Knot Knitting Much!

Hi! Thanks for stopping by after my long silence!

I've been quiet on the blog lately, and haven't been knitting too much. Spring has finally sprung in the Mid-Atlantic, and I've been busy getting the yard in shape, and also getting myself ready for the Iron Girl Half Marathon I'll be running early Sunday morning! Think of me between 7 - 10 AM EST! Here is my blog post on that.

I did get one Be Mine sock finished....

Sorry, the picture doesn't show the pattern. I'll do better next time.

Here's the garden-to-be:

I scraped the top layer of the garden patch off with a shovel, and very carefully laid the sod out under the tree in the back left. There was just bare dirt and weeds back there; nothing much grows under the tree, as it's damp. Grass won't grow there, but wild strawberry and clover might be tough enough. I'm looking forward to getting my garden in!

And in some sad news ... my sweet Edgar Allen Poe cat died last week.

He was such a mellow, sweet cat. He never got angry. He used to run around the house yowling at 4 in the morning, I never could figure out why. Every time I sat on the sofa, he was right there half on my lap, and when I went to bed, he would lay right up against my legs. He was the only really friendly cat I have, the other two could kind of take or leave me, I think. But Edgar was always right where I was, no matter what I was doing. I often tripped over him. It's so strange to not have him around. He loved to be a part of everything.

Bye-Bye, sweet guy :-(

Springing Along

It is finally getting warmer here in the Mid Atlantic region! It hasn't snowed since ... well, three days ago, but still, it's warming up!

Unfortunately, my seedlings didn't come up (it's been two weeks and mold is appearing) so it looks like I'll be enriching a local nursery, rather than planting my own seeds. I'm irritated, but not too much. It's a very nice nursery with a great selection of everything.

It's my willpower I worry about. As bad as I am in a yarn store, I am much, much worse in a nursery.

Black elephant ears, hydrangea, a blueberry bush, and a fig twig that is supposed to grow into a container-sized tree. 

I also bought a compost bin, which is so far filled with 95% coffee grounds.

 It has two separate sides. When one side is full, I'll let it stew while I fill the other side.

The herb patch ... Buddy is sitting on what used to be chamomile.

 Pretty Kitty making sure I got all the food out of the tin.

Let's see, what else ... oh yeah! Knitting!

I gifted the baby blanket last week. Now I've resumed work on a pair of socks:

And turning a silk hankie into mittens.

I meant this to be a more in-depth post, but I had to stop and run a 2-hour scan on my computer. I had a trojan horse. I don't know what kind, but my computer would sort of stop every 5 seconds. Thankfully, the virus-protect took care of it and all is well now. I hope it continues to be well. This laptop is 4 years old, and I just don't want to bother with a new one, you know? I blog and check email and play scrabble on facebook. That's it.

And I leave you with a reminder: Fair-skinned people need sunblock.

That isn't really a sunburn. It isn't at all painful. It appears to be a series of really angry-looking red dots, like a rash or allergic reaction. I don't get it anywhere else except my legs. Anyone know what it is? It happens every year the first few times my legs are exposed to the sun.

Ta-ta! Happy Spring for those of you in the Western Hemisphere!