Amber

I had to frog Amber, because even though I knit the smallest size, I was absolutely drowning in it. I've resized it, dropping the cast-on from 56 stitches per front and back, to 40 stitches per front and back. That's 32 stitches less than the pattern called for, in total! And it's just right, I think. Now all that's left is the cowl neck.

Here's our mini-conservatory, where we have breakfast.

My broad beans. 

I planted these cossack tomato seeds a few months ago. The plants are towering - there's one that's taller than I am now. They're the weirdest tomatoes I've ever seen, and in fact, I'm not entirely sure they are tomatoes.

If anyone knows, please tell me!

My mom went to visit my sister in Edinburgh for a few weeks, and one afternoon, I met her halfway between there and here, in York.

Yet another trip to Scotland

Not that I ever tire of it!

And here is amber, so far:

I'm not sure what to think about it. It's soft.

FO and why I've not been blogging

We've been spending any time we have in the garden. It's meant a lot less knitting, and a lot less being on the computer in general, which is really great. Those are some cut flowers from the garden.

Here's some other things I've grown from seed. I know this isn't that exciting to most people, but I'm feeling pretty proud of myself that I've gotten things so far along.

Some plants I didn't grow from seed:

And here's how our garden is looking these days - it's like a little oasis:

Despite all that, I do have an FO.

Knitting again

This is the wool my sister gave me for my birthday. It's actually a much warmer grey.

        

The garden

I haven't written in a long time. Partially haven't had the time, partially haven't had the desire. 

We've been spending a lot of time in our garden. I've planted lots of seeds. Aren't my beet seedlings pretty? And those are some broad beans in front of the beets. I had the beans outside, but the stupid squirrels kept digging them up, so I've started them indoors instead.

Some more photos of the garden. It keeps promising to begin to spring into life, but hasn't quite done it yet.

With some exceptions:

It was my birthday a few weeks ago, and we went to Kew Gardens.

And it got even more perfect when I got this present from my sister:

I'm thinking of making one (or both) of these things.

On the way to Ardeley

Since I finished my last jumper, I haven't knit a thing. 

So in lieu of knitting news, I'll just show you an image of a lovely bird I saw yesterday (image from www.rspb.org.uk).

It looked so exotic, I was impressed to learn that it's a bog-standard British bird: the green woodpecker.

I've been to Edinburgh twice in the past month for work.

View of Stirling

Yesterday morning, there was a gorgeous snowstorm. I didn't take photos, but it was really lovely. That said, I was glad to be leaving that evening for London which is just a bit balmier.

On Thursday, at Ardeley, we went into the woodland near the farm (with the primary school I've been working with), and could see some of the fantastic things the children have been making in the woods. They were all building homes, and then they wrote stories about whatever lives in the houses they built.

Fairy's home

Brown and white sheep at Church Farm

Golden Gable

Well, it's done, though not blocked.

The colour is probably most true in this image:

Just in time, too, as they're predicting more crap weather for the UK, maybe even more snow.

Hey, did I mention? I passed my "Life in the UK" exam. I was really stressing out about it, because you have to learn a lot of data and stats, and then they only ask you 24 questions. It was fine, I walked out knowing I had gotten out least 75% right (the amount needed to pass), and luckily they give the response straight away. I still even remember some of it...

I've noticed something a bit disturbing: while I feel like I can easily make a judgment about a book being bad, I don't feel like I can say when it is good anymore. I'm reading a book called D'autres vies que la mienne (other lives than mine), which I'm really enjoying, but I have no idea as to whether it's a good book or not. A lot of what I like about it is related to how pleased I am with myself that I can understand it. In other words, I'm enjoying reading another language, and the story is entertaining enough. But, I wonder, would I still like it if it were in English? Or would I judge it more harshly?