It’s spring!

Yesterday was amazingly beautiful!  I woke up early, went to the Farmer’s market (by bus.  Much better than going by car – you don’t have to deal with the ridiculously inadequate parking lot that way), had apple fritters while there, came home, hung up some laundry, did some yard work, had lunch, sat in the sun knitting and drinking beer, hung out, went out for sushi with some friends for dinner, ate to the point of discomfort (ok, that last part was great up to the discomfort part).  All while wearing just jeans and a t-shirt for most of it.  No socks!  No coats!  No hats (well, a sunhat for some of it)!

I love weather like yesterday.  The high was 21 Celsius.  The whole summer would be like that, if I ruled the world.

I’m a little weather-giddy.  Today is cooler (high of about 12) and windy, but still sunny, and tomorrow will be about as warm, but rainy.  I’m glad about the rain, actually, because the garden is very dry.

Another thing that happened yesterday is that Zebula got holes poked into her ears.  She took it very well, and claims today that it doesn’t hurt anymore.

She looks so grown up it makes me a little sad.  It’s not just the earrings.  Yesterday we went shopping for clothes for her, and she’s almost outgrown the local (ie. that I can walk to) kids’ store.

I am *this* close to having finished the No-Gap Wrap.  Looking back in my posts, I see that I didn’t mention this one at all!  That’s what happens when I post this sporadically, I guess.  I started it in early March out of Sublime Soya Cotton DK.  I got most of the way through the body and saw that it suffers from the same problem most sweaters built for ‘big girls’ do.  The shoulders are ridiculously far apart.  You can even see it in a lot of photos – the shoulders in a cap-sleeved sweater falling off the model’s shoulder.  Which is all silly, because most people’s shoulders are about the same distance apart (with some variation for people like swimmers, people who have bigger frames, etc.).  It doesn’t follow that if a person is carrying some extra pounds, their shoulder bones suddenly spread farther apart.    Anyway, I took an inch off either side by making the armholes a little deeper, and it helped.  The back neckline is lace, and so it’s a little loose.  I’m going to stabilize it with some single crochet to see if it firms it up a little.  Also, the sleeves are really long.  I’m going to recheck the gauge (sure, now that it’s all done…  For the record, I did do a gauge swatch and everything was hunky-dory).

Here’s the front yard as of today:

See that red in the periwinkle?  That’s a tulip!

Stuff

After a short bout of moodiness, I think Spring has come to stay.  We got tantalizingly warm weather late last week, leading us to believe the weather was changing for the better, and then last Monday we woke to about 10 cm of snow.  I know, I know, we get an early April snowstorm every year, and yet we’re always surprised.  Anyway, that was all gone by Wednesday, and it’s been nice, though chilly, since.

First off, I want to say that my choir did itself proud on Friday.  I’ve sung the St. Matthew Passion twice now, and this one was by far the better one.  The soloists were fantastic, and the choir did a fabulous job.   On to the next show, in less than a month!

I’m learning Java, both because my brain needs to resolidify after almost 7 years of slowly turning to goo, and because I might be gainfully employed in the fall, and need to upgrade my skillset.  I haven’t done any kind of programming in ages, and it’s proving difficult for me to wrap my mind around it.  But it feels good, in a weird way.

The annual egg hunt happened this morning for Easter, though it was jelly beans rather than chocolate eggs.  Those things that pass for chocolate eggs are either disgusting or too expensive to buy in large quantities and scatter around the house.  So I, I mean, the Easter Bunny opted for the jelly beans and the kids got a chocolate bunny at the end.  Except that the Easter Bunny didn’t get anything for me (I got something for Dr. Thingo, and my parents who were visiting, and never thought to get something for myself).  Zebula noticed right away and wondered why I would have been missed.  The Easter Bunny needs to get his act together by next year, or he’s going to blow his cover.

I finally tore out the carpet in my living/dining room a couple of weeks ago.  It only took a few hours, and the result was surprisingly good!

I can’t believe a) the previous owners covered this up and b) it took us so long to get rid of the carpet.  Dr. Thingo was very apprehensive, but this is actually tolerable until we get around to having it repaired and refinished (or replaced), which, given how fast things usually happen around here, could be a while.  But I’m very happy about it all.  The floor is much easier to clean up (really, why would anybody want to carpet an eating area??), and the light and the mood of the room are much better.

I have finished knitted things!

This is the Necco Wafer Hoodie (I have no idea why it’s called that…)

I like it!  It’s cute!  I might make a bigger version for Vorlon.

This is a finishing job I got from a fellow choir member. She had started it many years ago for her son.  She found it recently, and was wondering if I could finish it for her, so that she could give it to her granddaughter (yes, the daugther of the boy it was originally intended for).  The yarn is Patons Astra, and the pattern was from a booklet I didn’t have the good sense to photograph before I gave it back.  The pattern is obviously a little dated – the sleeves are tighter than what we do now, and the ribbing is more form-fitting, making for some significant blousing.  But it turned out well.  The pieces were all done, but for half of one sleeve.  I had to redo one of the front pieces because the ribbing had been done with the larger needle, and was therefore bigger than the ribbing on the rest.  Also, the armholes were all about an inch too short, so I redid those.  Then I made the collar and finished it up.  Luckily, my gauge was close enough to hers that I didnt’ need to fiddle with needle sizes.  It turned out pretty well!  And I got some delicious smelling lotion from Hawaii as a thank you!  Yum!

Oh, here’s the garden as of last Sunday (April 5).  Not much change from the week before, though you can see the crocuses if you squint, to the right of the front steps.

I have started my herbs, and some border flowers, and the seedlings are working more or less well.  I also started tomatoes on Friday (two from Seeds of Diversity:  Delicious (which bodes well, no?), which is a big tomato, apparently like Brandywine, and Sweet 100, which was modified by a Toronto gardener and is a cherry tomato) .  Tomorrow, I’m sowing my carrots and sweet peas.  It’s nice to see stuff turning green again.