May Day

The calendar continues to get away from me. May Day has come and gone. I've taken some pictures, but they are a couple days old so progress continues beyond what is here.

Lilacs are almost fully out now with 60-70 degree days. Last night there was a breeze from the north and lilac scent wafted through the back porch. Love that!



The 3-variety apple tree has been totally full of blooms this year. Last year I was concerned for this tree as it didn't have nearly this many blooms. The apples were bigger, granted, but we were concerned that the apple had seen better days. Guess it was a combination of weather conditions and bloom cycling, though, for this year the tree is back in its glory. Each Spring we've had an orchard oriole visit for a few days. He visited this week. The last two days he was here he brought his lady friend. They paid no attention to the young cherry tree in full blossom, only the apple tree. The peach tree is just starting to bloom.


It was raining when RTB, McNeil and I ventured onto the porch for an update. McNeil is a Boyd's Bear sheep I found at a Shipshewana, Indiana, shop about ten years ago.I apologize if this doesn't show up too well. As of last night, though, RTB has its shoulder seam and sleeve seam finished. I fought a bit with it. When the whole back section was knit one row short, it creates a different set of conditions upon which to base seaming. My next step is to weave in the ends. They're getting a bit out of control. Then the plan is to connect the two halves and block. My thought is that it is better to block before knitting the icord around the edges because the icord before blocking could pull the garter stitch and bulge it with the icord curling. The swatch grew with blocking; so, if the jacket does the same, then the icord finishing could create an unexpected edge. I'm really hoping the jacket does grow the expected amount with blocking since that's what I based the calculations and needle size upon.

Lastly, the rhododendron is blooming...both the lilacs and the rhododendrons are two weeks early this year. They've been in bloom for Mother's Day in the past, but it seems unlikely they will still be in bloom for it this year.