If you are a gardener and you live in western New York, then you have to be an optimist.  Our last frost date is not until the third week of May.  It snowed last week.  The temperature this morning was 27 degrees Fahrenheit.

Daffodils, narcissi, anemones, irises, crocus, snowdrops have all outlasted the lingering chill and now they unfurl their blooms and delight me with bursts of my favorite spring colors.

My red Cippolini onion seedlings arrived today,

and weather permitting, will go into the ground tomorrow.  That means weeding…

I have been very busy!  Gregg and I took a long-dreamed-of trip to the southwest, visiting, Grand Canyon, Zion, Arches, and Bryce Canyon National Parks.  Once Gregg is through photoshopping, I will share his photos– they’re stunning.

Had a lot of fun collecting patches from the various parks, and found I had a bag in just the right colors on which to put them!

Makes me think of ice-dyeing… Oh well, more to add to the To-Do list!

Usually don’t have this many things going, but anyway…I am working in Anne Hanson’s Blumchen using Madeline Tosh Sock yarn in the color way “Parchment”.

I am almost done with “Nori” a sideways shawl from the Spring 2013 Knitty in Tucker Woods Artisan Yarns and Fibers “BB’s Toes” in “Rosemary and Thyme”.

I designed a sock and submitted it to Knitty for Summer, but since I have not heard from them, I am not hopeful, so here’s a picture.

It’s called “Ohm” in Madeline Tosh Sock colorway “Opaline”.

I made another pari of socks from Sock Innovation, “Kai-Mei” in Madeline Tosh Merino Light colorway “Steam Age”.

I am designing a Fair Isle beanie/tam, here’s a photo of the prototype.  Colors have been changed for the real submission, and it will have matching mittens.

Inspired by my trip out west, I am going to design a cardigan with some more MadTosh based on designs of Barite roses, flower-shaped rock formations.

Yarn Boutique summer classes: the store will be closed Mondays starting mid-May.  New classes include: small felted projects and Reading Patterns and Charts.  Fairport is done until October.  These will be weeknight evening classes as all county libraries are closed weekends after Memorial Day.  See you soon!

By now, we have all heard about the tragedies at Newtown, CT and Webster, NY.  When something goes wrong, media reporting comes hard and fast, and stays only as long as the arrival of the next “big” news.  Much is made of how our country is affected by these events– here’s how it hits home: one of my knitting students is a principal in a local, urban preschool.  I am sure I cannot imagine how she must have hurt at news of the Newtown shootings, probably trying very hard not to imagine a similar massacre among her own students.  And the Webster firemen who were shot by the sniper, one of them was well known to another of my knitting students- the nice guy who plowed her driveway.  This woman got a call with the awful news early that Monday morning, and she and her girlfriend spent hours crying over the phone.

Flags around town will remain at half staff for quite a while.  Every time I see a fireman holding a collection boot, I will dig into my wallet.  I may not have known any of these people, but the manner of their deaths is, to me, inexcusable.

This past New Year’s Eve, I did something I had not done in a while: I cleaned the house, did laundry, swept the dust of the old year out the back door.  I cleaned and sorted my office and closet, made a huge pile to take to Goodwill and to Craft Bits ‘n Pieces, a local craft resale shop.  And oddly, without being asked, my family seems to be doing the same.  If there has been any lesson from the past few weeks of 2012, it is that people matter more than things.  Each day is a gift, whether good or bad, it is a gift to be treasured, to be managed, to be endured.  We can only hope that some good may come from this– eventually.

My heart is with the families who have had to endure such horrible, numbing loss.  I hope they can heal.

I had not intended this to be so somber, and it seems inappropriate to switch gears and chat about knitting, so I won’t, at least for now.  Hug your kids.  Call that family member or friend you have not seen for a while.  Help someone just because it is the right thing to do.

Take a deep breath, and try to think positively.

Introducing “Jerusha” available for free in the Winter 2012 issue of Knitty.  Part of me cannot believe this has really happened, yet I am so very, very thrilled to have done the work and seen it happen.  If you have never read this fine online magazine before, archived issues are available going back 10 years.  I’ll have more for the blog this Part of me cannot believe this has really happened, yet I am so very, very thrilled to have done the work and seen it happen.   week, but for now, I just want to enjoy the feeling of success.

On a more somber note, I urge everyone reading this to go to the URL below and sign the petition to force action on gun control legislation:

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/immediately-address-issue-gun-control-through-introduction-legislation-congress/2tgcXzQC?utm_source=wh.gov&utm_medium=shorturl&utm_campaign=shorturl

Best Wishes to Everyone,

Nancy V

Here are my first attempts at Ice Dyeing as described in Carol Ludington’s Article in the June/July 2012 issue of Quilting Arts magazine.  Inspired by the Madeline Tosh color “Badlands” I’m currently using to knit a pair of socks, the colors are dark browns, gray, and taupe.

The garden is doing well, too.  Karen and I cleaned out the back pond this past Monday, which meant removing all of the rocks, using a shop van to suck out the much, we repaired a chipmunk hole, scrubbed away lots of algae, and then put rocks and water back in.  Lots of work, but well worth it.

Tomorrow will be the great unveiling for my dye job.  I’m used to failure, so if this works, I will be pleasantly surprised