My Stash is NOT Trash

Only another crafter, knitter, quilter can understand the importance of a stash. One never knows when one might need a scrap of red print to add to a border or three skeins of baby blue sport yarn to start an afghan for a new baby.

My yarn stash is not as large as some, but it is enough to give me options. 

Riding in the car with my mother-in-law is not the time to work on a pattern requiring counting and concentration.  That's when it's great to grab some yarn, needles and pattern and just work on a gauge swatch.  So thank goodness I have an array of needles and yarn.

Often instead of adding to the stash, it's fun to find ideas for leftover yarn. After knitting a baby afghan for my FIRST grandchild ( and teaching myself cables ),

 

I had a small ball left over. So a matching hat was fun, quick and loved by mother and baby.

Ravelry.com was the perfect place to find projects.  I entered the kind of yarn, approximately how much I had, my skill level and that I was looking for a hat pattern.  Up popped scads of pictures accompanied by patterns.

My stash didn't grow with this yarn, but I have plenty of other leftovers.  The stash is not trash.

Seed Gathering Time

We have been enjoying a long, beautiful fall.  The mornings are crisp while the afternoons are warm enough to shed the light sweater.  As I sip my cup of tea, I look out over the gardens and realize - I need to collect seeds!

Often there is a short window for seed collecting since snow can come any day - even in September.  I drop the tea cup and race in the house for my seed collecting materials:

Paper bags

marker

gloves

Mark each bag with the name of the flower, color, height, and the date collected.  With my memory come next spring I will have no idea if the marigolds are gold, striped or yellow; petite or 18" tall.

Look for seed heads that are ready to blow away in the wind; which is why it's important to do this before a windy day comes along and delivers your seeds to a garden half a mile away. If the flower pods are cracking open and ready to spill the seeds, then the seeds have ripened and are viable.  It's important to only collect ripened seeds or they will not sprout next spring.

Put the paper bag under the flower head and gentle shake or rub the flower head.  Usually I have to roll hollyhock heads between my thumb and forefinger to break up the outer covering and let the seeds escape. If the seeds are extremely small, such as petunias, cut the dried flower head and let it drop into the bag - seeds and all.  Later roll over the bag with a rolling pin to break the shaft away from the seed.

If any  seeds  are not dry, spread them on a clean cookie sheet.  Put the cookie sheet indoors, out of the sun and away from drafts or disturbance.  For instance my guest room bed worked well until I found the cat laying on the seeds. 

The seeds can be left in the paper bags or poured into labeled envelopes or cute, labeled jars.  Store in a dry, dark place.

The best seeds to collect are from plants which are true to their variety.  The seeds of any hybrids or designer plants will not grow into the same plants.  If they are viable, they will revert to one of the original varieties that was cross-bred. I have had great luck with the basics:

cosmos

marigolds

calendulas

hollyhocks

My rule of thumb is if the flower sprouts somewhere else in my garden, it must have very strong seeds.  In which case, I should be able to put the seeds where I want them! Besides collecting hollyhock seeds, I have sprinkled some along the fence where I need them to fill in next year.  Hopefully over the winter, snug under the snow, they will be happy enough to sprout in May.

She's here!

October 1, at 3:08am, my granddaughter was born.  Although 2 1/2 weeks early, mom and beautiful baby are doing great.

Violet went home in a hat I knitted her. 

While a little too big, when the ribbing was rolled up it looked darling.  The pattern was from Ravelry.com.   This is a must visit and register for knitters and crocheters.  Hundreds and hundreds of free patterns.  And tons of pictures of by people who have made up the various patterns so you can see how they look in different colors and yarns.  I was so surprised that I actually was able to see the flower pattern!  Sometimes I impress myself.

Same yarn as the hat, but a different pattern.  For this I had to teach myself cables!

Good to Be Back

Whew - it's been a year!  Hard to believe how much can happen in a year.

But now I am on the verge of happy, happy times.  My daughter is expecting my first grandchild, Oct. 18!  Actually after a perfect pregnancy - no problems, complaints - she found out yesterday the baby is breached.  Today, the doctors are doing an Inversion procedure to try and turn the baby.  If not, then Oct. 11 a c-section is scheduled.  She's bummed, but as long as she and the baby are healthy and safe, my prayers are answered. 

In the meantime, I have been knitting up a storm - baby afghan, hats, hats and more hats!  She (oh, yes, it's a girl) will have a hat for every outfit and ocassion at this rate. I discovered the most awesome website for knitters - The Ravelry. Free patterns, tons of tips, helpful fellow knitters (and crocheters).

And more big news!  My other daughter is getting married, Dec. 11, after a LONG 2 year engagement.  The groom's mother and I have been so anxious for the big day that I think we're more excited than the kids.  Probably because the kids are working, while we of course have nothing else to do than dream about this wedding.  And the fact that it's the first wedding on both sides, us moms are ecstatic.  Finally the day is nearing. 

My dress distress was just resolved earlier this week.  Forget the bride finding a dress, mother of the bride dresses are few and far between.  Maybe I set the bar too high; I want something classy without being frumpy. Elegant, but not prom-y.  And I think I found it.  Pictures later.

A Colorado Autumn

Due to early September freezes or even snowfall, Colorado typically has 3 seasons; spring, summer and winter. An overnight drop into the freezing range can leave leaves brown, plants black and yet a return to 70 degrees the next day. However this year we have been blessed with a true fall of warm weather and leaves the colors of burgundy, gold,  and rust.

 

I just walked to my favorite quilter to drop off three tops I finally finished.  At 4 o'clock in the afternoon the air is 80 degrees and the sun is glinting through the leaves enriching their deep colors.  Have I noticed the variety of trees lining the streets of our town before?  In the spring I enjoy the leafing out of  new growth and the shades of green, but until they have a chance to turn their autumnal colors, I don't think I have realized the different species in the area.  Silver maples, ashes, cottonwoods, catalpas are contributing to a richly colorful neighborhood.

A year ago we were in Maine to experience a New England fall - every retiree's dream.  We missed the peak by a week, so we were told.  To us it was a breathtaking canvas wherever we looked. While we kicked up piles of fallen leaves, the trees seemed to still be picture postcard perfect with huge colorful foliage. Do New Englanders appreciate the beauty around them?  Or are they only annoyed with slow driving tourists who act like they have never seen a fall leaf?

This year we stayed in state and relished the mountain aspens peaking with an explosion of oranges and even red. Yes, aspen can not only be deep gold, but also orange and occasionally red.  Over 100 pictures snapped on Boreas Pass and I still didn't capture the beauty.  You absolutely have to be at 10,000', look out over the vista, breathe in the mountain air and give a sigh of OMG to truly experience the change in the aspens.  There are many "aspen drives" in Colorado, but a favorite on the eastern slope (east side of the Continenetal Divide) is Kenosha Pass. Cars clog the two-lane highway as people drop their jaws and yell for the driver to pull over.  Entire mountainsides of aspen groves change with the season at once, providing a breath-taking panaroma.

Our own 3 ace lot outside of Como, Colorado, was stunning knowing that in a few weeks the leaves will have fallen and be snow covered.

A picture cannot do it justice. And likewise in my backyard on the plains of the Denver area.

Our maple is stunning this year.  The middle of October and it has hardly dropped a leaf.  Each branch is covered in burgundy leaves which enrich with color as the late afternoon sun streams through.  My hobby level photography skills cannot capture what my eye is enjoying.  Is there such a thing as rent-a-photographer for backyard scenes?

So I reminded myself walking back from the quilter to sit on the deck, sip a glass of burgundy and appreciate the burgundy of autumn.

Granddaughters and Tea Parties

One of the joys of being a grandmother is doing the silly, frilly fun thing that as busy moms we didn't have time for.  Rather than doing laundry, making beds and picking up toys, a gramma can set a table of cookies, candies, and cupcakes to play dressup in floppy hats.

My sister-in-law's granddaughter is in town and is one year older than my mine, so I thought a gramma/granddaughter tea party would be delightful for these three and four year old darlings.  Knowing they don't eat much at one setting and would be off to play quickly, I didn't spend a great deal of time on fancy food.

• Egg salad sandwiches cut with a heart shaped cookie cutter and toothpicked with a grape tomato
• Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cut with a biscuit cutter
• Turkey and cheese sandwiches cut in rectangles

No little girls' tea party is complete without cupcakes with pink frosting!

Easter and spring time are perfect seasons for shopping for pastel dishes.  Target had plastic purple polka dot and green polka dot plates and tray with matching glasses.  Not a huge investment and the dishes can double on the Easter table, my annual garden party and of course future granddaughter tea parties.

While the plates were plastic, real flowers, fabric tablecloth and napkins gave the table an air of elegance and whimsy.

Seeding Season at Last

The date has finally arrived to begin my seeds indoors.  The last average frost date here is May 15, so counting backwards I find the magic "weeks prior to transplanting outdoors"  when I can start my petunias, tomatoes, cilantro, etc.

This year I am attempting red begonias for the first time.  These are a special, super duper strain that should reach 2-3 feet and bloom all summer.  However, they begin as teeny, tiny seeds that need to be started 14 weeks before going outside.  March 4, I dropped the size-of-a-pinhead seeds on to seed planting medium and set the tray on the dining room table in front of a south facing window.  They need light to germinate, so they weren't covered with anything but plastic wrap to trap the moisture build up from the 1/4 inch of water put in the bottom of the tray.  I always use a soilless, pre-mixed growing medium. Such mixes are generally made up of peat, perlite and vermiculite along with some nutrients. These mixes are for the most part free from disease, insects and weed seeds.

At about two weeks sprouts started showing.  Out of 45 seeds, 26 are up.  Everyday I see a few more and give them words of encouragement.

This week I'll start cilantro, but next week is fanny farmer week when petunias (4 kinds and colors) and tomatoes (3 varieties) need to be started.