I Love a Deal!

I do. Everyone loves a good deal. That said, a good deal is only a good deal if it’s a deal on something I’ll use. If it’s something I’ll never use, and I pay for it, it isn’t a good deal.

Here are a few of the good deals John and I have scored over the last few years.

(The TV tray that you see behind the shelf unit is part of a set of three that were also a good deal… $5.00 for the three TV tables. Yes, they’re not the prettiest or most fashionable, but when you want to eat dinner while watching a movie, they work!)

I found this Black & Decker coffee maker at the thrift store in the strip mall where I work. The marked price on it was $8.00 but it was half price day so… $4.00. That was about 4 years ago. Not bad!

And that’s just a sampling!

Well, this week I came home with another thrift store score. It wasn’t free; for a thrift store find, it was fairly expensive. I have to tell you, though, it was a pretty sweet deal.

This is a cast iron braising pan. Believe me, this sucker is heavy! It’s about 12” across and about 2” deep and I love it! For dinner last night, I made Pork Medallions in a Mushroom Marsala  Sauce, served with Buttermilk Mashed potatoes and Lemon Garlic Broccoli. I think I can honestly say I’ve never had a dish come together so beautifully, so quickly and have the pan clean so easily. What a treat! I think we’ll be using this pan a lot!

Oh yeah.. the cost? $25.00

Just Checking In

Ok, time’s going way too quickly. It’s already well into November and I haven’t been paying attention to the blog. Life just seems to be getting in the way of a lot of the things I enjoy. Weekends are the only time I have for the “fun” stuff and they seem to be getting shorter all the time. Thankfully, this is a long weekend.

Knitting has been next to non-existent lately, partly due to a lack of interest (my knitting mojo’s gone) and partly due to my wrist. That’s okay, there’s nothing wrong with taking a break. Other things have been going on.

Things like cooking and sewing. Yup, I do know how to do both. Recently, my mother sent me a small package with a really cute little bag in it. I’m not allowed to keep it as she sent it as a sample but she also included the instructions to make that bag myself.

As the caption says, it’s called a Snap Bag. The thing that makes it “snap” is two pieces of metal measuring tape sewn into casings at the top. It’s very clever and, really, quite simple to make. So simple in fact, that…

I haven’t gotten into quilting; I’ve been avoiding it on purpose. The last thing I need is another time-sucking hobby. Besides, we really don’t need any more quilts or blankets around here. These little bags, though, provide me with the opportunity to do a bit of machine quilting, which I’m finding enjoyable even though I have nothing more than a very basic sewing machine with no fancy stitches (just a couple of stretch stitches).

The unfortunate part of all this is that I now have an excuse to go out and buy fat quarters. Time and money sucker, but I’m having a lot of fun! Plus, these bags will make great little gifts, don’t you think?

You all know how much I enjoy cooking and baking, right? One thing I’ve always maintained is that if you’re going to do something, you should have good tools to work with so you can do the job right. Well, some of my tools are no longer the best tools for the job.

We have two stand mixers. One belonged to John’s mother, an old Sunbeam Mixmaster; it no longer has the power to do the job I want it to and doesn’t have bread hooks. I have a newer Sunbeam Mixmaster, bought about 12 years ago. It works but one of the beaters has had to be welded to repair it and, though it has bread hooks, one of the two beaters keeps falling out. It kind of puts a crimp in my baking adventures.

Well, it did until two weeks ago. That’s when I became the very proud owner of the best piece of kitchen equipment I’ve owned in a very long time.

I can’t wait for weekends just so I can use my new Kitchenaid Stand Mixer! (It’s the Professional 550 Plus.)

Though I haven’t had a lot of opportunity to use it yet, I have made a few things.

I could go on and on about how much I love this mixer but I think you get the picture.

Incidentally, at the same time, I also picked up a waffle iron. I used to have one years and years ago and hated it. Every time I made waffles, it didn’t matter how well I greased it, the waffles would stick. I’d open the iron after the steaming stopped and one half the waffle would be stuck to the top of the iron, the other half would be stuck to the bottom. Now, I’m not talking about 2 of the quarters on the top and 2 of the quarters on the bottom; I’m talking about the waffle splitting completely in half, as if it’s been cut open like a dinner roll.

This iron is great! I’ve already made two big batches of waffles and froze whatever we couldn’t eat. One recipe was just very basic waffles, and the second batch was Belgian waffles, made with yeast. Oh my! That recipe made a huge batch of waffles! We’re talking a grocery bag full of waffles! Now, if I want waffles for breakfast during the week, I just grab one out of the freezer, pop it into the toaster and enjoy. And they’re a lot better than the frozen waffles from the grocery store!

My only dilemma now is that both the fridge freezer and the deep freeze are completely full and I am in the mood to bake.

Sigh!

Could We Get Back To Normal Now, Please?

To say that life has been interesting for the past month is something of an understatement. I only wish it had been interesting in a good way. Now, don’t get me wrong; I’m not whining or complaining but I am shaking my head, wondering what the universe is trying to tell me.

Let me preface this post by saying that, as far as my heart and blood pressure goes, I’m doing well. I’m being very good about taking my meds every day and I’m feeling good. Now, let’s move on.

Work has been going pretty well; we’ve been fairly busy and I’ve been told numerous times I’m not to end up in the hospital again, thank you very much. Then this past week happened.

On Sunday evening I had casually mentioned to John that I just wasn’t ready for Monday; I still had far to much to do around the house; he suggested I call in sick. Um.. no. So, on Monday morning, I went to work at my usual time. At one point, I went to use the washroom and, while in there, noticed that the shelf above my head was coming away from the wall a little more than it had been the previous week.

That’s when I made what turned out to be a mistake. I pushed the shelf back to the wall, studying it for a moment, then letting it go. Well, the clatter of everything falling off that shelf had the ladies I work with running to the washroom with cries of “Are you okay?”. I wasn’t.

I unlocked the door and they were greeted by a scene of me trying to hold the shelf in place, Windex pooled around my feet, a can of Comet (bathroom cleanser) sprinkled over the Windex, a large Pyrex measuring cup in shards on the floor and blood streaming down my back.

One of the ladies drove me to the nearest walk-in clinic, where I was examined (no stitches required, thankfully), given a tetanus booster shot (those things hurt after a day or two!) and told to go home, have a warm shower, and rest. The doctor also let me know that by the next morning, I’d probably have a stiff/sore neck because an injury of that kind actually produces a mild whiplash. She was right. I ended up with two extra days off.

It all makes me wonder what’s going to happen next!

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Ah well, life does go on. In other things, I HAVE been doing some knitting. There is a new addition to our family and my sister’s first grandchild, a little girl, will be receiving a gift once I’ve got it finished. Now that life has, hopefully, settled down a bit and our company is gone, perhaps I can concentrate on knitting again.

There has even been a finished object. I came across a neat little project through one of the groups I’m in on Ravelry and just could not resist casting on.

This is Frankie Brown’s Zippy Strip, a cute little coin purse. It takes a small amount of scrap yarn, fingering weight, and a couple hours of knitting time. Cute, right?

And this is the Zippy Strip, unzipped. It is a 22” strip of knitting hand stitched to a zipper, then lined with bias tape. It is simple and genius!

Best of all? When I show it to people and tell them to zip it, I absolutely love the looks on their faces when they realize just what’s happening! More of these will be coming; I think they’ll make great little gifts.

And now? Back to normal, whatever normal is. Enjoy your weekend, everyone!

The Week That Was

It has been quite the week around here. Last week, we had company; John’s boss and our friend, Z, stayed here for the week. It was kind of nice having another woman to chat with. She was wonderful company and I know I enjoyed her stay.

She left on Tuesday morning and I took the morning off to go to the doctor as my prescriptions were about to run out.

I have high blood pressure, have had for a number of years. Even with medication, it’s still on the high side and it’s been bothering me. I want it within normal range and that just hasn’t been happening, so I asked my doctor about taking my meds at a different time of day. I’d read a couple of articles about that; basically, it seems that for some people, taking the meds at a different time of day can make a difference in the efficacy of their drugs. His response was that, yes, it might make a difference but he would want to do a 24-hour bp monitoring to see when it would be best for me to take my meds. In order for that to happen, I would have to rent a bp monitor; after 24 hours, the information would be downloaded and transferred to my doctor’s office. I decided to go for it. After all, my health is important.

All went well with the monitor. It would take my blood pressure every half hour during the day and every hour during the night. By noon the next day, I’d be returning the monitor back to the pharmacy and getting my deposit back. That is how it was supposed to go. However…

Just before 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, a co-worker and I were chatting and I had a sudden dizzy spell so strong that it nearly knocked me off my feet. Then my heart started to race… and I do mean race (another co-worker clocked my pulse at over 200 bpm!). I sat down and rested a bit; then I called John to come pick me up so I could return the bp monitor because I did not trust myself to drive. After returning the monitor, John took me home as my heart was still beating way faster than it should have been. While at home, Z called and John explained to her what was happening; she apparently told John to get me to the hospital right away.

       

Well, the upshot of all of this was that I spent the night in the hospital, going through a battery of tests that included half the blood sucked out of my body (not really, but that’s what it felt like), numerous EKG’s, a CT scan, an ultrasound of my heart, a treadmill stress test, an IV, and who knows what else. Twenty-four hours after being admitted, I was released from the hospital with my meds adjusted and two more added. I did not suffer a heart attack as they thought at first that I might have, thankfully, but had what the cardiologist called a “hypertensive arrhythmia”. Basically, my heart was telling me it wasn’t happy with my blood pressure.

Where do I go from here? We already have a pretty healthy diet; John and I both cook and we both enjoy good, healthy food… fresh fruits and vegetables from the garden or our own freezer, very little in the way of processed or pre-packaged foods, lean meats (well, except for the fat cap on a good roast), hearty breads and the like. I do know I need to get this body moving more than it does. Really, it kind of all comes down to a quote I read a few days ago:

“Your life is the result of the choices you make…If you don’t like your life, it’s time to start making better choices.”

Oh, I’m fine now and intend to stay that way!

Oh, There You Are!

And here I am. I’m not gone; I haven’t given up on the blog. I’ve just been a little busy. August was a very busy month for us, or for me, really.
My birthday was in August and I was expecting my youngest daughter and her two kids to come visit us for almost a week. That fell through, unfortunately, when the kids developed a case of head lice and they weren’t allowed to travel with their dad, who was going to drive them part of the way here. Instead, I surprised her and drove down to the coast to spend five days with all my kids and grandkids. It turned out to be a wonderful week!
I was able to spend time with all three of my kids and all but one of my grandkids. It was a lot of fun watching my two oldest grandsons with their bikes.

And yes, Adrian’s bike has no brakes (first pic) If I could have, I would have had his bike repaired or tried to find him a replacement, but I didn’t have the time or the funds while I was there.

When I knew that Oceanna and Teagen were coming to visit, I had planned to give them each a “treasure box” to decorate and use for any little “treasures” they may have accumulated while they were visiting. I took those boxes with me and allowed the kids to decorate the boxes and use them for whatever they wanted. Later that day, we went out for lunch, and then to the local water park.
I also spent time with my older daughter and her kids but, I’m ashamed to say, I didn’t get any pictures of them. We spent some time in the pool with the kids and Ethan was a source of uninterrupted time of hilarity. He is definitely a character!
Once I got back home, I very quickly got back into the routine of work, home, and garden. Already, both our fridge and freezer are filled (and I do mean filled!). Anything else that needs processing will have to be canned or dried because there is no more room in either the fridge freezer or the deep freeze. This is a good problem to have!
Knitting time has been scarce, as you can well imagine. Now, though, that the weather is cooling off a little, I’m hoping I’ll be inspired to pick up the needles again.
For now, enough. I’ll update you about the knitting this weekend, hopefully. Although… John’s birthday is this Friday so this may be another busy weekend. *Sigh*

The time, she does a-fly!

I have no idea where it goes, but suddenly we’re into August and it’s hot out and I’ve not been writing again. How does that happen??

I do know that since my job has changed (I’m moving into customer service and slowly trying to get out of bindery… and loving it!), I don’t have as much evening time (instead of 7:30 – 4, I’m now working 8:30 – 5) and the days just seem to fly past. That shouldn’t, however, keep me from blogging, should it?

It certainly doesn’t keep me from knitting, although the temperatures around here are doing a pretty fair job of that. It’s small projects only right now. The 10-stitch blanket is on hold, waiting for cooler weather. Other projects just don’t seem to cut it right now. So…

I found, started, and finished a fun little project over the last couple of weeks. Because it was fairly small, I could work on it even on the hottest of days (except when my hands got all sweaty and the wool got sticky… ew!). The operative word in this paragraph is FUN! Check this out…

Does it get any cuter than this? Really?

This little bear, who doesn’t have a name yet, stands about 12” tall. He (or is it a she?) is made with Fleece Artist Blue Face Leicester DK on 3.5 mm double-pointed needles. The pattern is Vera by Annita Wilschut. I’ve done a couple other patterns by Annita and they’re always so much fun to knit. They’re all done in one piece so there’s no sewing up, just sewing a couple of seams closed (in this case, the crotch seam). Every line of the pattern is written out so there’s no guesswork involved at all and everything is well illustrated, with plenty of pictures. The pattern for this bear was 10 pages long. It isn’t a free pattern but I will say, it’s well worth the $6.00 I paid.

Now comes a rant. On Monday (which was a holiday here), I decided to head over to Michael’s to pick up some two-part safety eyes, some plastic pellets for the feet and another bag of fibrefill. Michael’s is a craft store; you would think doll-making supplies fall under the category of crafts, right? Well, apparently they do not! I could find the fibrefill but when I asked for doll’s eyes, I was shown a section filled with eyes… googly eyes of all shapes and colours, the glue on kind. When I explained that I wanted safety eyes, I got this blank look from the woman helping me. I had to explain what they were and was told, “Oh, no, we don’t carry those.” Alrighty then.

I moved on to the next item on my list. What about plastic pellets for putting into teddy bear legs and bottoms for added weight? Again, I got a blank look and, “If we have those, they’re probably with the quilting stuff.” Quilting stuff??? I walked back to the quilting section, where I’d gotten the fibrefill, returned the fibrefill to it’s rightful place on the shelf (yes, I put it away) and left the store.

I did finally find the safety eyes at Fabricland, and bought some fibrefill there, but even they didn’t have the plastic pellets. I ended up going to Princess Auto and purchasing a couple of large metal washers to put into the bears feet. They give a bit of weight to the feet; I was also hoping they’d help the bear stand on its own, but that didn’t happen. Oh well, I’m VERY happy with how this fun little project turned out and you can almost be guaranteed I’ll make another one or two… some day.

I’m not complaining but…

It really has been hot around here lately. Dare I say it’s almost too hot to knit? It’s been into the 30’sC (90’s ish) for most of the week. We’re having a little bit of a reprieve today, but it’s still muggy, heavy. It has been a long time coming though, so I guess I really shouldn’t complain too much, should I?

There has been knitting to write about this week. It will look as if I’m being prolific, but that really isn’t the case. Let’s get on with it, shall we?

This is the 10 stitch blanket, designed by Frankie Brown and available for free at Ravelry. I started it a while back and have been working on it off and on. It’s come out more often lately because it’s an almost mindless project and, with the heat, that’s exactly what I need. The yarn I’m using is Marks & Katten’s Fame Trend and it’s worked on 3.0 mm needles. I’m using only this brand of yarn; I like the feel of it and the look of it. John’s already commented on it a few times; he loves the colours and is eagerly waiting for the completion of this blanket.

Another mindless project was cast on this week. This one is the Bias Before & After Scarf, a pattern from Churchmouse Yarns and Teas. It’s a very simple scarf, knitted with lace weight yarn on 4.5 mm needles. What makes this scarf interesting is the cast off; it’s cast off with beads! The beads will give the scarf a bit of weight and drape. I have a feeling this will be the perfect early fall scarf and I must admit, I really like the red. It will be a great pop of colour to liven up any outfit!

I’ll have to keep my eyes open for just the right beads to accent the scarf. I’m leaning towards clear red beads, for just that right little bit of sparkle.

I’ve also been working on another little hat for a friend. P is the friend who can no longer knit. Another friend of hers recently became grandmother to twin girls and another of her daughters will soon be having a baby girl. I’ve already made hats for the twins and P requested a hat for the third baby as well. This was also a pattern I found on Ravelry. Off hand I can’t remember the name of the pattern, but it’s a fairly simple lace knit. I’m up the the top shaping now and it will be finished once the weather cools down a bit. The yarn is 100% acrylic and I find I can’t work with it when my hands are hot. The yarn tends to stick to the needles. Ah well, the baby’s not born yet so I have time.

The final project still on the needles are these work socks for John. I started them about a month or so ago. He loves his hand knit socks and I love making them for him. They’re intended to be work socks but he’s already said they’re too nice for work and he’ll wear them as dressier winter socks first. They’ll likely become work socks by next spring. That’s fine by me.

See what I mean? It looks like I’ve been prolific, but in reality, I’ve just been puttering away, picking up one project and working on it for a while, then putting it aside for something else. Eventually, they’ll all get done. There is a finished object I’ve not yet written about but it will be for another post.

Then there’s the garden. It’s doing really well! As you saw in last week’s post, we’ve been eating from the garden quite a bit already. It continues to provide us with wonderful fresh produce and we’ve been eating from it daily. Whether it be peas (which are producing at an astounding rate!), carrots, onions, potatoes, chard, radishes or lettuce, everything has been delicious.

And… oh, this makes me so pleased!… there’s garlic! Check it out!

Is that not a thing of beauty? I picked it last weekend and will be harvesting the rest of the garlic later today. I’m thrilled! And I’m looking forward to cooking with our very own garlic. Incidentally, that’s the lettuce by the back door. It’s showing no signs of quitting. I’ve just been cutting it to eat and it keeps coming back. Absolute awesomeness!

And She’s Back

First off, thank you to those of you who commented on my putting the blog on hiatus. Your concern was touching and appreciated. Let me put your minds at ease. There was nothing wrong, really. I was just feeling a little uninspired and a little overwhelmed with life in general. You know the old adage, “Sometimes a change is as good as a vacation”? Well, that’s really what it came down to. The break was needed.

And now, I’m back. But where do I start? There has been some knitting, but really, it hasn’t been much at all. The big thing that’s occupying our time these days (besides work) is the garden. It is flourishing!

I could show you loads of pictures but I won’t… not today, at least. I will, however, show you some of the fruits of our labours.

The first of the raspberries and a few new potatoes; we picked just enough of the potatoes for a meal. They were delicious, even though I overcooked them slightly. Really, nothing tastes quite like food just picked and immediately cooked, is there? The raspberries are coming hard and fast now and we’re freezing everything we pick. Amazingly, we’re still eating last year’s raspberries.

S, who lives upstairs and is away for the entire month of July, has stated that she would love some of the raspberries to freeze, so when she gets back, we’ll make sure she gets some as well. She’s planted a couple of rows of vegetables and has told everyone in the building (the other three suites) that they are welcome to pick whatever comes ready for picking.

Just a few minutes ago, I went back out into the garden for a look around; John’s at work and it’s the perfect opportunity for me to poke around out there. I’d been browsing Punchfork this morning and came across a roasted carrot recipe I’d like to try tonight. You can’t have roasted carrots without the carrots, so I went out to get some. While there, I checked out the radishes (from S’s section of the garden; part of the second crop of radishes!) and decided that some new potatoes would go well with dinner, too (there’s leftover roasted chicken in the fridge… dinner planned!). Aren’t they gorgeous?

Even though we’ve had the wettest June on record and even though the weather has been unseasonably cold, it hasn’t seemed to bother the garden. Everything is lush and green and coming along beautifully.

I was amazed to see how well the Walla Walla onions are doing, too. They’re ready for picking! I did, as a matter of fact, pick that one right in the center of the picture. It’s in my sink right now, waiting to be rinsed. I may just try to work it into dinner as well. If you’re not familiar with Walla Walla onions, they’re a sweet onion. People have been known to slice them and put them in a sandwich! An onion sandwich! I wouldn’t, but the certainly are a lovely onion.

The butterfly garden is doing well, too. I won’t show pictures of it today because, at the moment, only the daisies and the bee balm are blooming. Oh, the hens and chicks are blooming too, but they’re not that spectacular.

I will, however, leave you with one last picture. This was a visitor to our yard this morning. John brought it to my attention. This is one of the reasons I love summer around here…

It’s good to be back.

On Hiatus

It is with some measure of regret that I have decided I need to put all blogging on hiatus. I’m not sure for how long. For now, I think it’s for the best.

This, That, and Everything Else

It’s Sunday morning. It’s my son’s birthday. It’s been a lovely weekend so far. I anticipate a lovely day today.

I could leave it at that. But you know I won’t.

It seems that our yard is no longer a construction zone, thankfully. Fences have been raised, pergolas built and all the tools and extra wood have been put away.

This pergola is closest to the house and was to have been continued on the other side of the fence. The tenants there, though, decided they didn’t want one. John put up the hanging baskets but has since decided that they’re a bit too low. There are plants in the baskets, but they’re still too small to see from a distance. The baskets aren’t complete yet; I still have some seedlings in the house that will be planted in the baskets when they’re a little bigger.

This is the pergola at the back of the yard. The fence down the center of it marks the center of the yard. There is an old grape vine along the fence and M now has it tied to the pergola in order to train it along the top. He’s also planted grape vines on either end (where the wire cages are) and a lilac at the center front. In a couple of years, this will be a lovely shady place to sit on those hot summer afternoons.

To help celebrate the completion of this project of immense proportions, we had a yard party last night. All the residents of the house, the landlord and a few friends (and former tenants) were here for Beef on a Bun and whatever else was contributed. John cooked the roast beast; there were platters of veggies and dip, a hot crab dip (my contribution), freshly baked chocolate chip cookies (more than one person sported a smear of melted chocolate on their cheeks or chins), rhubarb loaf, pasta salad, and more! All in all, it was a lovely evening that turned out a lot better than someone (no names mentioned) had anticipated. Now, if only the weather had been just a touch warmer… patience, I know.

In knitterly things, the monster pants are finally off the needles. Now comes the fun part…

…weaving in all those ends! I’m not sure I want to face that today. I think I’ll finish the second little pink hat instead. Once the ends are woven in, though, all that remains to do will be the embroidery (teeth and eyes), sewing the waist casing closed and inserting the elastic. Then, they can be mailed off to Ethan. I do hope Kristen will take some pictures of Ethan wearing these. I’m really looking forward to his reaction.

Now, it’s time to get out there and enjoy the sunshine. It’s supposed to be a nice, sunny day today.

I Thought He'd Never Leave

Isn't that a terrible thing to say about one's own husband? It's not that I can't do what I want when he's here but it's easier to blog when he isn't. I just realized this morning that I haven't blogged in a couple of weeks... again! It's spring. That's my excuse. It just feels more important to be out in the garden that to be sitting at the computer, you know?

There has been next to no knitting in the last couple of weeks. Even John commented on that this week. The second of the little pink hats is more than half finished and I should get it done this weekend. If the day warms up a bit more, I may even take it outside and work on it in the great outdoors. The monster pants have seen absolutely no progress and there's only a few inches left to do on them. The only thing that's seen any kind of progress is the second of the 10-stitch blankets, and even that has been very little.

We have been working in the garden, though. Things are being planted and things are greening up. John picked up and planted some Walla Walla onions. He went to Art Knapps last weekend and picked up a set of starter onions because the ones we started from seed just were not doing very well. We made the mistake of using garden soil in the starter pots and ended up with fungus flies. Seeds were coming up and then being nibbled. We've thrown pretty much all of the starter pots out and bought peat pellets to start more seeds. I love those!

Oh, I just remembered something I wanted to share. If you've read this blog for a while, you'll know that John works as a gardener at our local college. Last week, he was digging in one of the gardens and found these...

They're morels! If you were to buy them, you'd be paying some pretty big bucks. I've seen them listed online for up to $135 per pound. We picked some a few years ago and are still eating them (we dried them). I love them. To find them growing in town, at the college, is quite unusual. It was a nice, happy surprise!

Now, I'm off to do a bit of cleaning and then some cooking (I think). First, a cup of tea. Enjoy your Saturday!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

First off, obviously not much is growing yet, but gardening season is in full swing around here. Seeds are sprouting in the “nursery” (our spare room), the garden is (mostly) prepared for planting, and fingers are itching to get into the soil.

It’s show and tell time, boys and girls!

At the front of the yard, the butterfly garden is taking shape. Yesterday I found an old pie plate (Pampered Chef – never could get the pies out of it even though I followed their instructions to the letter) for the butterfly “puddle”. It’s filled with sand and rocks, then watered.

Also up front, the lovage did survive! And it’s doing splendidly!

I’ll be getting out there today to dig up the hens and chicks; I was going to simply remove them but I’ve decided to spread them out at the front of the garden. Behind them, I’ll plant a generous row of marigolds.

At the back of the house, our little flower bed has become the salad garden.

In it is the garlic I planted last fall (to the far right), which is doing VERY well. At the back is another row of garlic that I rescued from the garden. Apparently, the neighbours don’t use much garlic (we do) and it wouldn’t have been used. I had John dig up two of the clumps and transplanted them here. Along with the garlic, there’s half a row of mixed salad greens, half a row of salad spinach, half a row of lettuce, half a row of green onions and a row of radishes, along with a row of marigolds along the front edge. Once the tulips have bloomed, the bulbs will be removed to another location.

Also, in that little garden is my row of sweet peas! I started them in the house and planted them yesterday. They’ve been living outside for the last couple of weeks so I feel quite confident they’ll do just fine and I’ll have a bunch of lovely, scented sweet peas to enjoy this summer.

And then there’s the garden. (Clicking on the picture will take you to the larger version). As you can see, it’s pretty much ready for planting. Our section is in the foreground, where you can see the rows laid out.

John has decided that we and S (the woman who lives upstairs) can plant some cucumbers on the pile in the center of the picture. That’s last year’s garden waste with a layer of soil over it. Cucumbers should do quite well. I wanted to put one (just one!) zucchini plant in there as well but John figures we’ll have plenty of offers for free zucchini. He might be right but I might just sneak one in there anyway.

These will be planted today, if all goes according to plan. I bought three varieties of potato: Bintje, Innovator, and French Fingerling potatoes. Clicking on each name will take you to a page describing that varietal. Potatoes are not high on the list of foods that I enjoy, but I’m hoping that these varieties will be more to my liking than most of the potatoes we normally eat. John is always amazed that though I’m of Dutch heritage, I don’t enjoy potatoes.

Ok, I think this is a long enough post for today. There’s more I could show you but that will be for another day. For now, I’m just going to do some dishes and tidying up while I wait for the day to warm up a little more and then I’ll be heading out into the garden again.

There Has Been Knitting!

Finally, I have some knitting progress. It isn’t that I haven’t been knitting, but I’ve been feeling that there hasn’t been much progress being made.

I’ve really been enjoying the 10-stitch blanket; I love seeing how the colours work together and how quickly it seems to go. I know the rounds are getting longer and longer, but the knitting is almost meditative, relaxing. As a matter of fact, I’m enjoying it so much I’ve started a second one. Yeah, yeah, Louisa, I hear you. I’m not showing you the second one yet. It’s only about 3” square at the moment and not very exciting; I’m using bits and pieces of sock yarn, those yarns that don’t have enough left to actually make anything else with but have too much to throw out.

The monster pants are nearing the completion mark. The stripes are finished and now it’s straight down to the cuff, then 3” of 1x1 ribbing. Then, it’s just a matter of embroidering the face, sewing the waistband casing down and inserting the elastic. I had hoped to have them finished last weekend, but that didn’t happen. This weekend is a little more knit-friendly, weather-wise. And what am I doing? Blogging.

This week, my order from KnitPicks arrived and I was able to start a small project for a friend, a consignment knit. P had a heart attack and a couple of strokes just over a year ago; as a result, she’s unable to use her left hand and knitting is definitely out. Another friend of hers just recently became the grandmother of a set of twin girls and P wanted to give her a set of pink toques for the babies. She asked if I would knit them since she couldn’t. Here’s one of the hats. The pattern is a freebie I found on Ravelry, the Tiffany Lace baby hat. This is the 6 month size. I’m using KP’s Brava Sport, a 100% acrylic dk weight yarn, on 4 mm needles.

Normally, I don’t knit with acrylic yarn, but I figured that the hats really should be machine washable and easy care. The yarn is surprisingly soft and knits up very quickly. I had this little hat finished in one day (while I was home with a migraine). The second hat will be cast on later this afternoon.

Tomorrow.. garden and yard update. Things are happening around here and it’s looking good (if I do say so myself!)

April… finally!

I hope they (the ubiquitous “they”) are right when they say “April showers bring May flowers” because April has started out with showers. There was even the possibility of snow in the forecast. Ick! Our little corner of the world is definitely showing signs of spring, though.

This was taken yesterday, while on my walk behind our local skating rink facility. There’s a lovely park that goes past the Thompson Marsh and the Mission Sports Fields. The park bench you can just see at the top of the picture overlooks the marsh, a lovely place to sit and watch the ducks. Someone planted these, obviously, as a memorial and, since coming across it last year, I’ve looked forward to seeing it again this year. It’s such a lovely tribute, one that comes back year after year.

There are other signs of spring at the marsh. The ducks are pairing up, the buds on the trees and shrubs are beginning to swell, the redwing blackbirds are singing cheerily and though the air was brisk yesterday, it was a lovely day for a walk.

Here’s another sign of spring…

Construction! You may not know this (or you might), but we live in a fourplex. There was a fence between the two sides of the house but it was looking somewhat worse for wear and wasn’t centered to the house. Over the last few weeks, the old fence has been removed and a new one is being built. There’s a pergola at the back of the yard and we understand that there may be another one closer to the house. Needless to say, it’s a little difficult for us to do any kind of landscaping out there at the moment, but we’re definitely looking forward to the completion of the fence and getting the yard ready for the upcoming warm weather.

And speaking of landscaping and gardening, my little nursery is coming along very nicely. Right now, the following are up and thriving:

• tomatoes (Brandywine and Marglobe)
• Walla Walla onions (lots of them!)
• jalapeno peppers
• basil
• butterfly weed
• sweet peas (to be planted outside soon)
• cabbage
• lovage
• salad greens (up in two days!!!)

I’m still waiting for the Italian parsley and the sweet peppers to come to the party. They’re the slowpokes for some reason. The salad greens, incidentally, are from a packet of mixed greens. The packet calls it “cut and come again”; there are about six or seven types of greens. When I was home last Monday, I filled a basket with dirt (plastic lined) and sprinkled some seeds into it. By Wednesday, some of the seeds were already poking their heads up! I could hardly believe it!

Because the sweet peas will be planted just outside our back door, a fairly sheltered spot, and because they’re thriving already, I think I may be planting them earlier than I’d thought. Hopefully, they’ll do well; if not, I have more seeds.

Oh, I am so looking forward to warmer days!

Marking My Territory

Let me state categorically right at the outset of this post that I’m not really a gardener. It’s not that I don’t like or enjoy being out in the yard but I’m certainly not passionate about it.

For the last number of years (since John and I have been together), we’ve been apartment dwellers. The last two summers, we’ve had opportunity to do some gardening and, yes, I’ve enjoyed it, but it was always someone else’s garden.

This year, I’ve decided it’s time to put my own, personal stamp on this property. I’ve claimed the front garden.

I’m turning it into a butterfly and hummingbird friendly space. I’ve researched online. I’ve pictured it. And it’s all coming together in my mind.

I’ve even started.

To the right is a stand of lavender. To the right of that, outside the picture, is a stand of Echinacea (coneflower). The darker green clump to the top right is a poppy that’s been transplanted from the back of the house. The stands of bulbs are lovely purple irises. Also out of the picture, to the bottom left is a lovely clump of daisies. There are also grape hyacinths (which John would like to get rid of), a stand of ornamental grass (which is coming out and being moved elsewhere), a clump of hens and chicks (which I’ll be moving and transplanting into “interesting” containers), a small rose bush and our blueberry bush. There’s also a day lily somewhere in there, as well as a new planting of tulips, which may do nothing this year; they were given to me by S, the new tenant upstairs. She’d received them as a housewarming gift, already blooming. The blooms are spent and I’ve cut them down to plant them. I rather doubt they’ll do anything this year, but that’s ok.

In the house, I have started some butterfly weed that I’ll be planting in and around whatever’s already out there. We also have a lot of marigold seeds that will be strewn about. I have every intention of making this a bright, colourful, fun little garden, a true bright spot in this yard.

From what I’ve read, there are three things needed to attract butterflies. Flowers are obvious. Secondly, they like a place to land and sun themselves. Hence the rocks. Thirdly, they like to have a water source nearby. Again, hence the rocks. The larger of the rocks, the one with the dark spot (which is water), has a dip, almost the right size and shape to make a fairly comfortable seat. It holds about a cup of water. During the hot summer days, I’ll have to keep filling it but I think it will work quite nicely. If not, that same dip will hold a shallow bowl. It would be nice to have a birdbath out there, but right now I don’t have one. I’ll be keeping my eyes open for ideas.

What do you think? Does it need anything else? I should add that I will be picking up some bedding plants as well (I’ve been researching zone 5 plants that attract butterflies and hummingbirds). As I said, I want this to be full and colourful.

I’m looking forward to summer!