Free Plants (part2)

I think I've mentioned my obsession with Pinterest. I found a tutorial from The Burlap Bag about re-growing celery from planting the base. Sorry, you'll have to look up the tutorial yourself......I could NOT get the link to work. Even though I've been to the site and wrote down the link correctly. I just CANNOT get it to work. It's beyond my control.

Anyway, it's another free way to get plants. All right. You have to BUY a stalk of celery, but, really, what are you going to do with that base? Throw it away? Compost it? Or, in my case, feed it to my chickens? Basically, you cut off the base about 2 to 3 inches (put the rest of the celery in a zippered bag for future use).

Dig a hole. Place base in the hole.

Cover with soil. Water. In about 7-14 days it will start sprouting.

AMAZING!

Steeked Coffee Cozy

I recently joined Simply Notable's group on Ravelry. Their summer challenge is to make a colorwork coffee cozy (or two). Now, I've actually dabbled in colorwork. Really, is there anything I HAVEN'T dabbled in? One member recommended the pattern Steek this Coffee Cozy. This seemed like a good idea. I'd never tried steeking before and my colorwork had been limited to 3 colors max. So, I dug through my wool stash and found a turqouise for the MC. Then, I found a brown, rust and tan. Still needed one more color. Decided a Navy blue would look good. I'd buy that later. I could still cast on and knit quite a ways before I needed that Navy blue. Who knew I wouldn't be able to FIND a Navy blue. After checking 3 stores,  decided to go with a purple in place of the Navy.
Now, this seemed a little strange to me, you knit the bottom ribbing flat. When you finish the ribbing, you join in the round to knit the chart. Then you go back to knitting the ribbing flat. Once I finished all the knitting it was time to prepare the piece for steeking.

Reinforced area before cutting

Then, I just took out those scissors and cut between the reinforcement. I tried to be careful not to cut the tails. Does it make a difference if they're cut or not? I don't know. So, I just avoided doing that.

After cutting

After that, it's just a matter of picking up stitches and knitting the button and buttonhole bands. OH! and weaving in all those ends of course. I still have to find and sew on buttons, but otherwise......FINISHED!

Free Plants (part 1)

In the spring, I rarely get in a hurry to weed. About this time of year there are quite a few weeds in my flower beds. There are also small seedlings of actual DESIRABLE plants.

Lemon Balm and Seedlings

Catmint and Seedlings

After my plants have bloomed, I could go out and harvest the seed, store it all winter and plant it the following spring. That seems like a lot of work when nature will do all of this for me, right?
Now, you do have to be able to tell the difference between what is a weed and what is a plant seedling. That's not too hard though, your plant will look like a miniture version of the large plant. Here's what to do next:

Determine if the seedling is in an area  you want it to continue to grow in. If it is, just start watering and feeding it in that area and let it get bigger. But, if it's not and you need to transplant it. Gently dig up the plant trying to keep as much of the soil around the root ball as possible.

You could certainly now transplant that seedling right into the desired home and water in. You would probably have to supply some sort of shade to the plant during the hottest part of the day (12pm to 3pm) to keep the seedling from wilting until it is established.

I transplant into containers of soil and water in with a water-soluble fertilizer. Then I move them into an afternoon shaded area of the fenced in garden area. This also keeps the chickens from uprooting the newly planted seedlings. Once the plants are rooted out I'll transplant them in their chosen spots.

More 2012 BAMCAL Blocks

I've noticed that I haven't updated my progress on my afghan blocks lately. These are all blocks that I have been crocheting for Ravelry's group 2012 Block a Month CAL. So here they are:

Lion's Mane. I actually did this one a while ago. Somehow I missed posting it though?

Julieanny's Stained Glass. Don't ask me why the color is so wrong on this photo. I used the same yarn on this as the others. I also photographed in the same place about the same time of day. Yet......the photo still is yellower than the rest of the squares. I just don't know.......

Gem Star. I just couldn't pick a color......So, I did one of each of the colors I'm using. In case I haven't mentioned it yet.......I'm using Caron's One Pound yarn in Lace, Black, Off White & Taupe.

And finally......Cool 2B Square. This is probably not the best photo of this square. It is a quick, easy, fun little square. I'm making 4 of these and by the third square, I can ALMOST do this one by memory. That's all for now, but there will be more to come!

Tea Party Swap

May was swap month at my Ravelry group JCCF. It was a tea party swap. This is what came in the mail yesterday from my partner Sherry. A tea tote wallet filled with tea and lime packets, cookies, candies, notecards, small tablet, and a tea infuser in the cutest cozy. Just LOVE it all! I'm enjoying the breakfast tea and cookies as I write this. BIG, BIG Thank-you to Sherry!