It is still June?

 You know, I was so ambitious.  I was gonna post every Friday ... and then it was every other Friday ... I think now my goal will be once a month, on average.  So, 12 posts this year.  That's better than some years.  Not as good as I would like, but it is a small step in the proper direction. 

My thoughts lately have been filled with the political situation down in the United States.  Not surprising, really, since I am a citizen.  It is surreal to be watching from afar, compared to actually living in the midst of it.  The hearings of the January 6 Special Committee have been interesting, and not really surprising at all.  I had suspected most of it already, including the involvement of Trump and his family. While I have long been hopeful to see Trump in an orange jumpsuit (in jail), I think the best case outcome will be a plea bargain wherein he agrees to never run again.  Not what I want to see, but a best case outcome for the United States.  The whole Roe v Wade being overturned by the Supreme Court?  Yeah, that was not totally unexpected but heartbreaking nevertheless.  It hurts to see the United States become a place where women/girls do not have bodily autonomy.  If only there was a way to force men/boys to lose such autonomy ... then let's see how unjust it is. 

Taking a deep breath, because there is literally nothing I can do right now that will materially advance either cause, I will endeavour to think of other, more relaxing things.

Like this finished project! This pattern is Lucy and her Sisters, found on Ravelry.  It is quite a nice little top, and I do recommend it.  I used Araucania Alumco in a solid colour, altho the link goes to the tonal variety.  The solid has, sadly, been discontinued.

The one quibble I have with the pattern is this:

I had noticed on some of the finished object pictures that line you see above.  It is the provisional cast-on, using Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Cast On.  Wrapping the yarn around the needles is fine, and they look nice and even.  Sliding the held stitches onto a cord and letting them dangle while you work the other stitches lets them jiggle and wiggle around and become uneven.  I had hoped that blocking would even them out, but alas.  The line is still there, and not really any less obvious.  I will be sure to have that be the back of my top when I wear it.  

The Alumco is an interesting yarn to work with.  It is a cotton twist, and in the lace portion actually a bit splitty.  Once I had the front and back joined up, I switched to continental style knitting and the yarn was far better behaved.  This leads me to suspect that it would also work nicely for a right-handed crocheter.  Since I am left-handed, I am not so sure.  There was a tiny ball left over, and I will experiment a bit to satisfy my curiousity.

In other news, there are some flower beds alongside the driveway that I have been wanting to improve for several years.  I haven't felt that I had the energy and/or the stamina to tackle them, and things kept going south.  My goal is to build these up and make a tiny vegetable garden ... but first they had to be cleared. 

Sunday, in the heat, was the day that everything aligned and I started.  Foolishly, I did not snap a before picture.  However, I did get an after.

I knew there were day lilies in there.  These should do a lot better without all the competition.  If my memory is correct, they will have orange blossoms.  

There was a casualty.  My gardening gloves are so old I don't remember from whence they came.I do know where they are headed though -- retirement, and well deserved! 

This picture doesn't really demonstrate the quantity of weeds I pulled.  I spent three hours, and the wheelbarrow was two to three feet above the top.  I had to tie down the load to get it to the hillside and dump it.  Once upon a time, a friend had given me some valerian to grow.  It is an herb that can assist in sleeping, which was the plan.  Once planted I started some research and saw several warnings about this being dangerous in inexperienced hands.  I am definitely an inexperienced herbalist, and so shied away.  The valerian, however, did not get the memo and spread like wildfire through the flower beds.

The valerian was so enthusiastic that the sidewalk was almost impossible to traverse.  And so I finally summoned the energy and stamina, and pulled as much as I could.  I suspect this will be an ongoing battle this year and going forward, depending on how we build the raised beds.  Time will tell.

There is more knitting ... at last count, I have five projects on needles at the moment.  A little dress with some happy yarn, an afghan for my step-daughter, a sock for the upcoming big holiday in December, a cabled wrap just because, and a beautiful lace shawl.  There was, in fact, going to be a picture of the little dress.  Except that technology has once again gained the upper hand.  At least it didn't take me all morning to get myself logged in. 

Happy knitting!  Happy Canada Day!  Happy Fourth of July!  (And here I would insert some rather derogatory remark about celebrating the days we white settlers booted indigenous people off their ancestral lands, except that I AM trying to be ... I don't know what the word is.  Polite?  Good?  Politically correct?   It certainly bears thinking about, especially in the midst of our celebrations.)