moonfrog –

Fresh Sprout next to Four-Year-Old Avocado Plant

Four years ago, I managed to root an avocado pit. Here it is where it lives now, in a big picture window. Along the way it got topped and made side branches. It makes a pretty nice curtain.

Although I’ve tried several times, the little avocado at the bottom right of the photo is the first pit I’ve managed to sprout since the big one. It also has an odd shape since the main sprout died, waiting to be planted, and it shot up five others to take its place. I hope that will make it a nice bush.  I don’t know how long either of them will last, but they are my favorite house plants. There’s something about the challenge that makes them fun to grow.

With the sunny weather lately, knitting has taken a back seat, but I did take a class in mosaic knitting at Northcoast Knittery a couple months ago. Harry Wells took us through the how-to of using slipped stitches to form designs in our projects. Mine is a simple hat, called the Camden Hat, that I finished within a few days of the class.

I like the mosaic technique, which is simple, but requires a bit of attention. Learning new things really keeps knitting interesting to me. There’s plenty of variety and with each new technique I can try more complex patterns.

My other finished project is a return to a previous pattern. In early February I started a helmet liner for a young motorcycle-riding friend. I worked on it off and on at Sip-n-Knit until it was finished at the end of March.

It’s made with Berrocco Jasper, which I used for a previous hat that never made it to the light of day. It’s single ply and very soft and lofty. My friend loved it, so I’m happy.

And with these projects complete, I needed another small one for social knitting.

Cigar Gove Redux

The husband was happy to supply the need. He requested some fingerless gloves since his diabetes makes his hands cold often. So I resurrected a project that I started way back in 2005 when I first started knitting. At that time, I made a trial glove. It’s about time I started on a real pair!  I’m using Jasper for these, too. Different color.  I’ve made it to the end of the gusset, a bit farther than the picture shows. Since these are reversible, there’s no left and right changes to worry about. The hardest part will be those pesky half-fingers. I hope to work on these this weekend at the Conference of Northern California Handweavers, although I’m not really sure there will be time. However it goes, I’m looking forward to three glorious, fiber-filled days.