So today I had a full day before my day really started. I had to start work @ 10.30am but had a number of things to complete before then. The main thing was that I had to go to the St. John's Farmers' Market pick up my plant order from The Organic Farm. I just purchased some Tomato and Pepper plants. They have some great varieties I also had to go water my spot in the McMorran Community Garden and put my new tender seedlings in the greenhouse.

I also drove my GF to work so that I could have the car to run my errands. I think I was not quite on the ball when I left the house . I was chatting to a friend @ the Market and she asked me if I was trying to start a fashion trend. She told me to look down.

Yup, fashion trend indeed.

It may not look it but things are progressing nicely here in the community garden. Everything that needs to be planted, is planted. Things are sprouting and growing  including the weeds lol. Really the only things left are the Zucs and Pumpkins. Right now they are hanging out in the green house waiting to be planted out. Last year I lost my Zuc's and Pumpkins July 3rd to cold weather. So I'm going to wait another week and plant 2 plants of each outside keeping 2 of each aside in the greenhouse just in case. If the weather holds out and they don't die, then I'll plant out the others.

potato
onion
carrot
parsnip
kale
cabbage
broccoli
beet
turnip greens
lettuce
garlic
tomato(greenhouse)
strawberries
peppers(greenhouse)
Cucumber(greenhouse)

That's it so far. I do also have some rescued Rhubarb that seems to be struggling along. Someone ripped it out of their garden last year and threw it on the compost pile. So I rescued some plants for my garden. Since they really were ripped out, the roots were damaged. So if this year it just struggles along, that;s ok. I won't pick any of the stalks. I'll let it build itself up.

Sock mastery is coming along as well. I've started on another pair. I have finally gotten the toe up cast on mastered!!! Poor Amy from my knitting group must have shown me about 50x the other day. Turns out I was doing it backwards and that's what was messing me up.

Wow, the weather is so changing here. I know that the phrase of " Don't like the weather? Wait 15 minutes." is common here but yesterday was in the high 20's. This morning I was @ the garden, the sun was shining and it was HOT. I watered the bejebus out of the seedlings afraid they would die in the sun. Right now, 3 hours later, it's freeezing and overcast. I'm hoping they don't just keel over from the cold!!!!!

So far in the garden, I have carrot,onions,beets,peas,potatoes,parsnips and, thanks to my fellow community gardener in the next  plot, red cabbages. Tomorrow the kale, turnip greens,lettuce and broccoli will go in. This weekend, I hope to get the tomatoes and cucumbers planted in the green house. I'm so cautious about planting. I'm going to grow pumpkins and zucchini but I'm too afraid to put them out yet. Last year I lost the pumkin and zucchini plants to cold weather on the 3rd of July!! I'm just going to keep them in the greenhouse for another week or 2 and then listen to the local weather report everyday until the beginning of July. I've got some old sheets ready to cover them with if necessary.

PS:  5 minutes has passed since I started this post and now the clouds have blown away and it's sunny again. ARG! I love it here but this weather drives me around the bend!!!!

where has summer gone!

May was sooo promising. Warm weather, sunny days. Now!!!!!!!!! R D F. The only good thing about it is that I don`t have to water the garden everyday. I really wish that the Sun would come back! I don`t mind watering that much.

Good Glod! Almost 2 weeks without posting. It's been a couple of busy weeks, that's for sure. I still working away @ knitting socks. It's a little slow going but I am working on my 3rd pair this month :) Hoping to have them done by this weekend so I can start a pair with the wool I just got from Knit Picks.


I've also been plugging away @ our community garden plot. Tammy tilled it last Wednesday. It's the 1st time either one of us used a tiller. It was a little scary I have to say. Every now and then it would sorta take off on you. Hilarious. We started setting up the rows. This was the 1st one. More has been done but I haven't taken a pic yet.There's garlic and rhubarb down there on the left hand side far corner and on the right is our water barrel and our potato condo. Both empty for now. We'll be planting potatoes and filling up the barrel this weekend .

Whoa.....long time between posts. Still here, still knitting. I'm on a sock kick right now. Just ordered a pair of Blundstones. I bought a pair for Tammy for Yule and did so much research and heard such good things, I had to get a pair for myself,lol so I'm knitting socks to wear in my blunnies. All my store bought socks are low cut so I need some slightly higher ones. Weather here is nice. Some RDF but lots of nice sunny days too. Hope we have a great warm summer this year, I gots plans. Swimming in real water plans. Outdoor adventure plans. Geo-caching plans. We'll see how it goes.

Ok, the week of haiku was kinda a fail. I made up many haikus while falling asleep but had forgotten them by the morning. I am going to try to do a haiku bomb tomorrow to make up for it all. Well in fact it won't be tomorrow bc it is after midnight but you know what I mean. :)

Alrighty, it's the morning. Haiku Bomb it is.

winds howling outside
warm woolen comfort inside
want warmth outside too

waters a running
trickling dripping down the rock
spring is in full swing

needles click-clacking
making warmth from woolen fleece
adding love to work

crows caw neath window
murders outside looking black
shining feathers gleem

On the Knitting front, I've been wrapping up all kinds of projects. Working in ends,darning,fixing . I'm planning on making some socks. Several pairs I hope. Wanted to get all the little things out of the way 1st. I also knit some booties and a hat for a friend who just had a baby. They're verra cute. I'll post a pic after I have given them to her.

Seagull circling Angel like on pure white wings Distance belies truth Day 3 haiku, just squeezing in before midnight :)

Ok, day 2 haiku. Needles click softly Baby booties made with care Keep little feet warm Ok, a stretch I know. I figure that the process is what matters. I'm also going back to the gym this week. After all winter and my stay @ home job , I need to shake off the cobwebs. Wish me luck.

So, I decided that all this week I would try a haiku a day. Talking all day long Wishing for silences gone When will quiet reign? I know, it's crappy but working in a call centre DOES make quiet a precious commodity. Maybe tomorrows will be better,lol.

I really REALLY need to get a camera. My crocus have finally come up and bloomed. I wanted to post a pic and realized that I only have my crappy point and click. Our good camera died last year, ruined by a thunderstorm while we were out geocaching. On the knitting front, I finished Tammy's sweater. Just need to block it. I'm working on some toe up socks. They're only about the 5th or 6th pair I've ever made. I've always had a mental block about them. I'm determined to finish these this week and start another pair. I want to knit myself a few pairs before I start on a new sweater.

so last night I was working on the neck of tammy's sweater. you know, THE sweater. The sweater is all knit and assembled except for the neck. I have 2 rows left and then just the bind off. I left it on the coffee table. One of the cats knocked it off the coffee table and then threw up on it.......... this sweater is going to get finished ..........if it kills me.............which it might.

So, tomorrow is the opening exhibit for Operation Homespun:The Next Generation.

 Operation Homespun was a book that was complied in the 70's. It was complied because the authors of the book were afraid that with modern times, no one would want to knit with wool. Or even know how to. That these traditional patterns and charts would be lost to time. Miss Anna Templeton was a great advocate of keeping Newfoundland traditions alive, especially our crafting heritage. She was instrumental in the production of this book.

 The book was re-released  2 years ago. Never was I more excited about the release of a knitting book. I remember going to the NL book section @ the MUN Library and painstakingly photocopying every single page. Now, I do not advocate photocopying books/patterns. I will only copy a pattern to use as a carrying copy so I don't have to lug a book around. This book was not available anywhere. No one I knew had a copy. I searched high and low, could not find it. I had my name down @ all the used bookstores that if a copy ever came in it was mine. So of course the minute it became available again, I had to have a copy. I hope this book never goes out of print again.

Here's a pic of a pair of trigger mitts in progress that I made for my friend James with the (at the time) newly released Operation Homespun Book.

Today I was reading a blog I frequent, I'm Mad and I Eat and saw that her tag line is "Santorum doesn't know he's the Antichrist". I nearly spit my latte over the screen. It's true that I am in Canada so American politics doesn't usually impact me directly. Some aspects of foreign policy may filter down to my day to day level but in general it doesn't. BUT. I can't help but worry about Rick Santorum. He scares me. It's not even his extreme right wing aka social conservative politics. It's just he really seems oblivious to it all. He REALLY doesn't know he's the Antichrist.

This was our weather for the last 2 days. A beautiful sheath of ice over everything. Made for some slippery walking conditions and driving down the road when a huge piece of ice comes adrift from power lines was quite scary. Still, all in all it wasn't a bad Sheilah's Brush. Hopefully spring will be here soon.

I am so not a morning person. Everyone who knows me, knows this. That being said I work morning shifts @my job so that I can get it done as early as possible. Now that the clock has "sprung" forward and the days are getting longer, I'm actually enjoying getting up in the morning. I've even been going to the gym in the mornings before work. It's been awhile but I am determined to go. Having a desk job makes it easy to turn into Jabba the Hut. So I'm gyming it up. Wish me luck ;)

Thank Glod the super freezing cold temps are over for now. The sun is shining and it's +6 outside. WOOT! I know spring isn't really here and in fact , Sheila's Brush is exactly 2 weeks away from today. I can't help hoping that for this year, all the major snow and cold weather is almost done. I can already see the little tops of my crocus bulbs shooting up some little green bits but I think they are rushing it a bit.

Did you LOVE the film Up? Well I did and I found this awesome photo series. National Geographic decided to recreate the house from Up flying away on a bouquet of balloons. Isn't it amazing? Go check out the website. That ain't no toy sized house!!

Bord av gamla golvplankor

I really,REALLY love this table. Makes me want to run out to a lumberyard and pick up some wood,lol.

Lately, I am completely obsessed with decorating blogs. I really liked the images on this one today. Clean lines, neutral colours and verra little clutter. So different from my home right now but I'm feeling the urge to make changes. Maybe it is Spring, even though it is so cold here Spring feels a long ways away.



I know it is only February but I feel like Spring is on the way, WOOT! The days are noticably longer, the cats are shedding and the crocus were starting to sprout(until they got buried by snow again). I cannot wait.

On the knitting front, I am almost done my GF's sweater. I know,I know - I should have been done long ago. I blame it on angry birds and dwelling gawker,lol. I'm about 1/2 way up the sleeves. I knit some alreadt today and if work stays it Sunday slow pace, I'll definitely get some more done today. I'll post a pic when I am done.