Lilac Time

Lilac Time

The lilacs are flowering, sweet and sublime,

     with a perfume that goes to the head;

and lovers meander in prose and rhyme,

trying to say --

          for the thousandth time --

     what's easier done than said.

Piet Hein

http://chat.carleton.ca/~tcstewar/grooks/

I 'performed' that poem in June of 1971 for the end-of-year show in one of my high school English classes. I was 17 and wore an empire-waist dress; very short with puffed sleeves, in a lilac-grounded print of little sprigs of lilacs. My mother was in the audience.

So, today looked like this:

...and I spent it working in the garden.

My hands have three different kinds of thorn tips in them. I'll have a reaction to them by morning.

My fingernails no longer have mud under them, but they still need some serious attention.

I think I sunburned my nose. Not good, as I have a family history of melanoma.

Along the edge of the drive in 4 flats are 50 pots of hellebore seedlings I'll need to baby through the summer.

It was a great day.

Green sock #1 has been bound off and woven in.

I tried my friend Karen's suggested bind off first. "For that stretchy bind-off, try a Decrease Bind off (K2togtbl, then place resulting st on left needle and repeat)." Didn't like how it worked with the 2x2 ribbing. Thanks anyway, Karen. I want to try this one on the bottom of a top-down sweater.

Then I tried doing a Decrease Bind Off in pattern with P2togtbl. Looked odd and was a pain to do.

Next I used Grumperina's stretchy bind off. "Work 2 sts in pattern (either knit or purl). Move yarn to back (if the last worked st was a knit, this is already the case). * Transfer the 2 worked sts to the LH needle, and k2togTBL. Work 1 st in pattern (move yarn to back if it was a purl), * repeat between *. Important Note: I use a larger needle to do the bind off." http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/archives/2006/06/so_i_knit_him_a_1.htm Not as stretchy  as the method I finally used; a standard bind off done loosely in pattern. I didn't even go up in needle size.

It came out great.

Tommorrow will be an orgy of sock toes. I plan to start the next green sock (a short-row toe with provisional cast on) and redo the 2 socks at once figure-8 toes.

The prediction is rain all day.

Comments

[Holly]

Have fun with your sock toes! The first green looks great!
I somehow lost my ability to work the figure eight cast on. Need to revisit that...

[KarenJoSeattle]

Holly, thanks for stopping by. I'm very happy with my green sock.
I'd really like to get the figure-8 cast on down. Eliminates that mess the pick up from a provisional cast on can become in some yarns.

[Holly]

I know! I don't really like the provisional cast on for that reason-seems too fiddly. The figure eight could be called fiddly, too, I guess-but I actually find it more of a neat magic trick than a bother.
PS-I followed you home from the comment section of YH's blog-just so you know!

[KarenJoSeattle]

But the fiddly part of the figure eight comes first and then it's just magic from there.

It's nice to know how people arrive here.

[Laura]

I *love* your lilacs. Love them. They don't grow here, and I've forgotten how fabulous they are. I can almost smell the ones my neighbor had when I was a kid...

The green sock looks great. Love the color.