worthwhile textile

The sky has been so beautiful this week, as the weather shifts decidedly into autumn territory and the rains increase.

In the very early hours, the clouds take on a rosy cast.

Then, touched by the sun, they turn golden.

Every morning brings a heavy dew and lovely fog.

While it's still warm enough, we're both out doing yard work.

Borga loves to assist...

...and be rewarded for her "hard work."

In defiance of our chilly nights, many flowers are still blossoming in the garden...

...but I see much more of this.

I have to admit that I love seeing little bits of vibrant life out there.

The goldfinches are even more frantically and systematically stripping seeds.  Can you see all three in this photo?

I am lamentably late with my Halloween decorations, but at least I got the porch decked out with loads of pumpkins from the garden.

The windows are always cracked to let in a delightful bit of chill, and I'm frequently curled up under a quilt with a textile project.  I'm making nice progress on my red snake tapestry (design by Japanese artist Yumiko Higuchi)...

...despite Tabitha's "help."

I'm really excited about my current knitting project, a pair of cozy gloves by Scottish designer Ysolda Teague.  The circumference of my palm is usually a full two inches smaller than patterns for a "normal" adult woman's hand, so most of the gloves that I've tried to knit are floppy oven mitts on my hands.  It's not as simple as going down a few needle sizes, as smaller needles are flimsy and hard to work with, and end up painfully cramping my fingers.  I'm loathe to change a pattern, because I don't have an intuitive sense about how stitches that I make will translate in the work.  I took a chance on these gloves, though.  Instead of casting on 65 stitches with a size 2 needle, I cast on 48 stitches with a size 1 needle.  I knitted about a third of the mitten...

...but realized that it was too small.  It fit my wrist, but the design got distorted out of shape when I pulled it over my thumb.  I'm so easily discouraged that it would be normal for me to toss the project aside at this point, but I doggedly cast on again, this time on a size 2 needle.  I'm just past the thumb now and it's a perfect fit!  I can't wait to finish them up.

In summary, we are absolutely loving these chilly, rainy fall days and are making the most of them, both inside and outside.  Each of us in our own way.  :)

Have a great week!

no seedling left behind

 What a contrast!  A week ago, everything was blanketed with thick snow and ice.  This week...sprouts.

Daffodils are coming up!  And more great surprises...a local lady had posted on Facebook last year, asking if anyone could come and thin out her bulbs.  I came away with hundreds of daffodil and naked lady lilies.  I planted them in clumps around the yard, but the greens were prematurely mowed down, and then we had a horrible drought.  I didn't bother to water, thinking that they were most certainly dead by now.  But yesterday...

I can't wait until they bloom!  These are wonderful harbingers of spring, along with the raucous red-wing blackbirds and the gentle rhythmic chirping of spring peepers that I've been hearing for the past few days.  Hooray!  

I've been very busy with my plants.  First, my ranuculus and anemone corms - they were soaked and pre-sprouted, and developed very nice roots.

I planted them in temporary pots until I can get them out in the ground, not expecting much growth, but they are really taking off!

I set up a caterpillar tunnel in the garden and they should be fine to grow within it, just with a frost cover (like a thick sheet) at night for protection.

I'm extremely pleased with my sweet peas!  They've grown steadily and now are in our cold, unheated potting barn addition with bright grow lights but no heat protection.  They love the cold and can survive freezes.

Other things are slowly and steadily germinating in the house.  I have multiple different plant varieties on the same tray and just scoop them up with a brownie spatula and move them upstairs under grow lights once they germinate.  I love seeing them sprout!

Sometimes a seed has fallen between soil blocks and germinates in the soil debris at the bottom of the tray.  No problem.  I mound up some soil and pop the seedling in.  Do I know what it is?  Nope, and don't care.  I'll give it a chance to grow.

I planted 12 - 15 varieties of snapdragons, and all the tags have gotten displaced from sliding trays in and out from under grow lights to water.  Does it matter?  Not really.  For a Type A person, I am remarkably unfussy about this.  As long as they grow and prosper, I'll pop them in the garden and see what comes up!

Even though March is a fairly grey month, I love being outside in the spring.  There's a lot of work to do in the garden, and I like listening to the horses...

...and keeping a certain nosy cat from impeding my work.

Sunrises have been GORGEOUS.

When it's too cold and rainy to work outside, and when I need a break from plant care, I try to focus on other hobbies.  I finished my Ley Lines wrap, and I quite like it.  It sometimes gets chilly upstairs and just draping it around my shoulders takes care of that.

I also knitted a hat.

AHEM.

I'm not really happy with the color choices, though.  I'm trying to use up scrap yarn, since I have so much of it, but skeins that look appealing next to each other don't necessarily carry over into the finished project.  I'm moving right on to a cardigan, and this time, I decided to test my theory before starting.  I picked yarn and colored in my choices (pencil colors not quite the same, of course)...

...then knitted up a swatch (wonky because I cut the yarn strands at the end of each row...just wanted to get a general idea).  I'm glad that I did, because together, the colors all seemed too washed out and pale, especially with a pale main color.

I chose new colors - brighter, with more contrast, and I think it's going to look a lot better.

Between my regular work and my plant propagation, this is plenty to keep me busy for a while.  The soil blocks need to be watered multiple times per day, especially ungerminated seedlings that are under grow lights because they need that light in order to germinate.  They dry out quickly and have to be closely monitoring.  I also am keeping a close eye on my winter sown containers.  If there's early germination, I have to remember to throw a blanket on top of the containers when we have heavy frosts.  Signs of life!  There's condensation on top, but peek in the sides and you can see a bit of green:

So far, out of the thousands of seeds planted, I've got very sturdy Bachelor Buttons and Corn Cockle coming up.  It's a great pleasure to daily check these containers to see what will be showing up in this year's garden.

Enjoy your greens and have a great week!

Bites, Kites, and Insect Flights

Yard work couldn't be put off for another weekend, so I dutifully gathered my supplies on Saturday and headed outside.  Bags, gloves, clippers...camera.  There's always something going on!

A green shield bug takes flight.

A yellow jacket, after a few unsuccessful attempts against the marauding ants, waits impatiently for an opening to steal some of this dead cicada's rich protein stores.

Since it's August (although not even remotely close to the end of hot weather, this being South Carolina), I found more insect carcasses than earlier in the season.  A beetle hangs suspended in a forgotten web:

A dragonfly retains its characteristic shape despite being completely hollow.

There's still life out there, though.  A new generation of anoles recently hatched out, and I saw frequent flashes of scurrying movement in my peripheral vision as I worked in the front beds.

Of course, we still have plenty of full-size anoles, like the one that lives in the fern by our front door.

Yes, there's still a lot of beauty out there.

Todd came outside for about an hour to do some yard work, too.  Once again, despite being incredibly careful, he was attacked by fire ants and had to go inside.

There are no tell-tale mounds and they are so tiny.  He got bites on his arms and legs too.  We're going to broadcast bait, but they seem unusually numerous this year.  Suffice it to say, we try to limit our yard time.

At least I'm getting a lot done inside!  Todd is off yeast right now and misses his breakfast toast, so I whipped up a surprisingly tasty Irish soda bread loaf.

I modified this recipe (does anyone seriously bake with margarine?!) to make it a little healthier and it was so tasty...like a giant scone!  Perfect with a little butter and jam!

I've slowly been picking away at my craft projects.  First...I finished my sweater!  I couldn't understand why it was taking so long to finish, until I realized... a six inch super wide neck plus a double paneled front equal a LOT more fabric than a typical sweater!  It was almost a perfect rectangle when I stretched it out for blocking.

I ordered twenty small brushed brass buttons for the front panels and will sew them on next week, hopefully!  But until then:

I admit, it looks a little odd.  But per the pattern, the neck won't stand upright, but fall into deep folds on the shoulders.  I can't try it on because, in my usual self-flagellating way, I knitted it a size too small ("Motivation!!!").  So buttons will be sewn on and it will be put away for "later."  The positive aspect is that the entire sweater was knitted in the Portuguese style, and it saved me from sore wrists and fingers.  No problems whatsoever.  Ready to expend my repertoire, I attempted a fair isle project Portuguese-style (Kites pattern on Ravelry).  It's been quite a challenge.  Fair isle projects done in this method are knitted inside-out...or rather, purled.  Charts are read backwards.

Here's the working side:

And the inside, which is really the outside:

I don't think I'll ever try this method for fair isle again.  Tensioning one strand around my neck and one strand from a paperclip in my collar on the other side is a major pain.  Repetitions aren't as intuitive, since you can't really see the pattern developing.  I'll get into a rhythm, which is promptly interrupted every time I get to the end of one of my four needles, or every 30 seconds or so. I have to finish this mitten in the Portuguese style (whimper), but mitten #2 will be done the old-fashioned way, sore fingers or not!

I've also been working on my Garden Snails quilt.  It's also been a bit fiddly but all snails are done and all that remains is to sew the strips together.  Here's a small preview:

Because my width of fabric was shorter than the pattern called for, I am six inches short on each tan strip.  Last night, I increased the length of each by adding a little fabric, so I anticipate having the whole top sewn together with just a few hours of work!  Hopefully the extra seams aren't too distracting.

These projects + my job + everyday life have been keeping me pretty busy.  With several new quilts and a sudden ability to knit again, we'll be plenty warm when cold weather comes...whenever that will be!

Have a great week!