Octo-Husky

This spring there was a request for an adult-sized pair of kid's octopus mittens from a quick knitting book. I had him pick out the specific yarn  because I knew he was picky about his colors.  We ended up with 100% icelandic wool in what I would call eggplant purple and goldenrod yellow.  I tired to guide him to a softer wool with what I thought was more "true" husky colors, but there was no swaying him.  So eggplant octopuses it was to be.

I put off knitting them until recently because they needed my full attention due to the intricate pattern, and I had to sit down and calculate my gauge to determine any pattern adjustments needed to make them adult-sized.

Somehow, magic happened and the first needles I used got me a gauge that would fit width-wise, but was too short length-wise.  The easiest adjustment!! I was able to follow the pattern exactly until I got past the octopus' head, then I added about 5 rows of plain knitting before starting the decreases. 

He likes the end result, but we'll see what happens when it's actually cold outside.  I'm positive they will be SUPER warm, what with all the 100% wool and the extra thickness from the fair isle. Unfortunately, I'm also sure they are going to be very very itchy.  And shed.  I had a full layer of fibers on my lap after knitting each mitten (about 5 hours per mitten, which was one field day each).

I really didn't enjoy knitting with the yarn.  Aside from the crazy shedding, it also was VERY splitty. It's not plied, so it had a tendency to have stray loops. I'd like to say I will avoid using this stuff in the future, but unfortunately he bought two skeins of each color, and the mittens used a bit less than one skein each, so I'll have to use the Lopi for at least one more project to use it all up.

Project: Octopus Mittens, by Elli Stubenrauch, in 60 Quick Knits
Yarn: Reynolds Lopi, 100% icelandic wool, eggplant and goldenrod
Needles: US 10, DPNs

Garden Update - End of August

It's been a weird summer.  Up to 90 degrees for a couple days, then 60 a week later.  It's hard on me, but I think it's been even harder on the garden.

This is the outside vegetable bed. It has three zucchini/summer squash plants which are potentially doing better than the ones inside the fence, but they're still pretty small.  The pole beans are probably doing the best of everything in the garden.

I've got a bunch of beans that are starting to plumb up, and a ton more flowers.  They're getting too tall for the fence, so we are trying to train them to go across the top.  It's a daily job, but I think it's working ok.

Here are two of the zucchini plants and the smallest of our sunflowers.  They have lots of flowers, but they're all males.  The one female flower that I attempted to pollinate by hand had a slug in it, so when I reached in with the male the dang flower fell off! Slugs.  Bane of my existence.

On a side note, I'm really mad about our sunflowers.  Last Friday I came home from a BBQ to see the one that was blooming bent about a foot down, like someone had tried to break it off by hand but couldn't and just left it hanging there.  Today we came back from running errands and the other sunflower, the big one you can see near the gate in the first picture, was ripped off about 6 inches from the ground! Oh, SO MAD. It wasn't even blooming yet!!  First the tulips, now both of the big sunflowers.  We're pretty sure we know which kid it is, but I'm afraid to confront him in case he starts doing more damage.  Little butthead. What to do?

The leeks keep growing. I've started to pile up the dirt around them to make the white usable park longer. I think we have a few beets that are harvestable size, but I'm scared to pull them. Maybe next week.

These are my sad zucchinis in the carrot bed.  They're just so small and puny.  I fertilized this week, so maybe they'll get a big bigger, but we are approaching the end of the season so I'm not sure...

I left the rest of the carrot/squash bed unplanted so the squash plants could expand over the area.  Big thinking, eh? Not so much.  Maybe I'll plant some more carrots in here since I know they'll be able to overwinter once the squash are done.  You can see my yellow beefsteak heirloom tomato in the background.  It's about 4 feet tall! It's just starting to get wee tomatoes on it.  It was one of the last ones planted, so I'm thinking that this is the bed my 'maters will go in next year.  Must be the most sun in the whole yard.

Butternut squash! Coming along.  Fertilized and hopefully growing quick and big.

These two are delicata.  The one in the front was the best of the bunch, but when I lifted a leaf to fertilize the whole stalk broke off at the base.  It looked like it was rotting, which was really disappointing.  I plopped the whole thing back in a hole with the hopes it would be able to root (ha, fat chance) but one of the leaves is still perky while the rest have shriveled. Maybe the root system will grow, but I'm not holding my breath.  Now all my hopes have moved to the one in the background.  Keeping my fingers crossed I get at least one squash this year!!

The tomato bed is rivaling the beans.  These guys all have tomatoes on them, either orange, pink, or green.  I get about a cup of cherry tomatoes a day, and the romas are starting to ripen.

Caspian pink heirloom, looking plump and delicious.

Ripening romas.

The shriveled tomatoes are starting to plump up and ripen, too.

Last but not least, Anaheim peppers.  I have six plants in pots and they're going bonkers.  I wish I had more cages to put around them because they're so big they're starting to flop over. The peppers are currently a couple inches long.  Putting them in pots was genius, a move I will definitely be doing again next year.  Looking forward to eating these guys!!

Now, off to see what I can harvest today and check for hooligans running around to have a little talk.

Found a Tomato Winner

Every day I come inside with my hands full of little cherry tomatoes.  They're bright yellow and call for me to eat them, but I have been hoarding them for about a week now.  Why, you ask? Well, I flipped through the August issue of Cooking Light at work the other day and found a pasta dish that called for oven roasting cherry tomatoes and I was dying to try it with the sungolds from my yard.

Unfortunately I ate it all before I thought about blogging about the recipe, so there isn't an accompanying photo, but I'm sure I'll make it again before the tomatoes are done and will take one then.

The proof this recipe is a winner? Mr. Tomato-Hater thought it was really good.  He even said "I'd eat that again." Woohoo!!

Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes
Slightly modified from Cooking Light

12 oz uncooked spaghetti
4 Tbsp olive oil
3 cups cherry tomatoes
2 heaping tsp crushed garlic
salt and pepper to taste
2 oz parmesan cheese, shaved or shredded
1 tsp dried basil
1/4 cup fresh basil, chiffonade

Preheat oven to 450.

Boil salted water in large saucepan for noodles. Cook noodles 10 minutes, or until preferred doneness.

While noodles are cooking, mix tomatoes, garlic, and 2 Tbsp olive oil.  Place on baking sheet and cook in oven for 11 minutes or until browning and bursting.

When spaghetti is almost done, place 6 Tbsp of pasta water in small saucepot.  Add 2 Tbsp olive oil.  Boil for 4 minutes, or until reduced to approximately 1/3 cup.

Drain remaining pasta water once spaghetti is cooked.  Add roasted tomato, garlic, and oil mixture (make sure to include all of the juices from the burst tomatoes); salt and pepper to taste.  Add reduced oil and water sauce.  Add half of the parmesan and the dried basil.

Serve with more parmesan and fresh basil sprinkled on top.

Supposedly served 4, but it served the two of us, with one getting a hefty second helping.  There was plenty of sauce, so in my version the amount of noodles is increased.  If you like a scant coating of sauce, the noodles could be increased to almost 16 oz.

Work Knitting

A lot of knitting has been happening, and almost all of it during work.  I've been spending a lot of time sitting at either a boat ramp or a pull out on the side of a gravel road lately, and have knit up a storm.

I started this short sleeve sweater/shirt back in June and have been making slow progress on it, but progress nonetheless. If I pull it out during a shift I usually get in two stripes or more.  At this rate I might have it done in time for Thanksgiving. You know, just past the time you would want a short sleeved sweater.

A friend asked me to make a baby Yoda hat for a friend's baby shower. Yes, it's a baby hat.  It may be huge right now, but it will be felted and shrunk to 1/4 size.  Knit during about 4.5 hours of a survey one day. I had to buy the yarn, going against my Cold Sheep pact, but I used the entire skein, and she reimbursed me, so I'm calling it a wash and just adding it as a FO.

I've also been working on my stock pile of Husky beer koozies. I keep forgetting my W pattern at home, so I've had to freestyle. They're doing a great  slow job of eating all that purple and gold yarn I bought last winter. But this was the intended purpose, so another check mark for the "winning" column.

I think they have been turning out okay.  I plan to sell them in pairs.

I have approximately 8 field days left this summer during which I can get my knit on.  That means I can either double my sweater, or make about 16 more beer koozies. I also have an order for some purple and gold octopus mittens to get working on.  It's a good thing I get paid for this knitting time, or else the price of these babies would skyrocket!

Dear MG

Dear Master Gardener,

My tomatoes look like a half-inflated balloon. What's with that?

They should be roma-type tomatoes, but there are two or three plants covered in green tomatoes, and they all look like this.  Please advise,

Red Bird



PS The rest of the garden is going swimmingly.  My zucchini and summer squash are all super tiny, but they are growing and covered in flowers. I have one super tiny little zucchini that I check out every day.

The green beans have recovered from their bout with the yard guy and are doing their thing.  A squirrel or cat at the tip off of the fastest growing pole bean, but it's growing from the next leaf down, and hopefully will keep growing over the top of the fence. We have harvested about 10 bush beans already.

Our sunflowers haven't quite hit the 12 feet that the seed packet said, but we do have some buds that are getting ready to bloom. We get jealous every time we drive by other houses with 10 ft tall flowers.

Happy gardening!

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.

Hotter than....

It's never hot enough for this to be OK in public.

The back view was worse.