The Golden Iris

My kitchen has 9' tall ceilings and 6' tall windows. Wonderful for a kitchen as I love the natural light, but I just had to dress them up somehow. So I have sewn some valances to perk up the kitchen with lots of happy, summery color. I had been on the hunt for a white cotton fabric with lemons and lemon slices for months. I must have invented it in my head, because I could never find one in a fabric store or online. All I wanted was a bold, graphic print in yellow and orange. Images of cherries? All over the place. Allover realistic lemons? Sure. There were pears and apples and all kinds of other stuff, but no lemons. And most of them seemed to have a countrified gingham background or too much pink or blue. Bleh. I wanted something funkier. Luckily, my mom was able to find a great graphic lemon print. While it wasn't exactly as I'd envisioned it, it met the requirements of orange and yellow on white, and stylized lemons. Yum. So after making some measuremen...

Well, believe it or not, I'm actually able to say I've achieved a springtime knitting goal already! Today I finished and put in the mail the hats I've knit as samples. These ones I'm actually allowed to show you, so here they are! A little hat family in nice squishy springy Merino. Very sweet, and a fun knit. I've also cleaned up the yarn mess in the living room (it's down to three baskets) and planted nasturtiums, sweet peas, spinach, potatoes, and broccoli raab. Spring has sprung here in northern Virginia and I can't wait to have more green growing things all around me.

Happy Spring Everybody! It's definitely been warming up around here. Flowers are blooming, birds are singing, it rains every other day, we're surrounded by tourists looking for the cherry blossoms... you get the picture. Through my pal Dove , I've heard about a little bit of a contest hitting the knitting blogs. Ali at Skeins Her Way announced the contest a few days ago - the idea is simply to list some short-term knitting goals. Thanks, Ali, for having a contest and a giveaway! Okay, so two of these are really cleaning goals, but they are good for me all the same. 1. Finish sample knitting part 1 - hats (due March 30, yikes!). 2. Finish possible sample knitting part 2 - a blanket. 3. Finish a lingering WIP part 1 - the diamond lace scarf. 4. Finish a lingering WIP part 2 - the bedjacket. 5. Finish a new project part 1 - the lace blouse. 6. Finish a new project part 2 - the wave lace socks. 7. Work more on my quilt. 8. Get lots of things planted in containers fo...

Nor disappeared, either. I completed the "super secret" sample knitting late last week (which nearly resulted in one sleepless night, but I'm a pretty fast finisher) and sent that off. Right away I received yarn for my next sample knitting project in the mail! It's Zitron Ecco, a nice squishy DK merino. I'll be making three coordinated hats. Now that I feel like I have more time, without completing anything else for myself, I've cast on for two more projects: the Lace Blouse from Romantic Style and Mock Wave Cable Socks from Favorite Socks. The socks are for an ongoing Ravelry project with prizes... who wouldn't want to win yarn? The lace blouse is specifically being made as a cover-up for a new dress I just bought for the summer - I'm starting to believe that dresses are a necessity when it gets hot here, but I'd rather be able to put on a little blouse to complete the outfit and keep me a little warmer in aggressive air-conditioning. Unfortu...