Like A Lion

A little blurry...the wind had plans.

What happened to Tuesday?  If you are new here, I generally post on Tuesday and it slipped away from me this week, so for today it's Tuesday's post on Wednesday.

March roared in like a lion.  Last night the windows rattled and freezing rain splattered against the glass in a fury, keeping me awake but still I felt grateful to be tucked into my nice warm bed. If the old wives tales be true, then March will exit softly on little lambs feet. I'm looking forward to it.

After shopping in a few fabric stores, I finally found some ribbon. It's not exactly what I had in mind,  although it does work well...so airy and pretty.

# 3 in my Staying Alive Series. An Eastern Meadowlark and Eastern Flowering Dogwood.  I hope to paint this picture sometime soon. 
Meadowlarks like cover so they hop about in the tall grass but seek out a high point for  singing. It's a wonderful welcome to spring song.

For those in the north country, soon there will be "pussy willows and cattails" (from a Gordon Lightfoot song) and bird song.

 

'Til Next time...Enjoy!

Practical (,) Matters

Lately, on a few scattered mornings before dawn, one violent clap of thunder has been waking me up from a deep sleep. That first morning, in that brief moment of reverberating terror, I thought of Mars the God of War. (The mind does jump to conclusions.)  A brief burst of high wind and steely rain followed and then it was over. I opened the window, that morning, and while clinging to the sill for support, I heard the first hint of birdsong that as I listened grew increasingly louder, reassuring my body, with its shaky legs and racing heart, that it was okay to breathe.  

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When I started knitting again, I had visions of chic shawls such as The Rock Island twirling through my brain. That means I definitely wasn't thinking of about knitting dish cloths, but they are a quick, easy and practical knit. As you can see the top one has been well used and the bottom one I finished yesterday. What's so great about these cloths? Well, they hold up under a barrage of bleach and countless washings.

Here's my pattern. You are welcome to use it for personal use, and feel free knit these cloths to sell if you wish.

Uptown Posh Cloth☺

♦  CO 38 sts using cotton yarn with a 4.5 mm needle or a U.S. 7

Set up: 4 rows of seed st. as follows:

Row 1  K1, P1 across row
Row 2  P1, K1 across row 
Row 3  K1, P1 across row
Row 4  P1, K1 across row

Begin pattern.

Row 1   k1, p1, k1, p1 ( p4, k1, p1, k4 repeat 2 more times) k1, p1, k1, p1.
Row 2   p1, k1, p1, k1 ( p3, k2, p2, k3 repeat 2 more times) p1, k1, p1, k1.
Row 3   k1, p1, k1, p1 ( p2, k2, p1, k1, p2, k2 repeat 2 more times) k1, p1, k1, p1.
Row 4   p1, k1, p1, k1 ( p1, k2, p2, k2, p2, k1 repeat 2 more times) p1, k1, p1, k1
Row 5   k1, p1, k1, p1 ( k2, p3, k3, p2 repeat 2 more times) k1, p1, k1, p1.
Row 6   p1, k1, p1, k1 ( k1, p4, k4, p1 repeat 2 more times) p1, k1, p1, k1.

Continue in established pattern, 7 more times for a total of 8 times.

Next: 4 rows of seed st.

CO. To finish weave in tails. ♦

 On the drawing board ... ( Darkened so you can see it)  And now I can see a few changes I want to make.