Taxing Times

Hi there,

This is a salt-and-pepper-shaker set I bought a few years ago, because it's just so adorably cute. I was reminded of it when Fleegle mentioned in her blog that she is planning to knit a frog prince.

So, after many hints from my DH, which during the last weeks became more and more pushy, and since I have a few days off work this week (mandatory time reduction at my company) I finally ran out of excuses for not doing our tax return. Today is paper gathering, and bank statement printing and sorting day. Ugh.

The only consolation is that the days are becoming really nice. Right now our little lilac bush is blooming:

And the jasmine as well:

Last weekend I did quite a bit of knitting and I must have hunched up my right shoulder worse than usual, because it is quite painful right now. But I did get the center back panel and one side of the back of my Funnelneck Sweater done:

I’m considering re-working the front, because I just don’t like the large holes resulting from the picked-up stitches:

Funnelneck Sweater - front - big the holes from

picking up the stitches for the side panels.

If I re-work it, I’ll use a better edge stitch. (Usually, I follow the pattern at first, then I end up changing it - after a lengthy internal debate about whether it's "worth" it). I really like the construction of this sweater, and since the front and back are knit in three pieces each, it seems to progress very fast (of course it would be a lot faster if I didn't change my mind). It doesn’t even bother me to re-do pieces I don't like, because it seems less work.

Some more swatches of the Rosebud Neckwarmer:

Alpaca with silk – I thought this would look better, so I’m not going to use this.

Plain alpaca again, but with 3 rosebuds across to give it more width.

This stretches the stitches at the bottom of the two rosebuds, so I might add a few extra stitches there to relieve some of the tension. It will have to wait a bit though, since I really want to finish the Funnelneck sweater first.

And finally a picture of just how scared the feral chickens in this neighborhood are of our cat(s):

They kept walking and clucking in the back of the cat, until he finally looked at them disgustedly and strolled off - in a very dignified manner, of course! Most likely, the rooster will not be around much longer, he is rather noisy. And since they hang around our yard a lot (no dogs!) we have the best chance of catching him. We'll see.

Till next time!