Ah, spring!
We mop our floors, we dust off our windows (unless you are me, apparently), we organize and host destash sales and ride in our cars with the sunroof open. We have so much energy for all. the. things. that it can actually be quite overwhelming. We let several punnets of strawberries languish in the fridge until far beyond their jamming potential, and then go back to pick up some more (at least if you are me).
This is our fourth spring in our home and our “murder shed” looms large still and our raised bed still remains uninhabitable. I accept this reality, knowing for certain that this will be the last spring it is like this. We have big, beautiful dreams for our home and our outdoor space that grow fonder each passing day and we can’t wait for all that is ahead. All the while, every cat-proofed sunny sill is completely overcrowded with house plants, green onion shoots, hanging planters, and sprouts as soon as I can make a trip to the garden center. It is a strange and wonderful thing to see the same azaleas and camellia bushes burst with color, just as they did every spring before, and feel like everything is very much the same, and yet everything is different this year.
I spend a ridiculous amount of time deciding which patterns to make out of the precious fabrics I have accumulated over the past few months that I end up not working on any of them at all. This is a tragedy! My antidote has been to just decide that day, the day that I am actually going to work on the thing, what the project will be. It still leaves lots of room for back and forth for the stacks of fabric on the shelves, but it at least takes it down a peg with each new project. I just ordered some vintage bedsheets on eBay to make a ZW Gathered Dress that will likely become my new favorite nightgown (I hope). I have been obsessed with vintage nightgowns over the past year and they’re basically all I want to wear now. Of all of the pandemic sewing projects I have done over the past year, I have realized that the oversized, boxy look is incredible for some, but not for me, and yet I just can’t get over this dress. So nightgown it is. I’m also trying to decide what to do with all of my aforementioned boxy garments, whether to try to refashion them as is, or give away. I have an incredible stack of mending to do and the thought of re-doing them is a bit much, although so is giving them away. (See that spring energy I mentioned?) I am imagining the most ridiculously cozy winter this year featuring this nightgown and my someday quilt-coat layered on top to make me feel like I am actually in bed, all the time, but if I was also feeling reallllly stylish. :)
I am working on a new shawl right now that is just…wonderful. She is so simple and the yarn really makes all the difference in the world here. I shared a peek last week but will have more soon. Honestly I am going back and forth on whether to sell this or just share the recipe, because it is so simple, but we’ll see how she keeps shaping up. I also ordered this incredible stack of O-Wool o-wash fingering, one of my absolute favorite yarns, for a new idea that has been kicking around inside of my head for weeks. I am trying to work on one thing at a time right now but it’s making it very difficult to do. I can’t wait to see where that one goes.
My favorite mittens, my new pattern, are coming out next week and I haven’t even really shared them here, so be on the lookout for soon and if you’re curious, you can visit my Instagram page (@abbygoodknits) to see the peeks I have shared thus far. I am once again so grateful to my tech editor and test knitters for bearing with me and all of the disorganization that I bring to this process, it really does mean the world and I am looking forward to sharing another pattern with you all to warm your fingers as winter fades into spring.