Friday, April 20, 2012

Seedlings, yarn vs cash

My little portable greenhouse is in my house at the moment.  It blows over easily, so the best position for both sturdyness and sunnyness is right inside the sliding door in our south-facing kitchen.  I've got plenty of veg and flower seedlings, with room for another few trays.  In fact, some of these are now big enough to shift outdoors.  I think when the spring winds have died down (around mid-May) it'll go back outside with its cover.

I've been making a little extra cash recently by listing some of my excess yarn stash on ebay.  I bought quite a lot of yarn over time, loved having it, realized I would never have time to knit it all, and painfully put a few up for sale.  Then when they sold I discovered it was actually more fun having the money than the yarn--now I'm addicted!  I've ruthlessly sorted through all my yarns and more than half are in the "for sale" box.  And if they don't sell?  Well, I can still knit with them, right?

Actually I'm crocheting lately.  I had fun dyeing some pale beige yarn into fairy princess pink and have been crocheting a lacy shawl.  It's been a while since I last picked up a crochet hook, and I'm enjoying myself. 

Another project recently completed:  my third skirt of the month.  No photo at the moment (I wore it and now it's in the wash):  again a simple knee-length skirt, but with a different pattern this time.  Photo to follow.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Spring flowers, spring skirts, spring broccoli

Some really spectacular shrubs flower in my garden this time of year. This one we call the Burning Bush:
And this is the flowering currant; I actually have three dotted around, in varying shades of pink.
I picked some to put with a few tulips and random leftovers from a gift bouquet; I missed having flowers in my house over winter! And speaking of tulips--I think they have doubled in number from last spring. The past two years I've divided them and I need to divide them again this year. When I do so, I take them to a new un-tuliped part of the garden. If this multiplying continues, I won't have anywhere left for transplanting.
I've been busily sewing myself two new skirts. Both from the same pattern, different views. This first is some light wool with self-made piping. This wool is actually the same as I used to back Franklin's quilt. The piping is from an old cotton sheet; I'm very pleased with it. The skirt also has a zipper and a button in the back, and an invisible hem which sits about an inch above my knee. The waistband is cut on the bias.
The second skirt is some cute printed corduroy. The front panel creates a faux wrap-around that sits right at my knee. It has an invisible zipper (actually invisible, too! unlike previous attempts) and a hook and eye in back. The material and button have both been in my stash for at least four years--about time I used it.
I've also been hard at work planting more seeds, and the remaining 3.5 kg of seed potatoes. All potatoes bar about 12 are planted in grow sacks; I ran out of both sacks and extra soil, so the last few went in the ground. Still have lots of seed planting to continue with over the course of this month and the next.

And the first of my purple sprouting broccoli harvest. I'm going to be very vigilant and not let it go to seed this year; if there's too much for us to eat, I'll pick and freeze. All winter long I've been looking forward to this!