Did you ever see an amaryllis bloom like this? Each of the three bulbs has put up about ten flowers, including the ones that aren’t open yet. The window seat gets the best light in the house, so I put the plant right here on the cushions and it just went to town. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for this riot of red! Some red tulips came, too. They’re only little nubbin shoots just now, but they’ve come to sit on a plate on the cushion beside the amaryllis, so they’ll have something to aspire to. (I wonder if the heat vent directly below is playing a role, too? The dear bulbs think they’re in the tropics, perhaps?) It’s all very appropriately timed for Valentine’s Day, anyhow.

Jen and I ditched our gentlemen for the 14th and spent the day pursuing knitterly delights together at Madrona. Jen took Cat Bordhi’s sock class while I dug into the finer points of color for fair isle with Janine Bajus. Next time I’ll have more about the process–I’ll even reveal my little speed swatch, which Janine told us should be very ugly indeed. Mine is not hideous; I flatter myself it looks a little like a Kiki Mariko rug shrunk to the scale of a bathmat or a small lap blanket for Toad Hall, and doesn’t that rug look like just the sort of thing Mr. Toad would like? It would set off his Harris Tweed suits so beautifully. But the swatch doesn’t yet look like anything you’d want to make into a sweater, or even a hat, and it’s not supposed to. Next comes editing. More on that later, though.

I thought it was time to prove the Confectionary Vest had progressed beyond its own initial swatch, which was the reason for taking the picture with the amaryllises in the first place. The profusion of ends has been dealt with, and it’s acquired armhole ribbing on the right side. I need to wind up another ball of the grey STR, but I’m very close! And it fits, apart from a slightly wonky patch at each hip that reveals how I need to do a little more calculating and a little less guessing in the department of waist shaping. (Note to self: begin decreases sooner, as in directly after the hem ribbing.)