In the time warp, otherwise known as May, I knit another little Baby Surprise Jacket for a friend’s daughter. I blocked it last weekend but with all of the rain we’ve been having lately it took forever to dry. Now it’s ready to send off to mom and baby. I was glad to finally have something to use with this Cotton 100 yarn. It’s been languishing in the stash for quite a while and is perfect for kids sweaters. I just needed the perfect sweater that fit the amount of yarn that I had.

pattern: Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmermann from The Knitting Workshop
yarn: Berocco Cotton 100 in 9208 (Lavender) from stash
needles: size 7 bamboo
started: April 30, 2008
finished: May 9, 2008

This morning, I finally planted a few plants we bought at the farmer’s market last weekend. With the roofers around for several days, I wasn’t about to go out and try to pot anything for fear of being hurt by falling shingles. I fear we may have lost one of our cilantro plants but the gerbera daisies and peppers are still doing well. The lettuce came already potted so it was just a matter of hanging it up in the back. I was excited to see that the mint I planted last year is doing quite well. Ooh, mint tea!

It’s been a while since I last blogged and I’ve been busy. The summer isn’t the perfect time to blog, plus there are so many other things I’d rather be doing than sitting inf front of the computer.

The garden is growing well, I eventually lost the cherry tomato to a critter. I had to move the lavender into a pot and am sprinkling pepper flakes on the soil to keep the critters from eating more of the lavender. Two of the plants are finally coming back, two died, one of the surviving plants is a replacement for a dead lavender plant. The cilantro went nuts and we’ve enjoyed a lot of salsa made with our own cilantro. The flavor of our own cilantro is much more intense than store bought since it’s freshly picked. Since the cilantro grew so fast, I decided to buy some seeds and have managed to get little cilantro plants growing in the kitchen that I’ll transplant outside later on. We’re patiently waiting for our tomato plants to produce tomatoes and for our little green peppers to grow up to be big beautiful bell peppers. The basil has gone crazy too and is huge. Sort of makes me want to plant huge pots of herbs next year or a huge herb garden when we finally are able to buy a house.

I’ve been sewing a lot lately. Since my last post I’ve made two skirts and two canvas bags, similar to the one I made for my friend that was shown in the last post. Each bag seems to get more involved and I love the last one I made for S. She gave me the fabric and I made the bag for her this week. It’s so cute and I love the bicycles. She also gave me these beautiful Amy Butler fabrics that I might to make into a skirt similar to this one, but I haven’t decided quite yet.

About two weeks ago another friend had a baby, it’s the fourth of six babies born to our friends this year. I decided I couldn’t work on another baby blanket right now so I decided to make my first baby quilt. With all of the babies being born and all of the babies needing gifts, I decided this might be a quick route to go since the baby was born last week. S helped me pick out the fabrics and is going to hold my hand in the piecing together of this quilt. I just have to have faith in myself that I can do this. It’s not going to be difficult, I just keep finding ways to distract myself because I’m so afraid of messing up a very simple block quilt. Last night as I was piecing the strips together, I realized that I cut my middle block too small, so I’m going to remedy that tomorrow by just buying a new piece of fabric for the middle block and cutting it to fit what’s already pieced together.

As you’ve probably guessed my knitting has been a bit stagnant over the last three weeks. I’m 16 of 36 garter ridges into the last blocks along the edge of the Moderne Baby blanket and I’m trying to make myself knit about two ridges (four rows) a day. I haven’t thought of counting the stitches because four rows takes almost an hour to knit while watching tv, plus it’s been so warm and muggy that wool on the legs is not the most pleasant thing.

Last week, I decided it was time to get started on the another baby item. It’s currently a secret baby project since I know the mom reads my blog. She’s due in late August so I hope to get that project finished by then. Until she receives it, it will have to remain the secret baby project.

I’ve also been working on my summer reading. Last summer I read 16 books between Memorial Day and Labor Day. This year I started my summer reading earlier since my summer ends a few weeks before Labor Day with the start of school. So far I’ve already read six books. One of them I feel I completely need to spread the word about. The book is The Girls by Lori Lansens. It’s a wonderful book about a pair of conjoined twins who are about to turn 30. I’ve loved so many books I’ve read since the beginning of the year but this one sticks with me. Somehow I completely identified with these women and just loved their story. If you’re looking for a great book to read that you probably haven’t heard about, this is definitely one to check out.

Lately, I’ve been neglecting my knitting for a few things that are a bit more cool temperature-wise. It’s been nice and warm around here with some lovely humidity thrown in with a rain shower here and there to cool things off. Dirt, flowers and herbs have been one of my distractions. This year, I’ve planted two tomatoes (one has already become a snack for a friendly neighborhood critter), peppermint, two arugula plants, a bell pepper, two cilantro plants which have gone insane and are more beautiful than the cilantro at the store, basil moved from the kitchen pot to the outside pot, two gerbera daisies, three lavendar plants (also critter snack but coming around), I was given a cherry tomato by a friend (another snack which sadly may not recover) and I’ve moved the jade plant from the kitchen to the front porch. I have so many plants this year that it’s been hard to name them all. Mrs. Tomato was such a wonderful tomato plant last year. I think the tomato plants this year will have to be named soon to do as well. So I’ve been busy over the last two weekends planting and repotting all of these plants. I still have to plant a hosta that we “won” at a retirement party last week from the Champaign-Urbana Herb Society. My plan is to plant it with it’s pot in the ground so that when we move I can take her with us.

Sunday after a hard rain, I decided it was a perfect time to get out and plant my lavender plants that had been pelted by the rain running off of our gutters over the front porch. It was the perfect time to be out in the dirt, it was soft and slightly muddy, I expected it to be more muddy but I guess we’re desperate for the rain. The lavender is definitely happy in it’s new home alongside a yellow day lily that’s already there. At first I was worried about planting the lavender in the ground since I didn’t have the landlord’s permission but then my good friend S said, “Are they going to get mad for you making the place look nice?” She’s right. The daisies are beautiful on the front porch and really make the place feel like home. Now if I could just get the neighborhood critters to stay out of our bell pepper and tomato plants. Fortunately, they don’t like the cilantro or basil. Last week, Bryan said he saw a squirrel standing on its hind legs on his bike seat, which is right under one of the arugula plants. I’m sure it’s the same squirrel that entertains George at the kitchen window.

Another distraction from knitting is my sewing machine. In the last month, I’ve made a few smaller things such as two vintage bunnies and a bag for a friend and her daughters from Romantic Home Sewing by Christina Strutt. Friday I planned to start on a skirt that I’d bought fabric for back in March. At the fabric store another fabric caught my eye and had several times before. It’s the perfect fabric for a cute easy summer skirt and it was deeply on sale. Can’t beat a $3 skirt. I think the thread cost more than the fabric. Friday and part of Saturday, I made four muslin skirts trying to get everything just right before I cut into my cute skirt fabric. My grandmother taught me that muslin will save you many heartaches when sewing. Finally after a lot of tweaking, I was able to cut out my skirt on Sunday morning and had it almost completely finished by Sunday evening, except for the hem. It survived a day at work and is a bit rumpled in the photo. Of course, I couldn’t have done the waistband without the help of S. She saved my life. Monday evening, she completely surprised me with an sewing related early half-birthday present. She said she had some sewing notions for me. I figured something small to make life easier, I had no idea that she’d have a rotary cutter, mat and straight edge for me. I’ve never received a half-birthday present, but I could definitely get used to it if I had to.

Tuesday it was back to normal life after four days off and this week I hope to get some knitting done to finish the Moderne Baby blanket. I’m 15 garter ridges into the bottom blocks, which are 36 ridges long, then it’s 18 long ridges along the right hand side before I’m finished. It’s a beautiful blanket and once again, I’ve amazed myself. I love that feeling of “Wow” that I still get with so many knitting projects, even the most simple patterns, it’s part of what keeps me knitting. I had that feeling with my skirt this weekend and it will definitely keep me sewing.

I know I mentioned this in my last post but I’ve really come to terms with how I want my blog to move forward. I thought about it for almost three weeks and decided that it’s going to be about sharing what life brings and sharing my projects. My grandfather (G-pa) reads this nearly everyday, he’s one of my biggest fans and my biggest reason for continuing. There are no expectations any more, when the mood strikes me I’ll post. It may not seem different to all of you but to me it’s very freeing and a more relaxed feeling toward the blog.

After a very long day yesterday, the phone rang at 9:39 AM this morning I figured it was the library asking me to come in earlier today. Instead it was the circulation manager who is just back from vacation calling. She asked me if I was still interested in the hourly circulation position that I interviewed for last week. I said, “Definitely” trying to keep my cool and not scream in her ear. The scream came after I hung up. She wants me to start soon so I may be starting as early as next week, it all depends on how we can work the schedule out with my shelving manager, who will now be a co-worker. I had a few clues that I might have the position when my manager said something about she and the circ manager comparing schedules but I didn’t want to set myself up for disappointment. Going into work this afternoon will be even sweeter than yesterday where I was watching the clock all day. I had expected the circ manager to be back yesterday and it made for a very long day when she wasn’t.

For some knitting content, I cranked out two more baby bibs for a man at work whose wife is having a baby in a few weeks. He’s leaving the library for another job and his last day was yesterday so I started the first one on Monday and finished the second one Thursday night. He and his wife loved them. I made the blue one adjustable by putting two button holes in the strap.

Mrs. Tomato is doing well. Thursday night we had some big thunderstorms, much to George’s dismay. Yesterday morning, Bryan was looking out the window at Mrs. Tomato and noticed that one of her tomatoes (the one on the right) that was just starting to ripen was lying on the ground. He went out, checked it out and realized it probably fell during the storms but it had a quite a few bites taken out of it. Another little creature wanted to share in some of Mrs. Tomato’s goodness so what else could he/she do than to eat part of the lovely tomato sitting on the ground. We thought it was funny but I’m sorry that we lost our largest tomato yet to storms and a curious, hungry little creature.

Sunday was a very exciting day around our house, we picked the first baby tomato from Mrs. Tomato. Last night, we picked the second tomato. All of her babies are coming along quite well. I can’t believe how many baby tomatoes she has on her right now. In all, she has 10 babies, two of which have been picked. Now we have two of the babies ripening on the kitchen window sill. The first one will be ripe enough to eat tomorrow. I can’t believe that with some watering and love, I can grow tomatoes. A few weeks ago, the wind knocked over the tomato pot and I was heartbroken when I noticed that the oldest tomato’s branch was broken, but not completely broken off. I took some rags and made a sling for the branch hoping that it wouldn’t hurt the tomato and I was so proud to see the tomato survive and be the first one to turn red. A few weeks ago when a few of the leaves at the bottom started to turn yellowish-brown, I was worried but was reassured by several people that their tomato plants do that, too. (The bottom photo was taken just before the first tomato was picked. This was the first baby tomato that appeared on the vine in mid-June.)
update July 27, 2006 - We ate the first baby tomato last night on our pizza and it was scrumptious. I see tomato, red pepper and basil sandwiches in our future today to eat the second and third (I picked it this morning) tomatoes.

The log cabin blanket is nearly finished. On Sunday, I finished the last stripe and started on the border. By Sunday night, I had finished the first edge of the border and had started the second edge of the border. I’m knitting the border as they describe it in Mason-Dixon Knitting, where you pick up one edge of stitches and knit them increasing on the right-side rows to make a “picture frame” effect. The first border edge looks really great and I know that the rest of it will look great too. I’m waiting until it’s all finished before I take another photo.

This past weekend was a quiet one, I got a lot of knitting done and some reading. Yesterday, I finished yet another book called The Minister’s Daughter by Julie Hearn. This book is another Young Adult novel and is about two girls in England in the mid-1600s, one who is a “healer” and the other is a minister’s daughter who accuses the “healer” girl of being a witch. It was a really fascinating book and I had a hard time putting it down when I first started reading it on Thursday. It also sparked my interest once again about the Salem Witch Trials, I was so fascinated by them when I was in junior high and high school. Several years ago, I saw a program called Secrets of the Dead II — Witches Curse on PBS about how a lot of the hallucinations of the people who accused others of being witches were actually caused by eating fungus-infested rye. One thing that the author of The Minister’s Daughter observed is that a lot of the women who accused others of being witches were minister’s daughters themselves. Very interesting.

update July 27, 2006 - I most likely won’t hear about the job until at the earliest tomorrow.

Goodness, where has June gone? It seems just the other day it was June first and now it’s June 29 with July first right around the corner. At the end of each month, I tend to think, what have I done this month?

Before I forget, Bryan thanks you for the birthday well-wishes. It was quite a birthday. With some birthday money, he’s anxiously awaiting his big gift of a keyboard that hooks up to the computer so he can compose his own music.

So here’s a bit of a recap (these are mostly things I didn’t blog about before):
My dad turned 65 early in the month and retired a day after his birthday. Although he still had a business trip through the end of the following week, neither he nor my mother seemed to complain too much about having to spend a few days in Savannah, Georgia. Now he has more time than he knows what to do with. I think he’s feeling a bit overwhelmed with all of the projects he has planned and just doesn’t know where to start, with each item on his list, there is its own list.

I’ve worked quite a few hours this month, I worked on the trace list trying to find books that patrons had returned but we couldn’t find in the library, not a good thing, but when I found one it felt like a mini celebration.

T was in town for a few days in the middle of the month for her last on-campus day for library school. She’s a full-fledge Librarian with a capital “L” in August. To think she was just starting the program when we got married, boy, time flies.

One of my big accomplishments for the month was reading four books in four weeks, it may not be a lot for some people but it’s an accomplishment for me. I hope to continue the trend into the rest of the summer. Here are the books I read: Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld, Matilda by Roald Dahl, The Man of My Dreams by Curtis Sittenfeld and Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins. I started The Slightly True Story of Cedar B. Hartley by Martine Murray on Sunday and it’s quite entertaining so far. In recent months, I’ve become very interested in young adult books. They are a fast read but also there is a part of me that would really like to be a young adult librarian.

I also made a slew of cards for birthdays and Father’s Day. Most of them are posted on my cards page.

When I didn’t have my nose in a book, I was knitting. I feel like I haven’t done a lot of knitting and I’m still plugging away on the Log Cabin blanket (see “artsy” photo above). Looking back at previous posts, I realized that I have knit quite a bit and I’ve actually made some progress on the blanket too. My knitting accomplishments have been on some instant gratification projects such as baby bibs and washcloths, for the count, I’m at four washcloths and three baby bibs for the month. Last week, I finished my third of four baby bibs for two baby showers in July and started a washcloth for Bryan’s birthday. In October, I bought some Blue Sky Alpaca’s Organic Cotton yarn to make basic washcloths for us. Then after I knitted the other “Ball Band washcloths” from Mason-Dixon Knitting, Bryan decided that he wanted his washcloth to be in that same pattern. I learned quite early on when the yarn broke while I was casting on that maybe this organic cotton yarn isn’t well suited for washcloths. But did I immediately stop knitting the washcloth, nope, I worked with it a bit more thinking that the yarn breaking was a fluke. As I worked with it more I quickly realized, this yarn is definitely not suited for washcloths. Now I have two beautiful balls of organic cotton yarn that I have no idea what to do with. They each have about 150 yards and I don’t want to add another two balls of yarn to the potential scarf pile. I think the organic cotton is better suited to something delicate that won’t get a lot of agitation.

I’ve also gotten a bit back into spinning, the weather seems to effect my spinning mood more than anything else. When it’s too hot to knit, I certainly don’t feel like spinning, which seems like it should be the opposite. There are days that I feel like I’ve been spinning on the pink “cotton candy” yarn for ages but in reading my previous posts, I realized that it’s only been a few weeks. I’m nearing the end of the “cotton candy” fiber so I can start on it’s mate the bright pink fiber. Or if I’m really feeling adventurous, I’ll cable the Lemondrop yarn that I “replied” a few weeks ago.

It’s been cool in the evenings the last several days and we’ve been enjoying them as much as possible by going for walks and bike rides. Last night, I was tired but the mood to bake bread snagged me. So I baked some focaccia loaves with rosemary and olive oil. We haven’t tried them yet but I’m sure they’ll be very good. Even with it being a bit cooler out, having the oven on at 450° made the kitchen unbearable to be in.

Finally, for those anxiously awaiting news on Mrs. Tomato. Her babies are doing well. I found two teeny new ones yesterday when I went to water her, they are about the size of a green pea. The largest baby tomato is getting to be the size of a plum. We should have tomatoes to eat very soon! Our lettuce plants are still producing enough lettuce for us to have a salad or two each week. It’s so satisfying to pick some lettuce and then eat it in a salad.

Like I’ve mentioned before I go through phases where I just don’t want to near the computer for more than five minutes at a time. This summer has been one of those. First it was no A/C, then it was interesting books and now it’s those silly, easy, cute garter stitch projects. But today I’m reviewing some of the blogs that are part of the Midwest Knitters blog ring that I manage and I thought, I’m reading all of these other blogs, I want to post something. So here’s my something.

My fears of ending up with a dud tomato plant went out the window last Thursday when I went out to water Mrs. Tomato. She and Miss Oregano have been having a grand old time hanging out in the sun all day and that day I noticed a teeny tiny baby tomato. The baby tomato was probably about 1/4″ (0.65 cm) in diameter.

I was so excited that when I came in the house I told Bryan, “Mrs. Tomato is expecting.” He laughed and looked at me like I had grown a third head for the moment then I explained that Mrs. Tomato has a baby tomato growing. Now there are four baby tomatoes growing with the largest being about an inch (2.5 cm) in diameter. Mrs. Tomato herself has grown more than six inches in the last two weeks.

Sunday, I finished the second of two dishcloths from leftover yarn from the baby bibs. I also finished and started another color block on the log cabin blanket. It’s coming along slowly but surely and I hope to be finished with it in about two weeks. I’m not going to hold my breath, though. As soon as I’m finished with the second set of baby bibs and my obsession with dishcloths settles down a bit, I’ll be able to finish this blanket. Of course, with this dishcloth obsession, I’m tempted to get out the organic cotton yarn that I bought for Bryan and I last fall and knit us some nice washcloths. So much yarn, so little time.

Somewhere in all of this, I’ve managed to get a little bit of spinning time in. Getting my feel for the merino and tencel again took a bit of time but now it’s moving along a bit. On Guenny, my Ashford Traveller, I don’t spin quite as fast as I did on the Lendrum, but I have fewer problems than I used to. I think I’ve just become a more cautious spinner in both good and bad ways. Part of it is getting used to a new wheel and part of it is paying more attention to the yarn that I’m spinning.

Happy Summer Solstice. May the longest day of the year be wonderful. I always feel like there is something magical about the longest day of the year. It’s sort of sad though, now we’ll be losing a couple minutes of sunlight each day until December 21.