... but all of the "Spot Bolt" fabrics (clearance priced) were 50% off of that and I had gotten my Shirt no. 2 pattern from 100 Acts of Sewing yesterday so I cruised the knits and, well, I might have bought some. Okay, I bought a bunch. But it was 50% off the already sale price. Really. And I only got 2 yards of each except for the ladybug stuff that DD bought in August there was only 1 1/2 yards of that left. It was really like I got two yards for the price of one for all of it.
When I got home I put on jeans, my yardwork shoes, and a hoodie and went out to tear down the garden. We haven't had a killing frost yet but no tomatoes were ripening and everything was looking pretty sad. I laid out a tarp then untwisted all the ties holding the plants to the trellis wires, broke the branches, and uprooted the plants. I left the butternut squash alone because I think that tastes sweeter if you leave it on the vine until the plant gets frosted. One year I picked it earlier and the squash wasn't ripe. Yuk.
Last year I planted a few kinds of mint along the timber edge closest to the house so that LC and OJ had leaves to pick and eat. The mint, especially the chocolate mint, loves it there and has kind of taken over, even growing behind the bale into the space between the first and second rows of bales. Last year I planted herbs between the mint plants and it worked fine. This year the mint kind of overpowered everything but I have to say that walking into the garden, treading on the mint releases the most enticing aroma that I'm leaving it. I won't plant as many tomatoes next year so I can plant the herbs on the bales and leave the mint to thrive on the ground.
I won't be wasting an entire bale to grow scallions again. I carefully planted each little black seed in a furrow, softly spread soil over them, wrapped the bale in chicken wire to keep the chipmunks out, and this is the sum total of scallions I harvested today. Not worth it.
I finished the Grays Slip-Stitch Cap tonight, pom pom and all. The pom pom isn't the perfect orb that the how-to video showed and it's not as full and firm as it might be but I like it. I'll make this pattern again.
October 7--French, Gloves with Zigzag Design. Marie drew on the gloves smoothing them onto each finger in turn and up her forearms. The thin leather quickly warmed and felt like part of her. She heard Aunt Cele and Uncle Lawrence talking in the foyer waiting for the car to arrive. She patted her skirt, smoothed her hair, and went down to...
Blah. Blah. Blah. Once I'd finished the cap I looked at the yarn I need to wind for the mitts to go with it and thought, "oh, Durwood isn't around to hold the hank while I wind it into a ball" and nearly started bawling. The silliest things seem to be triggers. He loved sitting at the table holding the yarn and carefully moving his hands so that it came off one strand at a time. He asked if he was doing it wrong when I asked if he'd make me a swift but I assured him that he did it just right. Silly.
--Barbara
1 comment:
That cap and pom-pom look perfect to me. You're too hard on yourself. The remains of the garden do look sad but not as sad as the "crop" of scallions. Oh well, live and learn. Yes, it's funny how some seemingly simple act can trigger a vivid memory. He'll always be there in your heart and memory.
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