Plum Stitches

more signs of spring

Treats from the my garden!  When I planted all of the tulip/daffodil/crocus bulbs last fall I didn't think they would actually come up, but life is full of surprises.  I just the love the deep, deep purple of these - reminds me of an eggplants. 

Jim has become obsessed with getting moss to grow between the blue stone in the yard.  I, myself, am more focused on the creeping thyme (can't get enough of the scent when you step on it). 

He found some recipe online, where you mix, in a blender, a piece of moss, a flat beer and sugar.  Then you paint/pour it onto the areas where you want the moss to grow.  Hopefully it works.  In the meantime, Jim and his Dad scavenged their property for moss, which Jim brought home in a plastic bag and planted in our yard.

More things from our garden...

 

Long Time!

I've been gone for awhile, well at least from writing.  We came back late Friday night from a week in the Florida Keys spent with my sister-in-law, her husband and one of her daughters.  It's really beautiful there, although not all the beaches are as sandy and wonderful as in the Carribean.  One day the beach would be covered with seaweed, and the water kind of gross from the seaweed, then the next day it would be crystal clear. 

We stayed in a house near Marathon, right one the water with beautiful views.  One day we made the trek to Key West (at the bottom of the chain) and wandered about for the day.  On our way home we had dinner at the Hogfish Bar and Gril, based on an article that we brought with us from the New York Time.  It was pretty good, although I think the atmosphere was better than the food.  We ate so much fresh fish the entire time we were there that I think we've burned ourselves out on it for a bit!

Oh, another great thing we did was to rent a motorboat for the week, which really made it so much fun to be there.  Several days when the seaweed at the beach was bad we headed out to a sandbar just offshore, anchored and swam.  Wish I had taken some pictures of it because it was a blast.

We spent a morning at Theater of the Sea, taking in the bird, sea lion and dolphin shows.  I don't think I've ever been to one of these places before, at least that I can remember.  Chloe loved it and I developed a crush on Wilbur the sea lion.  Unfortunately, I couldn't bring him home with me, but he was so darn cute and that face so expressive.

Unfortunately, the day we got back my grandmother died.  Very, very sad.  Although, when it's someone that has lived a long life it does make the loss somewhat easier to bear.   So, Chloe, Sadie and I are off  to South Jersey for the week.

To end on a more uplifting note, I have some news - I'm pregnant with number two.  I've been hesitant to really tell anyone because I've been worried something might go wrong, but at this point there's no hiding it.  I'm almost 20 weeks and in the past week, my belly has completely popped.   Think I'll be moving into those maternity clothes now...

lace projects

I'm not quite sure how this happened, but suddenly I find myself working on two lace projects.  Talk about frustrating, I feel like I've pulled both of these apart a gazillion times.  But, now I think I'm on the right track...

Pattern:  Trellis Scarf, by Evelyn A. Clark, Interweave Knits, Spring 2006
Yarn:  Moonlit Alpaca, from my stash (yay!)
Needles:  Size 5
Notes:  This is a gift, which may end up being a very belated gift.  I finished the beginning border (after a few false starts) and am on the first row of the lace but I'm stuck.  Knitting 7 stitches together is presenting quite the challenge! 

It's difficult to actually see the pattern from this picture, but hopefully as I make some progress it will be clearer.

Pattern:  February Sweater, Knitter's Almanac by Elizabeth Zimmermann
Yarn:  Cascade 220
Needles:  Size 5 circular
Notes:  This has been sitting in my WIP pile since last August, loooong time.  Now that I've FINALLY mastered the pattern, it's actually going quickly.  I might even say I'm enjoying making it!

What else?  I went to my knitting group at Starbucks last night.  We've had lots of new faces show up (at least to me), which has been fun.  Someone last night was making Sheldon from Knitty - soooo cute!  I can just see Chloe having a great time playing with the little turtle.  Might have to put that on my 'to-do' list...

blowing in the wind

We spent a few hours on Saturday afternoon romping in Liberty State Park.  The sun was warm, but the wind still chilly.

Lots of new things opening (finally) in Jersey City.  John's Pizza, (the famous NYC pizzeria) just opened an outpost in Jersey City.  A brand new, much needed Duane Reade (drugstore) just opened right near the train station along with a Starbucks.  Now I know everyone these days is down on Starbucks, but this is great news for my knitting group.  They were happy to hear we would be knitting there once a week AND the lighting is great.  The reception we've gotten at some of the other local restaurants/coffee shops where we've met, has been luke warm at best.

The best news for me is that my gym finally opened in Jersey City, a short walk from our house.  I've been driving to Hoboken, not too far away since we moved, but now I can just walk.  It's all sleek and modern, and they have a great daycare drop-off.  Funny, it seems all of the sudden the things we've been missing in Jersey City have finally opened.  Although we could still use a decent grocery store.

Another good thing about Starbucks - they'll give you their used coffee grounds.  I've been using ours for awhile in our backyard, but I can get much more from Starbucks.  I just read recently too that the grounds are great to use to prevent the cats from using your flower beds as a littler box.  We'll see if that actually works!

I bought some great yarn the other day at AC Moore in the sales bin.  I think the balls were about $3 a piece and the yarn is a merino/alpaca/silk blend.  I haven't checked, but you might be able to get from their web site as well.  My plan is to use what I bought for a few baby presents I need to get started on.

chocolate or vanilla?

Happy Friday!

Pattern:  Cupcakes, One Skein by Leigh Radford
Needles:  Size 6 circular, size 10 circular
Yarn:  Base is remnants of Koigu and Berocco, tops are remnants of novelty yarn from AC Moore
Notes:  Fun to knit, I skipped the buttons on the top from the pattern - thought the novelty yarn provided enough texture.  My goal is to make a dozen!

some assembly required

It's a dreary day in these parts today.  Although 'April showers, bring May flowers', right? 

Speaking of which, my daffodils are now blooming in my back yard, and I think I mentioned before that the crocus' are blooming around our new tree in front of our house.  The crocus' blooming I find amazing, seeing as every dog in our neighborhood has used our tree planter as a personal litter box.  I kid you not.  I've even gotten in a few arguments with dog owner's about...if they could 'please let their dog pee somewhere else.'  You should hear the responses I get.  Now, I'm a dog owner and I at least have enough respect for people's property not to let my dog hop up into a planter and pee everywhere.  I guess that's just me.  Alright, enough of that. 

I'm plugging away on a few knitting projects, but none of them really seem to be capturing my interest for very long.  I work on one for a bit, put it down and pick up the other.  At this rate, it's going to be June before I finish either one!!  I do have a few baby presents that need to be made in the coming months, so that may provide inspiration.

Without intentionally doing this, I seem to be knitting out of my stash.  Yay!  Who knew it was possible to do this without careful thought and preparation ;-) 

I made one of these cupcakes before from the One Skein book.  My goal here is to make multiple and after digging around in my yarn I discovered I have plenty of leftovers skeins that will do the trick.  This top is a bit small, so I'm going to save it for a smaller one.

The pattern calls for assembling the cupcake - knitting the top and bottom pieces separately, but I think you could easily attached the top by picking up stitches.  Might have to experiment a bit...