where's Summer?

Even though technically it is still Spring around here, the weather has been decidedly soggy and cold.  Where we would have stopped using our wood insert by this time last year and would be spending a fair amount of time outside on our patio, we are still huddling by the fire and it's the end of May!
One thing about the cold is that I'm still inspired to knit.  Usually with the warm weather the knitting needles are put away and I lose any drive to knit anything other than socks perhaps.
Regarding socks, my sock drawer is overflowing due to a mad desire to knit these.  Even P (hubster) and my DD got socks!  Another reason for the sock knitting was that I was side lined for the last 8 months with an achilles injury and unable to hike.
Yesterday I did my first hike with our hiking group and it went unbelievably well, despite the cold and rain. I would show pictures except we didn't dare take the camera out of the pack with all the rain.

Two weeks ago I got my first shipment from the Unique Sheep's "Sip and Stitch: tea" club.  There were four 25 gram skeins of their fingering weight "Green Sheep" Cotton Bamboo in the colour "Persephone" as well as some hand blended "Persephone black" tea and a tea egg from Goddess Teas.

After I received the shipment I just had to check out the ladies behind the Unique Sheep and on Laura's flickr page, which I found through Ravelry, I discovered a really cool Origami bag I just had to sew up.  

The instructions call for two contrasting fat quarters, which is something most quilters know about.  I was impatient and instead of heading out to get fat quarters I raided my very sparse stash of fabric and came up with 2 - 6" squares of leftover fabric from an ancient quilting project.  This just was a perfect recipe for disaster and I nearly tossed the whole idea out the window except that a little voice kept reminding me that the pattern did call for fabric much, much bigger.  The mini bag is cute but won't hold much more that a thimble.

Well the following day I headed to the local fabric store and brought home 4 contrasting fat quarters, squared two of them up into 19" squares and created a bag.  It was much nicer working with larger fabric.  I neglected to buy cord so the completed bag has a temporary length of cord scavenged from my brother-in-law's fish boat when I was working as a deck hand for a few weeks many years ago. 

Origami bag

Just after dinner tonight the rain stopped and the sun came out.  We hadn't seen blue sky or sunshine for awhile so it was really good to see.  People were popping out of their homes with lawn mowers and other garden implements.  

Hopefully it will stay nice for awhile now especially since we bought our grandson a Little Tikes car which he could sit in if he wanted.  Right now he prefers to walk around the car, reach in to turn the key and honk the horn, and check the gas.  (No, there isn't a real gas tank but to a toddler with a great imagination it could be real).  Now that we've had the car outside for awhile it can't come inside so the only place A can play with it is outside.   Oh, did I mention that A is walking?  Yes, he started late but is making up for it.  Last week he marched outside and straight to the fence between our house and the neighbours.  He had been invited by the nice grandmother next door to come over to play with her grandson and to play in the playhouse that was being built for him.  A was trying to take her up on the invitation.  Unfortunately neither the grandmother nor the grandson were in the yard at the time. 

A's grandpa did make it clear that there is no way that a playhouse will be built in our yard for our grandson.