First Sighting: Rose Breasted Grosbeak

We saw a rose breasted grosbeak on the sesame seed-filled feeder during dinner tonight. You can read about them here: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/rose-breasted_grosbeak/id

Machine Knitting: Seminar and a Sweater

Today was the first day of the two-day seminar put on by the Carolina Machine Knitters Guild. I had a great afternoon because I got to spend it with Frank Sanders from Northtipton (http://northtipton.com/) who taught me how to clean knitting machines and ALSO showed me that my 1958 Brother KH212 (the BrotherKnit) machine is functional! YAY! (Update May 2: I asked for and received permission to use the picture below, which is Frank Sanders and my KH212. Thanks again for EVERYTHING, Cathie and Frank!)

Unfortunately, the cotton sweater that I made on my Bond and had planned to wear it to the seminar is really comfy and therefore spent the weekend in the dirty clothes bin instead of being worn to the seminar. The good news is I'm almost done with the next one!

More Seeds Started

Today I have planted Coleus, English Daisy, Johnny Jump-Up, and blue Morning Glory seeds in various peat pots. All are destined (if they grow...hope, hope!) for the spot between the trees where we used to have the compost piles. I'll put a picture after they start sprouting as pictures of just dirt are just...boring.

My First USM Sweater

The knitting machine seminar is this coming Friday and Saturday. I really wanted to be able to wear SOMETHING I made on the machine to it, and fortunately this easy pattern was in the old manual. It's made from Peaches & Creme yarn, most of two cones (I used one cone for the front and another for the back; the leftovers probably will become kitchen towels, placemats, or potholders).

I'm very pleased with the result and am going to run over to A.C. Moore for some more cotton yarn. I'd like to try a solid next, and do a cable up the front.

Garden Update - and our New Bistro Set

We finally have a new set of table and chairs (a "bistro set," even!) for the patio. It came in a flat box and I put it together Friday night. It's made from cast iron and has a beautiful, copper-like finish. It's nice enough outside that we might get to eat breakfast on the patio today!

It occurred to me that it might be kind of fun to track our garden on a weekly basis. Since I took the first pictures last week, while I was out getting the photo of the table and chairs, I took update pictures of our plants in pots. I hope to be able to do this every Sunday morning...we shall see!

Silly non-cooperative early morning sun from the east!
Stevia, four kinds of pepper

Basil, Rosemary, Pineapple Sage, Basil

Tomato, Tomato, Stevia, Tomato

Spaghetti Squash Experiment

So a couple of weeks ago we were having spaghetti squash. As I was removing the seeds, I wondered if they would grow, so I planted a few in some small peat pots.

Grow they did, and today I planted the seedlings in my brand-spanking-new raised bed that Danny made for me!

As Promised: Pictures

Tomato, Tomato, Stevia, Tomato

Basil, Rosemary, Pineapple Sage, Basil

Stevia, four different kinds of pepper

The Day After

Yesterday, North Carolina was hit by a storm. Rain, normal. Hail, more or less normal. Multiple tornadoes - NOT normal! A Lowe's Home Improvement in Sanford was destroyed, only about 30 miles from us. But we're fine, and grateful to be fine. Even our little plants in their pots are okay. Danny put the cages on the tomatoes yesterday.

Speaking of our little plants, a couple more have been added: a habanero and a cayenne pepper. Also, I decided to try starting some spaghetti squash from seed and that has worked beautifully, although we don't have an outdoor place yet for the baby plants.

Yeah, I'll get a picture. Soon. Promise.

The Garden, The Cat, And Allergies

Beautiful spring day today - 68 degrees outside. Got the cat into the shower for her spring bath (she did not approve) and she's now sparkling clean. Used a new shampoo that's supposed to be good for helping her process hair balls.

Also got the garden planted. Yes, it's in pots on the patio, but that's really nice because Danny made benches for all the pots to go on, and there is a lot less bending involved in every aspect of tending the plants. This year, we have three patio tomatoes, two sweet basils, a cilantro, one jalapeno, one hot yellow pepper, a rosemary, two stevia, and one pineapple basil.

My nose is running, my eyes and throat are itching...yup, it's allergy season. Time for a break!