I feel like I might jinx myself by saying this (because I'm a wee bit superstitious though I don't like to admit that), but the garden is in a decent place. The fruit trees and berries and the yard in general? All well (enough) attended to. Firewood we are ridiculously behind on, but that's not really my thing until we get to the splitting and stacking stage, which we're not at yet. But what we are caught up on leaves me with surprisingly 'free hands' at moments in the day, made even more free by the children that are no where to be found (though I could find them if I wanted to - they're in the woods on their bikes, or their in the pasture with the sheep, or chasing butterflies in the field, or building fairy houses by the rock wall....beautiful summer things). And so I find myself, surprisingly for June, in moments here and there with yarn in my hands. A few rows after weeding a bed in the garden, a few more while waiting on dinner in the oven, and just a little bit before bed with a book on the front porch. It takes longer, this kind of knitting - sometimes just a row a day. And it travels farther as it comes along with me where I go - all over the farm. But that's alright. It's still the welcome pause in my day that it is all year round, year after year. A meditation with my hands. And at the end, perhaps in time for the next season when it's needed, there will be a sweater. And a whole lot more knitting to follow.