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Updates

There are two items I want to offer updates about in this post - Spring and the Badger Mitten.

Apparently I kept referring the other day to this mitten as a glove.  I do know the difference but it seems last week when I wrote about it I didn't.  The first mitten is done except for the thumb and the second one is already on the needles.  Want to see the first?  (I plan to knit the thumbs when both mittens are complete.)

The buttons came in the kit, I like them


Paul suggested this claw might traumatize Mike, the cat

The Kitchener stitch was used to close the opening at the top of the mitten.  This creates a nice two-stitch wide white band that mimics the two stitches of white on each side of the mitten.  And although the Kitchener stitch is not one I remember how to knit when it is needed, it is always available from YouTube.

See the two white sttiches at the side and the top

I am happy with this result and now have the process of knitting in the round with two circular needle under control so the second mitten should fly off the needle.  (It seems I often say this, but it doesn't always end up going as smoothly as I had planned.  Hope I haven't jinxed myself.)  Since I do want to move on to the cap or toque, there is a motivation to finish.

Image 1
My next project, the toque.
As for Spring, it is here in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, well to be honest, it is never very far away either.  One knows Spring is upon us because the cherry blossoms are out.  We enjoy looking for the gatherings of blooms which is made so much easier to track with the Cherry Blossom Bloom Map.  Here's a pic of the neighbor's trees in perfect peak bloom.



But during my walk there are other signs Spring is here.  The white rhododendron, always the first to bloom are just about done for this year.



Then there's the forsythia which took a beating when it rained rather hard in the neighborhood on Saturday morning.



Even the dandelions are showing flowers, it has to mean Spring is here to stay, right?



A girl can dream, can't she.  Heat of summer won't truly hit here until late June (there may be pops a day or two here and there but nothing sticks until that late), so I shouldn't expect too much too fast.

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