Thursday, April 30, 2009

A Dirndl for Every Girndl


Just too much fun happens when I'm with my friends.

We went to the Farmer's Market in our dirndls on Saturday, just cause. Everyone should wear one, they are dang comfy.
We had a lot of confused people try to figure out what we were all about.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Veggies and Plants

The garden continues to grow.

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The mesclun seems to be thriving the best out of all the seeds I planted, but there are signs of life from the spinach and peas. It's hard at this point to determine the weeds vs seedlings. Good thing the rest of the plants will be added as established seedlings in a couple weeks. The weeds are determined to make a foothold in the bed again. Not on my watch.

I created a new flower bed over the weekend. I went to the Farmer's Market and visited my favorite local grower, The Vagary. P and I want more planting beds in our yard. We have so many weeds that it makes sense to start from scratch in many places, or just throw down weed barrier and pile on the dirt. The new bed is next to the back walk and will eventually extend across the entire side fence both inside and out.

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I think it will look great when the plants fill in. All are perennials and all are graded for part shade as the sun is blocked by the maple tree in this spot.

Lady's mantel
ladys mantel

Palace Purple
purple palace
Snowdrop
snowdrop

Sweet woodruff
sweet woodruff
Toad Lily
toad lily


They should vary in height from 1-2 ft and should self propogate. I'll be interested in seeing how it looks by the end of summer. I'm going to rip out the rest of the weeds and grass along the remaining length and throw down mulch, perhaps some seeds. If the budget allows for some more plants, I'll do that.

The bulbs in the perennial bed are slowing down and the rest of the plants are starting to flesh out. I cut a bunch of daffodils and put them in a vase in the kitchen. This afternoon we are expecting thunderstorms.

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Friday, April 24, 2009

Growing things are growing...

daffodils

Just in time for the temp to plummet back to the 40's and a rainy weekend.

The seeds that I planted a week ago Monday are coming up.

Mesclun
lettuce

The spinache, beets and sunflowers are also coming along, but very faint.

The cherry tree has some lovely buds as does the apple.

cherry

I think we will see the Lilac bushes fully leafed out in another 2 weeks.

Lilacs

Monday, April 20, 2009

Arietta body is complete

I finished the right side of the sweater on Thursday and washed and blocked all three pieces before heading to MO on Friday. They are dry and ready to weave in ends and assemble, which I think I will do at Fiber night this evening.

I saw a few weeds in the garden bed that will need attending to.

P put down weed killer on the lawn while I was gone. Yay!

I started the sleeves for the sweater on Thursday and I am past the cuffs.

I have started knitting the heel flap on Ariel's stockings.

Calontir was way fun this weekend and I hope people were not too bored in my class. I really need to explore my subject further and knit up more examples. The Silk Stockings did get a chance to meet and we did not cause a riff in time or space. We were very silly though!

Captain in U

We did not have a "little captain in us", just some KY moonshine. WOW! Perhaps plying us with liquor and sending us to head table was not the best idea. LOL!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Our neighborhood

We really live in a charming section of West St Paul, and we are close to a lot of cool things.

I'm less than 2 miles from my yarn shop.
I'm 6.5 miles from work.
I can easily drive to 4 major hardware stores, an old fashioned meat market, bird shop and pet food store.

We also have really unique things, which I chose to chronicle on my walk after work last night.

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This meditation maze is at the end of our street, roughly 3 blocks. It's based on the maze in the transcept of Chartres Cathedral . I finally walked it last night. Granted, it's a bit more tricky to meditate while listening to Lime and Violet on my mp3 player, but it was still fun.

Just down the street from the maze is the Dodge Nature Center.
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There are bike trails throughout the neighborhood and a nice trail that travels along Shepherd and across 35W, which I'm going to use when I start riding to work again or when I'm going to the new location for my Co-Op. I do miss having my bike route from Battle Creek, but there is a lot to be said living on a convienent bus line.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Too much to do

This week is a blur and I feel like I am being pulled in a million different directions. I do have some things done.

Seeds are planted.
Taxes are done!
Walton Feed order is placed.
Quick mead is started.

I still need to finalize my class handout and photos for the class this weekend. I need to pack. I'd like to knit a sample sock trying a new foot shaping method. I don't think I will make it to knitting on Thursday, too much to get done.

Next week I am rewarding myself by sewing dirndls and knitting my Arietta sweater. Farmer's Market Summer hours start Saturday 4-25! I'm heading down to St Olaf on 4-26.

I have over a month to finish my new tent. I still don't know when I will deliver the 10 spoke, it would be nice to get that money. I also need to determine who is going to purchase my second wedge.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Garden

I spent the majority of my weekend removing various weeds and small saplings from the once pristine garden bed that was used by the family who lived at our home prior to the ones who foreclosed.

The garden bed is on the west side of the garage. It lay fallow during the occupancy of the people before us and appears to have been used as a dumping ground for grass clippings during the past summer. This is actually a good thing as it kept a lot of weeds down in the center of the garden, but it was a lot of stuff to shift.

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I thought I had a shot of it in the full glory of weed infestation, but the shot looking over the fence from the backyard will have to do.

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That view is into a bunch of raspberry bushes and several small saplings. The weeds were roughly waist high throughout the 11 1/2' x 22 1/2' plot.

This is what the garden bed looks like now.
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The raspberry bushes now.
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All of the saplings have been cleared out. They were volunteers from neighboring trees. I trimmed the raspberries in the fall so we will see how they come up this year. Considering how well they did with plenty of neglect last year I'm hoping they do just as well with some TLC.

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I did the whole thing by hand because I did not want a tiller to break up the weeds and roots and work them into the soil more, I actually wanted them out. The worm population is doing really well and I sure they appreciated that I took the time with a hand cultivator and rake. It did take me 2 solid days to do it, but I'm very pleased with the results. I do feel like I have been hit by a truck. Tonight I'm putting in the seeds: lettuce, beans, peas, beets, onions, spinache, and sunflowers. I'll be planting tomatoes and cucumbers from seedlings in May. Pumpkins will go in around then as well. There may be other crops, but we will see how the garden handles what I already have planned.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Operation Dirndl

It has begun. Pattern and fabric has been purchased and I'm ready to begin. I even started prewashing the linen/ cotton for the blouse last night.

No, I'm not making it for Octoberfest. I'm German, but my family was from the North or the West bordering France. I don't have any relatives from Austria. I simply like dirndls. They are super cute, easy to wear and fun to say. Say it with me: dirndl, dirndl, dirndl! Fun!

My goal for completion is the end of April.

"Where will you wear this?" you ask. Everywhere! Grocery shopping? Yes! Work? Yes! Dinner? Yes! I figure there are people in Austria who wear this dress every single day so why not.

Thursday, April 09, 2009

Coronation gown

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Well not mine, but I wore it to Coronation this last weekend. I really liked how the whole look worked and especially liked my hood. It looks right.

I think the earliest I will be fought for in a Crown will be Spring 2010. That's fine, it will give me a whole year to prepare.

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Knitting front

Well the right side specifically. I'm still trundling along on the Arietta cardigan. I finished the left side on Monday and started on the right. The back has been done for a while. Just the sleeves, blocking, weaving in ends (which there are a LOT!), sewing up and knitting the button band will be left after the right side is done. I'm going to knit the sleeves at the same time.....

My goal is to have it completed and wearible for Shepherd's Harvest on May 10th, so I have more than a month. It's possible, but naturally I have a bunch of other projects.

Stockings- I'm starting the clocks and then I need to make the feet so they are pretty close to complete
Class on April 18th - I really need to test knit a different foot before this
Start my garden - I plan to clear off the dead weeds this weekend
Fix Irel's tent - this Saturday
New tent for me - I need this done for Castle Fever (May 22-25), which includes building the wood support, sewing the canvas and painting.
Decorations for Crown - May 9th

Shade flys for the Kingdom? Ultimately it would be great to have these ready for WW.

Someone stop me from volunteering for things!!!!!

Friday, April 03, 2009

Siplau Bag

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I finally added the lining to the bag last night. This picture was taken prior to lining and blocking so it looks a bit better now.

This is the Siplau Bag from Knit Picks in the Warm Pallette. I purchased it last fall and they are completely out of this kit. The pattern was a bit odd and could have been clearer in places, but I think the finished product turned out great.

Classic Quote

In response to the "gift giving" by our Pres to the Queen of England, You Are Dumb has this to say.

"When was the last time anyone paid this much attention to who gave who what when heads of state met? It sounds like something from the society pages of a 1940s newspaper. And not even a real 1940s newspaper, but one of those fake newspapers someone would run across the stage reading aloud from in a shitty musical. "Didja hear? Eleanor Roosevelt just got a pet mime from the King of France!" "Really? That reminds me of a SONG!" STOP CARING."

:love: