A Few Oldies to Share

Hello All!

I wanted to show you a few of the projects I did before Christmas...enjoy!!

CooKoo for Cowls:

This project was a super quick knit!!  It took exactly 2 skeins of WoolEase Thick and Quick, and many, it is THICK!!!  We had temps around -40C with the windchill this week, so it was the perfect time to wear it!! 

The pattern is GAP-tastic Cowl and it is really popular on Ravelry right now!
Go grab yourself a copy of the pattern since it is free, and while you're at it, check out  my Ravelry notes...

Next up...The Christmas Surprise Blanket

I made this uber thick blanket for my new nephew.  It is doubled up Vanna's Choice yarn that I grabbed during a huge sale at Michaels.  It moves right along and the pattern is so easy!!  I like that if you double up the yarn it can be a floor blanket, and if you use a single strand, it is more of a car blanket.  I loved the pattern and I cannot wait to make another one!!  The pattern is Chevron Baby Blanket by Purl Soho, and here are my Ravelry notes.

Hannah's Build-a-Bear needed a new sweater, so I whipped one up using the Toy Pullover or Vest pattern.  I made a few mods, so check out my notes.  Doesn't Dolly bear look cute??  Once I can start knitting again, I have promised Stuffie the Bunny and Canada Bear their own new sweaters!!

Just before we left on Christmas holidays, we went over to the UofA Butterdome for their big craft sale.  I was bound and determined to find some yarn amongst all the candles, metal art, home remedies and wall hangings.  Sure enough, I found a stand for MelonHead Knitwear out of BC.  I loved all of the beautiful handspun she offered, and I bought some BFL and a pattern for a slouchy hat. 

Then, one night at my in-law's house, I whipped up this pink beauty.  (yes, I know the photo is not flattering at all...I look like I have a lazy eye!!)  The pattern is very well written, the yarn was a dream to knit with, and I love the final result!! 

You can find the pattern here, and my notes here.

Finally, I finished up a sweater for Hannah that I don't think I ever posted about.  We bought her a pair of (fake)Uggs and she wanted a sweater to go with them.  So, I went with a simple cardigan in a practical, yet girly grey. 

We named the sweater, "Even Princesses Wear Grey," since Hannah was reluctant to wear either the boots or the sweater at first.  She was convinced they were too boyish, and it took me showing her a photo of Princess Kate (God Bless Google) wearing grey Uggs to make her think twice.  Now she loves both items, despite their color. 

The pattern I used was Audrey's First Day, by Elizabeth Smith.  I had made another one of this designer's sweaters before and loved it, so I was anxious to make something for Hannah.  I did make a bunch of mods on the sweater so it would fit my little princess just right, though I forgot to add them to Ravelry.  I'll have to dig up my pattern and see what I wrote down.  So, with that said, stay tuned to my notes page in case I find them and post them.

So, other than two WCOBBS blankets that I will post about later, I think that should catch you all up on my knitting.  If I think of anything else, I'll be sure to post.

Cheers!!
Sharon

The (Long Awaited) Garden Post

 So, I have been promising for quite a while now to do a post on my gardens.  Hmmm...I'm a slacker and I know it!  I guess I was spending too much time in the garden and not enough time blogging about it!!

Without further ado, here is the summer in review.  This year we decided to try Square Foot Gardening.  What a great concept!!!  We bought some composite board gardens from Costco.ca and went to town.  Hubby made the actual squares out of cedar strips, and we bought the trellis at Home Depot.  I think next year we'll get a second trellis, since the beans were really popular.

What did we plant?  What didn't we plant!  We wanted to try a bunch of different things to see what would 1- grow and 2- get eaten.  We got a late start on some things since we were in Edmonton with the Diva for 3 weeks at the beginning of growing season.  Hopefully we'll get a better start next year. 

Some of the more popular crops were the beans, peas, radishes, tomatoes, zucchini, onions, peppers and chili peppers.  What things will we not grow again?  Well, brussel sprouts weren't a hit, we didn't harvest the lettuce and spinach early enough, so we have to rethink those, and if we want to grow cucumbers again we have to plant them earlier.  Also, we need to find a better spot for the pumpkins and zucchini so they don't take over the garden again.  We also grew oregano, parsley and basil, and of the three, we used the most parsley (I made LOTS of parsley pesto!).

One of the most exciting things was seeing how happy the Diva was in the garden.  She was much more willing to try new veggies if they came from our own garden, and she really took interest in the idea of starting from a seed and ending up with something you can eat!  her favorites were by far the strawberries, radishes, and snap peas.  When she was potty training, she even started asking for peas instead of M&Ms as rewards!!!

What did we do with all of our crops?  Well, along with lots of "off the vine" snacking, we made zucchini muffins and had steamed zucchini and wax beans with several meals.  I was also able to make my own salsa with everything coming from our own garden!  As mentioned before, I made parsley pesto (the basil had caught something before I could use it), and I also made some jalapeno cornbread biscuits that were super yummy!!!!  It was so wonderful knowing that our food had no preservatives and was grown in our own backyard.  I don't know if it was mental or not, but I swear that my veggies tasted better than those from the store!!  Either way, every time I ate one of them, it put a smile on my face!!

I don't have a lot of photos of our side garden and the front garden, simply because I was so busy being proud of my veggies!  Here are a few photos I snapped early in the season out front.  Keep in mind that everything filled in quite a bit shortly after I took the photos.

I really wish that I had photos of my gladiolas in the backyard.  They were so pretty this year!  I bought more bulbs and I was sure to pull out this year's, so hopefully I'll have some nice blooms next year too. 

This year our gardens achieved "survivor" status in my book!!  We got lots of hail storms this summer, but thankfully the worst of them went around us.  What we did get shredded my sunflower, pumpkin and zucchini leaves.  Thankfully I didn't lose any actual plants because of the weather.  Here's a photo of the remnants of one of the crazier ones.

Earlier this week, the Diva and I decided to see if we could harvest some seeds from one of our giant sunflowers.  The birds planted the seeds from the bird feeder, and one of the heads was larger than a dinner plate!!!  That's the one we decided to pull the seeds from. 

 

Can you believe that all of those seeds came from one head??  I soaked them overnight in salt water and roasted them the next day.  Hubby loves them and the Diva had a blast harvesting them, so it was well worth the effort!!!

We had three flowers total that the birds planted, so we decided to use the other two heads and the leftovers from the big one and give them back to the birds.  As you can see, they seem to be enjoying them!!!

Now that we've had our first "kill frost", I have been busy cutting things back and preparing for snow.  We already got some flakes last weekend!!  It has warmed up a lot this week, but we all know that it won't last long.  Thankfully it has given me a few days of sunshine to work in.  maybe I'll even get a late season tan...heehee!!!

With that said, this is what the garden looks like now...

 

All of the veggies are pulled and all that remains are the ones I "hope" will return next year.  the soaker hose is buried now, the squares and trellis are gone (and hopefully will be water sealed before next spring), and the flowers are mostly cut back.  I did so much clipping that I filled my composter!!!

On today's agenda is filling lawn bags with the excess compostable stuff so we can bring it to the dump to be composted.  Then I have to scrub my bird baths and pots, and top off all of the gardens with soil.  Ahhh...it never ends, does it??

So there you have it...my garden.  It's nothing too exciting, but I love it.  Considering that we have a postage stamp sized lot, I am quite excited to have so much space that I call my own.  Next year we're going to plant more of what we ate this year, maybe get the Diva a sandbox, and try to add more flowers to the front and side gardens.  Every year we add and modify...change is good!!

Have a great weekend!!!
Sharon