Can’t read a book without cracking the spine

We begin, dear readers, with a garden update, as promised:

The patchy grass is coming in nicely, the seeds starting sprouting about a week ago, and every day it looks a little more green.  One major problem still: Oscar.  The large brown-only patch of dirt is courtesy of my little doggy destroyer, who took it on himself to dig a nice cool patch of dirt to lie in.  Thanks Oscar.

Sad scene in the herb pots, the basil looks like he won’t make it.  We’ve had buckets of rain for the last two weeks, so I think he may have drowned.  The other herbs are all doing fine, but basil bit the bullet.  I’ll be digging his sorry ass out of the planter this week and taking him back for an exchange.  The garden centre guarantees their plants for the season.

More grass, slowly but surely filling in.  I haven’t mowed any of it yet, it seems cruel to cut down the fresh young grass, they’ve never been cut before.

Tomatoes are coming in strong now.  Soon I’ll have to play god and choose which ones live and die.  The package told me to plant two seeds in each hole, and then weed out the weenie ones so that only the strongest plants grow.  It’s too soon to tell, but enjoy this last picture of them all alive and happy.

The pretty plants have been planted in the side garden.  I left them in their planter pots for another week after I planted the vegetables because I thought it was too cold for them.  They seem to be doing well so far.  Oscar pees in this patch of garden each morning, then traipses over my plants.  They’ll be a strong and hardy stock by the end of the summer.

Veggie garden updates!  These are the only two things I can tell for sure are growing.  The picture on the left is my patch of radishes, in two nice neat rows.  I’ll have to thin them back in the next few weeks to let the strong ones grow.  The picture on the right is the beginnings of my carrots, they’re the thin wispy green shoots right in the centre. 

A better close-up of the grass action.  It’s still patchy, but some of the seed must have started growing ahead of the rest. 

Moving on to knitting, I’ve been a busy little knitting bee working away on a baby sweater for Fuzzyhead’s cousin and his wife, who are expecting a baby girl in August.  I borrowed a pattern for a cable owl vest from Catherine, and combined it with a pattern from Vintage Baby Knits, a simple garter stitch and stockinette stitch raglan sweater for a 3 to 6 month old baby.  The patterns meshed well together, I used an acrylic/nylon DK weight baby yarn from Shall We Knit, and both patterns used a similar gauge.  Here’s the real kicker – I’m short by about 2 inches on the second sleeve.  I originally bought yarn for a vest, not a sweater with full length sleeves, and I didn’t quite have enough.  Sugar.  It’s on the back burner this week until I can zip to Waterloo for a third ball of the yarn.

Immediately after I completed Fuzzyhead’s teatime socks (pictures coming eventually), I raced to start that baby sweater, and to pick up a new sock project.  This is from the small stash of yarn I bought form KnitPicks, the first yarn I’ve ever bought online.  It looks and feels good so far, and I’m hoping it will be enough for two pairs of yoga socks.  Buying yarn online for yoga socks is much more economical than buying the nice stuff at my LYS and spending just as much time knitting it up.  I’ve decided to keep my yoga sock patterns down to 3 or 4, rather than scrounging for a new and exciting (and also time consuming) pattern.  I’ve made this pattern before for a pair of yoga socks, it’s got some simple lacework up the front, with small cables running up either side of the foot.

Happy long weekend my readers!
Onward,
vrock

Dog pee is good for plants, right?

Happy spring readers! Submitted for the approval of the midnight society, I call this tale: Adventures in Gardening...with a splash of knitting just to keep it real.

Fuzzyhead and I don't plan to stay in our current house for more than a year or so. We're saving for a home of our own, so our gardening plans this year are unfortunately not long-term or permanent. We made a short list of the things we wanted to accomplish this summer so our little backyard could look its best.

Our list:

-Move brick pathway so that is actually leads to the gate, not to a random patch of the fence
-Make a small vegetable garden
-Plant flowers along the side of the house
-Keep a selection of fresh herbs
-Fix the bare patches of grass in the backyard
-Cover the pathway in gravel to keep the weeds away

Fuzzy already took care of the first one, he moved the path all by himself when I was at work about a month ago. The bricks have settled back into place now and you'd never know it used to be different.

The others got tackled by me today while Fuzzy is out on the town with his friends. We both took a trip to Belgian Nursery earlier in the day, initially just thinking we would price things out and head home to plan some more. I love this place, it's so full of exciting ideas and things I want to buy. We're leaning toward gnomes for the garden by the way.

First up, this is what I accomplished today:

Our baby herb garden! We had dill and parsley in seed form, so I planted those in the boxes along with the more mature and ready-to-eat herbs we picked up today. I love the boxes, they were on sale and they look very rustic and natural.

Box # 1 - rosemary, oregano, parsley, and dill

Box # 2 - cilantro, thyme, and basil

We also bought some shade-loving plants for the side garden. I chose not to plant them today because I spent so much time prepping the soil for the vegetable garden and I was worn out. I'm also a little afraid that it's still too cold for them to be outside without parental supervision. Momma Vrock is very protective of her plant babies.

The beginnings of our vegetable garden. We had tomato seeds, and the packet called for starting the seeds inside before putting them out in the big wide world. I will track the progress of my wee little tomato plants for ya'll.

Have you ever seen such patchy grass? I scattered some grass seed down today, after diligently digging up the top 10cm of patchy soil so the grass will have somewhere to go. The trick now it to keep Oscar from patting it all down with his little dog feet.

The worst patch by far, this is between the porch and the fence, right next to the house. Essentially a no-sun zone, we'll see how the seed does.

My pride and joy of the day! I prepped our little garden for planting - turned over all the soil a good 10" down, pulled out the grass that was starting to grow there, and fenced it all in to keep Oscars and bunnies out. I worked up a good sweat doing this, you better appreciate it!

The little rock pathway was added after I realized that I couldn't use the whole space for a garden because I need access to the compost bin and the far side of the laundry line. Also, if I ever wanted to pick any of the veggies I grow, I would have to go traipsing through my nice neat garden. Pathway solves all of those problems! The rocks were sourced from a wicked pile of big-ass rocks that used to be stacked up against the tree in this picture. I found even more when I was turning over all the soil.

And finally, we're going to put out our bird houses this year! They're all lined up and ready for a coat of paint.

A post wouldn't be complete without a knitting recap:

Fuzzyhead's teatime socks, originally started during my business trip as something to do at the airport. I've ripped these little babies out twice, and I've decided to just go with a written and established pattern instead of being adventurous with my own design. Le sigh. Once I finish these, I'm hoping to get cracking on some yoga socks. I want to have a few pairs knitted up and ready to sell so I don't have to do custom orders for everything.

The very best knitting-related purchase I ever made! I bought a personalized rubber stamp for all of my knitted giftables. It says "Hand knitted with love by ". I got it from an etsy shop that does custom rubber stamps. I highly recommend it if you have $14 + shipping burning a hole in your pocket. I'll be putting this stamp on all of my yoga sock care instructions tags, and also any knitted gifts I feel like making this year.


I had a spinning fit a few weeks ago. I spun 100g of roving that I bought at the knitter's fair last fall, all in 2 days. And then I got really crazy and did the other 100g the next weekend. Now I have 200g (about 680 yards) of roughly DK weight yarn to play with. Any ideas?

Onward,

vrock

Not brand loyal, and proud of it!

Hello loves!

I've been inspired today. I sat in on a webinar this afternoon about wedding blogs and how to make them work for you (this is for the catering side of my life where I want desperately to appeal to all brides with moderate budgets), and it got me itching to do some bloggin'. I also spent my afternoon bookmarking national wedding blogs for future creeping/research about weddings. Appalling/outrageous fact: brides do most of their online research Monday-Wednesday from 9-5. What are your employers paying you to do?!

In the spirit of bookmarks, I wanted to share a short list of the websites you'll find on my bookmark list. These are all sites that I cruise over about once a week, sometimes more.

ravelry.com - duh, come on readers, of course this is on the list
bitchmagazine.org - as a supplement to my quarterly Bitch magazine which I love
yarnharlot.ca/blog - kind of a requirement for being a knitter, it's in the handbook
sandiwiseheart.wordpress.com - I saw Sandi at my very first Knitters' Guild meeting and I loved her
feministsforchoice.com - I found this little gem through a link from Bitch's site
goaskalice.columbia.edu - updated every Friday, I've been reading this since I was 13
apartmenttherapy.com - Fuzzyhead stumbled on this one in an effort to find design ideas for smaller spaces
postsecret.blogspot.com - I read this every Sunday, no exceptions
starbucksgossip.typepad.com - now that I'm no longer with the bux, this one keeps me up to date with the latest behind the scenes happenings

Just today I added 5 or 6 wedding blogs to the list, so we'll see how they stack up next to my usual reading list. My website list + standard Facebook time takes me about 45 minutes of computer time total each day, unless it's a heavy Ravelry day. I don't understand how anyone can spend more time than this on a computer.

In knitting, this little baby is my new Everest:

I'm finally taking a crack at Laminaria, using the lace weight yarn I bought at the Knitters' Fair in the fall. The yarn I have is a merino/seacell combination, without a brand name. I'm not 100% sure who I bought it from either, and the little label tied to the skein was less than informative.

My gauge swatch (what a good knitter I am!) for the star chart. I was really curious to see how the yarn and pattern would look on the needle size I chose. Before blocking, this swatch looked like a little loopy scrumple of fabric. Blocking is magical.

Slim Jim's completed yoga socks, hot off the press! Or rather, sitting on top of a laptop

Fuzzyhead's teatime socks, shamelessly "borrowed" from a Ravelry pattern I did not purchase; I counted stitches in the most close-up picture I could find and made up the rest. They're turning out a little big, so I might be ripping these back to start again, but Everest has totally taken over my knitting time right now.

Today is Taco Tuesday dear readers and the frying pan is calling my name. Happy mid-March to you all!

Onward,

vrock

Working up a nice sweaty glow

Hello lovelies! And a happy Family Day to you!

First, let's recap my recent knitting adventures:

Second knitting for hire project! These socks were requested by a woman I've never met, who attends the Thursday morning yoga class. I was subcontracted out by Sue, through email, with all of the lady's details, and I dropped these off to the studio last week. I've upped my price a wee bit, I'm now charging $30 a pair for hand knit yoga socks. I was out yarn shopping this weekend and realized that my deeply discounted yarn find at the Fair is not typical, and my pricing should reflect market value for the yarn at the very least. Also, I've realized that one 100g-ish ball of sock yarn yields two pairs of yoga socks. I just cut my costs by 50%! My original pair of yoga socks weigh in at 56.5g (thanks KnitPicks yarn scale, I love you), and the sock yarns I had were a generous 110+g each, and the numbers work out perfectly.

The pattern I used for these is from my toe-up sock book, just a simple scroll pattern. In my efforts to streamline yoga sock production, I've decided to do only a patterned front and do the back in simple stockinette.

Following in the footsteps of using half balls of yarn I already had, I've finally created a pair of socks for Slim Jim. This colour beautifully matches her yoga mat, and I chose a feminine hearts and flowers pattern for her socks. As of today, these are still a WIP, although I hope to finish them by the end of the week.

A quick detour back to early 2011 for the first pair of socks I've made for myself in a while. These socks feature Tanis Fibre Arts yarn, blue label, and Dead Simple Lace from Socks From the Toe Up

This little creature was finished last night for Fuzzy Head. He requested a netbook cozy for his precious little tiny laptop, and I whipped up a green orc in "kiwi" Lamb's Pride Bulky. The orc's giant underbite opens up to reveal a little netbook, safe and sound. I had a teensy bit of yarn leftover from Fuzzy's felted Christmas stocking 2 years ago, and I picked up some more at the Needle Emporium during a recent knitting field trip. I still need to add some kind of closure (Velcro, maybe snaps), and then he is complete for reals.

After I finished Slim Jim's yoga socks, I want to get back into some spinning. I picked up two 50g braids of roving from Spun Fibre Arts in Burlington, and I'm itching to get back on the wheel. Same thing with those two bags of roving from the Fair, they are destined to be something great, and I owe it to yarn to put my foot back on the treadle.

Also, I'm hoping to produce a dog coat this year for my beloved Oscar. I'm not sure if he'll wear one, but he looks like the kind of dog who can pull off big delicious cables in a natural colour.

Observe:

What a dreamboat.

And finally, I have hopes and dreams of making a sweater this year. I was truly inspired by Sanid Wiseheart in November when she spoke at my very first Knitters Guild meeting. She made knitting a sweater seem less daunting and overwhelming than I always imagined it, and above all, I want a sweater that will fit. She swears that that's a possibility too!

For now dear readers, I am off. I want to finish those yoga socks and move on to bigger and better things.

Onward,

vrock

That means he gets results you stupid chief!

Happy New Year lovelies! Fuzzyhead and I celebrated our own little New Year's with a teeny bottle of sparkling wine and back to back to back episodes of Sons of Anarchy season 2. We're totally party people. No official resolutions made, I like it better that way.

Since my last post, I've moved into a new house. Landlords are truly awful people, and they'll sell your home from right under you when you're not on a lease because it means making twice as much money selling two semis separately rather than selling them as a unit to another landlord and keeping the responsible tenants. Ugh, whatever, I've moved passed this - to this! Welcome to my new house readers:

The front entrance, complete with an Oscar guarding the front door. My front door opens right into my kitchen, so we made a small welcoming coat-hanging and key-setting-down area with a mirror to check your face before you leave the house.

The kitchen! It's tiny and awkward, and it isn't a clear winner over the last house's kitchen. Cons - the fridge is teeny weeny. It's apartment-sized to the max. Our Brita filter doesn't fit in it, and a simple week's worth of groceries make it look like it's going to burst at the seams. Also, the fridge door used to open the other way, as in you grabbed hold of the handle from the window side and opened toward the room. I fixed that with a little help from YouTube, the door now swings from the other hinge. Further more, my cupboards are outrageously high. You can't really see it until you try to reach something, but I'm a solid (and most completely normal) 5'5", and I had to bring in a stool to reach the second shelf of all of my cupboards. The stove and oven are now separate, which I hate. People: stop manufacturing, installing, and asking for ovens built into the wall. They suck. On the plus side, I now have a gas range, which I love. I fire-roast a mean pepper ladies and gents. Pros - I have more cupboard space overall, even if it was designed for 9' tall blue Avatar cats instead of normal people.

My living room! The purple couch from the bux found its way into our home (with a little help from Fuzzyhead's burly man-friends). You will notice, dear readers, that our home is covered in hardwood/laminate flooring now instead of the deeply trendy shag carpet that covered the old house from top to bottom. The lack of a dog hair sponge known as a carpet has meant daily sweeping for my poor little stay-at-home Fuzzy. His whining led to me buy a Roomba for Christmas. Cornelius does the sweeping for us now.

Another view of the living room. This little room we are now in is like a mudroom, but is a little too big, and feels like lost potential. Last night Fuzzy and I moved around some furniture to have it make more sense. Our big bookcase used to be in the mudroom simply because it was too big to get up the stairs in one piece. We bit the bullet and took it apart to move it to its rightful place in the office, which means that my knitting is now where it belongs on the main level.

Back of the house shot. This was taken in September when it was nice outside and the Muskoka chairs were in full swing on the back porch. We have a modest backyard with a fence to keep the dog contained, and a shed for storing outdoor tools.

My knitting station! This was very recently relocated to the mudroom area off the living room, and I have re-oriented the cubbies to sit vertically rather than horizontally to save floor space.

In other knitting news, I will sum up my knitting adventures of the last 4 months:

The Knitters Fair in September was an absolute hit. I scored myself some sale sock yarns, and a swift. I chose the tabletop swift rather than the umbrella style that I was eyeing on KnitPicks. I feel like the tabletop takes up less space and transports better. The whole thing comes apart into 4 pieces plus some dowels. I wind yarn like a champ now.

Two stories are told here readers. The first is that the yarn for these two pairs of socks came from the Fair, and were deeply discounted (score!). The second story is that these socks are my first knitting project for hire. I made yoga socks in the summer, and after wearing them to classes, making a sample pair for my instructor, and having him actively promote how awesome they are, someone actually asked me to make them some! These two pairs were for a lady in my Friday morning level 3 class and her friend. She originally approached me in early November with a request to have them for Christmas. No problem. I was working on Fuzzy's Christmas socks at the time, so I figured I'd churn these puppies out in a month. Totally wrong. I was right down to the wire with these, I finished the last sock on Sunday December 19 and gave them to her the next day. I made a cool $50 out of it though. My Monday night knitters tell me that isn't enough for two hand-knit pairs of yoga socks. Thoughts?

Hello Kassa. Guess who has a dog sweater? This people-eyed dog model is Slim Jim's dog baby. I originally made this sweater in 2 days in the summer. It was way too hot for her to actually where it until months later, so I didn't find out until October that the neck was too short. I picked up stitches around the neck and extended the turtleneck, problem solved.

I will leave you with this happy Christmas image of my little family. Fuzzyhead has heartlessly torn down Christmas from our house now, and this is a memory of happy times.

Happy New Year to one and all!

A coat to dream about

It’s picture time!
First up, pictures from my trip to 7th Heaven Alpaca Farm in June 2010.  Fuzzy Head came with me to watch the annual alpaca shearing. 
Holding down the first alpaca as they are finishing up and ready to flip the table back over.  We missed the real action, we came in just as they were finishing.

The yarn selection available to purchase.  Fuzzy Head is blocking the view of the yarn I ended up buying, pictured here:
This is a delightful alpaca blend.  The tag was mega confusing on these because the two skeins were tied together with one tag that says 245 yards and 4ish oz, so I assumed that between the two skeins, that’s what I was getting.  I weighed them only recently (when I got my yarn scale from Knit Picks, eeeeee!) and together they weigh just over 8 oz, so the tag was only for one of the skeins.  I’m not sure exactly how many yards I have, but I’m hoping to make a pair of mittens and possibly a hat, but we’ll see.


This little baby alpaca was available for petting, but kids kept getting in the way.  Kids ruin everything.

These fluffy ones were waiting in a barn for their turn, we left before we got to see them sheared.

This is the alpaca from the first picture, all naked and romping around in the field.
My newest baby:
Hello spinning wheel.  I love you.  You’ve easily doubled my spinning speed.  I powered through the rest of the bag of my rust coloured wool, which I have been working on since I learned to spin earlier this year.  I carded the last of it over a couple days when I saw how quickly I was going through it with the wheel.  Also pictured above is my yarn scale, on the little table next to the wheel.

This is my Alpaca Acres roving from Vixen, spun up over a weekend with my wheel, being turned into:
My very first handspun project!  I’ve got a few skeins of my other hand spun yarns, but this is the first thing I’ve made with something I made.  This will be a spiral cowl – a perfect little project for the amount of yarn I have.
Thinking about Christmas presents now.  Last year I was all about making gifts for everyone, and it nearly killed me.  I had to plan all year to get everything made in time, and I had no time to work on my own projects.  I would love to do that again, but I don’t have enough time now this year.  I’ve got a few small projects picked out for gifts, but not for everyone.  I’m trying to think of projects that are easy, that I could make for everyone, that they would get some use from.  My first thought was felted potholders, but I’m still thinking about it and I wouldn’t be doing it for this year’s gifts.  Any suggestions?  Christmas presents for extended relatives this year will be home made red pepper jelly.  I bought the canning jars last week and I’m just waiting for red peppers to come into season.
Happy knitting everyone!
Onward,
vrock