In Which I Mostly Just Post Photos of Tulips, but Seriously, Why Wouldn't I? Tulips are Great.

I love tulips. I haven't been making much time for gardening yet this year, but the tulips may just lure me out to get the work done.

I still have a very few tulips from the batch that I first planted in the fall after we moved into the house, and I'm particularly enjoying the lovely new patch that I added this past Fall.

In the Springtime, I congratulate my Fall self on having had the foresight to pick up some bulbs and plunk them into the ground. The grass is starting to turn green, but the tulips are the most cheering part of the Springtime to me.

Very Brief Update

Hi, just a quick update today!

I would like to congratulate Scarpetta1, who won a coupon for a free pattern of choice from my Ravelry shop. The coupon is good for one year, so patterns that are not yet uploaded will be available as well to her; looking forward to seeing what she chooses.

My camera won't talk to my computer at the moment, so I can't share any photos right now. So, please believe me when I say that Spring is finally here in Edmonton even if I can't offer a glimpse of the crocus and tulip that have bloomed in the past week.

I also am pleased to have a new nephew! The family is busy scuttling around getting ready to welcome him home, so the week should continue to be busy. He came a very wee bit early, so I haven't managed to get my sewing done for him yet (I'm just stitching up some burp cloths so far anyhow). I'm planning to knit up a 9-month-old size sweater for him for Christmas, and would love to hear your suggestions for patterns!

Hup Oranje!

Well, it's been exciting watching the Dutch team in the World Cup, and often suspenseful, as they are often apparently waiting for the last twenty minutes to get some goals; nerve-wracking, that!

While cheering the team on, I've been working on the Oranje Cardigan by Ann Weaver (love this pattern). I'm now up to the yoke, nearly at the yoke charts (but not quite). Will I finish by the end of the World Cup? Maybe. I've set it as a goal by entering in a knitalong of WIPs (work in progress) in the WIP Cup on Ravelry. It had been languishing for a good month while I worked on sample-knitting, so the World Cup was a great excuse to pull it back out and get going on it.

There's a lot more to do after the yoke, including steeks, sewing facings, weaving-in, button-band, sewing buttons...but finishing in time is not impossible anyhow!

My garden is also celebrating the Dutch soccer team:

I love my Orange Irises; they're such show-offs!

Last Week of School

 Well, it's the last week of school before summer, and that means two things: Time to whip up some teacher gifts, and time to get some treats ready for my daughter to share with her class on her birthday.

My daughter settled on brownies and blondies cut into squares and iced to look like Creepers from Minecraft. She put on all the chocolate chips while I practiced piping little blobs on the treats.












For gifts, I had the girls pick out fabric, and I spent a few days sewing up bags (just right for carrying a few things to the beach, or back and forth from school). The pattern is the Retro Bag from Fabric by Fabric One Yard Wonders. 

Much thanks to my husband who helped me get all the cutting done in one night! It was a quick and fun sew, though by the fourth one it was starting to get to be a bit of a slog, as I just wanted to be done so I could get on to my other work. Delighted with the results though! I omitted the snap and the adjustable strap as I intended them more as a tote bags than as purses.

The girls had a great time picking out fabric! I like the popsicle one best myself, though the cappuccino one is a close second. 


























I was so busy last month (and much of this one) that I completely missed tulip season. Well, I did get to see them, but I didn't get around to photographing any of them.

I didn't want to miss the irises and lupins, so I stepped out and caught a bee in a few of the photos. I'm a sucker for bee-and-flower photos.

Things are busy, as I have so much housework to catch up on before the birthday party on the weekend, so this is just a very quick post. I'm also continuing work on my Oranje cardigan; progress photos on that for the next post!

Buzz, Buzz!

As in, busy as a bee.

I can hardly believe it's been nearly a month since my last post, but between the kids' activities (dance, soccer, and I'm a coach for one of them), and the demands of my Gaelic Football club, we're very busy indeed, leaving not much time for blogging!

There's been not that much time for knitting either, but I'm getting a bit done while icing my knees (nothing terribly serious, I think, just inflamed and achy and stiff from all the football and the soccer coaching).














I'm taking a break from most of my projects to whip up a tank-top. I seldom if ever do summer knitting (it's not summer long enough to bother here), but when the latest Interweave Knits issue arrived, I found the Admiral's Knot Halter by Ashley Raoto be tempting enough to start nearly straight away. It helps that I had some yarn (Patons' Grace) that would work for it that I've always wanted to make a top from (OK, so less than a full ball, but it was the same colour, and I love it, so why not pick up some more)? I just need to hold it double for the trim, and it seems to be working alright so far.






I've been enjoying the last month or so despite the crazyness, but am looking forward to July, which looks fairly calm from this far away!

I haven't been out in the garden much either, other than to cut the lawn, but the dandelions are awful, awful, awful.

Luckily, the lupins are lovely, and so are the irises, so I'll leave you with that for today!

Pomegranite Pants

My younger daughter, somehow, had only one pair of shorts. I'm not sure how that happened. So, now she has two pairs! Usually she wears skorts, so a short shortage wasn't a big deal until she became a soccer player.

Here are her new Pomegranite (short) Pants!



















I used the tutorial here at Made, where Dana shows us how to draft your own pattern using existing clothes. It was quick, easy, and worked out great! I could have used a taller waistband, but other than that, I think I got it right. They're made with leftover quilting cotton, and have an elastic waistband. Maybe next time I will be ambitious enough to add pockets. Maybe.

She seems pleased, anyhow, and says they are comfortable.




Now, since I promised tulip photos, I'll leave you with them now, with the promise of more to come.

Spring! Skirt!

First things first: Spring!

I'm calling it spring. I'm not putting away the family's winter stuff until it's safely June or anything, I'm not that foolhardy! Raincoats and Rainboots are in the back hall alongside the winter stuff. Rainboots are being worn with winter jackets. Putting away the winter gear would be silly when there's still snow on the ground, and possibly one or two more snowfalls to come (likely with gorgeous weather the days before and after).

But, my tulips are on their way up, so that makes it spring, or at least, the nearest thing to it.








About a week ago, I finished my first knit skirt, Tralee by Carol Feller. I finished it just barely in time to wear to the Table Quiz fundraiser for the Edmonton Wolfe Tones GAA Club that includes my football team, and then proceeded to have a lovely evening out, enjoying wearing the skirt!

I made a few minor changes due to fears of yarn shortages. Having noted that all sizes have the same amount of stitches involved in the pleat, I reduced them very slightly. I thought I would need a larger size in the waist than I needed in the hips, so I started by knitting the size for the hips, and then decreased somewhat less for the waist. Then I tried it on when I reached the waistband. Then I pulled back the waist decrease section, ignoring the hours of work I was ripping away, and tried again, decreasing somewhat more than the pattern called for after all. Problem in knitter, not in pattern. My advice if you're making it: Go with the hip size, then try on as you go.

I have nearly a full ball of yarn left after all. Yarn is Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, in Oyster Heather. I'm sure I'll find a good use for it sometime, after all, it goes nicely with my other Wool of the Andes remnants.









Now football will be my most likely excuse for not blogging as often as I'd like over the next few months (May's highly anticipated fundraiser is going to keep the volunteer crew very busy!), but I am still, always, stitching away, and will attempt to share the results of that stitching as often as I can get to it!

In Which a Few Moments are Stolen to Share Photos and Praise Mulch

 I've been knitting, but I haven't quite finished any of the projects that I have on the go. I promise I will show pictures next week though, even if I haven't quite finished them then either.

In the meantime, I've also been cleaning out the storage room, slowly whittling away at a select group of items from the to-do-list, fighting dandelions, and otherwise gardening.


So, I do have a few photos for you, but then I do have to get back to work (and off to football practice later).

Here's one of my tomato plants:

It looks pretty happy, all in all. This is the first time I've tried growing tomatoes from seed, and so far the leaves are fine, but we'll see how I do with raising the actual fruit.

The Oak tree is now showing definite signs of life, for which we are quite glad:

The tulips are done for the year (though the irises should be coming soon), but in the meantime, here is one of my columbines (I grew these from seed and they are now blooming for the first time):

I just added more mulch to round off the mulching job that I left half finished last year, and there was a wee bit left to add to my veggie/herb/columbine bed. I do need fair bit more for this bed, and for another that I haven't mulched yet, but they might have to wait for awhile so I can get more mulch. I really love how much work the mulch has been saving me elsewhere, so I'm really looking forward to finishing a basic mulching job on all the beds.  It looks so much better too, and it really does do an excellent job of retaining moisture for the plants.

Now, I really should get back to work, but I'll leave you with a question in the meantime:

If I add imitation crab to the Kraft Dinner, is it now Gourmet Kraft Dinner, or merely an efficient way to use up leftovers for a speedy dinner?

Happy Victoria Day!

It's gardening weekend! Today is overcast and rainy, which is fine with me, as I put most of my seedlings into the ground and pots back on Saturday. We did our yardwork that day too, and found that we have a great deal of work to do over the next while just fighting dandelions. It might be a good day to pull up some of those now that the ground is softer with the rain too. Though, it would also be a great day for knitting and listening to the CBC, so I might just do a bit of that, at least, until I head off to Gaelic Football practice. In the meantime, I'll just leave you with some of the flowers that are in bloom right now. Hope you're having a great long weekend!

Blueberry Ripple

Demonstrably not Queen of Night, despite label on package.

Still not Queen of Night, but I do like these.

Demonstrably not Queen of Night, but lovely anyhow.

Banja Luka

Banja Luka

Banja Luka

Peach Blossom

Lily-of-the-Valley

Lily-of-the-Valley

Banja Luka

Queen of Night

Apricot Parrot

Van Eijk