GARDEN UPDATE AND A HAT

     Today we kiss July 2011 goodbye.  It's definitely hot here in northern California - 94 degrees today.  Not the "Heat Dome" that Letterman talks about that is hovering over the eastern part of the state, but definitely a normal summer day.  The Giants have been in Cincinnati for three games where it is very hot and humid - I'm going to blame the weather for their three losses and not poor pitching or playing.  I'm sure they'll all be happy to be back in San Francisco tonight.  They can only get better tomorrow.  I was a little late getting out into the garden to take pictures and pick a "few" and had to take several water breaks.  It didn't help having a big yellow dog panting behind me where ever I went.  However, I managed some pictures that show the growth and color of our flowers and vegetable plants.


This monster is about 12 inches long, and according to our Master Gardener, D.   It is a young Blue Hubbard Squash. It has a twin growing a few feet away, and who knows what's lurking under the leaves.

We were surprised by these peppers because their seedling tag said Bell Peppers which are growing on a plant nearby.  I was worried they would be hot, but after testing a small bite, I found they are sweet and delicious.  I would say they are Banana Peppers.  I love their color.

These vines are reaching farther than we have fence and wires.  I looked for Scarlet Runner Bean seeds, but couldn't find them.  These, however, are similar but will have a variety of colors, all edible, of course.   Jack and the Beanstalk, anyone?



No grasshoppers and plenty of water - my marigolds are thriving.  Their leaves are green
although they look blue in the photo.  I love to see their bright colors every morning from my kitchen window.

ROSES SMELL DE VINE. 

I thought I was watching the buds on this rose bush, but I was surprised to see today two were completely open and a small bud is on it's way.  D bought this rose bush at Walmart where they were selling end of the season plants.  It was pretty sad, but he gave it a sunny spot, fertilizer, and plenty of water.  It's a climbing bush so he painstakingly put together wire paths for it to follow.  I'll show it again after it has climbed up the wall.

 


  
 
We've been given a few of these plants, I think they're Lillys, by a friend from Willows who works in landscaping.  Most are still in the pre-blooming stage, but this one has opened up beautifully in shades of yellow.

For those of you that have seen our back yard "before" when it was mostly dirt, here is how it looks now.  D cut back trees and shrubs (that had grown like trees) to let in the sunshine.  Then grass seed, fertilizer, water, and Mother Nature took over so we now have a lush green lawn.  It's the perfect place to roll on your back and get a good scratching, if you're one of our dogs.  So here is the "after".

     Now to the hat.  My knitting lately has been taking a lot of starts then stops.  I haven't been satisfied with the projects I've tried.  I'm getting tired of making hats and scarves and will venture into other areas for awhile.  However, I did finish a cute hat for a child or others that are childlike ...

The pattern designer called this Scoops, because the yarn balls reminded her of scoops of ice cream.  This is a good pattern for using up balls of knitting worsted left over from other projects.  It's knitted in the round ... I'm getting a little better.  The original has a large pom pom, but I finished off the top with a large button.  The pattern for this hat can be found here:  

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/scoops

Goodbye, July.  Hello, August.  See you in the funny papers.  Knit on. GG





RED SCARF AND PIZZA

Here's another worthy knitting project for you knitters and crocheters, called the Red Scarf Project.  Information can be found here: http://fc2success.org/what-we-do/programs/red-scarf-project/  The project is part of Foster Care for Success - America's College Fund for Foster Youth.  These scarves are given to foster students who are entering college.  They can be any shade of red, 6 - 8 inches wide and about 60 inches long.  They need to be sent between September 1 and December 5 of each year along with notes of encouragement to these students.  This scarf is one of my favorite to make because I use a variety of stitches.  It's definitely not a boring scarf to make. 

The stitch patterns are from Knit & Purl - 250 stitches to knit edited by Erika Knight.  Because of copyrite  laws I can't reproduce the stitch instructions, but I can tell you which ones I used. Yarn used is Vanna's Choice "Brick" - size 9 needles.  I cast on 34 stitches and kept a two or three garter stitch selvage.  I knit four rows of garter stitch and then began the sections.  Section 1: Stockinette Stitch Triangles; Sect. 2: Double Fleck Stitch; Sect. 3: Tile Stitch; Sect. 4: Stockinette Stitch Check; Sect. 5: Divided Boxes; Sect. 6: Check Stitch; Sect. 7: Pennant Stitch; Sect. 8: Check Pattern; Sect. 9 Pique Triangles.  Each Section is about 6 1/2 inches long.  I love the variety of texture that can be make with the simple knit and purl stitches. 

I also had a first this week and that was the first time for making homemade pizza.  Usually I just call Papa Murphy's and get take home.  But now that I have time, I went for it.  The pizza was easy to make and tasted good or better the PM's.  I made the dough in my bread machine, cooked up the sauce, and already had pineapple, little ham slices, and Italian shredded cheese on hand.  I made two pizzas.  The recipes can be found here: http://www.food.com/recipe/pizza-hut-style-pizza-dough-bread-machine-51209 for the dough; and here for the sauce:

http://www.food.com/recipe/ultimate-pizza-sauce-114392

Or you can go to http://www.food.com/ and browse the pizza recipes. Yum!

Now that I have finished the pink bear and the red scarf, I'm going to start working on my mailbox knit bomb.  I'll let you see how it turns out.  Knit on!



PINK AND THE GARDEN

This is Esperanza (in Spanish means "hope") - requested by my sister, C.  She is dressed in pink, obviously, and accessorized in denim, to be extra up to date.  Her pink button heart symbolizes breast cancer awareness.  C and I are both breast cancer survivors.  More pink to come as we get closer to Breast Cancer Awareness month in October.

The garden continues to overflow it's fence with giant leaves and advancing vines.  Fertilizer works wonders.  

Japanese eggplant and Easter eggplant are going into a pot of ratatouille along with zucchini and yellow squash which grow inches overnight.

Now that the weather is getting hotter, we're hoping for more of these - red tomatoes. 

This bumpy creature is a Hubbard squash in it's early stages. 

And this watermelon sized baby will someday be a bright orange pumpkin.  

I'm amazed by the ability of some plant seeds to lie dormant all winter and then with some water and sun, come to life in the summer.  This is a volunteer gourd plant whose seeds traveled in soil from the garden area, across the yard where it's now growing up our fence.  We'll see what it produces.  Right now it's a mystery.

My current knitting project is a red scarf for the Red Scarf Project.  Will have it finished for the next blog.  It's one of my favorite scarves to make because I use a variety of knit & purl stitches to make a highly textured fabric.  I'm still thinking about how to knit bomb my mail box. 

BEARS TO GO

What a lovely morning.  It's coolish this morning which makes life so much easier than double digit July temperatures. Fred and Ethel are ready to be shipped to the Mother Bear Project.  They were so easy to knit - I encourage other knitters and crocheters to give bears a try.  I'm on to my next project, the Red Scarf Project.  I'll give you more information when the scarf is finished.  Not only is it a cool morning, but a surprising one, also.  I was up until 1:00 am (surprised me when I looked at the clock) reading PLAINSONG by Kent Haruf, so far a good book. I staggered out of bed at 9:30 am and went to the door to let in Spaz, but he was already in his not so secret sleeping place. 

On the front porch I found a huge plastic bag full of yarn.  I don't know who left it there, but I've got my suspicions.  I will find out and thank them profusely. It's so exciting to get new yarn because the potential for projects is endless.  For those of you who knit or crochet, I recommend two of my favorite web sites for free patterns: Ravelry at: http://www.ravelry.com/ and Knitting Pattern Central, http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/index.php which has a sister site called Crochet Pattern Central.  Yarn companies like Lion Brand also have free patterns.  Even if you don't knit or crochet you would have to appreciate the work done by knitters and crocheters here and in other countries, and by the yarn being spun and dyed by hand.  It's amazing.  I'm thrilled with my new yarns and can't wait to dig into the bag.

Again, I've spent the morning writing this blog, and I'm having a great time doing so.  Purl had a rough night chasing bugs and is totally zonked out on my bed.  I haven't heard much from the dogs either.  Cool weather makes a person or critter want to curl up and take a nap. Until next time, happy knitting.

 

Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z

MOTHER BEAR PROJECT

Here we go on another terrific project called Mother Bear Project.  Complete information can be found here: http://www.motherbearproject.org/  Knit or crochet a bear or two, and they will be sent to children in Africa that are affected by HIV/AIDS.  More than 11 million are orphaned by this disease. For five dollars Mother Bear Project will send you the pattern for the bear, or you can buy it as a kit for twelve dollars.  This money helps pay for shipping of the bears, also.  Most of us who knit and crochet have a stash of yarn enough to knit hundreds of bears.  This bear stands about 12 inches tall and is stuffed just right for hugging with Polyfill stuffing.  Mother Bear Project also appreciates donations of bear-making materials - yarn, knitting needles, crochet hooks, stuffing, and as always financial contributions.  Once received, Mother Bear attaches a red heart to the chest of the bear - a symbol of love.  I have a second bear started - making them is addictive - with red shoes and zebra striped pants - to be seen in my next blog.  It's fun and will make someone happy.  Try knitting or crocheting a bear today! 

Here's another corner of the back yard devoted to succulents and cacti.  Easy to grow and needs little water and lots of sun.  These plants are being watched over by a horse's skull given to me by a friend in Elk Creek many years ago.  I used it in my art class as a subject for charcoal drawing.  The other side of the yard continues to grow - over flowing the fence with tendrils of vines.  Zucchini (what else?) and eggplant on the menu tonight. 

Until next time.  Knit on!!

COLORS

It's no wonder we go to nature for inspiration - the colors are a wonder.  Just in our garden there are shades of purples, greens, yellows, and hopefully reds and oranges in good time.  Not only does this Japanese eggplant plant produce purple eggplant, its stems and blossoms are shades of purple, also.  However, variety is the spice of life, it's said.  I doubt they were talking about eggplant but that's where we found it. 

Actually looks like an egg - white globe eggplant.

Early Girl tomatoes should be turning red soon.  We keep checking daily to see how they're progressing.  Same with the squash plants that are producing in record speed.  They're sneaky - if we don't look down into the depths of the plant we get, as I said earlier, submarines.  Yesterday, however, we found three torpedoes. 

These will make yummy zucchini bread.

Geraniums are so easy to grow and produce such lovely flowers.  

As does the squash plant.  You can see the baby yellow squash that should be ready to pick tomorrow.  Needless to say, we're eating a lot of squash.  Along with chunks of new potatoes, I roasted chunks of squash.  A little olive oil in the pan, some Italian seasoning, and into the oven at 400 degrees for a half an hour or so.  So easy and so good.

On to knitting.  Today I'm visiting a good friend and getting her started knitting a scarf for the Winter Special Olympics.  These scarves can be knit or crochet - make a scarf today.  You'll find information at Winter Special Olympics Scarf Project.  Knit on!



LITTLE GIRL POCKET SCARF AND HAT

Here they are - the pinkie pink scarf and hat for a little girl.  I used Caron Dazzleaire in coral (looks pink to me) and size 9 needles for the scarf which is 49 inches in length before turning up the pockets at 4 1/2 inches.  I started and ended with 1 inch of k2, p2 ribbing with the remainder of the scarf in garter stitch (knit every row). The hat is knit flat and then seamed based on Bev's "Josh" Beanie Cap, found here: http://www.bevscountrycottage.com/josh-beanie.html
I was looking for a cap pattern knit in garter stitch and "Josh" Beanie was close.  I started with size 7 needles and knit k2, p2 ribbing for five rows and then changed to size 8 needles for the remainder of the hat in garter stitch.  The pockets and the hat are embellished with knitted hearts (one of my favorite shapes) sewn on with the pink, but flowers, buttons, embroidery could just as easily take their place. I wish I could see who ever wears this.

Last week I took a drive to Elk Creek to pick up some things from the school and to have a chat with the office staff to catch up on what's been happening.  Elk Creek is a very small rural community an hour's drive from where I live (this gives you an idea about my commute for many years).  There are elk in the hills, but the creek that runs through the town is Stony Creek and across it is an old bridge no longer usable (we drove across it when I first started working there), but it is a beautiful landmark.  The creek is cool and inviting, nothing like the winter when it can be treacherous and often floods the roads. 

Believe it or not, kids jump off this bridge to a pool below. 

 I'll finish this blog with some colors of the garden. Our plants are thriving now that the summer heat is on us and they're getting plenty of water from the garden hose.  Hope to have a red tomato soon. Knit on!