April 2015

I saw my first finch of the year today - at our finch feeder.  Spring is here.  The daffodils are in full bloom as are the tulips.  Even our peach tree is starting to bloom.  (There are no blooms on the apple tree, though, or our hazelnut trees)  I haven't done any planting in the garden yet.  It's still too cold.

I'm continuing to crochet a hotpad per month.  Here's one that I thought would look like a flower but instead looks like an orange slice.  I should have chosen colors better.  lol
Since Nerdopolis has next month off, I won't be doing a hotpad next month.

I'm behind on trying to knit 12 sweaters this year.  I've only finished 2 so far.

March

We went to Wrigleyville last Saturday and don't see how Wrigley Field will be ready for the Cubs season opener on Sunday, April 5th, - just over a week from when this picture was taken:

The field itself looks nice, but there is a lot of construction still going on.

Evidently, the winter (even though it wasn't as bad as the one last year) was worse than they had planned on. Even the large video screen, that is being built before the bleacher seats are, doesn't look like it will be ready to go by opening day.  But, it will succeed in blocking views from the roof tops on that side of the ballpark.

Most of the snow has melted around here.  All that's left are remnants of what had been piled up to clear the streets.  Our daffodils aren't blooming but are up - as are the tulips.

There must be a fair number of coyotes in the area.  I hear them howling just about every night around midnight.  They don't howl for too long, but it is an eerie sound.  I'm ambivalent about the coyotes.  They did get rid of most of our chipmunks who were burrowing under different things and eating out of my vegetable garden.

I'm not going to plant vegetables this year - except for perhaps a hot pepper plant in a planter.  The vegetables in my garden did poorly last year.  So, I'll be planting just flowers and herbs there.

I've finally finished a pullover that I'd been working on for quite a while.  (I hate to finish things - possibly because I don't want to have nothing to do.)  I've worn it a few times.

I'm not participating in the Geek-along this year.  I still haven't finished the blanket from last year, and I don't recognize most of the panels for this year.  Instead, I'm going to try to knit 12 sweaters this year.

February

I'm trying to post at least once a month this year. Here's the snow we got on the first of February. The pic was taken the next day, but there is still about a foot on the ground - much more where it had been piled up to clear paths and the road.

I didn't get the double knit blanket seamed together, but I did get a lace hotpad/doily crocheted. I found the one this was based on while emptying a box.

And, I also got a couple hats done (for the successor to NerdWars on Ravelry). Here's my snowflake hat - done in mosaic knitting:

To change the subject.... The soap dispenser in the kitchen seems to be working now. I've learned more about soap dispensers than I ever wanted to know. I've reassembled it a few times and cut the long tubing to make it shorter. I'm not using the small bottle that came with it but rather a large bottle from the store that I set under the sink.

January

One of the things we got for Christmas was a Game of Thrones jigsaw puzzle.  It was harder than we thought it would be.  Granted we hadn't done any large puzzles for years, but....   Usually, when one gets a piece in and confirms it with a couple more pieces, it's where it should go.  Not in this puzzle.  Some days toward the end, we took out more pieces than we put in. My DS2 shown a flashlight down at the pieces to check fit. Here is the puzzle in progress:

And, here is the final version, with the second layer added plus a third layer of castles:

I've been working on getting the Geek-along squares joined. I'm working on my third row of squares now. I'm using the "official" join. However, I slipped stitched along the edge instead of picking up sts along the edge in order to make the join look smoother. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get all 24 squares joined together by the end of the month.  But, I should be able to get 12 of them joined together.  Plus I'm not sure whether or not to do 4 more squares and have a 4 by 7 square blanket.  Here are the first 2 rows:

By the way, the Geek-along has all new squares this year - in dk rather than worsted weight yarn. I'm still working on a knitted cabled pullover and a Tunisian crochet pullover. I'll post pics next month.

Tunisian crochet

I'm starting to learn how to do Tunisian crochet in order to be able to crochet this yoked pullover, Cubistic, designed by Patrick Hassel-Zein.  I've only gotten this far on the sweater:

 Since this is completely new to me, I first started reading up on the subject and doing a few small projects.  My first completed project is these slippers from Dora Ohrenstein's book The New Tunisian Crochet:

My second - fourth projects are some scarves (to donate), designed by Amy Depew.  I got rid of some Homespun yarn and am working on getting rid of some Jo-Ann Sensations Rainbow Classic.

Each of the two first scarves took a full skein of yarn.  I'm going to see how many scarves I can get out of the other skein of yarn.

Nerd Wars has been resurrected in the forms of Nerdopolis (points kept) and Nerd Wars (with no points kept).

My garden was a disaster this year.  Things just didn't grow.  Next year I'm going to plant flowers (mostly marigolds) there.  I think there were moths and other insects that had settled into the garden.  Marigolds might be the ticket for discouraging them from staying there longer.  On the other hand, I should be getting some nice asparagus next spring.  The stalks were almost harvest size this past spring.  :)

We got a dusting of snow on Halloween and now have more than a dusting of snow on the ground - but nothing like they got farther west.

Nerd Wars

Nerd Wars on Ravelry has officially ended.  I haven't participated in all of the tournaments but did participate in the last one.  This is one of the badges I got from the last tournament.

Geek-along, more squares

I've knit 9 more squares for the Geek-along - a 20-sided die, Water Tribe, Gryffindor, Cthulu,,Jedi, Star Trek, 20000 Leagues Under the Sea, SHIELD, Batman.

We got a finch sack for my hubby for Father's Day.  The squirrels soon destroyed it.  So, we got a metal one.

Geek-along KAL

Here are my first 6 squares from the Geek-along.  My favorite is pi which I started it on pi day and which is reversible (hard to do in double knitting).  The squares are the TriForce with Hyrulian crest, caffeine, air-nation, tatoo from BSG, pi, and TMNT.

computer

My second oldest decided to build a computer.

He ordered all the parts (including the operating system) online. I was amazed at how quickly he was able to assemble it. He uses a tv set for the monitor.

November

just a few miscellaneous thoughts....

The garden did really well this year.  It took a while, but the peppers and broccoli finally started bearing.  I canned enough cucumber pickles to last a long time and also quite a bit of tomato sauce.  (The tomatoes won the battle over the cucumbers for control of the garden.  It was short lived though since I think we've had a light frost already.)  Next year I'll plant a different type of tomatoes.  These bore well and produced quite a bit of large fruit.  But they weren't as tasty.

I'm not doing Nerd Wars this time.  I figured that there was no way I'd have time to do a Nerd Wars that ended in December.  The last time I did one ending in December, I didn't feel like doing any knitting or crocheting for a month or two.

I've discovered that I really like geometric designs.  I'm still working on plans for a yoked sweater in mosaic knitting and decided to make a snowflake hat to see how it would turn out.  After a few tweaks, it turned out really well.  However, it doesn't look like snowflakes at all -- just diamonds and triangles.  (I'll post a pic when the hat is finished.)

And, here's the pic (a couple weeks later):



It's a little on the short side, so I'll be adding a misc design between the brim and the diamond pattern.

forgot to add....
In going through some old boxes, I found waterbed sheets from when the kids all had waterbeds.  I'm hoping to use them in making the first quilt I've ever attempted.  (I have sewn a backing on an old quilt before.)  The pattern is the upcoming one with the quiltvillechat Yahoo group.

August

My garden is doing really well -- at least as far as the tomatoes and cucumbers are concerned. They're fighting each other over control of the middle of the garden area. Luckily the peppers and broccoli are a bit away from the center area. The peppers aren't bearing much.  It's been relatively cool here.  So, maybe that's why the peppers aren't doing that well.  I've been able to have the windows open for days at a time this summer -- which is very unusual for this part of the country.


It looks as if we'll have some tomatoes in a few days. We're already getting a lot of cucumbers. I pickled and canned 14 pounds of them a couple days ago. (I'd never canned pickles before.)

And, we have a few ripe peaches:

I've been doing some mosaic knitting recently. My latest is a hat:

I'm using the hat as a swatch to try out a couple mosaic patterns in hopes of eventually designing a mosaic pullover sweater (for the next round of Nerd Wars on Ravelry).

May

After several almost cold days, it's warmed up with a vengeance.  Chicago had its first 90 degree day of the year this year.  We didn't get quite that high.

Yesterday, we got some tomatoes, broccoli  and a pepper plant.  It was too hot to plant them.  So, I planted them this morning.  For tomatoes, I looked for "short time to harvest" and found Celebrity and Parks Whopper -- both 65 days -- which may mean nothing here.  We got two of each, but a Celebrity had two plants in one pot.  So, there are now 3 Celebrities. I wasn't planning on getting any broccoli since they did so badly last year, but I couldn't resist the name Packman.  (We have a Ms PacMan in the basement and still enjoy playing it.)  With the newest pepper plant, we now have one each of Jalapeno, Habanero, and Giant Marconi.  (The last one is for me.)  The cucumbers are Boston Pickling.

I changed things around a little.  The cucumbers are where the tomatoes were last year.  The tomatoes are where the broccoli was last year.  And, the broccoli is where the Brussels sprouts were last year.




The lilac bushed are blooming (foreground).  And, the strawberry plants are in the right foreground.  I'll have to move them so they'll get water when I water the garden.  The plastic jugs have lilacs and Filbert nut trees from Arbor Day.  I'll move them from the garden when they get bigger.  That area of the garden also has some asparagus.  None of it is edible, but, at least, it came up.

We also took off about 5" of soil in the garden, put it where we're still trying to get grass to grow, and then added about 6 cu ft of peat moss to the garden.

Along with the fruit cocktail trees (which we've moved to their permanent locations -- one in front of the house, the other in back near the raspberry bush), we got some ground cherry and huckleberry seeds.  They're just in the seedling stage now.  I have no idea what they'll turn out like, buy my DH said his parents used to grow them.  They had a really big Iowa-style garden.  (It was just natural that they would.  They lived in Iowa.)

In knitting news, the last Nerd Wars tournament (Ravelry) has ended, and I didn't suffer from burn out like in the previous tournaments.  I've even started planning a couple of summer pullovers in Knit Picks CotLin.  Sign-ups for the next tournament start today.  (It's 3 months of tournament then 1 month off.)

first 80 degree day of the year

Maybe spring is finally here.  Today, I bought a jalapeno pepper plant, a giant Marconi one, and some Quinalt strawberry plants.  I planted the strawberries in a hanging basket.  Hopefully, that will keep the squirrels and chipmunks from eating them.  Of course, it does make it easier for the birds.



My fruit cocktail trees arrived in the mail a couple days ago.  They don't look like much.  Today, I replanted them, one in the front yard and the other in the back.  I have no idea how long it will be before they start producing the promised peaches, apricots, plums, and nectarines.

April

I thought I might be able to start working in the garden today. (It is spring.) But, I think I'll wait. It was snowing this morning. Spring is on its way, though. The daffodils are up (thought not ready to bloom yet).

I bought a couple multi-trees this spring -- mail order. They're part apricot, plum, nectarine, and peach -- all grafted onto the same tree trunk. It will be a while before they start bearing.  I love fresh vegetables and fruit.  They're so much tastier than store bought.  I hope my apple tree and peach tree do something this year and the tomatoes that I'm planning on planting will do better than last year.  Last year was pretty much a disaster for the garden.

After knitting mosaic stitch for the baby bonnet (in the last post - February), I've been wanting to knit something else using the same technique.

 

So, I designed this dishcloth -- Mosaic Diamonds --. Mosaic knitting is fun. One knits only one color at a time -- with a lot of slipped sts.  It gives some interesting looks.  It's stretchier than stranded knitting.

We all got new smart phones about a week and a half ago.  It was great of Sprint to have an after-hours class to teach us how to use the phones.  (One of the questions I asked in the class was how to answer the phone.  I found out what I was doing wrong.   lol   New technology makes some things easier and some harder.)

February

We had the first major snow of the season a couple of days ago. Here's a view of our back deck.



I've signed up for Nerd Wars on Ravelry again. The first month of the current tournament ends today. It's nice to knit or crochet some things that I probably wouldn't even have looked at if it weren't for the tournament. Here's a baby bonnet that I probably wouldn't have picked out if it weren't for the tournament. It's the first time I've done mosaic knitting. It took a while to figure out. But, after that it was really fun!



And, I've signed up to be the team blogger -- as if I ever was able to keep this blog up to date. lol

October

We had 213 Trick-or-Treaters come by the house Sunday afternoon -- the official time and day for Trick-or-Treating here.  That was less than the year before -- perhaps because the Bears were playing during the first hour of Trick-or-Treating??

The leaves have fallen from the trees.  And, we're waiting for the city to pick them up.



We had to move the leaves from one side of the driveway to the other yesterday.  The mailman wouldn't deliver mail with them so close to the mailbox that she couldn't put mail in the mailbox without getting out of the truck.  So, we were without mail for a couple days.  Yesterday, I spent an hour moving leaves from one side of the driveway to the another.  Then, after my DH got home from work, he spent 2 hours doing the same.  And, we got some mail today -- all junk mail.

What's almost worse is that most of the leaves weren't from our trees.  They were from our neighbors'.  We live on a circle.  So, one neighbor would move leaves from in front of his/her mailbox to the next one over and the next one would do the same.  If we had figured it out beforehand, we could have been raking leaves all along to the other side of the driveway instead of doing it all at the same time.  The city is also supposed to be picking up the leaves.  But, so far, they haven't been by yet.



And, of course, the Post Office didn't deliver something that had been overnighted to us on Monday.  We have to go to the Post Office to pick it up.

September

September is almost over, and I've been trying to post at least once per month...

The garden was a big disappointment this year.  I think the main problem was that the compost added at the beginning of the springs wasn't fully composted.  (I wasn't the one who did the composting.)  So, this fall I'm planning on adding extra leaves to the soil. Leaves tend to soften the soil. And, maybe if I add enough, I'll be able to grow some root crops.

I'm still working on dishcloths.  Here's my newest one, in Peaches & Creme Potpourri:


It's a clone of my sandbar pattern -- to make a pattern that will look better as a scarf and/or hat. Plus, the back looks almost as nice as the front -- which is good for a scarf.

August

This year has not been good for the garden.  We didn't get as many peas or pole beans as last year.  However, we are getting more tomatoes.  Homegrown tomatoes are so much better than anything one can get in the store.  The broccoli is starting to bear again.  So, maybe the fall will be better for broccoli than the spring was.  (It certainly can't be worse.)

We ended up getting only 2 peaches from our peach tree and zero apples from the apple tree.  But, as they are fond of saying here "wait till next year" -- though that applies more to baseball than crops.

I've signed up for one of Monika Eckert's mystery patterns.  This one is socks.  It's been quite a while since I've knit any socks.  I'm looking forward to it.  Plus, I've always enjoyed her patterns.  Otherwise, I've been keeping busy knitting scarf sets and also dishcloths -- among other things.

Woodstock, Illinois

We drove out to Woodstock yesterday.  We'd been there once before, but this time we brought a map.  We also watched the movie "Groundhog Day" the day before.  Woodstock was where that movie was filmed.  (And, we're glad we didn't make a special trip out to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. We would have been very disappointed that it didn't look like the movie.)



Here's where Phil stepped before stepping into the water (several days in a row).



Here's where the bed and breakfast that his character spent the night in. There are plaques all around the town telling what part that particular building played in the movie.

 
And, finally, since I was looking up info on the internet, I came across information about a shoe tree just a few miles from town.  We, of course, had to drive past it.

2013 calendar

a pleasant surprise....  One of my crochet patterns, a pansy motif, was chosen to be in a 2013 day-by-day crochet calendar (Accord Publishing, Ripley Designs).  And one of my knit patterns, cornstalk socks, was chosen to be in a 2013 day-by-day knitting calendar (same company).  :D