The Golden Iris

Monday, and marshmallows! There's something sad about the ordinary supermarket marshmallow, laying lumpily in its undignified plastic bag on a grocery store shelf, small or large, perhaps cut into odd shapes or colors. Light, sweet, and very nearly tasteless, all the bag can advertise is 'A Fat Free Candy!' as if that was going to be your main motivation to buy it in the first place. S'mores, rice krispy treats, and rocky road ice cream all depend on the marshmallow, but how many of us just eat marshmallows plain? I think most of us, with the experience of adulthood, have moved on to more sophisticated pleasures. But recent experience at The Dairy Godmother has suggested that there's a bit more to marshmallows than sugar-flavored air. With the aid of last July's Bon Appetit magazine, I whipped up my own batch. (You'll find that searching for more recipes online brings up very similar , or identical , formulae ). Some recipes include egg white, but this one

I have to whisper. Or is that I have to Whisper ? I've seen a few too many of these gorgeous little laceweight cardigans going around to resist making my own. I received some gorgeous Misti International Hand Paint Lace last year and this is going to be a great use of it. 100g of alpaca is going to make the lightest warmest little sweater, I think. And just like everybody else, I realized #7 needles weren't going to work for the body. I should have just paid attention to my mom and went straight to #5s, but no, I had to knit 4" on #6s before I realized my error. Now I've ripped the whole thing out and re-started. On #5s. Has ANYBODY out there made this silly thing on #7s? Unfortunately now that I've recovered my lost ground, Whisper is going to have to stay at the bottom of the stack while I slog through my sample knitting.

And when you can't post photos of knitting... post photos of flowers! I've been doing some work on my patio, putting in some more flowers and herbs and veggies for the summer. I already have one tiny tomato! While I'm not a big fan of petunias (the smell, the stickyness, the ubiquity) I fed these little guys lots of Osmocote and they are really taking off. I'm starting to love them, and they're going to be ginormous. (My camera can't figure out magenta for any reason! Terrible.) I wish I knew the name of my one daylily. It amazes me that it overwinters in my container, and I'm so happy to see these huge 6" blossoms. Last but not least, I found a castor bean . Someone was selling seedlings at the Farmer's Market, and I just couldn't resist. So I potted him up and he is growing like a weed! This is the sort of thing that wants a time-lapse video taken, but I'm a bit too lazy for that. Any bets on how big he'll get this summer and whether I

...post photos of yarn. I got the yarn for my next set of commissions, and while I can't say more about what all these different yarns will become, I can still show them off. Two heathered shades of Cascade Lana d'Oro: This is another well-made yarn from Cascade, which is 50% superfine alpaca and 50% wool. Nice and soft and WARM! Three full bags of Cascade 220: Yes, the workhorse, but in gorgeous saturated colors. and last but not least a whole collection of Koigu KPPPM and KPM: I've never had this much Koigu to pretend to call my own at any one time! Please forgive me, I'm going to go give it a squeeze again. I guess it's back to work - I'm on deadline now!

Unwittingly followed Elizabeth Zimmermann's directive and knit a lace shawl, of course! After unsuccessfully trying to knit socks out of some lovely Jojoland Melody superwash (a little too thin, not quite bouncy enough), I decided it would be better suited for lace. Enter the popular Aeolian Shawl . Begun on the plane, June 8; finished before I had to get back on the plane, June 16. This of course is the small version - the big one is even more spectacular but I have no idea where I'd wear a big shawl these days. A little one makes a great scarf. I was overconfident that I had enough yarn and began to knit looser and looser through the edging section. Of course I ran out of yarn on the bindoff but was able to make a last minute substitution. It's not perfect, but it'll do. I decided against adding beads to this design; I don't think I'm much of a fan of beads in knitting generally. The nupps were pretty straightforward after I figured out exactly how to work the

The February Lady Sweater sat for weeks in my knitting basket, pathetic and sleeveless, as I struggled to finish sample knitting work (you know, the kind with deadlines that come all too soon). And then one day I decided I'd had enough. No more waiting. How long could a couple of sleeves - shortish ones in worsted weight and lace, at that - really take? And just like that, it was done. (Talk about struggling. Next time I'm recruiting some help for the photos.)

Sometimes, when the sweater you're knitting is ugly, or doesn't fit, or is somehow full of mistakes... sometimes you just have to rip the whole damn thing out, toss the yarn in a box, and wait for a while to start over. What was once a failed endeavor becomes an opportunity. Disappointment gets turned back into potential. Suffice to say I've been gone for a while, doing a lot of metaphorical ripping and re-potentializing (is that a word? Probably not. Who cares.) I've been enjoying the hospitality and company of family and old friends. I've been knitting and gardening up a storm. And now I'm back to a point where I want to blog again. So here I am! Enough with the serious business and let's talk about knitting. See what I mean about ripping and re-doing? That used to be the bedjacket . Now it will become something new, of my own invention. Soon I'll be hoping to show off more of what I've been doing the past few months. Although much of it has been s