It’s been a strange, off-again-on-again spring, with some weather extremes. At the end I was wondering who stole our spring, as it turned quite chilly again. Not quite cold enough for frost, but get the cozy old sweatshirt back out sort of weather.
Here are a few outdoor highlights:
Wind spinner – a nice birthday present!
Crabapple tree
An old redbud
Serviceberry in bloom 🙂
April sunset
PS. I just added another pattern to my Ravelry store – it’s perfect for a very special occasion!
Looking away back – to my first published design, which appeared on the cover of the first issue of Knitting World (succeeded first by Knitting Digest, then Creative Knitting). The sweater is still here somewhere.
Meanwhile, back at home, it looks like spring has finally made it, after several hiccups. Lots of things in bloom, and I’m really wanting to get going on the garden.
Redbud by the house.
Passing through.
And saving the best for last 😉
High speed dog!
Lately, I’ve been searching for summer squash recipes, and found a couple of keepers. 
Saut̩ed Baby Squash with Basil & Feta РI had small, but not baby pattypan squash, so I cut a white one and a yellow one into wedges and saut̩ed them until lightly colored on each side (this pretty much eliminated the excess moisture I get with most squash preps), subbed green onions for the leeks, cut up a couple of Roma tomatoes, and totally forgot to add the cheese, but it was yummy and will certainly be repeated. Sweet peppers would be good in this too!
Another keeper was Skillet Mexican Zucchini – the original recipe is meatless, but I sautéed strips of chicken breast (cleaning out the freezer), then added them at practically the last minute. I skipped the pickled jalapenos, and I’m not sure if I remembered the cheese, but I did stir in some sofrito and chili powder with the garlic and onions, which gave it a bit of zing.
Yellow pattypan squash.
Volunteer butternut squash.
Since there are more squash in the garden, these may get replayed soon 😛
The Knitting Camp trip was great as always. In addition to all the usual wonderfulness, after some years of blog and email virtual visiting, Angie and I were able to arrange a real meet-up in Cedarburg WI for lunch at Cream & Crepes (yum!) and some visiting after lunch. Fingers crossed that we can do it again! 🙂
Meet-up in Cedarburg.
A friend at Camp had made the Scallops & Ribs top (Knitter’s K110) and brought it for Show & Tell, so of course she was also part of my Show & Tell. I love her choice of color!
Natascha’s Scallops & Ribs.
I had a wonderful time, but of course the downside of trips is catching up when you get home. The garden (especially the beans!) kept growing while I was gone, and I’ve frozen quite a few beans to be enjoyed next winter. They’re still coming in at a pretty good rate, and the little French fillet beans (Calima) are definitely on the do-again list, in fact, probably more of them and a bit less of some of the other varieties. 
Except for a very few here & there, we’re still waiting for the tomatoes, but the squash and cucumbers are coming in at a manageable pace.
My new rose bush had a tiny, but nice surprise for me – I wanted red, and this is a lovely red.
Prairie Clogger (Griffin Buck rose).
If anyone’s looking for me, I’ll probably either be in the garden, or in the kitchen dealing with the veggies 😉
there are other things growing here too, like the Disco Belle hibiscus 
and cucumbers, which are just starting to come in. These are a pickling variety, but they’re also very good to snack on 😉 
But there are plenty of beans – I’ve already put some in the freezer to enjoy next winter, and I fixed some of the little French fillet beans (Calima) with shallots, diced tomato, toasted pine nuts and fresh herbs (thyme, parsley & basil) the other night – yum! These beans are producing very well and are definitely on my plant-again list. 
There’s another shawl pattern, Ripples on the Shore, up on Ravelry. The sample used Crazy Zauberball; I had to keep going just to see what the colors were going to do next 😉
Ripples on the Shore
These 2 geraniums were very small when I got them – they’re starting to fill the larger pots quite nicely! 
The beans have really taken off; I picked the first ones on Wednesday, then even more yesterday, and we had the first ones (just plain with a little salt & butter – yum!!!) for dinner last night. At the rate they’re going, I’ll be putting lots in the freezer, which will be lovely next winter! I’m still waiting for the wax beans to be ready, but some are starting to show color.
No ripe tomatoes yet, but there are quite a few green ones out there. I imagine the trick will be to get them before the squirrels do. 
The now huge volunteer squash plant in the compost looks like it’s likely to be a butternut, so it will be a while before any of them are ripe, but it’s really spreading … 
and I thought the dill almost looked like little yellow bursts of fireworks 🙂 
I was actually KIPing* at the end of the appropriate week for once. Potosi (originally Mine au Breton) celebrated the 250th anniversary of its founding with a big parade, pageant and all sorts of activities, including heritage crafters. We were pretty lucky with our location on the porch of the courthouse, which provided shade as well as shelter from rain – we needed both! I ended up working on a pair of mittens, which is mostly finished, but I suppose I really should go back and finish the 2nd thumb 😉
The following weekend was TNNA, which is always both hectic and interesting with all the new yarns to pet. All in all, a good trip (though I’m still catching up with details from it), and I was lucky to leave ahead of the later weather delays!
The garden is coming along nicely, and we have actual teeny-tiny beans on 3 of the 4 varieties I planted; the other variety is blooming, just no beans yet. If they all do well, we could have beans like all the bad zucchini jokes 😉
The Italian Roma beans are labeled as bush beans, but the more they grow, the more I think they’re not bush, so I recycled an old gate as a trellis for them, just in case.
Supposed-to-be-bush beans
And more … I can hardly wait for the fresh veggies 😛
Sweet Italian peppers
Tomatoes
Volunteer tomato plants and mystery squash/melon in the old compost pile
Salvia by the deck
*Knitting In Public
I received some interesting yarns to doodle with,
Seeds are coming up in the garden …
Roma Italian beans.
Squash.
and the planters are looking good 
In a moment of possible insanity, I said I’d participate in the 250th anniversary celebration for our county seat, which meant digging out a craft show wardrobe that hasn’t been used in forever. We won’t discuss the fact that some alterations are needed, but if I do say so, I’m still rather proud of some of the trim details I did so many years ago!
Craft show clothes
Apron pocket detail.
Apron lace (yes, it needs to be ironed)
Joyknits! 