Green Fingers

It seems Dublin knitters have become somewhat obsessed with growing your own veg, and this house is no exception. A discussion started some while ago about growing veg and a few of us decided to give it a go.
I think I posted before about what we planted, so here's an update.

We have peppers!:


I planted 4 different varieties of peppers, from sweet to spicy Jalapeno. We tried these ones before last year, and nothing grew. It seems we got a bit luckier this year. These are the ones we transplanted today, and there are loads more left over that we put into pots outside.

These are courgette and broccoli. Every single seed that we planted has germinated and thrived, so they're all over the place! I have some in this Belfast sink:



And here's just a taster of the others. There's sunflowers there too.



We also planted a herb pot of coriander, parsley, chives and something else I can't remember now. I'm too lazy to get up & go find out. :)

There was a sad discovery made in the garden:



Aww. A whole birds egg. I think it's a robin egg? I wonder what happened to it. Poor little thing.

While hubby & Alice were busy in the garden, I got busy in the kitchen. I'm sure I've mentioned it loads of times before, but I love this man:


We discovered him several years ago when in the States on holidays, and have since acquired every single episode of his show, Good Eats (recently ended, BOO). He's a brilliantly witty chef, who disects a different ingredient each episode and comes up with the most amazing recipes.

I made an apple pie:



Yep. No-one could wait long enough for me to get a photo of the whole one. ;)
I'm also making his southern fried chicken for dinner, with buttermilk biscuits. Biscuits in the States are like scones, but lighter and way more NOM. I can't wait! The chicken takes ages (soak for 12 hours in buttermilk before cooking) but Oh. My. God. it is so worth it. I'm drooling just thinking about dinner tonght!

Just so you don't think I've lost my knitty marbles altogether, I started on a sock:



I posted previously that Mam had picked out a pattern and I was going to make it, but that fell by the wayside. I was out meeting a lovely knitter from Australia with some Irish knitters and also CosmicPluto recently. We went for dinner, and of course all took out our knitting. Not having the pattern with me, I just cast on a foolproof 64 sts and ribbed a bit. So, I had to go back to the book and find a pattern that matched! I came up with this one. Waving Lace Socks by Evelyn A. Clark from Interwave Favourite Socks. That'll do nicely.

I recently downloaded the Vogue Knitting App onto my iPad. You can download issues of the magazine there, so I nabbed the Early Fall issue that came out last week. It was only €3.99! Great stuff. I'll still get the print issue though, I think. I like keeping the print mag. We'll see. Anyway, you know what that means! I hope to get the review done this week.

Good knitting!

Easter Tidings

Happy Easter everyone! I hope the Easter Bunny paid you all a visit. I got a really lovely Easter present:



Easter Sheep! I think my sheep obsession might be going a bit far. But I didn't buy it, so I guess it doesn't count. Isn't it cute?

I have an FO to show you too:



Pattern: Nutkin Socks by Beth LaPensee
Yarn: Knits Picks Essential Tweed, 1.25 skeins
Needles: 2.5mm Knit Picks Harmony dpns

Sorry about the crappy picture. I really didn't enjoy this pattern. The socks are terribly twisted, the heels look *pants* and they don't fit me. I still can't believe they fit Alice, and her shoe size is 4 sizes smaller than me. Even though I made them the length to fit my foot. Never will I make these again. Plus I don't like the yarn at all. I think the multi coloured nubs are like clown vomit. Still, she likes them and I suppose it takes the pressure off me to make her another pair for a while.

With those out of the way, it's time for a new project! Remember we bought a piano recently? Well I was looking at the top of it and I reckon it'll rapidly become a dumping ground for crap. Not to mention glasses and cups if we ever have a party. So I decided it needs a runner to protect it.



Enter the book Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders and the Asphodel Lace Coasters and Centerpiece pattern. I'm going to make just the centerpiece, and I'm going to alter it and make it narrower and longer to go across the top of the piano. I have 2 skeins of the deliciousness that is Louet Gems Fingering Weight in Cream that I think will be perfect against the dark wood of the piano.
I'll give it a go anyway, and see how it turns out.

Alice & I were also busy making cards this week. Here are 3 Easter cards we made. We made some birthday and new baby cards too, but I couldn't find them to photo them, so these will have to do!



We also got busy in the garden. We planted pumpkins, sunflowers, courgettes (zucchini), broccoli, coriander, 4 types of chilli peppers and mesembryanthemums (at least I think that's how you spell it!). I really hope some of them grow. The weather really was amazing this week, I think it hit 22C some of the days. Mad for April!

One more week of holidays left. Joy!

Good knitting!