Posted by ann

I have to say that I did not do too much knitting this weekend. A few rows to be sure but in the overall scheme of things, very little.

After complaining that I was not in the mood to plant, I did a lot of planting! I think the truth of the matter was I was not in the mood to go plant shopping. I even managed to plant a bunch of vegetables. This is really saying something ….. when we first bought this house, we put in a really pretty vegetable/herb garden. I had visions of puttering hours away back there, having fabulous fresh produce and even dreamed of a little greenhouse. Somehow that vision became a bit blurred around mid-summer. The heat, the dirt, the bugs …… ugh. This went on for years. I would start the season with stars in my eyes and end it with a bunch of tomatoes rotting on the ground in a weed infested dirt patch that I would completely ignore since it is at the very back of our property and easy to not see.

A few years ago, I began to wonder how many vegetables I could buy at the roadside stand for the amount of money I was shelling out each spring. The last straw came two seasons ago, when I caught my dogs actually eating the tomatoes from the vine! They were wandering amongst the plants having a feast. They did everything but ask me for a little salt to go with. So I let the idea of a veggie garden go, planted one patio tomato in a pot last year and that was that. No more guilt and it was all good.

Fast forward to this weekend …… as I was pulling my little wagon around the local nursery, something came over me and I brought home two types of tomatoes along with a pack of cucumber and zucchini! Was it being surrounded by all the earthy smells? Seeing the sweet little plants in their pots? being amongst gardeners? Who can say, but I thought ‘let me try this one more time’. I did not however spring for the expensive plants, the bigger ones with the heirloom titles in their fancy cardboard boxes. I simply grabbed a cell pack of each. My humble hopes for a veggie garden will only cost a bit of sweat equity. And there were indeed a number of back breaking hours in the garden trying to conquer the weeds and turn in some compost. But things are looking lovely now and I am not quite vowing, but making earnest public intentions to keep after it this summer. And if I keep a careful vigil, perhaps I will beat my mutts to the harvest!

5_may_29_4

I snapped this picture on the way back from the veggie garden – I never noticed how pretty at sunrise.
(probably because I’ve never been out there at sunrise …… the things I do for the blog!)

Happy Memorial Day!

Posted by ann

Poe says the pool is open, c’mon over!

Today I need to haul my arse to a nursery and get some plants for my pots. I am way, way behind on this task – I am usually a risk taker and have this done before Mother’s Day! It seems with every year household things that I used to enjoy are becoming more and more chores – I am ready for assisted living! I think I will plant some of these pots with hardy perennials in order to cut down on the sheer numbers involved in this yearly endeavor.

Yesterday I got back to work on the Hex Coat. After the color and splash of Larger than Life Bag, all that moss stitch seems okay. Peggy helped decide on a good length and I am ready to tackle the two front pieces again. I had become paralyzed over length decisions and when I got to that point on the first front piece, I put it on hold and moved on to the second front piece. Then when I got to the same place again, I put that one on hold and started a sleeve! The time was right for making a move otherwise I would have ended up with half a sweater.

I hope you have a wonderful, long weekend – with lots of sunny skies!

Holy Hannah – I almost forgot again! ~oink~

what to do when Granny’s side panel won’t fit ….

Posted by ann

some tips for making and seaming in the side/bottom band …….. this was a bit difficult for me since I had trouble ‘reading’ my crocheting. The pattern says to repeat three rows 43 times for a total of 137 rows. I think I got pretty close to the mark, but wasn’t sure. Once you are done with the band, you are instructed to single crochet along both edges. This will give them a neater edge which is what you want since those edges will show on the right side of the finished bag.

Here’s what I did:

Work the band until you’ve got it as close as you think you’ll need. Remember, this band needs to go down both short sides and along the bottom edge of the side panels. like this
When you work the side edges of the band, work them in the direction of the crochet – start where you started the band and end where you ended.
Only work one side to begin with.
Now go about attaching this side to the first granny square side panel. Remember to begin seaming it at the beginning edge of the panel …. this way when you get to the end, if you have too much, you can easily rip, and likewise if you have too little you can add more.
Then proceed to do the single crochet edge for the other side (this has a wrong side/right side which you will be able to tell by the raised ridge where it joins).
Now seam the other side to the second of the granny square side panels.

now comes the part where I need to break out the sewing machine and work a lining. I have a stash of fabric from some time spent flirting with quilting and home decorating – I will have to go through it and see if there is anything I can use. I also read the directions a bit last night and it turns out they call for a zipper too. Gah!! Zippers are my sewing Mt. Everest. stay tuned for further gnashing of the teeth.

on to the pig of the day

Posted by ann

Thank you to Flair for taking over blogging duties for a day. She is right when she says that posting a chore list was scraping the bottom of the barrel! You will be happy to hear I did manage to make it through most of that list, except for the car washing. I replaced that with a pool vaccuuming and drove the car to a car wash yesterday. Little Onslow was absolutely filthy and it was bringing me down just to be in the car. Yes, I am a head case – if things are in too much disarray or filth, I get emotionally unhinged.

Here’s a look at both sides of my Larger than Life Bag. I copied Vicki and decided to do a border around all of the individual squares in addition to the outer border that the pattern calls for. I am now working on the panel that goes between the two sides. It is a pattern repeat of a row of single crochet, then a row of double crochet and then another single crochet. Since I am new to crochet, it is very challenging for me to ‘read’ the fabric — if I put it down, it takes awhile to figure out which row I have just completed and what needs to come next. I am enjoying it though – hope I can say the same once it’s time to sew the lining!

pig of the day
pug of the day