{"id":14708,"date":"2025-04-29T13:31:26","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T20:31:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/?p=14708"},"modified":"2025-04-29T13:52:38","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T20:52:38","slug":"endings-and-beginnings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/2025\/04\/endings-and-beginnings\/","title":{"rendered":"Endings and beginnings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I finished a few projects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the very tail end of weather that would require a warm hat, I finished knitting one. The pattern is by Andrea Mowry, Plumped-Up Harlow<\/a>. It’s my first time knitting the technique called brioche, so there was quite a learning curve. I had to knit it twice – the first time I made so many mistakes in the crown shaping that I couldn’t live with the results. I started over. The second time, I still made a few mistakes but they are much less noticeable. I’ve worn the hat once or twice but will now retire it for next winter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Two Color Reversible Brioche Hat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I also finished my potholder project. They turned out to be very functional objects – and nice looking. I got a lot of practice on the Palestrina stitch for the edging. But I’m now questioning how I really want to bind the garden quilt<\/a>. The saga continues. I really want to use that quilt this summer, so I’ll probably be motivated to figure it out soon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Potholders (front)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Potholders (back)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And just in the past week, beginnings are popping up all around. Just a few that I’ve noticed: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first lupine leaves are up. Come June, there will be a beautiful display. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Freshly emerged Lupine leaves<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And I’ve been practicing identifying pussy willows in the area. There are not a lot, but a few majestic specimens are easy to spot this time of year. They are crowned with fuzzy white catkins that catch the sunlight, making a glowing halo for a short time. I realize that when the leaves come out, they will be indistinguishable in the undergrowth of alders and other common shrubs. So they seem very special right now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s a junior one that we found last week at the side of Jellison Cove Road. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pussy willow<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Close up – one of my favorites<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I finished a few projects. At the very tail end of weather that would require a warm hat, I finished knitting one. The pattern is by Andrea Mowry, Plumped-Up Harlow. It’s my first time...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14706,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[438,534,463],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-knitting","category-quilting","category-seasons"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/img_9901-2-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14708"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14719,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14708\/revisions\/14719"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}