Tag Archives: how does my garden grow

And Just like that, it’s Sunday Again!

Posted on by
Reply
Sunday, August 17, 2025

It’s another gloriously sunny summer day in Maine. Sadly, though, we are in a drought and we really wish it would rain. So far our well is holding strong but many Mainers aren’t so lucky. We are hoping we will be lucky enough to remain able to shower and wash dishes and clothes and flush toilets. We are being very careful not to waste any water. But the sunshine has been really welcome and I am noticing that the days are shortening, too.

Last week was really busy with volunteer stuff and this week it’s going to be the store where I work. Our boss is away and we’re covering all the shifts. Ha! Ha! This week is the one week that I will be at the store four days (out of six). My bigger paycheck will help me pay off my car loan even more quickly (I have only a couple more payments!) Anyway … I’ve been knitting and finishing and starting projects. Let me tell you about a few, ok?

I’ve finished two shorty socks from the Sock Project book (sock #2) with an afterthought heel. The yarn is stashed yarn and I just wanted to get rid of a few bits of sock yarn because my collection has become obscene! These socks are knitted from some old trekking yarn that I bought and the toes is also trekking that was given to me after a friend made socks. Now I’ve just got to open up the heels and knit them … it won’t take but a few minutes but I wasn’t going to attempt it last night when I was tired.

The other day I started to make one of the stuffed toys in the Knitted Animals book by Louise Crowther. I bought the yarn to make three of the dolls – the horse, duck and pig. I’m starting with Noah the horse which will be a gift for my daughter, Libet, who loves horses. The pattern calls for straight needles and I started with straight needles but can I tell you how much is dislike knitting on straight needles after knitting on circular needles for so long? So, I’ve switched to a long circular needle (US2) and it feels much better. The pattern has you start with the head and then move on to the body, etc. I may choose to change my needles with each different body part. Time will tell. The yarn is from Scheepjes Stonewashed and Catona which I bought online since my LYS doesn’t carry the yarn that is suggested and I really wanted to try it out. I can tell you that I like it so far. The head is knitted with the Stonewashed in two colors using the intarsia technique – and the most incredible part is that they put a little sticker on the tail of the yarn so it’s easy to pull out! Brilliant! No more yarn barf. I’m plugging along with this but because it’s knitted on such small needles at a tight gauge, I’m taking my time and trying to save my hands/arms the pain … especially since I have a lot of knitting to do.

Earlier this week, I got a text from a friend with a photo of Boo the Bat by Anna Hrachovec, aka Mochimochiland. Said friend thought the bat was adorable (and it is.) As the week went on, I thought about it and felt I needed to knit one for her as a little gift surprise. So, yesterday I dug into my worsted weight wool scraps and found a light and darker gray yarn to make a Boo for Dru. It knits up surprisingly quickly and it’s really cute. I didn’t have any safety eyes so I used buttons instead and since she’s an adult, I don’t think she’ll be eating the buttons. LOL I blocked the wings last night and they’ll be added to the little Boo today and I’ll need to find a stick for her to hang from (her feet are knitted in the round so she can hang, brilliant!)

I’ve been working away at the little cardigan commission that I have promised for the early winter. This yarn is the most delicious colorway ever and happens to be the same name as my client’s granddaughter, Eliana Zoe. It’s a lovely peachy pink with some deeper tones here and there. I love it! It’s a joyful color. I’ve finished one side of the front and will next work on the back. It’s coming along and I have started it early enough that I don’t have to stress about it. I am actually hoping to deliver it early. Fingers crossed. Meanwhile, the pattern is fun to knit and a little bit different from the typical top-down raglans, it’s a bottom-up raglan done with no seaming (at least not yet. I imagine I’ll be seaming to sew up the pieces after they’re finished and adding the sleeves but I love to wait to see as the pattern unveils itself.) I’m still working on the first hank of yarn and I’m happy that it’s going so far … I was initially worried that I might be playing yarn chicken with this one (or shortening the sleeves to 3/4 length. I don’t think it’ll be a problem.) I’ve also chosen several sets of buttons for my client to choose from. I’ll show you my choices when we get there.

I’ve worked a little bit on my All About the Ruffle shawl but it hasn’t changed substantially so I’ll show you an old photo. It’s gotten bigger as I’m working up to having over 300 stitches on the needles but I’m not quite there. I sure hope I love this shawl because up to this point, the knitting part is boring. (There, I’ve said it.) I do love the colorway of Emma’s yarn Practically Perfect Sock.

Finally, a FO (finished object). I’ve finished Dolores #2 Sensuous Caftan and Turban. What a fun project this was. I think Franklin Habit is a freaking genius! Dolores has a big attitude for a sheep and this outfit totally fits that personality. I love the sparkly purple get-up but this! Ha! Ha! Soon I’m going to have to buy a wardrobe for her outfits. I have two more kits that I bought from Webs way back when … I’ll get to them after a bit but suffice it to say that I’m really sorry I didn’t buy all the kits they made and wish they’d bring the whole bunch back! They bring such joy in such a troubled world.

Even with the drought conditions, we are grateful for the flowers and veggies that are growing in our gardens. They feed so much more than our bodies. We have our first Delicata squash growing and a second one coming! I’m so excited! The zucchini and summer squash have been coming in bit by bit (and that’s ok since sometimes zucchini can be overwhelming). We have some big tomatoes growing and some cherry tomatoes as well. The red one may have been popped into my mouth after the photo was taken. Oops. Our granddaughter helped plant some pea seeds and they’re growing up and up. A couple of the plants dried out but we hope with minimal watering they’ll give us a few peas to send to NYC and maybe to enjoy here, too. We harvested our garlic and it was a good year. This year we’re going to try to plant even more so we can save some to use as seeds the following year. We have to really add to the soil again though … stay tuned.

We remain so grateful for this place that nourishes us body and soul and for the hobbies that we have that keep us engaged. My hubby’s father bought a fishing camp in the 1940s that has been a summer home to visit for his family and is now our home. We remember him and the family often and the memories that we’ve all gathered at the lake. How lucky we are! Gone knitting.

Knitting on the Porch – Perfect Saturday

Posted on by
1
Hummingbird Saturday, May 13, 2023

We captured the first photograph of a hummingbird this morning. It’s become quite the thrill to watch the map tracking the hummers back to Maine from their winter home way down south. We’ve had the feeders up for about two weeks but until this week we hadn’t seen any birds. That all changed after I had cleaned and refilled the feeders this week. They’re back!

We spent the morning (and into the afternoon when the breeze kicked up) on the porch this morning. The sun was shining and the hummingbirds and loons were active finding food. I brought my knitting onto the porch and was working on my Romi MKAL “Falderal” shawl. I had gotten quite a bit of clue three finished when I realized that I hadn’t slipped a pair of stitches. Yesterday afternoon I frogged back 4 or 5 rows (at over 300 stitches per row) to where I had missed the slipped stitches, corrected my mistake and then worked on. This morning I finished clue 3.

Spoiler Alert! If you don’t want to see what it looks like at this point, don’t read any further.

I’ve chosen two colors of Practically Perfect sock by Emma’s Yarn for my shawl. I wanted to knit something in a purple because, honestly, I don’t have anything purple. The contrasting color is a gray that I’ve had in my stash for quite some time. The colorways are called February ’23 (purple) and After Dark (gray). It’s pretty contrast-y, perhaps more contrast-y than I had planned but I think I will like it well enough. I’m certainly not going to frog the whole project at this point.

You can see that the shawl will be soooo much more beautiful when it’s blocked and you can really see the lace between the “lattice” pattern sections. Clue 4 will be more lace but in the gray colorway. So far, this has been fun to knit and not difficult to follow. I’ll be taking this to Canada with me for Knit City Montreal next weekend and I think I will be able to keep up with the pattern when I’ve got lots of distraction. I’ll have another, more simple, mindless project, too just in case.

I bought yarn this week to make Anker’s Summer Shirt. I like wearing my hand knits and I like wearing Berroco Remix Light so … I bought the Remix Light in the “white” colorway and I’ll work on that next. I also like Tanis’ Rock it Tee and Yumi by Isabell Kraemer. There are several I could make with this yarn (or others that I can buy at my LYS.) Anyway, the plan is to make a tee next. I would like to finish my Three Seasons Cardigan before that but it seems silly as we are in warm weather now and I have plenty of time before I’ll be wearing the cardigan. So, tee is up next.

I have a pair of socks on the needles, too, of course. These are for my daughter, Libet. She chose the yarn from my stash when she was last here. I had to make a couple of pairs before I got to hers for gifts but I’m at it now. They should be ready for her birthday in July. Again, the yarn was stashed so I have no recollection of where it’s from but it’s really pretty and “dark” which is what she wanted.

I’m using Yankee Knitter’s sock pattern for the family #29 which is my favorite. I’ve knit so many socks from this pattern that I nearly have it memorized which makes it even better. I find I have to check on the number of stitches to pick up on the gusset and that’s about it when I’m knitting the fingering weight which is what I do most often.

We’ve been enjoying watching the birds at the bird feeder. We have a regular (pair?) of Pileated Woodpeckers and the regular host of Chickadees, Nuthatches, Titmice, Goldfinches, Purple Finches and, of course, all the woodpeckers from the Downy to the Pileated (and all the sizes in between.) We have a trio of Crows … they may be Ravens, it’s difficult to tell the difference IMHO. Anyway, they love to hang out ON the feeder and eat all of the suet. I was outside this morning to frighten them off and I happened to snap a few pictures of new blooms from our gardens …

The spring bulbs are beginning to fade and the early perennials are coming in: L to R we have peonies budding, creeping phlox in full bloom and my favorite bleeding heart. There are a TON of dandy lions all over the yard this year. I wasn’t going to do anything with them but when I’m out there it’s really tempting to pick those babies and start drying them out and soak them in oil to make something from weeds! Last year I made a salve and we’re still using it. It’s supposed to be good for inflammation, if I remember correctly. It is fun to collect plants from the yard that most consider to be worthless weeds (the birds and bugs love them this time of year!)

I felt well enough, finally, to do a little bit of cleaning up the garden beds. There’s a lot of work left to do. We have hired a young man (now I sound like an old lady!) to help with this this year because my hubby can’t lug all the bags or wheelbarrows full of mulch this year. They’ll help me edge all the beds again and we’ll be in good shape. I’ve been watching the hydrangeas as they leaf out … and the ones in front (or is the front really the back?) of the house, the side away from the lake, has hydrangeas that bloom on the old wood. I now know that I can cut these guys back in early spring because they’re HUGE!!!

I need to walk around to Helen’s garden in the back (or the front depending on your perspective) between our bedroom and the lake to see what they’re doing. We also have some poison ivy in this bed and a very obnoxious vine-y plant that I can’t seem to eradicate. We’ve used some natural vinegar solution in years past and I hope it will work this year. I don’t think we’ve really attacked this bed recently. It’s time!

This afternoon I’m heading to a new-to-me nursery with a friend. I’m told Fieldstone Gardens is gorgeous and it’s been on my list for awhile. I’m excited to see it. My eyes are open for another peony or two and perhaps a grass for in front of the porch … is that the back yard or the front? Ha! Ha!

Gone knitting.