Studio Marlowe

As I have the past couple of summers, I’m again trying my hand at gardening this year.  I’ve had very mixed success with gardening the past couple of years–our community garden plots are very accessible to a large population of rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, and other wildlife who feel they’re entitled to share the gardening bounty, usually well before it’s actually in any sort of fruitful stage (try explaining to the rabbits that they are welcome to take a few tomatoes in August, if they will just stop. eating. the. whole. darn! plant! in April).  Amazingly, this year has been relatively critter free–it appears my relentless applications of cayenne pepper and hair trimmings are finally doing the trick and my plants are all (so far, knock on wood) un-nibbled.

However, to counterbalance that, this year I also got a really late start on my garden (was out of town until mid-April), so it’s nearly the end of June and my tomatoes are still looking pretty puny:

The weather here is pretty mild year round so I’m hopeful that these will eventually yield some fruit despite my slackness early in the season.  And if not, that’s okay too–I enjoy the process of gardening almost as much as the finished process, so even in a year with limited yields I feel like I’ve gained something!

And finally, one thing that is doing really well, basil!

(although I confess its success is partially due to the fact that I purchased it as a plant rather than growing from seed…)

 Recently I was visiting my parents and I noticed these gloves out on the dresser in my old bedroom:

I knit these gloves in 2003 and gave them to my mother as a Christmas present.  They’re pretty basic, 100% wool, no fancy stitching or colorwork.  Just gloves.  Since I’ve made them, I’ve seen my mother wearing them numerous times when I’ve been visiting over Christmas, and she’s mentioned in phone conversations how nicely they match a scarf she acquired later.  I tried them on as soon as I noticed them and found they were still warm, cozy, and in good condition.

I know when I take stock of my knitting I can see a lot of projects that were ill-conceived or that simply refused to work out.  My knitting drawer has lots of these kinds of reminders: half done projects, yarn that may never get used, and so on.  They’re all right there.  Good projects, however,  don’t always present such a constant reminder.  They get given away, or worn so often that they’re eventually beyond repair.  So it’s really nice when one pops up unexpectedly to remind you that yes, you do knit a lot of great stuff that balances out the pieces you aren’t so fond of.

Finding these gloves also got me thinking about starting another pair for my mother.  Since she likes (and uses) these so much, maybe it’s time for an upgrade.  Hmmmm….

Lately I’ve been taken with the idea of projects that are fairly simple in their construction, but with a few original details and a lot of attention to fit.  The simplicity concept is appealing because I’ve been finding the rest of my life is pretty crowded with work and people and my knitting time is sporadic and often not of the highest quality.  Intricate color or cable charts, while fun, seem a little less alluring if you can often only knit: in 10-15 minute stretches, while on the phone with your mother/father/sibling/friend, at the very end of the day when you’re dead tired.  An added bonus is that simpler pieces often tend to be more versatile, so I can get more wear out of all those hours spent on garment construction.  Hopefully one of these days I’ll get back to the more complicated things, but for now, simple is it:

I’ve conceived this latest project as a fairly straightforward short-sleeved stockinette cardigan, perfect for cool spring mornings, or layering over long sleeves in slightly chillier weather.  A few of my favorite all purpose sweaters have finally started biting the dust recently (and after years of hard wear, I can’t say I’m too surprised), so it’s high time to work up replacements like this one. The yarn is a Berrocco 50/50 wool/alpaca blend, in a gorgeous purple color that I am currently unable to get the camera to capture properly (oh well). It’s super soft and I can tell this is going to make a great layer for keeping my core warm in chillier weather.