Mossy Cottage Knits

Miracles Do Happen!

I present the completed body of the Good Enough Merely Tolerable Gansey (with right sleeve technically begun but a mere two rows along):

What’s astounding about this sweater as I look at is, not a single element of it is the same as the original pattern, which is unthinkable for a pattern-obsessive like me. But, no; different yarn, different stitch motif, different measurements all ‘round, different needle size… Of course, it was only just this weekend, after almost a year of the futzing and frogging that resulted from my trying to be creative, that I remembered that I had this--which contains every handy-dandy measurement necessary--on my bookshelf.

Here, a close-up of the stitch motif (way more gray than the actual yarn which is a moody but luscious pine-green Cascade 220 Heathers; first picture is much more accurate):

On the gardening front, despite my best efforts to kill things off, I seem to be losing, pardon the pun, ground:

Top left: Strawberries, three different kinds.

Bottom left: Every kind of herb that could be squashed into a small pot, squashed into a small pot.

Square bed: In the back, Black Brandywine and English Yellow Perfection heirloom tomatoes

Middle: What looks like a blank area actually contains some quite healthy Half Danvers carrots, with a second round of seeds planted. On the right, a Sweet Garden Burpless cucumber.

In the front, lettuce, which I recently had to thin and did so by pulling out the baby lettuces and…oh, how it pains me to admit this...throwing them away. I eventually had my d’oh moment, realized they were frickin’ edible, and hauled them into the kitchen to fancy up a cold-cut sandwich. Not that I have any intention of trying to live off the land but if I did, I would starve to death in a week.

Even the tomato that I warmed up with the fish hot-water bottle insists on doing well.

Then:

Now (note change in height relative to tomato cage):

Well, I'll be.

Posted by Ryan at May 29, 2009 07:48 PM