Ok, prepare yourself for an extremely photo-heavy post. Lots to show you this week.

Check out how well the garden is coming along! This is just 3 weeks after my last photos.The tomatoes have doubled in size. You can't see it, but we lost one of the eggplants so I'll be picking up another plant this week to replace it.
The main bed is much changed as well. We put up a make-shift fence to keep the bunnies out (and it's actually working!) The onions are all thriving. The snow peas are up 5-6 inches. The limas are just starting to come up (dad says it's still a bit cool for them to sprout yet). The pumpkins are up and I saw today the first acorn squash has also sprouted. The cucumbers are looking a little sad, but I think they'll pull through if we get some sunshine. And the peppers are doing excellently. On the left side of the wall you might be able to barely perceive the soda bottles lining the bed. I've planted okra in that bed and have them capped with 2 liter soda bottles to deter the rabbits from eatting them up. In the very back of the picture is my garlic and onion bed (yes, I know, we've got a lot of onions planted. But we love them, they keep well and are uber-cheap to plant.) The garlic and egyptian onions were planted in the fall. It was so much fun to see something go dormant for a few months then spring to life when the weather warmed up.

The Topsy Turveys were a complete bust. The plants died within a week. I didn't even bother replanting them. Instead I purchased some more cherry tomatoes and planted them in a regular hanging basket. So far, they are surviving much better.

I've been inspired to sew again lately. I got this cute little book from the library, Sew Pretty Homestyle. Chock full of easy and adorable shabby chic sewing projects. This weekend I undertook sewing cushions for our patio chairs (the ubiquitous plastic stacking chairs). The fabric is sweet and looks very nice on our green chairs. I had some trouble with sizing...the first one was a little too small. The second one I mis-measured. By the third I think I got it down. One more to go.

Also on the sewing front, I picked up Lexi Barnes new book Sew What! Bags. My mom sews lovely fabric purses and I would like to try my hand at it too. I muddle around and can make a decent tote bag, but I want to learn more. So I thought this might be a good jumping off point. Boy was I right! This book provides excellent instructions for sewing simple, functional and very attractive bags in several styles. She also includes a very good section for beginning sewers (something I am not, but it never hurts to refresh your mind on the basics). Now I'm on the look out for kitchy fabrics to turn into glorious bags!

Knitting has not been forgotten, not in the least. I'm still rocking the laceweight wrap. I just adore this yarn. It's like knitting with air. I'm a little concerned it's not going to be as wide as I would have liked. I know it will block out some...I'm figuring 20" wide blocked, but it's so hard to judge on the needles. Still, I just want something to throw over my shoulders and I am confident this will fit the bill. The pattern is super easy...20 rows stockinette, 6 row lace pattern, repeat ad nauseum (I'm throwing in a purl ridge every so often to break up the pattern).

And since I'm loving this laceweight so much, I bought some more. This time from handpaintedyarn.com. I've purchased their worsted weight yarns in the past and have loved them so I was confident I wouldn't be disappointed with their lace weight
2 skeins of Cedro Dulce and 1 of Rocas De Mar. I love the Rocas and would have bought more, but this was their last skein. The yarn is very nice although not as soft as 100purewool. This yarn also comes from Uruguay, however, they have a US distribution center so the shipping is much less and much faster (a few days rather than a few weeks.)

A friend of hubby's is expecting a child so I jumped at the opportunity to knit a baby sweater. I'm knitting the Lion Brand Garter Ridge Baby Cardigan. The yarn is Plymouth Dreambaby DK which is a different gauge than the pattern calls for. But the adaptation is simple enough. I'm hoping the pale sage green will be appropriate for a boy or girl since we don't know what the sex will be. And the little teddy bear buttons are sweet as can be.

I don't recall if I mentioned wanting to knit a summer sweater or not, but I've had the desire to do so for some time. As always, it was my deep seated hatred of cotton that kept me from doing so. But, as I've said before, I very much want to grow as a knitter and stop letting things hold me back. So I'm giving cotton another try. This is the Sally's Summer Sweater from The Knit Stitch, knit in Valley Yarns Longmeadow.I'm knitting the sweater much shorter than the tunic length called for (who wants a big tunic in the summer?!) The yarn is a dream. Yes, a dream! So soft and drapey. I'm sure it's the microfiber content that tames the cotton into submission. Finally, a cotton I may be able to love.

Not much progress on the socks, only because I've been knitting mostly on the shawl and sweater. I do really like the Red Heart Yarn. I'd venture to say (so far) it's my favorite of the craft store brand sock yarns. Can you believe it? RED HEART! It is really nice. Soft but sturdy and the colors are classy.

Laceweight

Anyone who knows me and my knitting will know that I have a love/hate relationship with fine yarns. It took me a good year or two of false starts before I embraced and fell in love with socks. I'm still working to reach that same comfort zone with laceweight yarn. I've reached a point in my knitting life where I'm ready to expand my horizons and venture into new territory. The February Lady proved to me I could successfully tackle lace albeit at a large gauge. Now I'm itching to try laceweight yarn again. So I took the plunge and ordered 2 skeins of Nicanor from 100PureWool.com. I chose standard shipping and the package took about 3 weeks to arrive from Uraguay. The yarn is fabulous. The softest merino you can imagine, soft spun in a singles yarn. The color is gorgeous. Even though I had other things to attend to last night, I made sure to carve out enough time to wind one of the skeins up and cast on for a wrap.I'm improvising the pattern and it will be very plain. I figure tackling the laceweight yarn will be enough of a challenge without struggling through a lace pattern as well. So far, I'm in heaven. This little exercise in growth may or may not work out for me, but at the moment, the prospect is good.

Garden inventory

Mother nature has turned up the heat so we took advantage of the sunny weather and got to planting the garden. Dad and I took a trip to my favorite greenhouse (Zimmey's outside of Schaefferstown if you are in the area) yesterday and stocked up on plants. He only picked up a few plants. He's more old school about planting things at specific times and whatnot. That's cool for him, being retired and all, he can plant at his leisure. Hubby and I both work so we plant when we have the opportunity. So far this approach hasn't caused us any trouble. So I bought everything I could. A whole garden's worth of plants and all the flowers for my beds for $20! You so can not beat that.

Once again, the long skinny bed is dedicated to eggplant and tomatoes.4 Dusky eggplants, 2 Roma tomatoes, 2 Beefstake tomatoes and 2 Early Girl tomatoes. I've also planted seed for a yellow squash plant in this bed.

The main bed has 2 varieties of onions, snow peas, lima beans and peppers planted so far. We will also be planting cucumbers (which weren't available yet) and pumpkins in this bed. There's still a good bit of room left in the center of the bed for something else, but I'm undecided what I'll plant there. Perhaps broccoli (although the rabbit debacle of last year has me shying away form that. Maybe another squash. We need to get the rest of the weedblock down. I'm only using it on the right side of the garden. I find it difficult to use around the onions and seed rows. But I do like using it where I can. It helps cut down on weeding and also keeps the stray cats from using the garden as a toilet (which they did last night in the uncovered area!) I think we are going to put up chicken wire fencing as well. It will at least keep the rabbits out if not the cats.

I started the okra seeds in little popup pots and they are just starting to germinate. They'll be planted in a bed on the other side of the garden wall. It used to be a flower bed, but I would prefer to put it to use for food.

And finally, the ultimate in hillbilly gardening...the Topsy Turvy. Aren't they the tackiest looking things ever? I'm a bit embarassed to post this picture but, yes, I gave in to the hype and decided to try the hanging tomato planters. The one on the left has 2 Tom Thumb cherry tomatoes and the one on the right has a Bush Goliath tomato. My mother in law grows her tomatoes over a wall (so they basically grown down) and they are the most prolific and tastey tomatoes you can find. I know her excellent soil is part of the equation, but I think the vines growing with gravity rather than against it could only be a good thing. I'll keep you posted if this actually works or not.

Still not much knitting going on here. Still working on the Christmas project, although the end is in sight there. I finished the horrid, scratchy socks.I do love the colors and they did soften up a bit after washing, so all is not lost. I'm sure I'll wear them. I ran out of the variegated yarn on the second sock, so the toe area looks bigger on one sock than the other. At least that'll be hidden in the shoe.

Here's the Nutkin mittens I was talking about.I adore this Imagination yarn. So soft and the colors are fabulous. The pictures don't do it justice.
Since I finished a pair of socks, I started another.
I received Wendy Johnson's new sock book in the mail this week so decided to go toe up this time. I have knit toe up in the past and do like the technique alot, except for the short row heels. Wendy's book offers instructions for toe up socks with gusset heels! Yay!! I'm using HiyaHiya needles and Red Heart Heart and Sole yarn. Love the needles (possible more than KP Options! The join is much nicer). The yarn is also a lovely surprise. I was a bit disappointed with Lion Brand's Sock Ease, but this craft store yarn seems really nice so far.

Starting the garden 2009

I survived another tax season, hooray!! Now I'm seriously ready to get back to normal. The weather is turning a bit warmer, although the nights are still cool.

We've been able to do some work on the garden. We've doubled the size of the main bed, thanks in large part to my dad. After spending the last month and a half rehabilitating from knee replacement surgery, he was ready for some fresh air and exercise. So I came home one day and found he cleared the grass and rototilled the new bed.I was able to get the onions and snow peas planted this week. Like many folks, we are hoping to grow more of our own veggies this year. In addition to my usuals...onions, peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, squash and cucumbers, we are adding okra, snow peas, lima beans, garlic and pumpkins (the last mostly for Halloween decorations!) We'll need to wait another week or two to get the rest of the plants and seeds in until the nights quit getting down in the 30s.

We also expanded a small bed that has bleeding hearts and ferns to make room for a blueberry bush.This is a self pollinating, dwarf variety. It will take a year or two to mature to the point it will produce fruit, unfortunately.

Mostly I've got no knitting mojo at the moment. I've got a few projects going...the Colour Your Own fair isle (still on the sleeve), the horrid scratchy socks (thankfully well into the foot of the second sock), a pair of Nutkin socks that are now going to be mittens in Knit Picks Imagination yarn and a Christmas present (don't be impressed, it was supposed to be knit for last Christmas, really determined to make sure it gets done for this Christmas). I work a bit on each of them but nothing is really inspring me. I've ordered some laceweight yarn for a shawl, perhaps that will get me going again.

Instead of knitting, I've been reading. I'm trying to get through Breaking Dawn. As much as I enjoyed Twilight, I just can not get into this book. I think I've mentioned before, I'm not a Bella fan, nor do I really care for Jacob. The vampire thing is the only thing this series has going for it. Everyone assures me it gets better, so I keep slogging along. I've also been reading Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. Now this is an excellent book. It got me back into baking my own bread and what fabulous bread it is. If you love homemade bread, but hate the work, this is the book for you. Plus you can make small loaves so they get eaten up before they go stale.

Even though tax season is in full swing I've managed to keep a fairly good attitude (most days). I do seriously credit my knitting and spinning for helping me keep my sanity. I've been really quite productive with both lately.

I finished the February Lady Sweater.This was a delight to knit even though I am not a lace knitting fan. I didn't realize until it was too late that the lace has a tendency to grow. So my sweater is a bit on the long side. I wanted it to just graze the top of my hips and it ended up below my bum. But it still looks and fits great.

Here is my sock in progress
It's just a plain vanilla sock. I'm using some yarn I got ages ago from an Ebay dyer called KimiK. The yarn felt so rough to me I never felt inspired to use it. But the sock yarn stash is getting low and with money the way it is, I decided to give it a try. I'm surprised how nicely it's knitting up. The colors are just gorgeous. The kit included one variegated yarn and two kettle dyed coordinates so I'm knitting the cuff, heel and toe in the solid color and the body in the variegated.

My Colour Your Own fair isle sweater is well underway.This pattern comes from the book Fair Isle Sweaters Simplified. The book is fantastic. Their fair isle technique is so easy and provides great results. For this design, you choose your colors as you go along. It's fun and exciting to see how it's turing out. Once I get past this first sleeve, I'll be able to coast for a bit on the second sleeve since I can simply duplicate the color choices there.

On the spinning front I spun two batches of roving up. The first was from Pigeon Roof Studios, superwash bfl in the color NightshadeI didn't do such a great job splitting the roving up as I ended up with one light and one dark skein. But the colors complement each other well.

The second is a Hanks in the Hood merino batt called Blueberry IceThere's a bit of sparkle in there that doesn't show up on the photo.

There's currently nothing on my wheel. Jen is sending me fiber to spin for a sweater! I can't believe I let her talk me into spinning a whole sweater's worth of yarn. It should be here by next weekend which I'll hopefully have off from work so I can get started on it.

And finally, a nifty little project I heard about on the Stitch It podcast. These are felted dryer balls.
I had a set of the plastic dryer balls and thought they worked adequitly well. But they do make a lot of noise and one of them ended up wearing out so I was down to one. So when I hear Meghan talk about them, I looked up the instructions. I have plenty of scrap wool laying around so I didn't even have to go to the store. Basically, you take plain wool yarn (no superwash, it has to be feltable) and wrap a tight small ball. You pop the balls in an old piece of nylons/panyhose and toss them in the washer and dryer for a few cycles. When the balls seem to hold together pretty well, you add more layers of yarn, wrapping tightly, until they are as big as you want them. Then you repeat the washing/drying process until they are felted enough that they won't fall apart, then you can start using them as dryer balls. They work fabulously. My clothes are soft as can be without a drop of fabric softener. They don't prevent static, but I can live with static. And if you keep the synthetics out of the dryer, you reduce your static anyway. They do tend to pickup a bit of lint (you can see mine are looking a bit shabby already) but this is purely cosmetic. If it bothers you, you can shave the pills off. I'm not that fussy.

Darn you Brenda Dayne!

I am a HUGE Brenda Dayne fan. I feel her honorary title of saint is much deserved. If I were asked what one person I would love to meet, her name would be top of the list. Her knitting podcasts have been my companion since the day she started. I believe hers is the longest running knitting podcast (Marie Irshard was the first, but sadly she no longer podcasts). Brenda is witty, intelligent, thought provoking, inspiring, creative, the list goes on.

So after this litany of why I love her, why am I saying darn her? It is her selection of music. Hers is the only podcast that features music I can bear to listen to. I generally hate music in podcasts (accept for Stuck in the '80s, duh). But Brenda's tastes are very similar to mine so I usually enjoy what she has to offer. Enter podcast 73, yeah I'm a bit behind. The show ended with a song by Jonathan Coulton called Code Monkey. I urge you not to click the link. Most definitely don't hit the Play the Song button. I will not be held responsible for the brain siezing power of this evil and malignant earworm. Since first hearing the song yesterday, I think I have listened to it, oh I don't know, 30 times. Maybe more. And, yes, it is playing now while I write this. This song totally rules.

Yarn drying with cat

Very special yarn (merino/cashmere!) for a special project. Quinn was less than happy to have to give up her spot in front of the heater to make way for my yarn. At least she didn't choose to sleep ON the yarn!

MAP! and the Collection

As promised, photos of the awesomest b-day present ever...the Marauder's MapFully opened it barely fits on my kitchen counterThere are little fold out maps on the insideAll in all a fabulous collectors piece. A display case will be forthcoming.

My indie perfume obsession continues. My current collection comprises 6 boxes.Cigar boxes are my favorite place for storing bottles. It keeps them organized and out of the light. I painted the cardboard box (which I previously blogged about) but left the wooden one exactly as I found it. It was a $1 steal at the flea market last fall. My eyes are peeled for more like it. The drawback to storing these little bottles in boxes is that you cannot see the labels. I write the names on white caps with a fine point Sharpie and find that dot stickers from the office supply fit well on the caps that can't be written on. Is there a silver Sharpie out there? Must remember to look when I'm at the store again.

I love mint tins for storing samples as well as the little wooden chests I found I Michael's for $2. A splash of paint and they are perfectly charming perfume boxes.

The state of my soles

Recently Dharmafey of Socks in the City did a video podcast on her socks and how they are fairing. Her podcasts normally center around sock yarns and sock knitting and I found it extremely interesting to see some of the socks she's knit and her her opinions on how the yarns held up. We are all so excited when we get the new sock yarns and knit socks, but we don't often go back and talk about them after the fact.

So yesterday when I was taking my dry socks off the drying rack and hanging up the newly washed ones, I took notice of how my handknit socks are holding up. And I was a bit surprised by what I saw. So today I pulled out all my handknit socks and lined them up in order of least shabby looking to most shabby looking.

First the ones that look the best.These are the yarns (From left to right) Mr Joe Blanket, Opal 6 ply, Lion Brand Sock-Ease, Regia Bamboo

These look pretty good, only a bit of fuzziness.Online Supersocke 6ply, Opal Petticoat Cotton, Handspun colonial wool, Lime & Violet Sasquatch

And finally, the really fuzzy shabby socks.Knit Picks Bare Gloss, Knit Picks Essentials, Knit Picks Bare Merino

The socks more or less all get worn about the same. The handspun socks don't get worn much because they are really warm, but I wear my other handknit socks quite often. I was shocked that the socks that looked the worst included my most recently finished pair of socks (the green and brown Knit Picks Essentials)These socks are only a few months old and look as bad as the purple Knit Picks socks that are several years old.

I was also very happy to see that the Opal socks are holding up so well (especially given they are the oldest socks pictured here!)They are not quite as soft and cozy as the KP socks. Maybe it's the nylon in them that keeps them nice looking but also makes them a bit stiffer. Opal is also about 3 times as expensive as KP yarns so perhaps there's something to be said for paying for quality.

Now, none of these socks has holes or spots that are uncomfortably worn. This is strictly an appearance thing. I love my KP socks and can handle the fuzziness. In my opinion, a bit of felting on the soles is not really a bad thing. And just for the record, all my socks are machine washed (cold, gentle cycle) and hung to dry on a drying rack. This goes for superwash and non-superwash yarns.

Pretty much the only thing I've been working on is the February Lady sweater. I finished the body a day or two ago and started the first sleeve last night.Isn't she pretty? I'm planning to wear it for Easter. Normally I do not like knitting lace. However, this has been an extremely enjoyable pattern to knit. It's a 4 row repeat, very easy to memorize. It also seems to knit up very quickly. Despite the fact it's been on my needles for months, when it's actually seeing the light of day it progresses quickly.

I swatched for my fair isle sweater and decided I was not going to like black for the background color. Webs was nice enough to change my order to dark grey and shipped the yarn right away. So now I've got my yarns but I'm trying not to look at them and fall victim to their siren song to cast on. Poor Jen still hasn't received the yarn for her FI even though she ordered before me! Even if it weren't for my need to finish my existing projects, I would wait for her out of solidarity, since she's the one who conned, I mean talked me into this.

One step closer...

...to being able to start my fair isle sweater. A bunch of the yarn arrived this week from Webs.The colors are (from the top) light grey, dark grey, fawn, chestnut heather, pine, eggplant, dark navy and merlot heather. I'm stymied until the natural and black arrive from back order (expected the end of March). I do have some similar weight black and natural that I'm going to use to do some sample swatches with.

It's been ages since I spoke about spinning. I am indeed still spinning. My foot issues are pretty much resolved and I can treadle with two feet again. Here's what I've spun since I last posted handspun:

Hanks in the Hood merino wool in Cozy Stripes colorway. My first true fingering weight handspun.
CJ Kopec merino, bfl, silk blend in Cottage Rose colorway. Still find it difficult to spin with silk.
Ashland Bay merino in Sapphire colorway.
Pigeon Roof Studios Superwash BFL in the Nightshade colorway. This is only half the roving. I've given up on trying to squeeze 4 ounces of fiber on a bobbin. I've still got a ton of fiber to spin through, of course. Jen's trying to get me to spin for a sweater, but I'm not quite ready to commit to such a large amount of spinning just now. Maybe when my backlog of sweater knitting is a bit more under control!

My birthday turned out wonderful. Thanks to everyone who sent birthday wishes. I got two fabulous presents which I, unfortunately, don't have pictures of just now. My folks got me a darling little 4 cup coffee maker since I've recently developed an addiction to the stuff after a lifetime of tea drinking. And my sister gave me the ultimate present, a Marauder's Map. This thing is awesome. As you fold it out, you find different map views depending which folds are together. There are also little mini fold out maps inside. It's not a true map of Hogwarts, which is unfortunate. And much of the writing on it is jibberish repeated over and over. But the over all effect is grand. I love it. I will get pictures of it posted when I can.