Garden Update

I know I have not been posting lately.  I have been working on a knit project that I have been contracted to knit.  No details till the designer releases the project.

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Here is the main garden.  I have added new plants since I expanded my garden.

Most of the plants in this area were planted last fall.  (Cabbage, Strawberries and Onion).  I have beans and peas in small pots.

The new plant that has some height is a brussel sprouts plant.  I saw my first flowers from this plant today.

These are mostly tomatoes and peppers.  I tried to start cucumbers from seeds, but I saw later in the day that I'm not sure the seeds survived transplant.

Here is mint from last fall.  I do have some mint I had growing at work that came home.

This is my experimental garden.  I have Matter Root plants growing here.  Over winter break I took all the roots out for one of my Guild members.  She will be using these for our dyeing event later this year.  She let me keep a few roots that had sprouts on them.  I later planted there in here, because they take over where ever they grow.  Some of the sprouts from the roots are growing.

I tried to plant a live Christmas Tree, but it was not doing well.  I found a small pine over the weekend that is suppose to not need a lot of water or maintenance.  I hope to be growing it for a small Christmas Tree next year for decorating outside.

Past Memories

Thanks Patrick

Approximately on this day, (The Day after MLK Holiday), Twenty-Nine years ago, I left to go to Boot Camp for the U.S. Navy.  I was suppose to report early Monday morning, but Monday was a holiday, so I had to report on Tuesday.  I remember recognizing a classmate that day who was going to Army Boot Camp.  I left Phoenix, and arrived in Great Lakes, IL very early that day.   With very little sleep, we didn't get to barracks till the next night. 

Garden and Photography

Here is my garden today.  The cabbage on the left is still growing.  The strawberries still seem to be holding out too. 

Here is a picture I took from my Starbucks of the mountains:

We have had a few good storms to give the mountains snow, but it has also dropped temps in the city.

If you look carefully at this picture, you will see frost on the leaves of the cabbage.  This seems to be a very good batch of plants, as normally my garden is finished by now.

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I invested in a new camera.  My Canon Rebel XT has been replaced with a Canon Rebel T6i.  The two big differences, it a touch screen and Wi-Fi ability.  I can use the my Wi-Fi and download pictures directly to my iPhone.  I'm able to keep my zoom lens, and some of my old filters. 

Scarf Update

Here is a current picture of my scarf.  I did not make as much progress as I wanted, due to another knitting project being worked on.

Scarf Update

First set of cards done.  I'm already nearing half way to the next set.

New Year's Goals

I'm not the type of person that needs to make unrealistic New Year's Resolutions.  I have a few goals I'd like to do this year:

• Post to my blog frequently.  I have have family who are not on Facebook.
• Learn a new knitting technique.  I'm already working on this goal with my scarf.
• Learn a new spinning technique.  I'll get to do this next month.
• Cut back on shopping with plastic even more.  I'm now storing quite a few canvas bags from different stores (Grocery, Dept. Craft, Home Improvement).
• Work on my writing.
• Get a few books read/listen to this year.
• See more 51's games
• Visit more of the city's sites.  The Boneyard, and The High Roller as examples.
• Play with my photography skills.
• Do more walking.

This should get me started.  I'll try to report back later on how this go.

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Forgot all about continuing to work on my garden.

Update and knitting

I know I haven't posted for a while.

Garden update:

The tomato and chili plants have been pulled.  They do not do well when the weather changes.  I am surprised that my cabbage plants still look healthy after several nights at freezing.  The strawberry plants lost all their original leaves and stems, but started new leaves at the base, and are still green.  I still have a couple onion plants still green, so I'm leaving them alone.  I need to get good pictures last in the am, as that is most of the daylight the garden gets.

Knitting:

I can finally posts pictures of the cowl I knit.  This is worn like a scarf, but can cover the head as well.  The recipient received it Christmas Eve.

The Star Wars hat was finished before the movie, but I forgot to wear it that night.  The fun part of knitting this hat was that I didn't want to do it one sides, and having it too tight.  Here is one side:

and the other side (Inside out):

I got to see the movie the night before the release and loved it.  Thanks to a friend at work, I got to see the movie without a line, and before anyone could spoil it for me.  I hope to see it again later this week.

New Year Challenge:

I decided to start my next challenge, a project called 52 pickup.  The original design had you start with a deck of cards:

Then using all 54 cards (52 plus both jokers), and play 52 card pickup; yes I did play.  I picked the cards up, gave them a shuffle, and then recorded their order.  Next I did a swatch, which is how I test knit the yarn to make sure the design looks right.

This is both the front and back of one card.  I pulled the yarn out, and started to knit the first row Christmas Eve.  I did have problems starting the scarf, till I realized one of my cards was not right side up, so I had to go back and fix the edge of the 3rd card.  The next picture I post will be of the first row of cards.