AUTUMN GARDEN AND KNITTING

We know it's autumn when the pumpkins are ready to be picked.  Here's our harvest plus two that are on the front porch and one that I've baked and used in pumpkin bread.  Yum!

The gourds are all volunteers from gourds that fell on the ground last year.  I'm amazed - new plants come up every spring at different parts of the yard.  There must be a purpose for something so determined to survive, but I'm not sure what it its.  Nor am I sure what to do with all of this.  Here it all is ready for baking and some thing else ... just not sure what.  I baked one of the smaller pumpkins the same way I bake acorn squash.  Then I scooped out the pumpkin pulp, but it through the food processor and used it to make pumpkin bread.  The delicious recipe can be found here: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/pumpkin_bread/ 

Master Gardener, D, is transforming the spring/summer garden in to a fall/winter garden.  All the dead and dying plants have been pulled out, and he is creating new planting areas and reviving the soil with chicken manure.  Sounds gross, but it works.  Plants love it as do worms which keep the soil aerated. 

Here's the what's left of the summer garden.  We're hoping to use some of it along with the zillion leaves that are going to fall to create a compost pile. This is definitely learn-as-you-go gardening.

Another change is the expansion of the garden area and the move of the raspberry plant to a sunnier spot.  It's vines will grow up on the fence.

Here's the yard through the dream catchers on the patio.  It's our dream to have a producing winter garden, and I think we will.  Also hidden are a multitude of iris tubers, and tulip, and crocus bulbs that we're hoping will make the yard spectacular in color in the spring.

As I work on my blog, my constant companions are near by.  It's their time to snooze since they go out at night and do their cat thing.  I hope Spaz has learned his lesson about fighting and keeps a low profile while he's out there.

Below is the last of the pink yarn.  I had to piece together what was left to make another drop stitch scarf, a little narrower than the first one.  I like the way it came out.  My plastic bin is full of knitting for the bazaar.  I still have a few started projects that need to be finished and it will be ready to go next month.



I substitute taught at Elk Creek yesterday in math for my friend, J M.  I took my knitting since her students always have a lot to do and I'm not a math genius and no help with algebra or geometry. It was fun to see my old students again and the staff, too.  I'm going again next week.  Will try to take some pictures.  Keep on knitting and crocheting ... someone will love you for it.

SCARVES AND A PERFECT ROSE

My friend, J and I have been knitting red and blue for the 2012 Winter Special Olympics.  Here are our four scarves, labeled and ready to be mailed to Bend, Oregon.  I'm excited to send them off and pleased that J has joined me in knitting.  She's now knitting scarves for her adult twin daughters.  Lucky girls to have a mom that knits.

I'm continuing to knit pink for the Eagles Christmas Bazaar.  They make a special place for my pink scarves so the when sold the money goes toward breast cancer research.  I hope to have a least four pink scarves - the Bazaar is next month.  knit -knit-knit. 

This scarf and the previous pink scarf are knit in Sensations - Rainbow Boucle. The pattern came from my new knitting book:The Complete Photo Guide to KNITTING.  It's called Airy Garter Stitch.  I doubled the yarn and used size 11 needles.  Yarn and book were purchased at JoAnn's.

     Cast on an even number of stitches

     Rows 1 - 4: knit

     Row 5 (RS): *K1, yo twice, rep from *, end k1.

     Row 6: Knit across row dropping the extra wraps.

     Rep Rows 1 - 6 for pattern.



I'm taking my knitting with me tomorrow when husband K has arthroscopic knee surgery.  There will be plenty of sitting time for me while waiting. 

Perfection.  There aren't many things more beautiful than this rose from D's garden.  I just had to share it.  I would like to hug the person who invented the digital camera.  I took this photo half an hour ago and here it is for everyone to see.

I'm going to be substitute teaching at ECHS in a couple of weeks and will have camera with me.  There is so much to see on the way there, an hour's drive from home.  Hopefully, it won't be raining, but then that adds drama.

That's it from sunny Northern California.  Knit and crochet on!

KNITTING UP A HAIL STORM

     Mother Nature is making herself very well known so far this fall.  She must have been having a rotten day on Wednesday night because she really let us have it with thunder, lightning, and huge hail stones.  The storm was exciting to watch and confusing to the animals, especially Hunter, who thought the sky was raining golf balls.  Pictures farther in this blog.

     October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, so I've been working on some pink yarn, scarves for the Christmas sale.  I try to have a few pink things to make money for cancer research. 

This scarf is made with two strands of a pink variegated (dark to light) boucle yarn I found at the thrift shop.  It was wound into a huge ball which I rewound into two balls for easier knitting.  It came out soft and has a nice drape.  I used size 10 needles and my favorite rib pattern - cast on an uneven number of stitches and then knit 2, purl 1 every row.

     I still had boucle yarn left after the first scarf, so I used one strand of pink worsted yarn and one strand of the boucle to get a bulkier scarf, still soft and in the same rib pattern. For those people who are willing to wear pink, these scarves are for them.  They're soft and warm.

    I'm also knitting gift bags for the sale.  This pattern can be found at: http://www.double-ewe-yarn.com/  You need basic knitting skills of yarn overs and cables.  It's knit flat then sides are sewn together.  I used knitting worsted yarn and size 7 needles as recommended in the pattern, but larger or smaller bags could be made depending on the yarn and needles size.  This is an easy pattern with impressive results.  Double Ewe is a knitting shop web site with some good free patterns.

     Now the hail storm.  The weather bureau posted warnings on TV about an impending storm for north Butte County (us) and south Tehama County which is Corning and Red Bluff and they weren't kidding.  Although it didn't last much more than an hour, it did quite a bit of damage: collapsed awnings, flooded showroom floors, and ruined outdoor plants. Our plastic corrugated patio cover has over a dozen holes in it.  Our plants took a beating, but look like they will come back now that the weather is warm and sunny again.  Rice fields and nut orchards are suffering.  This is harvest time.  It's difficult to harvest rice when the plants are flattened on the muddy ground.  Anyway, here's our back yard.

You can get a sense of the size of the hail in Master Gardener D's hand.

Halloween can't be too far off when the pumpkins in the garden look like this.  I love the colors.  This is Mother Nature at her best. 

Linus can come to our garden and wait for the Great Pumpkin.

     The Eagles Christmas Bazaar is next month, so I'm getting my projects labeled and ready to go.  Just finished a hat and started another gift bag, red and white, Merry Christmas.  See you and them in the next blog.  Knit and crochet to your heart's desire.