In the Garden

I was very excited when the previous owners of our house left the raised garden beds. We have two of these metal beds, and I would like to add more. But I am a cautious unskilled gardener so I figure start with what you have and keep busy planning out more for next year. 

When the weather turned nice I so wanted to buy and plant all of the things. But my inner farmer's daughter told me it was way too early. Early April or late March is still too early even in New Mexico. But I planted some cold/cool weather seeds, and I held off for a few more weeks. I figured a few flowers wouldn't hurt me .

Then the urge overcame me, mid May should be pretty safe, right? I have all my pots from the last house sitting here empty and forlorn. Surely mid May is safe?

I pottered and planted to my heart's content.

Then I added much because we live in New Mexico and I need to learn how to water better.

 This year I am trying three types of tomatoes, a tomatillo, three types of peppers, six zucchini plants, two types of snow peas given by a friend, some swiss chard, nasturtiums, and beans from seeds I had leftover from Oregon. 

As we can see clearly I should plan the layout better and I have room to possibly plant some other things but I've got enough to learn from for the time being. So nice to have my hands back in the soil and growing again.

Still slow knitting. It is going to be around for a while.

I finished a shawl! We even took it out for some beers. Shawls are really nice to have along in case the night turns colder while you're out. Living in a high desert area it is really likely. Part of the reason we love this area so much. Bright sunshine days that heat up and nice cool nights.

Burt and I decided it was so much fun knitting shawls and using up some of the stash, that we picked another one to make. 

No really that is his approving face. I swear.

I love how the colors are playing so nicely together, but that cast on edge was just too tight for me. So I pulled it all out and started over. Took three attempts to settle on something not too tight and not too loose. The perfect balance for this one is adding an extra yarn over on the right side and dropping it on the wrong side. 

Speaking of slowing down, Mellie had a bit of an upset stomach and did a dramatic barf over the stairs. It was truly impressive and neither of us woke up for it. Don't worry we cleaned it up and gave plenty of belly settling rubs. Mellie decided to apply Momma's lap directly to the belly to aid healing. 

Burt decided a bit of Momma lap goes along way in preventative health maintenance. 

 Guess we all need to slow down around here for a bit. Hope everyone takes time to allow for some healing.

Slow knitting

I think these are my March socks but they are going no where fast. My wrist and thumb are showing their age and all the knitting they have done. So my knitting has slowed some for the better. At least for the healing better, not knitting better. 

I have been knitting with larger needles on a shawl I have long admired, Whippoorwill by Carina Spencer. Took me years to buy the pattern and years to admit some fancy yarn I had would look great in this pattern. I will be happy to show it off once it is done. 

In the mean time Mellie is happy to show off her relaxed kitty pose. She works hard on it so we can all enjoy.

Twisted, the first yarn store I visited in Portland OR, closed this year. I could not resist getting one last yarn haul from them. My first visit was way back in 2010.  My second visit as part of our own yarn hop was in 2015, the year before we moved out there. I know I made it back there for at least two Rose City Yarn Crawls after we moved. Sad to see them go and I wish them well.