And so we begin...again

I finally decided to give up. Couldn't find a stitch pattern that I liked and that worked with the bias. Just wasn't happening. Left the Walker book open on my coffee table as I walked away in frustration. Yesterday evening, I sat down to find the yarn and return it to the stash. But then I glanced back at the Walker book. Then I swatched some more. Actually, I didn't swatch. I just started knitting. I've spent a whole week thinking about this project and not actually getting anywhere on it, and I was ready to just try it. This pattern doesn't show the yarn bias at all. It's all garter stitch and trellis, which has a strong bias of its own, and you'd never be able to tell that the yarn isn't balanced. I got this far last night:



Unfortunately, that's half a ball of yarn, and I only have 4. A little bit of math says that I will end up with a 4-foot long piece if I keep it this wide, and that's just a little bit too short. So, today I frogged it. I'm about 4 rows into the new piece, and it looks like it might just work this time. It's not wide enough to call a stole, but it will be a reasonable-length wide scarf, I think. Not quite what I'd hoped for, but all I have yarn for. And, now that I'm actually knitting it, I think I like this pattern.

As a completely unrelated side note, look what I got out of the garden yesterday:



That's lettuce, mustard greens, spinach, beet greens, sage, savory, cilantro, peas, turnip greens, and kohlrabi leaves. Today, I planted tomatoes. I love spring.