At the last possible moment, I decided to commit to the Knitting Olympics. At the last possible moment, I settled on the Shepherd's Jacket from Peace Fleece. And after the last possible moment, when I had gone to the Yarn Harlot's website and signed myself on, I began to wonder "what was I thinking?" I must be nuts! I've been knitting steadily away on a simple, top-down cardigan using Takhi Donegal Tweed (love this yarn-it's slightly crunchy and rustic and just the sort of thing I know I will wear a lot). I only have about one and a half sleeves left to go, so why would I abandon it when I'm so close? 
Remember all this? It's the yarn I spun last year for the Tour de Fleece. I've wanted to make the Peace Fleece Shepherd's Jacket for more years than I can remember and I just had the idea that committing publicly to knit on it (and try to finish it) for the next 17 days would give me the kick I needed to finally do it. So, there is a method to my madness. Part of my last moment scramble to be ready to cast on included retrieving the yarn from the big freezer that is in our garage and discovering that it had not been washed after I finished the spinning. That almost did me in, but I decided at that point I didn't have much to lose, so I quickly washed 6 or 7 of the skeins, rolled them in a towel to squeeze out as much water as I could, and then placed a few of them in the warming drawer while I went to the barn to do evening chores. By the time I got back in the house, the skeins were dry! Just before the opening ceremonies, I quickly did my gauge swatch (very unusual for me) and by some miracle, I got gauge. I was a little late casting on for the back of the sweater and at this point only have 19 1/2 inches knit. I need some serious knitting time to stay on track with this. Stay tuned---this could get interesting.
That first picture has no particular relevance to this post, except to show that I'm apparently living on the frozen tundra now. I know many others have much, much more snow and I shouldn't be complaining when it's so pretty, but this is the sixth (that's right 6th) week that no progress has been made on the construction my studio! I'm trying to be patience. I know spring will eventually happen, but right now it's a little discouraging.
This morning I noticed that the "surprise lilies" (that's what they are called around here) have bloomed. I have mixed emotions about these flowers. I used to really dislike them, but am starting to admire them for their sheer determination to show up every year. These were planted long before we bought this farm and I never seem to remember them until they pop up and are blooming.
(Bess-twin sister to Lottie)
One of those things that required my immediate attention was garden work. We suddenly found ourselves with ripe corn (it's "Peaches & Cream") and blackberries that needed to be dealt with right now. There's no procrastinating on that stuff. If you do, it's gone, and it's another year before you can redeem yourself! So, there's corn and blackberries in the freezer and pickles to be made in my future!