birthday knitting
On the heals of the fun-colored but not-super-practical sweater I made for Dan at Christmas, I decided to take on a similar project for his birthday. Except this time the product would have to be more staid, less ostentatious, more useful for day-to-day wear. After five weeks of intense knitting I finished a day later than his birthday. Oh well. At least it was ready in time for church. I give you the brown sweater vest:
refined yet elegant
The pattern comes from this book which I highly recommend for beginning-to-intermediate sweater knitters. I used good old Cascade220 for the yarn, so the whole thing came to less than $22, and that's with some left over for a hat! Not only is she talented and productive, but thrifty! Someone's racking up the good wife points this month!
dapper who?
Oh, who am I kidding. He more than deserves it.
seeds and self-doubt
I planted the first of my seeds yesterday: Early Girl and Sweet Millions tomatoes and some sort of onions. I'm a full month earlier than last year, which is why I didn't go all out with all four varieties of tomatoes I'm bringing this season. Get em going bit by bit, that's my theory. We're thinking about the first week in May for a last frost date, so the little guys will have two full months of growing ahead of them before they get outside; assuming they germinate in good time, of course. It's still pretty cold down there in the seed-starting dungeon.
I should emphasize that in all of this farming business I don't feel at all confident that I know what I'm doing. In fact, I'm completely making it up as I go along. Oh, I consult printed sources, naturally, but that doesn't seem like much of a substitute for the age-old knowledge of a natural farmer. That, or a degree from an agricultural college. (My alma mater is offering a course, actually, and I would be tempted if I had the time and/or the money for it.) The only thing that keeps me going is the thought that I don't know anything about web programming either, and I made this blog; since it works more than half of the time, my autodidact powers must be doing something right.
Actually, right now what keeps me going is pictures like this one:
lush growth in July
See what we have to look forward to? And most of those are perennials, so I don't even have to do any work to enjoy them.
tiny pianist
As well as many other delightful birthday treats, at my party this afternoon I enjoyed being serenaded by Harvey on the piano.
ticklin the ivories
He's quite advanced for his age: he plays like a two- or even three-year-old!
making the breast of it
If you've been following me on twitter or facebook this weekend, you already know it's been defective day for me and my global endowments.
Despite being on antibiotics for a mastitis infection I got LAST WEEK, I spent the day shivering and moaning over a new milk clog that developed last night IN THE SAME DAMN PLACE AS THE FIRST INFECTION.
And if that weren't enough to make me whine away a Saturday, the antibiotics are giving me terrible heartburn.
Not like, "Oh gee, digestive backsplash is slightly uncomfortable" heartburn, but more like "Holy fuck, my esophagus us ON FIRE!!!"heartburn. All of a sudden I totally get why there are ten billion prescription medications for this thing.
Needless to say, this is all very frustrating. I already have a finicky child; I don't need my boobs acting like uppity toddlers. For crying out loud, they already get enough of my attention. Pump pump pump. Nurse nurse nurse. My investment in non-underwire-bras and nursing pads and equipment could power some sort of perverse old-age-home version of a vegas-style burlesque show.
You hear that tits? Stop stealing my Saturdays.
connecting the cycle
Today gifted us with beautiful warm springlike weather, which unfortunately we weren't in the best shape to totally appreciate. I did manage to get out into the garden a little bit, though—it would have been impossible to resist! Wandering the rows, reveling in the sunshine and the sight of the dirt, I was delighted to see a number of volunteer collard green plants. A feature around here for three years now, they get started from seed in the fall and manage to winter over, providing us with our first crop of garden-fresh produce well earlier than we have any right to expect given the lackadaisical manner in which I run things around here.
Though we don't have nearly enough to harvest yet, it was still nice to see them come up, signaling as they do the promise of much better eating ahead. Not that we're done with last year's crops yet, of course: this evening, for example, we enjoyed some pesto, made from either our basil or a local farmer's (I didn't record) and frozen last August. We weren't anywhere near to being able to eat only local produce this winter, but we managed a good deal better than previous years. If we keep up this rate of improvement, you may expect to see us freed from the tyranny of grocery store by 2015 or so!