Month: April 2014

Reward

If September through December was a long stretch of digging, and March was all just anticipation, then April has been the beginning of the reward. We are immersed in views of brilliant flowers, with green tulip buds still everywhere waiting for a few more days of warmth and sunshine. The daffodils, more blooms by the day, are just a living force of color, and the shocking orange-red Praestans Fusilier tulips are so tiny (they start blooming at about 5″ tall), and then they keep opening more blooms until they have five on the same plant – something I’ve never seen before. They’re spectacular. I have five patches of them along the walk, and they’re so attention-grabbing.

Here’s the view from the master bedroom – it’s a great way to wake up, and every time I go by during the day, or to the path, or to the family room, they all sing out, a riot of growing things in amidst the blue and the rocks and the mulch.

All of the re-leveling and rocks were expensive, sanding and repainting the chairs took eons, and then there was so much hard work of all the choices and planting and mulching, but this side yard just resonates to me. I’m very invested in it, I loved it even in the winter when nothing particularly changes, but watching it wake up again is such a pleasure.

And even the buttons are sewn on!

I finally finished the flower sweater! An Olympics knit that turned into a Downton knit that has just kept going and going, but delightfully. This was originally supposed to be a 24M size, but I was generous in resizing the pattern to match my yarn, and I think realistically it’s going to be closer to 3T. I love the way it turned out – the colors, the yarn, the pattern. I wish the shoulders were a smidge less 80s, but the rest is so cute that I even forgive it that.

The yarn I ordered for the green button-fastening i-cord looked spring-green online and turned out to be more of a poop-gold in person. Bummer. I substituted wool in a different gauge, but it’s proven for being machine wash and dry, and I think the jewel tone and slight variegation is gorgeous. Win!

The buttons have a faux-shell veneer, and I played up the white yarn with several knots on the front side. I think they’re great. I had about 9 things I was looking for in buttons, couldn’t quite find any of them (wrong size, hand-wash only, not enough on the rack, etc). These were a surprise find at the last minute and I love them.

And the Yarn Harlot posted a great blocking refresher a few days ago, and I’m so glad she did. I always block but it rarely turns out this beautifully.