Signs I was not meant to work today.

1. The alternator in the car started dying half way to work this morning. I have a 25 mile commute, most of which runs through farm land. I was fortunate to make it to the little town between my little town and the little city I work in before it died completely, and the car is under warranty, so it will all be okay, but clearly someone, somewhere did *not* want me to be at work today. (I mean someone other than me.)

2. In reading local headlines, I mistakenly read "Rains keep local farmers from fields" as "Raisins keep local farmers from field" and couldn't help but picture the California Raisins standing at the edge of a field drunk and threatening farmers with pitchforks...

3. I needed a nap. Because I was home, I could take one. Serendipity? I think not.

Instead of working and while waiting to hear from the garage, I will update you all on the state of my knitting and the state of my yard. All pictures are clickable thumbnails, e.g. clicking them will open a bigger version of the picture.

Yard first.



From left to right, a shot of the violets in the raspberry patch, the small apple tree at the corner of the raspberry patch, and the raspberry patch itself. We're going to try to maintain a semblance of a path through the middle of the patch this year, which is why the straw/dead grass is in there. I'll have to be vigilant about trimming back branches to maintain the path, but hopefully it will mean we actually get some raspberries to eat this year.



This is what we think might be a Sand Cherry, or alternatively one of the plum varieties. It's a spindly little guy and hasn't been well-tended so we're not sure what to do with it (it's also in sort of an awkward place, so the discussions so far have been "move it" vs. "dig it up and dump it and get a new something that we can identify"). I don't remember it blooming last year, but we could have just missed it.



The garden bed along the south side of the house. (This bed is actually one picture longer, but at the moment that spot is mostly empty. It will be tomatoes and maybe garlic chives in a few weeks, though.) The first one is a shot of the Asiatic lily that grows by the water meter. I don't recall it blooming last year, so we'll see how it does this year. Next are the yellow flowers with tall stalks and the phlox, with a couple of tulips thrown in for early spring color. Next, the orange lilies that I just transplanted from a friend. There are also some poppies seeded behind the lilies, to the right of the bleeding heart, and a couple violets scattered in there for good measure. Finally, the part of the side garden that wraps around to the front, which is a huge bleeding heart, a couple still-too-big hostas, and some mint (and possibly now-destroyed catnip?) that I transplated from the raspberry patch.



This is the newly planted (mostly transplanted) garden inside the fence. I forget what the red/green plants are called, but in front of them is a row of hostas and in front of the hostas will either be cukes or 4 o'clocks, depending on what I decide to plant where. The other shot is a birds nest that is strategically placed on top of the outside light over the patio. Fortunately we don't tend to use the outsidelights much, or the nest would have to be removed - it's a fire hazard.



And the crowning glory (at least for early spring) - the large apple tree just outside the fence. It really is truly glorious right now. The bushes behind the tree in the first picture are the ones that we'll be ripping out in a few weeks. They're one huge bird hotel and the birds are truly a nuisance.

Later in the spring, I'm sure I'll post more pictures of the roses and the phlox and the yellow flowers. I'd post pictures of the cukes and tomatoes, which are just starting to poke up their little heads, but I think that can wait.

Right then, on to knitting..



First up, this one ought to look familiar by now. Rogue, with the first dozen or so rows of the hood completed. I worked on this again last night and now have the first hood chart complete, so it looks a little different now, but not enough to warrant another picture yet.



This is the yellow ribbed tank (also a little farther along than shows here) from Noro Lily. I decided to suck it up and finish it and block it and see how bad the woven in ends were. If nothing else, I can tug out the caught up parts and re-weave them in. I'm taking the train to Chicago for the AIR Forum Sunday so this one might actually be finished and in a suitable state to wear at the Forum.



The socks I restarted in Cascade Fixation. It's the lacy sock pattern from the Spring Interweave Knits, which I think looks much better than the pattern I was using originally.



And finally, the much abandoned of late Candle Flame Wrap, about two repeats in. I don't like having two projects going that I have to sit with the chart in my lap to work on, and right now Rogue is more interesting than this one, so it's mostly just sitting waiting for me to get interested in it again. *shrug*

I have yarn that I think will work okay for the brioche tank in the new Interweave Knits, so that might be the next knitting project. Or it might not. Only time will tell.