I haven’t finished the seed order yet, but needed a break, so I spent half the day quilting the second striped blanket. I just love the flannel with the bright frogs. And it feels so cozy working on it.
Category Archive: Life
And then there were two
Starting a new pair of socks
Since I spent a good part of the day taking inventory of the seeds I have, and trying to decide how much we eat in a year so I know how many seeds to order, I gave myself the treat of starting another pair of socks. They are self striping, so I think I’ll just go with the stockinette stitch and keep them handy for when I don’t have to think, such as when I’m a passenger in the car or have chatty company.
I love starting and finishing socks. Sometimes I enjoy the knitting between the beginning and end and sometimes I just do it unconsciously. This color is “Puzzle” from the “Sock it to me” collection made for Elann.com It is 25% nylon so will readily go through the washer and dryer. Although it has the same number of yards in a skein as most of the other sock yarns I use, it feels lighter, so will make a great pair of summer socks.
Midweek
The long stretch under the apple trees is all barked now and looks so good. It will aid in water retention and weed control all summer. Item #1 checked off list. The grapes and apples have been pruned and the grapes tied up. That is #2 and #3 off the list. The raspberries are nearly done. We will finish them after this next rain spell. It feels good to be on top of the game for once. Tomorrow I will put together the list of seeds I have left from last year and decide what I need to order for this year. Do you realize that it is nearly time to get out food plants started?
A bit ago, I mentioned Mother passed away without finishing these pillowcases and I was going to learn to cross stitch. After trying it, I decided that I definitely do NOT like to cross stitch and will not be finishing them. They are going out in Friday’s mail to a friend who loves doing this type work and she will finish them. Life is too short to get hung up on something I really don’t enjoy. I won’t live long enough to do all that I do enjoy.
I was given somewhere over 75 of these strips of various colors. They are the end pieces when the factory straightens the roll. Since I am in a “use it up” frame, I put these together and quilted it. They are only 40″ wide, so it makes a nice small child size quilt. Previously, I used several of the pieces in other items, so still have enough to make a total of three of these little quilts. That’s another finish and I love finishes as well as starts.
Sun = work
We started our day outside by catching these now full grown ducks (at least by size). Then we put them in this pen so the dogs and other animals could come get acquainted throughout the day.
Chore #2 was to finish the pruning and tying the grapes. There is a short row and a lengthy row. I need to buy more grape plants to finish the second row.
Chore #3 was to get the raspberries done. They are now 2/3 finished.
Here the chickens are coming in for the night and want to make sure there is a bit of a handout. The sheep and alpacas have already had their treats.
By then the day (which started outside at 11) was over and the fellows wanted to collect their dues and go home. And once again I am reminded why supervisors get paid more. It’s hard work managing people.
Grapes
It was a beautiful, warm day and the fellow that has been moving all these shavings for me told me that he knew someone who was very good with grapes and all types of berries. I was all ears. Mark, the berry expert, came over at noon and he really does appear to know what to do. He started with a mess of grapes that were desperately trying to hug the ground. He added another wire, then pruned and tied. The first row now looks really good. Tomorrow he will do the other row. I will be so happy to have the grapes doing the right thing. This past year the chickens got all of them because that is the level at which they were growing.
In between supervising, I pulled out a box that had a few of Mother’s things in it. I found this pair of pillowcases started. I can’t just throw them out – they aren’t finished. So I decided I’ll just learn a bit of cross stitching and who knows I may even learn to do the crocheted edge like our mothers and grandmothers used to do. Mary knows how and said after the Seahawks win the Superbowl in 2 weeks, she can help me. I doubt the cross stitching will be done by then.
The squares
Remember the squares I put together last week. (It doesn’t have those waves when lying down, it’s just too heavy for the board after quilting) I decided it would be great for a man in a wheelchair as it is just the right size. 
So I used a fishing scene on the back 
and quilted it with a clover design. The quilt is finished in less than a week.
Basket Weave Rib socks
These “Basket Weave Rib socks” by Sezza Knits are now done. It has been a while since I knit on size one needles, so it seemed these took a long time. Then also we had Christmas holidays during the same time. However they are done and I am very happy with them.
BOM for 2014 finished
I’m delighted to get this quilt finished. This is the Aurofil BOMs that I did last year. After finishing it, I quilted it instead of hanging it in the closet for future quilting. That excites me!
Yes that does leave me with some other BOMs from last years that are finished but not quilted, but I’m on a roll now. I think the most difficult part of quilting is deciding how to quilt it. I went with some easy for this and will for the next as I think they will both become children’s quilts.
The tortoise
These socks certainly are slow knitting, but they are moving along. Of course, I also worked some on quilting which isn’t ready yet.
The other thing I did was to take in 2 webinars. Have you done that? I enjoy them. Today’s was one on small farms and the other on cooking.
Wednesday Cooking
Today we took our list to the grocery store and came back with a good amount of food to be prepped for the week. On the menu are such things as Kale Tofu Scramble, Triple green quesadilla, Hawaiian Chili, Rainbow Noodle Bowl, Moussaka, Tostadas, and a Quinoa Bowl. There are a LOT of vegetables in these recipes. So I spent my afternoon washing and chopping onions, tomatoes, green peppers, kale, sweet potatoes and such.
