I know, more roses. This David Austin beauty is called The Pilgrim , a repeat bloomin', good smellin' rose bush that can and will get very very large. We pruned it hard this year to make it a bit more manageable. It has never had a disease, no rust or blackspot ever! It gets picked often because one stem creates an arrangement, just one stem! And there always has to be a little arrangement by the kitchen sink.

This is one of those patterns by Kim Hargreaves, that when you first look at it you think, maybe it’s too simple, too plain. But then you make it anyway because you love it, and then it’s done and you try it on, and well, it’s perfect. The simple things are what makes it perfect: the garter stitch yoke, the lovely neckline, the eyelet placket, and the tiny buttonholes ready for the tiny pearly buttons. Perfection. Raveled.

Details: Pattern is Jasmine from Nectar. 5 sk. of Rowan 4-ply Cotton in Lilac 139. Size 2 needles.

My friend wanted me to keep her company on a quick trip, one that would have us in a plane and car for most of the 36 hours we would be gone. I knew I would have to take an easy knit but didn't have one on the needles. With zero time to look through pattern books, I had to wing it. This will hopefully one day become a sweater set. I CO 140 in the round and k2 p2 rib for 1 1/2 inches, then an eyelet border before oceans of stockinette. I'm doing a bit of waist shaping and will follow a pattern when I come up to the armhole and neck shaping.

The yarn is Rowan Yorkshire Tweed 4 Ply in Dessicated. I bought piles of this lovely yarn on sale in several colors at my lys and at Jannette's when Rowan discontinued it some time ago. I love the bitty pieces of tweed in it. Dessicated has blended shades of whites and grays tweeded together, it's very subtle and beautiful.

I've used this yarn before in Barley for one of my favorite sweaters, Joy by Kim Hargreaves shown here and here and it's Raveled here.

This lovely home in France, equipped with absolutely gorgeous interiors and a spectacular view of the countryside and village below, is also equipped with this fat wisteria. Have you ever seen such glorious wisteria in your life? Click on the photos to enlarge. This home, while being beyond beautiful, also manages to be comfy and inviting. Sigh, good memories.

Twenty five years ago when we unexpectedly walked in on an open house, the house we would eventually own, the first thing I loved about it and why I had to have it, was the garden. The house is in a quiet part of our suburban town which we liked, plus, it had a superb layout: immense lawn that my husband craved, large border for flowers that I craved, and a large sunny plot ready for a vegetable garden, plus the trees, beautiful mature trees. A bit overgrown and neglected, it took some sweat to get it cleaned up. But my favorite garden feature was here when we arrived and it remains my favorite feature to this day, the brick paths meandering through the back garden. Some short and some longer, sometimes they meet up and then later might split apart. Some are cool and shady and mossy and hidden, some are sunny and open, and often they are weedy darnit, and I love them all.