27,000 Stitches Later

This yarn breaks all the rules of light and color manipulation. Sorry, I am unable to get a true picture of their color, it's that damn yellow that just refuses to play nice.

And I have a pair of socks!

This picture is a bit more color true but still not good.

So how does one celebrate such an event? By casting on another pair of course.

Look, I have blue balls.

Okay, so enough horribly crass humor. Sorry about that, I just couldn't help it. These socks are going to be a version of the Kalajoki socks that I knit for nephew but for me.

Remember these? Fingers crossed they fit me better... I have added stitches to the pattern at this time. I think the "Marine Girl" color way of this yarn just screams for this pattern, don't you?

So, let's discuss Michigan. It got hot the other day. Crazy hot. It went form 50's to 80's. Just for a day though. That was between thunderstorms (which I'm loving). One woke me up with the lightening. It was great!

But due to that we have more than just buds as you can see. Yesterday though, we were back to rain, which was good too. I'm going to start with the photos I shot on the hot day, and then go to yesterdays photos so you can see what happened on the trails we walk on due to the heat and wet.

The day that it got hot, we had good rainstorms the night before. You can see the trunks of these trees are still wet. There are deciduous trees staring to peak out their leaves here in the shade of the pines as you can see.

In fact I was concerned about walking the trails because I was worried that we would have muddy conditions and I didn't want to tear up the trails.

See where the water running down the trails left ridges of old leaves and pine needles? The dogs are so nicely pointing them out for you here. I needn't have worried about mud though since the sandy soil had soaked up the water already. The trails were more just wet packed sand than anything.

The mosses have been greening up nicely after the rains as you can see here. The woods were more brown than green not that long ago but as the temperatures have risen and the moisture has gotten in deep everything has been exploding in more and more greens. I thought this one almost looked like graffiti paint due to its brightness.

The morning light was very pretty as it came though the canopy in dapples, but you can still see it is very brown.

Well, not in some areas as the lady's veil ferns start to pop up.

And I just liked this trees shape the other morning though I couldn't capture it and the colors that caught my eye on the camera very well.

This is a neat tree that I can't tell if it's a single tree or two that grew to closely together. It has this split that runs up it. But if you look close...

It's providing shelter for the next generation. And speaking of next generations, let's discuss the next days walk. Yesterday the rain kept coming down on us, and always harder when I stopped for a walk with the kids. Why is that? But look at what happened in the woods in just 24 hours.

See all that green! Everywhere you looked, there was more of it. And the smell! I love the smell of the woods after a good rain. It always amazes me how alike and yet different the woods smell in different seasons.

And with rain, comes the mushrooms. I swear we walk by this tree daily and I have never seen these on it before.

Remember that tree that I had to hunt up to find those great leaves frozen in the snow under it? Well, I have truly enjoyed watching it start to wake from its winter slumber. The tips of its branches all look as though they have been dipped in bronze. I took many pictures of it but this is the only one that really gave me what I was trying to capture for you all. See those buds? They look almost metallic n person.

After we had a good walk and the kids were wet and wore out a bit I had errands to do. One of which was to swing back by the Magnolia tree.

Gorgeous! And to answer a question in the comments, yes, they do have a musky heady scent but it's very faint and you have to get close to smell it. The petals are kind of leathery, unlike any blossoms I've seen before.

After my errands I ran the dogs by Roselle park just in time for a good cloud burst. I actually waited in the car for a few minutes to let the worst pass us by before we started out.

Again, everything is growing. But despite the green, Tucker didn't care for the rain. He is such a silly dog. He loves the snow and cold and will stay out longer than all the other dogs in bitter cold conditions, but he doesn't like the rain. And then when the wind comes up, he's done. I actually cut this walk short because on the back side of the loop the wind came up blowing straight in our faces and made the walk not only not a lot of fun but with wind driven rain, a bit chilly.

But before we got there we saw lot's of green and other colors.

I do have to apologize, being in the rain I didn't want to take the good camera out and it's becoming more and more apparent that the little one is dying. Fewer and fewer shots are in good sharp focus. I'm going to have to give it up at some point and replace it, but it's so nice and small and fits in my pocket so nicely.

Who doesn't love dandelions?!? They're so cheerful when they're not in your own yard.

Speaking of the little camera, we caught sight of a heron out there but I didn't have the big camera with me so this is as good as it gets.

Look close and you can see how hard it was raining on us.

Several times I tried to catch the sounds that are out there on a rainy day and despite not being able to capture the sound of the spring peepers, here is what I did get.

b

Here that constant trilling sound in the background, that's frogs! I was trying to get this quick before another jet went over our heads towards the airport.

Just after I was able to get that little clip is when the wind came up and the next squall line hit us and we hoofed it back to the car. On the way though I stopped to snap a photo of this little guy as he crossed the trail ahead of us. I'm sure I will hair these guys when I get a garden going but I like seeing them down by the river. Means things are in good shape, and the shrikes like to eat them.

Okay everyone, have a good Saturday. I need to head out.