Slouchy Mushroom Hat

I love quick projects.

I love hats on needles size 10+.

I love slouchy hats.

That being said, this was not my favorite pattern. Stupid k3togs all throughout the dang hat. On yarn that is crazy slippery. And I'm pretty sure that the pattern had some errors in it because I kept ending up with extra stitches at the end of the row.

But alas, I powered though and made it work after some extensive edits and some added rows to make it a bit taller.

But what I think doesn't really matter. As long as the recipient likes it!

Seed Packets

It's still hitting 80 degrees here in Seattle so I hate to say it's almost fall.  The days are still bright and beautiful, but the evenings are getting cooler and the last few days we've had dense fog in the mornings.  And THAT definitely makes it feel more like fall.

But I really hate to say it's fall because that means I'm not going to get much more out of the garden.  I've gotten a couple meals worth of pole beans, a bunch of carrots and radishes, a handful of Anaheim peppers, bushels and bushels of tomatoes, and only one measly squash.  I have four summer squash plants in front of the fence, three more inside, and three winter squash plants, and ONLY ONE STINKING SQUASH. I know it's mostly my fault. I planted a few weeks too late.  I didn't fertilize enough. Blah blah blah.  That's still a ton of plants to only get one fruit. Boo.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my really healthy looking butternut will flower soon (for the first time) and I'll be able to hand pollinate one blossom.  I don't care if it's super tiny when I get to eat it, I just want to be able to eat one out of my garden!!

All whining aside, since it is almost fall, it's also time for most of the flowers to go to seed. I cleaned up my front beds the other day and harvested seeds from my cosmos and poppies. Last night we took a walk through the P-Patch and I gave in to my urge to harvest as we walked.  (If they're already dead it's not stealing, right?) I harvested some nasturtiums, red poppies, and rose campion. Rose campion is all over Seattle, fuchsia colored flowers and silver-green foliage.  I've long admired it, but  wasn't sure if I could start it by seed - guess we'll find out next year!

I had some free time today at work and went about making seed packets.  Not sure how well they'll hold the teeny-tiny little poppy seeds, but I think they should work just fine for everything else.

I'm going to try my hand and tomato seeds this weekend.  I hear it's smelly, so wish me luck.

Sold!

I sold my first two pairs of koozies at the Husky game on Saturday! SUCCESS!!

I sold what I like to call the "Charlie Brown" koozies....

... and the striped koozies.

Now I've got the diamond ones...

.....the single stripe (which the menfolk seemed to like)....

...the solid color Ws.

I'm just finished a pair of black ones - one with a purple W and one with a gold W - at work yesterday, so that will leave my stock at 4 pairs for the next game (it's in two weeks, so I might be able to bang out a pair in the field next week) in addition to three hats and a pair of fingerless mitts.

I got a request for a pair of mittens, so I'll be designing those during my lunch breaks this week.  I'm thinking striped ribbing, then purple mittens with gold diamonds, but I may get crazy and change the diamonds to argyle.  Whoa there! 

I calculated that if I can sell three pairs of koozies per game, I can afford my football tickets with my knitting sales! I slacked this first week, so I apparently need to do some better marketing.

A Week Away

I spent the last week in Montana for a vacation and a family reunion. It was a relaxing week filled with canoes, deer, wine, spiders, air conditioning, and lots and lots of sweets. The highlights:

• We didn't break down this year.
• I discovered why you should always balance a picnic table by sitting across from each other.
• An eagle dropped a half eaten fish 10 feet from my head.
• I found a turtle in a parking lot in Whitefish.
• Canoeing on Flathead Lake.
• Visiting with good friends in Missoula.
• Meeting new family members at the reunion.
• Pinochle!
• Canoeing on Canyon Ferry Lake.
• Surviving a week in the sunshine and not getting a sunburn.... until the last day (see canoeing on Canyon Ferry Lake).
• Driving over Lolo Pass and seeing places that I've written about for work.
• Actually enjoying time spent in Pullman.*

I had a great time, but after visiting Dad's garden on the drive back, all I could do was think about my garden.  It was over 100F where we were driving through and even though I knew that my friend was diligently watering my tender plants, I was worried. It was hot, so was I going to miss out on the last of my peas? Would the slugs have demolished all my kale? Would the neighbor kids have picked all of the daisies that were starting to bloom when I left? Had the lettuce bolted? Would my first tomato ripen and be eaten by squirrels before I could take a picture to brag to Dad?

All of that worry was for naught.  The peas are still going strong and I will have a bucketful to pick.  My kale is still growing, and while the slugs are thriving, there are still some leaves for me.  I don't think a single daisy has been picked, only about a quarter of one plot of lettuce is bolting, and my tomatoes are just changing.

There was one hazard I hadn't considered, though, that did indeed hit the yard.  The Maintenance Man (dun dun DUN!). I immediately noticed the new sign posted in our yard advertising lawn service when we pulled in, but didn't think much of it.  After we unloaded the car and I went walkabout, I got mad. Then I went past mad to pissed.  We had an informal agreement with the old maintenance guy that we would take care of the planting strip where we did our gardening and he would leave it alone.  I still got a bee in my bonnet when he would mow over something on accident, but for the most part we got on peacefully.  But this sign was advertising a new company.  A "real" company, not just a guy who came to mow the lawn on Saturday mornings and did the occasional pruning.  This company took it upon themselves to spray some sort of killer on the "weeds" in some of the beds.

  (peppers are in the pot against the wall, strawberries in the two in front. The big pot in back is a blueberry)

 Now, let me take a break to tell you that I have an ongoing battle with weeds in two of my beds.  In most of them there is just a few dandelions and grass that try to come up, and I pull them on my daily walkabouts.  But there are two beds that the weeds want desperately.  I pull them when I can, but the "grass" grows tall and the weeds grow big and I can't keep up.  I have now just moved my pots over that area in an attempt to smother them and block out sunlight.  The hose resides over the other half, and along the fence I pull the weeds weekly to allow space for the black-eyed-susan vines I planted.

The new maintenance guy weed-wacked that whole area, then sprayed it with some sort of herbicide.  The entire area by the gate smells like vinegar.  My blackeyed susans are gone. The poppies I planted over the tulips are gone.  This is when I got mad. I had a helluva time getting those susans to sprout and was really looking forward to the blossoms this summer.  Now I'm not going to get anything out of all that work.

Then I continued walkabout outside the fence.  And I got pissed.  The company left my nasturtiums.  They left the zucchini plants.  But then in one "open" area, which had seeds waiting to sprout, they sprayed that damn weed killer.  You know what else they got? Half of my pole beans. HALF. I don't know how you could mistake them for weeds, they are obviously planted in a straight line.  And they look exactly like the other beans that DIDN'T get sprayed.  So what's the story? I feel like a cartoon character with steam coming out of my ears.

So I wrote a letter.  Reading it now, I did a good job of bottling up my anger, because my letter was to the property management company asking about the maintenance company.  They don't deserve my anger (this time).  Now I just have to wait to see what they say about the toxicity of what they sprayed.  Hopefully it was an organic whatever and that area can someday be planted again with something edible.  This year is probably a loss.

I'm tired of having to deal with all this house crap caused by other people.  Time to start searching the housing market.

*I know that last one is hard to believe, but it's true.  I stayed one night with a friend and didn't punch any Cougars.

Robyn's Garden

The pole beans have sprouted.

The strawberries are going gonzo.

Even the three I bought for $0.60 each at Freddies are doing their thing.

The cosmos I started inside and transplanted out are budding...

... and the ones from seed are just spouting.

I think I "inherited" a California Poppy in the pot with the transplanted mum.  That or a carrot.

The Shasta Daisies are starting to bud out.

The nasturtiums are rock stars... at least the ones along the west side of the fence.  The south side ones are inching along.

The second batch of mums from the MG are in the ground and looking much better, after only half an hour (the roots were pretty pot-bound, MG - if you have more they should be planted asap).

Broccoli keeps getting more leaves.  I'm anxiously awaiting some actual floret spouts.

Remember last year when I couldn't get a carrot to save my life?  This year they're conquering the same bed.

This late May weather has been perfect for peas.

The new seeds from Territorial are getting unruly.  This might be the only time I've actually appreciated a holly tree.

I even have my first two pods. See one in the middle?

All of my tomatoes have survived.  One or two are a bit stunted, but....

Two of the ones I planted a month ago have flowers!

I just harvested a ton of lettuce, and the bed still looks full.  My second lettuce patch is filling in nicely as well.

And, just to prove you can teach an ORG new tricks...

The MG went snowshoeing!

Still growing (and knitting, too)

It's salad time at my house.  More and more radishes say "eat me" every day, and I have been able to do some thinning of the lettuce mix.  Between the thinnings and a couple leaves off of the romaine heads I had enough for a salad.  It's amazing how good fresh garden lettuce is.  Yum!

Inside the rest of my salad makings are getting bigger and better - the heirloom tomatoes are about right to start hardening off.

Much more appropriate sized tomatoes! However, one of the giant Sungold cherry tomatoes outside just developed some flowers.  Since it's a cherry, and surrounded by a wall o water, I think I'll leave it.  Fresh tomatoes in June!!! Woohoo!!

The peppers have been doing their thing as well and slowly putting on the millimeters.

I also have several (I think four? maybe five?) basil plants to round out the tomato sauce.  The thyme I started indoors is an inch or so tall, and I was pleased to see that the thyme outdoors is coming back from an attempted drowning over the winter.

It might be a little late, but I have flowers growing from seed as well.  The snapdragons from Fishback Farms are doing waaaaayyyyy better than expected, and should be hardened off and planted outside soon.

The flower seeds from ORG are struggling a bit - of the zinnia, poppy, and cosmo seeds planted in the flower strip, only the poppies appear to be coming up.  They're pretty thick, so I can hopefully move some around.  Not sure what went wrong with the other guys... too cold? Not enough water? The cosmos I started inside and transplanted appear to be doing alright, so I started more and they're already coming up.

Planted zinnias inside at the same time, so maybe I'll get lucky and get something out of them yet.

Last, but most certainly not least, the only flower seed I bought from the store is FINALLY doing something.

I bought Burpee Black eyed susan (Thunbergia) seeds at Flower World a few months ago.  I love them, but haven't grown them before.  They seemed fairly expensive, $2.30 for a packet of only 25 seeds, so when I did the germination test on the sweet peas from Fishback Farms (which are all growing along the fence, very very slowly), I tested the Thunbergia, too. None of them germinated.  Zero.  I planted several outside as well to see if that would do it, and still, none of them did anything.  Now that these three (out of four) sprouted, I'm guessing it was too cold for them.  Who knows, maybe when it gets warmer the ones outside will sprout... but I'm not holding my breath. 

Luckily, they say Thunbergia can be propagated by cuttings, so if any of these guys amount to anything, I can work on spreading the love around. 

knitting round up

It hasn't been stealth knitting, because I did most of the work for these projects in public.  But they have been sitting at home, stashed away, waiting to have the ends sewn in and to be blocked. 

I finished these in March, that's how far behind I am.

Pattern: Fetching, by Cheryl Niamath
Yarn: Vanna's Choice, Dusty Purple
Needles: US 6 DPN

Stash busting: 119 yds, 70 g, 0.7 skeins.

This one was sitting in the stash waiting to be blocked. While I enjoy the pattern and the way it turned out, I had to block the crap out of it.  It just wasn't deep enough to be the slouch I wanted it to be.  Sure, I could have just added an extra stripe in there.... if I'd had enough purple left.  But I didn't. So there.

Pattern: East Fall Hat, by Kate Gagnon Osborn, in Knitscene Spring 2012
Yarn: Paton's Classic Wool, lilac and charcoal
Needles: US Size 6, 16" circular
Stash busting: 210 yds, 100 g, 0.6 skeins charcoal, 0.4 skeins lilac

_______________________
Cold Sheep Totals:
Yards: 15,424.4
Grams: 10,084.7
Skeins: 114.5
Finished Objects from Stash: 23
FOs in 2012: 5

Spring Showers

The first tulip in my yard has finally popped.  I have dozens around the yard that are budding, but the only one open so far is in a pot.  Hopefully by the weekend the rest will be open.

We have two azaleas in front of our house, but only one is flowering.  The other units next to us don’t have blooms, either.  

Lots is happening in the garden.  I have yet to harvest anything tasty, but we’re getting there.  The first things planted in the garden, radishes, carrots, leeks and beets in the cold frame, are all coming up.  The radishes are getting true leaves and (I hope) starting to beef up.  You can’t see in the picture, but the other three are really coming up too!!  The beets are so cute with their little red stems.  These leeks will eventually have to be transplanted so they can spread and grow, but they’re doing quite well in the cold frame for now.  The weather was nice enough last weekend that I have been leaving the top open. 

 The three kale seedlings I transplanted are thriving in the relatively cool, damp corner.  A few leaves have been munched on, but that’s to be expected I guess. 

The broccoli may be doing a bit better than the kale.  Whether due to more sunshine or just being stronger plants?  Who knows.

Along the back fence, the same place where I failed last year, I have radishes and carrots growing.  Beets, too.  Fingers are crossed as many times as possible that the addition of compost and early planting will let me actually harvest something from here.  The radishes are already up, and I think the beets may be making an appearance any day now.  I only planted half of the plot because it just seemed like so many radishes at the time, but now that I’ve thought about it, I can eat about a bajillion radishes at one seating, so filling the rest of the bed might be a good idea.  Squash will fill the area in June after the carrots and beets are hopefully mature, so I should have plenty of time for another sowing of delicious peppery radishes.

My staggered planting of peas has been an interesting experiment, one I will have to try again.  I planted two varieties of peas from last year on George Washington’s birthday (Feb. 23), and a new variety from Territorial Seeds a few weeks later.  It took longer for the bush peas and the Territorial peas to germinate, but now all three types are about the same height.  I have stapled twine to the fence to give them a trellis once they get a few inches taller, and am hoping for peas to munch on in a few weeks.

The lettuce in front is a mix I got for free from Cedar Grove at the Flower and Garden Show.  I was worried about them for a while, but they have really taken off in the last few days of sunshine.  I’m counting on lettuce, radishes and peas for a spring salad any day now.

Speaking of lettuce, this head of romaine has been growing in this pot since last summer.  It over wintered without wilting at all.  I’m in awe of its staying power.  It’s starting to bolt, and will hopefully produce a ton of seeds.  This guy was so winter hardy that I’ll be planting its offspring all fall for continued harvest over winter.  Fresh garden salad on Christmas, anyone?

My tomatoes have outgrown their home indoors.  I’ve been hardening them off for about 5 days now.  They get to come out to play in the now empty cold frame (used to contain a pot with lettuce seeds which have outgrown it).  They’re too tall to close the lid, but the walls help to keep the wind from battering them.  I haven’t lost any yet, but they’ll be transplanted into the ground in the next day or two and I expect a few die-offs.  They will get a few Wall O Waters and glass bottles filled with water to retain heat through the night, and will be covered with a sheet of plastic as protection against the cold.  This is a big step that has been scaring me for weeks, so I have about 18 other tiny tomatoes started in the house.  Is almost 30 tomatoes overkill?

…. Nah…..