn which my friend who is the baby's grandma gave me because she couldn't quite figure out what to make with it.  I think it worked well in this sweater; I hope my friend agrees.

Next I've decided to pick up a project I started months ago.  It's basically a sweater from the book, Knitting on the Edge.  (The berry cluster pullover, find a picture of it about halfway down this page.)  I'm knitting it using Elizabeth Zimmerman's proportional sweater pattern, since I hate sewing seams, but I think I can make it look pretty similar.  I think I have the lower body (up to the underarms) done, just have to take it off the needles and make sure it's right so far.  I'm using the white mohair blend hand dyed with turquoise and lavender speckles that I got at Tess's clearance sale at last year's Sheep and Wool Festival.  I think that fuzzy, cloudy look is part of what appeals to me about the sweater as pictured.  Photos next time!

In garden news, the basement greenhouse is full of tomatoes, lettuce, beets, cabbage, etc. etc., it's going pretty well down there.  I bought onion sets today.  The weather was a bit rainy, so I didn't plant them, I'm hoping for a bit better weather tomorrow.  It's still quite cool, but not a problem for the onions, I think.  I did scope out the bit of garden where I want to put them and discovered that I have two parsley plants from last year that are coming back, and the garlic I planted in the fall have started to come up.  It's my first time trying garlic.  Best of all, I have crocuses!  This was taken in the front yard last weekend, when it was warm and sunny:

Hallelujah, it's spring at last!