Thanks to Jennie for pointing me to this. My kind of artist.

I COULD HAVE DONE THIS.. from Briar Mark on Vimeo.

Spring seems to have sprung, and then come unhinged. The peonies, gorgeous beyond gorgeousness last week, are now flopped soggy in the grass. The irises have left ugly seed pods on their stems, and everything needs a haircut. Again. It’s only been four days since the last one.

Instead of weeping over the mess and the never-ending mowing chore, I choose denial. I’m going to focus on the tiny tidy details.

Here are some (tidy) pictures from the past weeks.

Perfectly-shaped bleeding heart.

Blossoms on the cherry tree planted a year ago.

Hello peonies!

Enormous iris.

There are a handful of these cherries-to-be on the tree. By the grace of god, the deer and the weather, I may get to eat one later this summer.

My cousin had a baby and I thought that was the perfect excuse to knit the February Baby Sweater by Elizabeth Zimmerman.

By the time I got started, this new little person was heading into her fifth month. After casting on and knitting a few rows I thought, “This is going to be wayyyy too tiny”, and ripped it out. I did some major (for me) math and figured out a whole new stitch gauge and ended up with this:

Very cute. But the more I looked at it, the more it started to look BIG.

Then, and only then, did it dawn on me that my friend google could probably give me some information on what size babies’ chests are. Turns out I’d knit a sweater for a toddler.

I really didn’t want to mail a gift that couldn’t be worn for a year. So I ordered another ball of yarn and set about making the sweater in the original size:

Also very cute. But frighteningly tiny. (I wish I’d photographed it next to my hand for a sense of scale.)

Feeling more and more like Goldilocks looking for the sweater that is “just right” I decided to nip the thing in the bud before it got out of hand and get both them sweaters down to the post office asap.

According to the thank you email, I squeaked in by a hair — wee Stella is still able to fit into the little sweater, and there’s the big one to look forward to.

This experience has taught me that it’s helpful to have a baby in front of you as evidence of how teenincy a brand new person truly is. Cats cannot be substituted.

Home grown.

Yeah baby!

I’ve been knitting a wee baby thing for a new person in the family.

Noola is showing tremendous restraint, refraining from playing with the yummy-looking pointy sticks and the green string with the lumpy thing attached. She’s even abstaining from attacking my chair cover — that irresistible, delicious sheepskin that usually drives her wild with desire with its sheepyness.

It looks like she might be plotting… Maybe she’s saving up her ferocious attack for when I leave the room.

Here’s Maxie two years ago.

And here he is now. Bigger body. Same peekaboo games.

Watch this.

Found via White Feather Farm.

Saturday, in Brooklyn, we took a walk around Greenpoint, avoiding busy streets and enjoying the sunshine. As we walked I collected these:

Finally. Other than the big snow dump in late October we’ve barely had a dusting of the white stuff. I thought it might be an entire winter of bare earth. But now this.

Walking out of the village we watched children sliding down the good slope at the country club, and one teenager attempting to ride his snow board with little success. The trees stood out in monochrome, each one clearly showing its unique structure.

We turned around at the house with the “BEWARE OF DOG” signs (that always make me think of this) and hiked back up the steep hill, feeling virtuous and looking forward to hot tea.