Native Plants

I have two upcoming yard projects to work on. Well, three really, but one is the deck and therefore an "outside" project, not garden related. But more on that later.


The first project is pretty simple.  Pruning the sword ferns. I've read several articles about it and asked around to see if people actually do this. Some people say it's stupid because sword ferns are native and don't get pruned in the wild, so they forgo the snippers. Others say that they selectively prune out the brown stalks, but don't do more than that. However, I've found a few places online that suggest cutting off the whole dang plant just above ground level. Ciscoe Morris says to do it so you can watch the new fiddleheads unfurl. Other experts say to do it to keep the size of the fern in control. The Washington Native Plant Society says to each his own. I plan on hacking away at a couple of mine since I have maybe 10+ ferns throughout the yard. I'll chop off a couple of the big ones and selectively prune one or two. I have at least one fern I can think of that is on the petite side, so I will probably leave that one alone this year. I just missed the 60 degree weather to do this in, so I get to look forward to 50 and rainy this weekend. Yay.


The second project is WAY more exciting. We have been talking about how stupid is is to mow our front "lawn". It slopes towards the street so it's not that easy to mow, plus it's mostly moss and there isn't really any satisfaction when you finish because you can't really see a mowed swath. The few sparse blades of grass are shorter, but it's such a let down. Almost the entire grassy area is inside the drip line for the doug firs, so it's super shady and relatively dry in the summertime. Hence the moss.

We've been talking about pulling up the grass and moss and planting the area with native plants, but I haven't been inspired to act on it. Mostly due to other projects being more important. But now. Oh, but now.

I was dreaming of spring last week and researching my veggie seeds when I got distracted by flower seeds. Then to perennial flower seeds. Then to native perennials flowers. Somehow through all that I ended up at the King County Conservation District native plant sale. It blew my socks off. SO CHEAP. MUCH PLANTS. WOW.

Then I found the Snohomish County sale. I basically just opened my wallet and let them clean me out. Except they didn't need to clean me out. I can plant the ivy patch, the moss patch, and have some left over for $100. And that's INCLUDING purchasing a rain barrel! Mind blown.

5 Western Columbine

5 Purple Coneflower

3 Sword Fern

2 Stonecrop

4 Evergreen Huckleberry

2 Pacific Rhodedendrons

5 Red Flowering Currant

And 1 rain barrel.

I have a feeling that if they are selling stuff day of, I may end up buying some kinnikinnik as a ground cover between plants, but that depends on how full my car is. Just the plants, no problem, but including the barrel, too.... Yeah, they are getting a lot of my money this year.

Stitch Fix #5

StitchFix!

This fix I got one cardigan, two shirts, a scarf, and a dress. And, surprisingly, I liked most of them. Doesn't mean I kept them all, but I liked the style. GASP. Stitchfix, are you learning, or did you just get lucky?

Concord Draped Striped Pocket Cardigan - $58
41 Hawthorn

This cardigan is kind of like the pink one I got in my first Fix that is super soft and comfy. Apparently I love jersey material. It's dark purple, almost blue, with gray stripes. And pockets! Yup, keeping it. Done.



Chantal Cowl Neck Knit Top - $38
Le Lis

Again with the soft jersey. And gray. So cozy. However, it was so freaking baggy!

Yeah, not pregnant. Don't need that much extra space. I believe Alan said something along the lines of "it doesn't do anything for you." So while I really wanted to like it, it just wasn't that special. Sorry. Returned.



Tina Checkered Infinity Scarf - $34 
Octavia

Holy soft infinity scarf batman! Black and white checkered, and super soft. Hmm, yes, they might have me figured. "Oh, she's a tactile inspired knitter? Let's just send her soft stuff and she'll cave." Yeah, I caved. Mine. Wore it to work today.



Dash Button-Front Chambray Shirt - $78
Market & Spruce

They sent me this because on my Pinterest I said I needed some button-downs to wear under sweaters. The only problem here is that pretty much live in jeans. I think I have one pair of khakis and one pair of green pants and the rest are all jeans. The fit was fine, and I think it went pretty well with the scarf in the above picture, but I just can't get past the Canadian tuxedo look. And it was $78 for a chambray shirt. For reals? If it was $20 cheaper and a different shade, I'd probably keep it. But that's like J.Crew pricing for a Gap quality shirt. Nope.



Petrova Textured Pleat Skirt Dress - $88
Market & Spruce

Does this dress seem familiar to anyone else?


Oh yeah...

I have it in red. And it was $20 from the Rack and is better quality. The zipper on the Market & Spruce dress kept getting hung up on the elastic at the waist and I couldn't do it by myself. Definitely don't need two of the same dress, so this one went back, too.



I'd say this Fix overall was decent. I could have liked everything.... but I didn't. Close, but no cigar. Definitely better than the last one. 

Layered Pea Salad

I always seem to misplace this recipe right when I need it, which is for Thanksgiving. Or really any potluck, but always Thanksgiving. The traditional salad didn't get served with lunch, but with turkey and rolls for dinner after the meal was over. Love this salad, as basic as it is. Posted for easy access later.

Layered pea salad

Layer the following in a 13x9 inch pan:
1 head iceberg lettuce
1/2 cut diced green pepper
1/2 cut diced celery
1 scant cup diced onion
2 cups mayo mixed with 2 Tbsp sugar for dressing
8 oz shredded cheddar cheese
8-12 pieces of bacon, fried to crispy and crumbled

Next Stitchfix

This was an interesting StitchFix. I had a similar shipping issue as last time - I knew I was going to be out of town over the weekend, so I requested it be delivered on Tuesday. Well, they shipped it early, probably in an attempt to make sure it got here, but it arrived on Friday. Then sat on my front step until I got home late Sunday. It was still there, obviously, but why do you mail your boxes so dang early? You ask your clients when they want it, so deliver it when you say you will!

With that, on to the "interesting" pieces. I asked for a vest so I could layer up in my frigid office, and had a bunch on my pinterest board.  At the last minute, I decided to add a request for jeans since Hoyt's tiny little puppy nails have snagged on two of the pairs I wear all the time.  Here's what I got:

41 Hawthorn Moni Stud Detailed 3/4 Sleeve Blouse - $58

This is so similar to the blue and white patterned blouse I kept from my last fix. It has the same detailing on the sleeve cuffs (they're rounded and folded). I actually pinned this shirt in coral way back when I started my StitchFix style board.  Fits, flatters, like it, keep it. Status: Keep.

Gentle Fawn Hansel Woven Vest - $88

When I requested a vest, I really meant something puffy, quilted, or knit, that would keep me warm. StitchFix just blogged about how to wear vests, and has been pinning a bunch of them, and while I forgot to pin those, that's definitely more what I was thinking.  Maybe they were thrown off when I said it was for work? Maybe I haven't made it clear that I'm a fish bio in an office where everyone is more likely to wear socks under their Birkenstocks/Chacos than heels.

This is a crappy picture. You can't see any of the detailing. Detailing that, when Alan saw it, made him say "NOOOO. Hard pass. Hard pass." He later said it made me look like an really old elementary school teacher. It's just.... boring. I could style this exactly how they suggested and it simply wouldn't look good on me. Status: Return.

Pixley Carly Multi-Sone Layering Necklace - $36


I'm wearing this necklace in the above picture. It's gold, long, and has stones about the same color as the shirt I was wearing. It's fine. I like it, but meh. I have several long necklaces that are pretty similar. I didn't even take a picture of it by itself, that's how blah I was about it. Status: Return.

Moon Collection Alexander Graphic Knit Drape Front Cardigan - $68

So soft. So cozy. I normally shy away from cardigans with all the extra material in front, whether it's up top or hanging down, whatever. I feel like I would always play with it and drive myself nuts. However. I thought this was really fun. I had pinned a chunky cardigan with a big print on it, so this one was pretty on par with what I wanted in a Fix. It will definitely keep me warm in the office, even if that vest won't. Status: Keep.

Henry & Belle Janet Wide Leg Jean - $148
(The tag said Mini Micro Flare, not Janet Wide Leg) 

This was my first try for pants from StitchFix. They actually did a great job. They totally fit. They're snug across my butt, with no material bunching under the cheeks (this happens a lot to me if jeans fit my legs). There was no extra material in the crotch. 

They're even the right length.  They may be the stretchiest jeans I've ever tried on, which sometimes I associate with cheap. Also the fact that most of the stretchy jeans I've owned have fit for the first, maybe second wear after washing, then they were so loose I had to wash them again.

The problem, you ask? They're $150. That's crazy town. I live in jeans, but I tend to buy my Lucky's for $30-50 at the Rack or Ross or some other discount store. I would pay more for pants from StitchFix that were perfect. However, I put my range at $50-100 for pants. $150? Let me check my math.... Yep, definitely not in that price range. Status: Return.

So the two things I asked for I'm returning, and the two things inspired by my Pinterest board I'm keeping. I actually think that's kind of a bummer. It's great that they found things I really like when I shared my style, but I wish that when I put things on my list they were able to successfully fulfill them. Now it's happened three times - the vest, the pants, and the really really awful potato sack dress they sent me last time when I asked for a rehearsal dinner dress.  And I have yet to keep a piece of jewelry. That's probably just me being frugal, though.

Weight to Volume

I'm an idiot.

Or at least I have been for the last three weeks.

A got some sourdough starter from a friend, with the link to how to keep happy, which including weekly feedings of flour and water. Sounds easy, right? Right. Except when you do it wrong.

Once a week, you are supposed to take your starter out of the fridge, split it in two, and feed half with 4 oz water and 4 oz flour. The other half you bake with or discard if you're too dang busy to spend 6 hours making bread.

I've done this three times so far, the first time making Buttery Sourdough Rolls, which were basically cinnamon rolls without the sweet filling. They were buttery and delicious and deemed too good to bake every week if we didn't want to gain 50 pounds.

The other two times I've used the starter I made Rustic Sourdough Bread. The first time was basically a fiasco, with dough sticking to everything because the recipe didn't explicitly say to grease the bowl/saran wrap/anything the dough came in contact with. And then somehow the oven got turned off instead of preheating so the dough got to rise for an extra 25 minutes in a warm oven. Despite all that, the bread turned out fairly tasty, and the toast was super delicious. So I had to try it again, following all normal bread making protocols. Again, tasty bread, but it was really missing the loft I wanted in a rustic loaf, and the dough was super soft. I couldn't figure out where I went wrong, so I headed to the recipe comments to see if anyone else had issues like mine.

Nope. Not a one. What the heck was my problem?

Then it hit me. The day before when I had seen my friend's starter bubbling away on the counter, she had a lot more than me. Like a LOT more. Her post-feed starter was about the same size as my pre-split starter. Something was up with my feeding regimen.

Turns out, dummy here was adding 4 oz of water from a 1/2 cup measuring cup, and adding flour the same way. 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup flour. Unfortunately, liquids and flours and different weight to volume conversions. Something you average home cook probably knows. And I even know it, but somehow forgot at this very important time. Maybe I can blame it on puppy-induced lack of sleepy?

I added extra flour to my starter yesterday before work and left it out all day to feed before returning it to the refrigerator. It looked to be bubbling quite happily. Maybe next time my rustic sourdough loaves will be lofty and round instead of tasty, unshaped blobs.

Welcome Hoyt

After almost a year of Alan nagging, and me saying we were too busy with wedding stuff, I finally gave in and we adopted a wee puppy.

We had been searching in Petfinder and Craigslist for a few weeks, and had even sold ourselves on a 4 month old Plott/Redbone Coonhound mix named Marley, but that fell through. We were in the middle of giving up on Marley when we saw a posting for an adoption event at the Petco in Tacoma. They advertised "lots of puppies" being ready for adoption.  Petfinder listed the organization as having Australian Shepard/lab mixes, Border Collie/Australian shepard mixes, and Hound/Lab mixes. So many to choose from!

Well, we fell in love and the rest is history.

Meet Hoyt. 

Hoyt is a Leo, born August 19 to a Walker Hound Dame and a Lab Sire.  He enjoys chewing, sleeping, and belly rubs. 

He's had his first round of shots and dewormer, sleeps all day and partly through the night, and managed to stay home in the laundry room during work on Monday and not wreak too much havoc.


He's a little timid to start, but once he explores new places he turns into a romping machine. He met Pippin the Puggle and had some good play time on Sunday. No fear of other dogs, which bodes well for running out all that energy at the dog park.

What a great bundle of love to bring home. Welcome, Hoyt.

Roxborough Dolman

If you read my blog on my actual website, you may have noticed that the "current project" hasn't changed in over two years. I have completed SO MANY other projects in the mean time, but they were short or secret and couldn't be added to list. Or I was away from the blog and just forgot to update. But that one was still languishing on the needles.

I started it on the train to Montana in 2012. I remember because it was my birthday and I was so stoked to be knitting my first "modern" sweater with really great yarn. Then I worked on it during field work all summer at Lake Cushman doing traffic surveys, and at Lake Kokanee and Alder Lake doing creel. I got distracted with beer koozies and husky hats during the fall, but picked it up again in the spring and got to the armpits.

By July 2013, I had finished the body and was working on the neck ribbing. By mid-July, all it needed was ribbing around the arm holes.

Then it got put in a bag. The bag got put in a box. The box got moved from the apartment to the house. The bag got unpacked and shoved into a basket, never to be seen again....

UNTIL NOW!

I was thinking about starting a sweater I bought yarn for a year ago (hush), but decided I had to finish the dolman first.  On Sunday night I pulled it out, found the right size needles, and got to work. Three hours, some really weird armpit measurements, and two youtube videos later, both sleeve ribbings were completed. Monday night the ends got sewn in and it went in the bath for blocking.

OMG I love it.

It's awesome. It's SO SOFT. And so comfy. And the colors are perfect.

My only complaint is that when I blocked it the whole thing loosened up a bit. Not unexpected, but the waistband doesn't hug my hips quite as much any more and it's a little bit longer (pictures are pre-blocking). But that's totally my fault for knitting a gauge swatch but not washing it. Live and learn.

I wore it to work on Wednesday and it was so warm and cozy and perfect for an early fall day. LOVE.

Pattern: Roxborough Dolman, by Courtney Kelley
Yarn: Fibre Company, Canopy Fingering in River Dolphin and Aloe
Needles: US 3 and US 5 24" circs, plus DPN for sleeves