I’m getting rather jealous of the pics other bloggers have been posting of their gardening efforts. I haven’t had a sunny weekend in awhile, so my balcony plants (well, those that are still alive) are languishing. Winter took a heavy toll. My lack of watering the palm tree that is under the eave, and thus out of the rain, has left it brown and lifeless. I’ll blame the evil squrriel for the death of my lavender plant. One of the adopted citrus trees is blooming, so not all is lost. The ravages of winter have left my balcony looking simply horrible… lots of blacks and browns, lots of stuff dropped by the overhanging tree. I’m just going to have to find time to get to a nursery to get something with color.

I knit on my mom’s afghan last night while watching Rent. Singing along with a musical is not the way to get knitting done. I have also come to the conclusion that my row gauge is way off. I have stitch gauge (3 sts/inch), but the pattern says that each color strip is supposed to be 3.25 inches wide. Mine are more like 2.5. Another comparison indicates that each pattern repeat (4 strips) should be 13 inches wide. Mine is actually more like 9 or 10 depending on the set of strips you measure. Does Lion Brand Homespun magically widen when you wash it? I have quite a bit more yarn left than I was expecting with only 4 strips left to knit (according to the pattern). Do I just finish it and call it a lapghan? Or, do I add another set of strips, which will take longer to do?