Back to knitting

Before I talk about knitting, I thought I would show you a few more flowers. I found some really cute pansies at a local store a couple of weeks ago. One set are just yellow and purple but these are orange and purple and they make me smile when I look at them. Aren't they adorable? I love pansies with faces. They are so cheerful that they make me smile every time I look at them.
This is my Eastern redbud. It is native to the East coast of the US and is glorious when it is in full flower. The flowers are close to the branch as you can see in the close-up in the next photo. It has lovely heart-shaped leaves but systematically kills off any flowers I plant under it. I've given up and put the flowers in pots.I was trying to get a close-up of the flowers and didn't realize I had such an artistic shot! The reddish tree to the left of the photo is a finger-leaf weeping Japanese maple. I love that tree. Its leaves are very delicate and it turns a gorgeous red in the fall. Lastly, the flowers of a weeping peach. It actually produces peaches, although I tend to pinch off the fruit when they are tiny. I want energy going to the flowers and growth, not to the fruit. It produces the most gorgeous peachy-pink flowers (you can see the buds in the photo) but the tree has died off on one side so is lop-sided right now. I hope it all works out in the end. I don't know why it died off but it might be the same thing that is causing spots on the crabapples. We have to spray them with a fungicide each week during the growing season and one of the crabapple trees (one of my favorites) has also died.

I also have crabapples in flower this week. One is in full bloom and three others are about ready to burst into bloom. The lilacs have also begun blooming but won't be in full bloom till next week. Did I tell you I love spring?

I worked on a pattern for publication this week so no pictures. Not much knitting either as I wrote out the pattern and worked out the kinks. I started knitting it late in the week and have barely cast on for the second sock in the Shibui.

I also bought some Classic Elite Premiere in Intense Teal for the cover sweater of the Spring/Summer 2008 Vogue Knitting. We decided to do the sweater as a Knit-A-Long in the summer. However reviews of the yarn have been mixed on Ravelry. Some people said it pills and looks old very quickly. With such an intense color, I was concerned enough to return the yarn. I am going to choose between Rowan Purelife Cotton in Yellowwood, if it arrives at the store on time, or Euroflax Linen Sportweight in Shamrock. The latter is on hold for me as a backup. The pattern in the mag is written for a bulky cotton so the learning in the class will be the re-jiggering of the pattern to a different gauged yarn. In any case, I have neither yarn in hand to entice you with visual appeal. In a week or two, I hope to remedy this situation.