i have mixed feelings about spring … especially sitting here nursing a hurt knee from two 7 hour days in the garden – including much heavy lifting and kneeling in the dirt and on the hard cement).  the good thing is that the garden is all cleaned up of all the winter debris and full of lots of good compost and all the soil turned over and mixed in.  and the birdbath cleaned out and full of nice clean water, and the sidewalks cleaned off and the bed around the tree rebuilt with bricks and stones to keep the evil cars off and full of compost, etc.

so i guess one hurt knee and a bit of tenderness (two days later) is ok.  of course not having done any garden work in two years could have something to do with my total aches and pains.  but the memory is kind and we forget… so next weekend ill be ready to tackle the planting.  as this is a knitting blog, i wont go on too long about the wonders of "playing in the dirt" but it seems to me that love of gardening and love of knitting go hand in hand.  must be something to do with the tactile and sensory inspiration of both of these activities.

anyway,  just finished a bout of Pelerine knitting – three in a row – one each for two sisters and then one of me.  even though now its almost too late to wear them… i think the two for my sisters will work as one lives in Albuqueque and the other in New Orleans where a simple warm thing is good for 80% of the time when its "cold". 

i love the pattern, classic Elizabeth Zimmerman.  its one of the Spun Outs which are copies of the early editions of the Wool Gathering newsletter.  there are some lovely patterns in the Spun Outs… i encourage any one interested in patterns which allow you to adapt and make your own changes, etc to seek these out.