What a difference a week makes ...

The mercury was at 70F this afternoon! The front door open! The sun bright and beautiful! Much of the snow gone! Who'd a thunk it just over a week ago? Not me. Oh, didn't it feel wonderful having the front door open and warm fresh air pouring in to rinse away the months of closed doors. And the birds were out in song and the brook was rushing with melted winter; and the crocuses are in bloom!

Ah. Spring has sprung. It's always bound to happen sooner or later. I'm here 5 years in just a week and I've learned that April habitually lingers on making winter seem interminable. But it's just a tease and none of us take the shenanigans too seriously.

I took a walk around the property this afternoon with notebook in hand. The list of tasks to be done fills an entire page! I may have to hire some help. From removing rotten stumps to fixing a retaining wall, from clearing brambles to consolidating the burn pile. I will certainly need help moving the cold frame and small shed which are down in the woodland area up closer to the garden. The shed will become a house for tools and the cold frame--which I have never utilized--will help harden off my crop of seedlings. I planted several seeds a week ago and it's exciting to see much of it sprouting already.

The seed beds are in the downstairs tub--which I don't use, preferring the shower stall in the upstairs lavatory. I will pot them on in a few weeks and sometime in May will like to place them in the cold frame for hardening off. I'll be building a new raised bed this year due to one of the original beds being taken over by my strawberry plants. I can't complain about having too many strawberry plants, and what's one more bed?

I'm visualizing picket fences and garden gates lately. Wonder if I can make that work for my garden? I want an arbor for the climbing roses, one that has seats on both sides. Wouldn't that be romantic? Sitting amongst the roses reading Oscar Wilde, what could be grander?

The seeds I sowed last week are: Romaine lettuce, Buttercup squash, parsnip, carrot, celery, zucchini, petunia, sweet pea, hyacinth bean, and nasturtium. These germination pictures were taken 2 days ago and more has sprouted since:



The driveway is utter chaos at the moment. There is one section in particular that floods over and is slow to drain. I think a culvert needs to go in at the spot. I made arrangements today to obtain a quote for fixing it up.

The scarf I was weaving for the small kitchen table is completed. I'm quite pleased with the result; it is what I imagined and what I desired for this table. The 'summer and winter' weave structure is reversible and I like this particular side the best:



I received some cotton in the mail today for some mug rugs which I will weave on the upstairs loom and I expect to hear from my neighbor any day now that she's received the cottolin for the towels which we will jointly weave.

Yesterday (Sunday) was sunny, if tepid, and I took the spinning wheel out on the deck to do some alfresco spinning. Although I had to don my coat, it was very soothing and deep soul refreshing to spin in the sunshine and fresh air.

It's beginning to look a lot like winter ...

All over again! Woke up to a new coating of white on the ground, temperature of 21F, and freezing rain. Rather dreary.

I'm pining for the gardens! Purchased this week in hopes of starting much of it indoors:



I'm just so ready to get in the dirt again! I dug several new beds last summer and I can't wait to start filling them up. All in good time, I know, but today's weather was not expected (I hardly ever check the forecasts), and apparently we have a few more days of this coming.

To make up for spring's delay, I've been watching (binge watching!) a wonderful YouTube channel I found called "Sean James Cameron's Diary of a UK Gardener" about a southeast Londoner and his allotment garden. It's a wonderful channel and I highly recommend it. Here's one video from his series; I post it for when you find yourself needing a little lift (you really must watch it):



I've been weaving on a new project: A scarf for my kitchen table. It might be done this week. Kitchen towels will follow. I made yardage calculations this evening for 8 towels in a pinwheel pattern. My neighbor will weave 4 and I will weave 4. My table scarf in progress:



The weave structure is "summer and winter" as it's called. It's reversible and it's one of my favorite weaves.

My epiphyllum put out a blossom a few weeks ago. Such a spectacle!



Off to watch a few more episodes from a UK allotment gardener ...

Krokbragd rug ...

Well, so... I think it was way back in November when my neighbors and I warped my 4 shaft loom for some Krokbragd rugs. We put on enough warp so that she could weave a 6' rug and I, myself, wanted about a 4' rug. She wove and completed her rug--it came out beautifully and she's using it for yoga:



About a week after hers came off the loom I went upstairs and retied the warp to the breast beam and started in on mine. I had a spurt of weaving and the rug was done in a couple weeks. Unfortunately, my lumbar back went bezerk during that time, and near the very end of weaving I stood up from the loom's bench and could barely stand! I've never felt like such an old man!! The pain lasted a few weeks and has finally died down. I think it may be related to the fall I took last year and it's on my mind to have the doctor poke around to make sure everything is where it's supposed to be. It was very, very bad for a good 2 weeks. Also, at the same time I sometimes felt a little under the weather, and funny thing is I usually felt down when the pain was less which makes me think it was cold and when the cold shifted out of those muscles, I felt a tad bad. Anyway, that's past and the rug, as I say, is complete. I am thrilled with it! Perhaps I should have used brighter colors? More color?



Like Kaffe Fassett says, when in doubt add 20 more colors! I love this rug very much, it is definitely me. It currently sits in front of the hutch in the dining room.

I'm in the process of warping the 8-shaft loom--now in the kitchen (hutch moved to dining room)--for a summer-and-winter scarf for the kitchen table. I'm weaving it in 2 shades of green; cotton tabby and wool pattern. Pics when done.

Loom is now in the kitchen corner. I'm getting a new wood stove this spring so the loom had to come off the hearth (which has been empty since I gave the original wood stove to my neighbor (who used to own this house) because her's was not faring well and I wasn't using mine.):



The hutch which was displaced by the loom, is now in the dining room. Seems a right and proper location for it! And there is the rug!



After the table scarf is woven, my neighbor and I will be weaving kitchen towels in a pinwheel pattern. These will be on the 8-shaft in the kitchen. It's quite nice to have someone coming in to weave for a few hours at a time. We'll share the towels.

Now that the 4-shaft loom is, as they say, 'naked', I will warp it for a double-width blanket. I'm getting a small refund from the government this spring and I'm going to use a bit to buy enough yarn to make a blanket that is at least 80" wide. Although my 4-shaft loom is only about 42" wide, there is a weaving technique called "double weave" in which one weaves two layers of cloth at the same time, one above the other--and if one edge is woven together the cloth can be unfolded at the end of weaving and will be twice the width of the weaving! Very clever. The trick--I have learned from reading--is to weave the fold in way that does not draw in when unfolded. That will be the challenge. I want to weave it in Harrisville "New England Highland" wool, and I'm thinking of weaving a plaid.

... Bought several bundles of fabric at the thrift store recently and I'm making simple, everyday placemats from it. I'll be making 3 more like the 1st photo.



Our orchestral concert is tomorrow. My latest poster for the event. It is a fantastic program; we had dress rehearsal Wednesday evening and it was fabulous! It's going to be good.



A photographer was at dress rehearsal and took many pictures. Here is our group picture. Photo by Rob Klein. (As always, click photos to enlarge.)



I think that's it for now. Except... waiting:



We had more snow overnight! And it was really starting to feel a bit spring like in air quality. Soon. Very soon I think. I'm itching to get in the dirt again and I'm dreaming about all the beautiful flowers and delicious food to come.