Little Lulu

This little darling is made following the suggested yarn for the pattern; the only modification being that I knit in the round to avoid a zig-zag seam up the back of the shell. Plus, it's so satisfying to knit something off the needle and be able to stuff it and move on... Seaming = boo.

He was knit from leftover yarn from my massive spate of summer-weight baby blankets. Roo loved him; I need to make her one sometime. They're the perfect size to be smooshed in small hands.

Same pattern as yesterday's f/o. Ravelry details here.

Fin/Ob Week!

Man, I've been sitting on pictures from some spring knitting projects for a while now, so how about a finished objects week?

I knitted this in record-time back at the end of April for the arrival of a friend's baby boy. The pattern makes a tiny, tiny turtle, about 3" nose to flipper tip, with DK yarn; using super bulky yarn and size 10 needles this big guy has a respectable 9" spread. Much better for grabbing.

Details at Ravelry.

Rhubarb pie

For Jen:

Double-crust pastry:
2 C flour
2/3 C butter (or shortening, or a combination of the two)
6-7 Tbsp. cold water

For filling:
combine 3/4 C sugar (2/3 C if you like it extra tart like I do), 1/4 C flour, and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon in a big bowl, add
4 C chopped rhubarb, mix gently to coat

Bake at 375 for 45-55min. Top crust should be golden and filling should be bubbly in the vent holes (or around the rim where you didn't quite seal the pastry together :D).

Garden Update

Since our garden this year is exclusively from leftover seed packets from 1, 2, and 3 years ago, with nothing started early in flats, we've pretty much been skeptical from the beginning. Todd threw down some spinach and leek seeds back in late March or early April, and we have some scraggly nascent leek shoots from that endeavor. And then I went for an all-out planting extravaganza at the end of April, or maybe it was May Day weekend, but in any case my diligent watering has yielded two strong lines of minuscule mustard greens, a healthy showing of tiny beet greens, and well, a sprinkling of weeds. Onions, carrots, peppers, spinach - no sign of 'em.

ED: I lied: we have tomatoes and basil coming up! And lots of cilantro from the new seeds. And maybe even a pepper!

My great accomplishment is a small zigzag of chickpea plants - all seven seeds I planted are up - and I'm having surprising success with nasturtiums in the big planters out front and scattered in the front border, probably an 80% sprout rate with those seeds. It seems to have helped that I soaked them overnight before planting.

The sweet peas? Out of the 30-ish seeds Roo and I planted, we have two little vines coming up. I'm still waiting...

Progress

I made massive progress this afternoon, finishing up three knitting/sewing projects. Which I haven't photographed yet, but maybe tomorrow?...

Still in WIP phase is the summer shirt I'm knitting for Roo, and the 'Fish on a Line,' and then there's that quilt I'm making for Roo's first birthday (ha! ha ha ha!) and her Christmas stocking, and then there's the queue. Oh, the queue.

Rhubarb

Nothing so tasty as fresh home-made rhubarb pie. Well, okay, maybe it's a tie with those pork chops we made last Friday.

There's a big art fair and music festival downtown this weekend, and I'm excited to go check out the action. We even have a good friend playing the main stage on Sunday - right when Roo usually naps, so I hope we can figure out a way to make it. Fingers crossed.

Rain, rain...

I'm not a fan of the thunderstorms, but it is nice to have a soggy rainy day. Especially one that ends with a big batch of spaghetti sauce and a boule of fresh bread.

Sorry posting is so light. I'm trying to catch up with things here, and I've actually been very busy knitting and sewing lately, so soon I'll get around to posting pictures of all my projects. (Fingers crossed.)

Mother's Day and a Birthday

It's always nice that Todd's birthday and Mother's Day either coincide or fall right near each other. We have the excuse to party all weekend. Friday night we grilled out; Saturday was the farmer's market, some coffee shop time, working in the basement, dinner out with a friend, and a little walk to the park, and Sunday was a relaxing day of German pancake with strawberries and vanilla ice cream for breakfast (H), sewing!, delicious veggie stir-fry wraps for lunch (T), napping, Empire Builder board game playing, split pea soup and fresh bread for dinner (H), and calls home to both moms. Plus lots of hugs and kisses from a sweet little girl.

Spoiled Rotten

Oh man. You know sometimes when you cook something up and it's just sooooo good? You sit back as you take your first bite, and you realize you couldn't get it any better in a fancy restaurant, and you just glow through the whole meal.

Tonight we grilleda pair of lovely, thick Iowa pork chops, and a huge bowl of veggies, and it was pretty spectacular. Sorry again, Tyce and Dave, for those inferior pork chops we served you a few summers ago. Try again soon?

But seriously, it was a really great start to the Mother's Day/Todd's birthday weekend.

Productive... but still so much to do...

It was one of those days where I had a pretty good rhythm and got a lot done, and yet I'm still totally behind on everything and still feel like I'm never going to catch up.

But on the bright side we had a tasty new soup for dinner, rhubarb muffins for dessert, and I got big batches of chicken stock and bread dough made.

I need to start posting some pictures again, huh? Maybe pronto, before the tulips fade?

Sweet Peas

My dad used to grow sweet peas in planters along our entryway walk - one of the few seeds that he and I as hobby gardeners ever had much success with. Last year I tried (and failed) at growing some sweet peas of my own, but I'm giving them another go, and this year Roo helped me poke the seeds into the holes and pat the soil down around them. Surely they can't refuse to come up for such a enthusiastic gardener?

Fingers crossed!

Why we love the weekend here:

1) Coffee shop time downtown - an espresso, a steamer, and a scone
2) The first farmers' market of the season - we bought eggs
3) 6 books from the library for Roo
4) Starting to frame in around the duct work
5) Home-made Pad Thai for dinner
6) Going to bed at 7:30pm
7) Mowing the grass, harvesting rhubarb, and putting in the vegetable garden
8) Pad Thai leftovers for lunch
9) Open windows and a warm breeze
10) More progress downstairs
11) Beecher's ice cream!!!!!

Cucumber Before Bed

I just ate a little bowl of sliced cucumber dipped in homemade 2% yogurt. I read in some L. M. Montgomery novel* that cucumber and milk was supposed to give you terrible indigestion (and therefore vivid dreams if consumed before bed), but this combination has only brought my tummy much bliss.

And homemade yogurt is seriously where its at, yo.

*It was either The Story Girl or The Golden Road.

Mended!

I spent all nap time mending two pairs of work jeans for Todd, and now I am in bed, tired, at 7:30pm. But there are nice chocolaty brown corduroy patches peeping through his ripped out knees, and we even mowed half the lawn after dinner, and took Roo for a walk to the park, and she went down the slide all on her own for the first time. So it's been a good day.

But man, I'm tired. So instead of a photo I'll leave you with this:
http://kalman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/may-it-please-the-court/