Second Chances

 We are experiences embarrassingly fine weather. The rest of the country, and much of the continent are battling the blizzard of the week, and we are gardening.

 I love my walks at this time of the year. There are always surprises waiting to excite me.

 Mom's naturalized crocuses are divine.

 We had a lovely quiet Valentines Day. I got D a set of iphone chargers for travel, and a cow poster. Yes, that is our currency.

He found me a book on the Camino de Santiago. I love hearing about this pilgrimage, but am not sure I would be able to walk it.

 My sister had a big party for my nephew and his partner who just moved back from Brazil. The theme was Canadian food, so I made tortiere roll ups. I wanted to make tarts, but I was unable to make pastry. I was hit with a bug that made me dizzy and nauseated. It lasted a few days. So I just sat. And knit.

 Hayward was done for the Susan B Anderson Shawl-a-long. But my second skein had several breaks in it, I didn't have enough to finish the second lace chart, and I had to rob from Noro to finish the bind off.

 I kind of fell out of love with it. But it is a lovely scarf. It'll go in the gift drawer.

 The sun was teasing me as I read in the front room. We still get some very grey and rainy days, so we must enjoy the sun when it comes.

 In a fit of organizing, I switched files of magazine clippings to Pinterest. The exact item was there most of the time. These are now organized by gifts ideas, or for our home, recipes and dreams.

 I am getting better about using our little library. We are a regional library, sharing a huge selection of titles throughout the Fraser Valley (it was a Carnegie grant originally, and thank goodness was successful). I remember the thrill of waiting for the Bookmobile when I was preschool age at Cultus Lake and being allowed to pick my own two books. Now it's more non fiction books on knitting and cooking. Plus audio tapes. I am trying to read down a BBC book list. There were 100 top books and I only need about 12 to finish. Last week I finished Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon and started listening to The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. I love dipping into things I would never have chosen. I am also starting One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Don't tell the Dean of English at UBC, but I didn't actually read that book, though I was tested on it. Who am I kidding, it was probably obvious. But 33 years later, I still have remorse. How to deal with it? Read the thing.

 My Hoaloha sweater was a bust. Two Februarys ago, I convinced my cowboy sister to knit a mystery sweater with me. That was wrong in so many ways. The sweater was not hard to knit and it fit pretty well. But it was not at all flattering on either of us. The good thing about a top down sweater is that it rips out pretty easily.

 Last February, I ripped hers out and knit an Antler, by Tin Can Knits, for my Olympic knitting project. It turned out really well, and it was hard to give to her for her birthday. Now I'm ripping out mine and will make my own Antler.

 The wool is balled up, not too tightly.

 Then I make skeins on the swift. I soak them and hang them to dry before rewinding them into cakes.

 Inspiration struck this week while listening to A Playful Day podcast.  Kate was talking about supporting our bricks and mortar local yarn shops and I thought this little fingerless glove would be a nice way to show support. The Cascade 220 was in the stash and I am still writing it up and knitting the first one. When it is done, I will send it to Kate with the pattern to share with shops like my sister's and my niece's.

 One of my knitting friends has a contract to teach crochet. I know! And she has proven herself a great and prepared teacher when she introduced our knitting circle to Tunisian crochet. I test-crocheted her pattern and ended up with a pretty nice dish cloth that will join the pile intended as a gift to the church for sharing their space with us each week.

 More inspiration. I flipped through all my Tin Can Knits and Jane Richmond books. They are the hottest designers right now and I have had the good fortune to meet them all, and So Very Shannon at 88 Stitches. My books are signed and they offer the download code when you buy them at a trunk show. Fan girl!

 That ended up in a quick 4 day Waffles. One of my sweet nurses is expecting and I want her baby to have hand knit love.

For Lunar New Years I looked in one of my own neglected cook books and found a recipe for Chicken Kung Pao, which D usually orders when we go to Earl's restaurant. I made it a bit spicy, even. I would make it again, and add even more vegetables. Gung Hay Fat Choy

And for true second chances. We had a lot of trees fall down in the storms this winter. This plum tree branch still wanted to bud. I brought it home, and put it in water for a delightful surprise. Don't give up. It's worth giving a second chance.