Nature and Knitting

Spring really is here with trees along my walking route finally showing blooms. These are on a tree in front of the animal shelter. Have no idea what kind of tree.

Bees are back and busy.

And this gave me a chuckle - pretty much it, except in drier parts of the world, my friends in Arizona remind me!

I haven't seen a moose in several years, even though I know they are wandering about the area, so I was quite pleased to run into this one as I started down my street at the end of my walk. 

And I DID nearly run into him because he came out from behind a trailer parked at the side of the road only a few yards ahead of me. I slowly backed up and and ducked around to the far side of said trailer.

You can see I peeked around the trailer to see if he'd moved on. No. He stared my way for a very long time before ambling into the trees to browse. I made my escape when a car passed by creating a suitable shield. These babies are big (although this one is actually a bit small) and can be surly so giving them a wide berth is the best option. Not the first time I've nearly walked into a moose since I moved back to Idaho. Still waiting to see one sporting his rack.

I've only worked a little on the tote bag, getting the blocks quilted and still mulling piecing sequence as well as cutting a few more pieces - trying to hide seams and create more heft without making a separate lining, I really am making this harder than it should be. However, the cardigan is coming along with completion of the back - note at the top stitches that are on stitch holders that will be joined to similar stitches on the front panels with a 3 needle bind-off, something I'd not heard of so cross fingers I can find instructions for that. As I start knitting the left front panel, it has dawned on me that this is a bigger project than I realized what with it being longer than the sweater I just knit and the two front panels having turn backs requiring more stitches. I don't know why I thought this would be a quick project . . .

Maybe they're not all humility blocks?

I knew I had one row near the bottom left where my stitching got off because I messed up with the yarn overs. But when I laid it out for the photo shoot, I spotted another row farther up on the right side where stitches are off as well. Sigh . . . NOT going to try to fix it, in fact trying to fix a missing yarn over may be partly why it is off. Instead, just thinking of it like a "humble or humility" block in a quilt. Orrrrr . . . maybe some of those blocks and any knitting errors aren't intentionally humble ones but the result of tippling while working?