And just like that we have nearly reached the end of yet another month. The year is zipping by! Today is like every other Saturday we’ve had for ages in Maine – yucky. It started out cool and breezy and right now it’s actually raining. The windows are all closed up and the lights are on in my atelier. Yuck! But we are making the best of another rainy, dreary, yucky (did I say it enough? day.

We had coffee inside this morning. When I got up my dear hubby was in the living room with a cap on his head. LOL. We chatted about taking best advantage of a rather dreary Saturday and going to pick strawberries but we opted to stay home and get our projects done and maybe tomorrow will be a better day. Even I don’t want to pick strawberries in the rain. So he went to the dump with the dog and I repotted two of my lemon trees that I’ve grown from seeds. They may never flower and fruit, or they might. For now I’m celebrating that I’ve kept them alive long enough that the biggest one now requires a pot that will be so heavy that I can’t lift it. We’ve got it outside for the summer and will have to find it a roller to get it in when fall arrives. It’s smaller sibling/cousin will still be pick-up-able but not for long. AND much like the book When You Give a Mouse a Cookie, I then had to pull the weeds that have grown up around the pot I used and into the garden and around the edge of the house … it never ends.

I’ve written the store newsletter and updated the database with a few new contacts, and emptied the trash cans on the second floor of the house. I wrapped two gifts and put them downstairs to be given. And am preparing to clean out the “curiosities” cabinet in our stairway. It really needs a glass door to keep out the dust because after nearly 10 years, it’s really dusty. Ha! Ha! It needs it badly but we have cleaned it out before. AND I noticed that someone has spilled coffee on the stairs so they need to be swept and washed. If I can get those two things done today, I’ll be very happy to sit and knit for the rest of the afternoon.

I’ve been knitting like mad trying to finish my “summer” sweaters before summer is done. I’m doing really well with my Ankers Summer Shirt. I’m a few inches away from the bottom ribbing on the body and the sleeves aren’t long so they won’t take much time at all. I’m still loving the color of this top and I can’t wait to wear it with m white pants and a tanned face. I hope the sun will come out eventually this summer. The Hei Hei rooster needle tip protectors sure do make me smile!

I cast on the second outfit for Dolores. This one is a caftan designed by Franklin Habit. So far, it’s a breeze of stripes with one row that has a pair of eyelets. Yesterday I reached the point where I am going to divide for the neck/shoulders but I didn’t have any stitch holders or scrap yarn with me so I put it on hold and I’ll work on it again later today. I can’t imagine that it’ll take too much time to wrap this one up. It does make me giggle and I am thinking I may need to have some hangers to display her outfits near where she ends up living in my house. Time will tell. It’s a shame to put these fun and funny outfits away once they’re made, right? When the granddaughter gets older she’s going to love playing with her.

I’ve made a little progress on my Big Love but It’s not one that I can easily work on now that I’m going back and forth across the entire sweater AND decreasing at the button bands. Once I get settled into the new rhythm, I’ll be fine though. I do love this Pima 100 by Berroco. It’s the softest cotton and it’ll be really snuggly. I think I may have to knit a cotton blanket for the living room in the future sometime. In an orange? (Orange is my favorite color these days, go figure.)

What I am really loving about this cardigan and what surprised me about it when I started knitting it is the texture. I had thought it was just stockinette stitch. Ha! I was wrong. It’s a simple enough four-row repeat with a 1×1 ribbed button band that is knitted on from the collar down. I am assuming that somewhere in the pattern, they’re going to have me stitch together the two pieces of the collar where the whole sweater started. But it’s a really pretty sort-of-ribbing texture that is easy enough to remember. I’m readjusting my memorized stitch pattern now, though, since all the pieces are now combined with a false seam between them. I have a feeling that I will make another one of these one day in wool … and maybe a size larger so it’s really cozy to wrap up in. This one, I hope, will be a bit more tailored for summer.

I did make a delicious zucchini galette this week. I found the recipe online from the Smitten Kitchen and I happened to have a bunch of zucchini from my Costco shopping trip that needed to be cooked before it got really gross. We both liked the recipe very much. I liked it because it’s vegetarian for the most part and my hubby cooked himself a sausage to eat with it because he can’t miss meat at any meal. We served it with a salad and it was yummy. I’ll make it again.

I had a fun day on Wednesday with some of the women from my Friday morning knitting class. I headed up to St. Albans to “sew” for the day but I left my sewing at home by mistake. Thankfully, I did have my knitting. Next time I’ll remember the sewing stuff because they’re inspiring me to do more sewing. I learned how to make a disappearing 9-patch and we did a lot of laughing. A lot! It was a much needed mid-week break from the news of the world. I’m so grateful to have these women in my life.

I need to bake again. I have oodles of frozen Maine blueberries to use before blueberry season is here again. I think I’ll make a blueberry cobbler and some blueberry muffins to have in the freezer for our company that’s coming in July and we are going to have quite a bit of it. We are really looking forward to the family that’s coming up and the house is always fun when it’s filled up. (And a bit sad when it’s empty again; at least for a little bit.)

Gone knitting.