Me!

Yup. I turned 34 yesterday. Here’s my present from the husband:

He rented a backhoe last weekend and carved out our new garden path. The next step is to start on the new beds. He also widened the driveway by quite a bit. The gravel was dumped off yesterday and it looks great.

In this one you can see the arbor he did a few weeks back, and the picket fence he’s working on. Here are the girls heading out to school this morning:

The girls and I have been putting in a small veggie garden this spring. We have had so much fun planting and weeding and checking. I realized I’ve mentioned it a few times, but no photos.

Radishes

I now start every morning, rain or shine with a cup of tea and a walk out to check the peas. It’s a nice moment to myself before the girls get up. Now that we are getting sun again they are starting to set buds.

Peas

We have also planted green onions, spinach, broccoli and lettuce. I’m not sure about the onions…they look so puny right now.

I’ve been playing with how to get a bit more out of our camera. It’s a dinosaur, and stinks at indoor photos. Nevertheless it seems a total waste to just toss it for a new one. So I built this:

Honestly build is overstating, It’s just a lamp and some fabric. And with it I got:

These are the first radishes out of the garden. I really like the effect of the photos.

Things I learned:

1. I need to do this away from a window or with the curtains drawn. I got too many shadows.
2. Radishes are probably a bit too dense for this…Our bluebells are blooming, so I plan to ry some of those tomorrow.
3. I need to iron the fabric first. Wrinkles!

I know spring is here, and summer is just around the bend. Maybe it’s the Nor’easter, but I have been in such a mood to knit with wool this week.

I am having a major covet over the yarn Wendy has at Knit and Tonic…Koigu color p62.

The girls and I were driving home today and I was struck by the colors of the new leaves against the sky. The leave are still at that mustardy-green stage, and the sky has been a rather dramatic blue gray all day. This color-way would be a perfect start.

This makes me want to do elaborate fair-isle on tiny needles. Which is exactly what I will need in August around here, let me tell you.

And in a nutso side note…I got to do a pair of socks in a swap for Wendy a year or so ago. It was the closest thing to a celebrity encounter I’ve ever had. Important celebrity anyway…I got to see Ronald Regan when I was 12, but did he knit? Hardly.

I finished it a week ago, and here’s the shot:

I have worn it a bunch this last week. It’s been chilly!

I generally have a hard time finding pants to fit the girls. The lucky beasts are built like the husband…tall and thin. Keeping a pair of pants from falling off is a challenge.

In the past I have just adapted an old pattern and slimmed it down which never looks quite right. This year I decided to try a new challenge. I am making my own patterns.

I am posting about this here because my family is not nearly impressed enough with this. I felt better starting my Multivariable Calculus course I had to take in college. The husband tried to understand, but really he only managed to point out how messy and smudgy the patterns looked while I was working on them.

The girls like getting measured, but otherwise seem to think this just one more wacky mom project.

Sorry for the photo, it is hard to get a good shot of brown paper. I used old paper bags to map them out. Lots of fractions and percents to get each piece lined up.

We went fabric shopping the other day and picked out:

My plan is to make some capris to carry them to the end of the school year. Maybe a few pairs of shorts. I have been looking at all the sites for children’s clothing (gymboree and such) and Bermudas seem to be in this year, so we’ll try that.

If all this works out I’ll try to include the patterns in the May issue of Handmade Mom. I did enough calculations to get these worked out, someone else ought to get to enjoy them!

The girls and I have been relaxing this week. No school due to spring break.

We got to eat our first salad from the garden last night. Most of the lettuce is store bought, but there is quite a bit of spinach from the garden. We also thinned the radishes and used them in the salad…the whole plant. It is amazing how much the leaves taste like radishes.

Here’s the other big project for break:

I finally started on the girl’s spring wardrobe. I’ve spent the last few days making my own pattern for pants…more on that tomorrow!

OK, so I was searching You Tube for knitting videos. And yes, all of my students would find that impossibly dorky. I don’t care, there are some great tutorials out there.

I found this. It’s a Lego knitting machine. 

 You know you want one.

OK, I know a lot of folks got hit by the odd weather yesterday, but I had to share the photos.

After moving back from Florida the one thing the girls have wanted was a good snow. So yeterday at 6:30 they woke us up to show us:

And just a few hours later:

They really didn’t get to go out in it. Bythe time they were really up and dressed it was too messy. If you really look at the pine trees in the background you can still see the snow.

It’s official! Matches went out Monday so I need to start planning.

Last year I designed my own pattern (I use the term loosely).  It ended up a complicated mess, so this year, out of kindness to my tradee I need to find something simpler.

So, anyone seen any good sock patterns recently?