Early May! It's Glorious!

Despite the gardener's best intentions, Nature will improvise. ~Michael P. Garafalo This is a field of blackberries on the property behind my house. It appears blackberries are going to be really plentiful this year. I don't know what the cycle is, but maybe it is the snow and stuff we had this winter.

My yellow iris are settled now. This is the second full summer for them. I love the yellow of this iris. They are a water iris that can be put in water features in your yard. They have very long blades that will stick way up out of the water. I don't have water in my yard, so I have very tall, very pretty yellow iris in odd places. I put them in three places to see how they would do. They all survived well.

These are spiderwort. They have survived well also. The mound is quite large and is spreading slowly each year. I hate that it disappears as soon as the blades give the energy to the bulbs. But they come out again at the end of the season. I guess to get just more energy to get through the winter.

I know the purple is blurry, but this is really the best replica of the color. Isn't that a pretty purple? I guess a magenta. I had some pretty pink blooms, but this one is such a deep color.

So on to knitting.

I had a bad spell over the weekend. I guess it goes with the weather and cloudiness we had. It started on Friday when I got my tax statement for the year. Yikes! How do people really manage to live? I pouted and whined and felt like I was really put upon by all this. Very egocentric behaviour. Then after I got over my mad, I got sad. I didn't want to eat-nothing sounded good to me. I didn't want to knit. I didn't want to watch t.v. So I finally settled down on my book and finished that.

So after my silly behaviour over the weekend, I woke up yesterday and marveled at how pretty everything is this time of year. The greens are so luscious. My hostas are overpowering. They are beyond HUGE! The azaleas did well this year. Everything has new growth sprouting.

My friend CF called me on Sunday to tell me about the Baltimore Orioles she is attracting with oranges. She said the woodpeckers are eating them too. So yesterday I got some oranges at the store on my weekly grocery shopping trip. I looked this morning. Nothing but ants. Not a single pecked hole. This has happened to me every time I try to attract the Orioles. Nothing but ants.

I did buy a new hummingbird feeder, and that seems to be working. I noticed hummers out this a.m., and this is the third feeding this season. I have had to throw out the two previous feedings because they were cloudy. So maybe this third one is the magic one with the new feeder.

I did do a little spinning on Sunday listening to podcasts. I am spinning the teeswater/cotswold blend. It does have a few guard hairs show up, but I don't think it so awful. It has just a different feel to it. I think it is very pretty. It is a black, brown, white natural blend.

I did do a little project Sunday evening while trying to find something to watch on t.v. It is getting too close to summer now. The shows are beginning to show repeats already. Anyway, I did knit a little sweater tree ornament. It was out of scrap sock yarn in my scrap box. It was pretty simple. A little top down raglan sweater.


And I finished the two sleeves for the Jacob sweater. I haven't blocked them yet. I haven't cast on the body yet. They don't look exactly the same-as most sleeves don't anyway. I never get myself torn up about it when I have sew in sleeves. The main thing is they are the same length.

According to the pattern, they are supposed to be k1p1 rib, but I thought this was way too boring and too snug for my arms. So I did them in the lace pattern that is the yoke. I think it will be prettier anyway. I guess I better spin some more yarn, but I do have one more skein finished. With the leftover ball, this will get me pretty well finished on the front or back of the sweater. They are the same. I thought of knitting in the round, but then I thought the decreases for the waist might not look right. I think it is easier to hide decreases in a seam.

One more gardening note. I have a terrible time keeping catnip established. Last year I planted some seeds, was ecstatic that they hatched, and then Noodles ate everything down to nubs. I had a HUGE bed of catnip at my first house. So he and Baby would sit there every day and eat themselves silly. I guess it helps with digestion. It is a digestive aid for humans. Try a cup of catnip tea the next time your tummy feels icky. Anyway while at the store yesterday, I noticed some catnip plants in their little greenhouse set up outside. I bought three pretty nice looking plants, thinking this would do the trick.

I left them on the freezer while I was outside doing something else. I came in and Noodles was up there chewing away. I sighed and shooed him away. I apologized to the poor little plants and went about my business. I came back in and Baby was up on the freezer chewing away. I don't think these plants will last long. I was trying to think of a place to hide them until they get established. But I cannot think of any place that the cats won't find them. I may go back to the store and buy up all they have. Then I can plant them all over the yard. Maybe one will survive and multiply. I just need to get it through one complete season, and then we will have the same thing I had before-a bed full of catnip. It's just getting through the first season that's hard.

Anyway, I did try to knit a little bit last night, but gave up and read for a coupla hours. My arthritis in my hand hurts from my weedeating the other day. My arm was tired from holding the machine, but my hand hurts. It is that time of the year when I don't do a lot of knitting anyway.

I guess it is time to go out and tackle more weeds. I am almost to the point of being overwhelmed by weeds. I try to get at it, but then they are very sneaky and prolific. Chickweed was really bad this Spring.

Have a good week. Weed, weed, weed, knit, knit, knit, spin, spin, spin. You know the drill. Life is repetitious.