A new project

The lovely green yarn and its friends have joined up to make squares for a new blanket. The pattern is called "Maybelle Square" and can be found here: My Rose Valley
This will be a long time ongoing project with squares added whenever I feel like a little crochet with worsted weight yarn instead of thread, like I use for my curtains.

Feline Friday

Critter Problem - Solved!

When I got up this morning I noticed that two of our doggie pools had been dug up, one of them already had seeds in it. My first thought was that it was one of the neighborhood cats being happy about the new cat boxes, but the big paw prints and the absence of any kind of evil smell made me think that it might have been a dog.

Friends suggested to use cayenne pepper to keep critters away from the beds, but I do get a reaction from it myself so I did not want to go that way. Del had the afternoon off and so a trip to the blue home improvement store was in order. Here is what we came up with, a little more expensive than cayenne pepper, but reusable and sure not to give me hives. I also replanted radishes and spinach.

We also made a little detour to a store I don't like because of their really poor yarn selection and inflated prices but I did find some yarn to keep my pretty green one company, a new project is on the horizon.

Rainy Monday

We had some very heavy rain this morning and it was a good test to see if the drainage holes in the doggie pools are big enough. I am happy to report that the soil is wet but there is no standing water in any of the containers. Unlike the rest of the garden, where the ground is so saturated that the water has nowhere to go.

It is also rather cool again and I brought the heater back out, much to the delight of the furry ones.

I baked bread which also helped warm up the house a bit.

I am contemplating what to make with this lovely green yarn a friend sent me.  That picture was taken just seconds before Mr. Leo snatched one of the skeins, you can see his nose in the right bottom corner.

And because it is "National No Housework Day", I did exactly that - no housework. All remaining spring cleaning has been postponed until Spring comes back.

Weekend

Not much going on this weekend. Del had to work half a day on Saturday and I had planned to start spring cleaning the bedroom. Then I discovered a merry band of ants making their way into the pantry and into a box of raisins. Well, that took care of the rest of the morning, ant hunting.
I cooked and baked and discovered that some of my herb seeds have started to sprout. I got up early on Sunday because our alarm clock showed 6:39 and it was time to feed the cats, the kitchen clock however showed 5:39. The alarm clock is pre-programmed for spring forward, unfortunately for the old scheme. Oh well, since I was already awake, I stayed up and had an early start to the day.
We did spring clean the bed room and there was a little bit of stitching, but not enough to show.

Feline Friday

Miss Elsa not happy with me taking a picture of her

My boy Jack studying a recipe

Signs of Spring

A new beginning

After a complete garden failure last year due to the overwhelming invasion of crab grass, we have decided to go with containers this year. We use doggie pools and 5 gallon buckets (not yet in the picture). The pools sit on the remnants of our raised beds, the wood has all rotted away but the soil is so grown through with roots that we did not bother removing it, just covered it with heavy landscaping fabric. I will use the bench as an extension of the herb garden by setting planters on it. I am really hoping for some success this year.

April

Well, hello there April! The first quarter of the year is over and I sincerely hope that Winter is over and done with too. March was a bit rough with all that snow and ice and cold, now lets see what April has in store for us.

My main projects for the month are the garden and finishing spring cleaning the house. But fear not, there are plenty of craft projects on my list as well.

A quick weekend project

I turned the 9 crochet hearts I made from that ball of cotton yarn into a Spring garland and hung it in the kitchen. I just hope my cats will not take an interest in those things dangling above the sink.

The free pattern for the granny hearts can be found here: My Rose Valley

Scented Yarn. Seriously?

I grabbed a ball of cotton yarn at the store today because the colors looked so cheerful and spring like. I started crocheting hearts with it for a garland when I noticed a strange scent, strange as in not normally present in my house. A bit soapy but not bad. I sniffed the yarn thinking it might have come in contact with soap somewhere along the way when I noticed the little sign on the label that said 'scents'. I did not even know that this particular brand had scented yarn, I know the other one does. Oh well, I guess my spring heart garland will act as an air freshener as well. But is scented yarn really necessary?

Done!

I finished the last of my March projects, the wall hanging for April.

I managed to work on all the things I planned to, the small ones are all finished, the kitchen curtains will take a little longer, I ran out of crochet thread and have to wait a little to get more of it. And I switched from knitting a shawl to knitting a scarf because I thought the yarn was not a good fit for the shawl. Considering everything else that went on, I am happy with what I have achieved.

Cat TV

I hung our brand new bird feeder outside our bedroom window this morning. Now we have to wait for the birds to discover it.

Feline Friday

A new knitting project

I decided that the yarn I have is not right for the shawl I wanted to knit so I am knitting a lace scarf instead. The pattern is 'Brooke's Column of Leaves Scarf' and it can be found here.

Catching up

All done with the small projects for March. I finished 'The Thief', a really cute cross stitch pattern and made it into a small pillow ornament.

And I used one of the hearts from the 'Redwork Garden' pattern to make my heart for March. It is stuffed and I am still searching for the perfect ribbon to attach to it (or maybe I just leave it as it is).

Too late for the party

My little black cat missed this year's St. Patrick's Day Shenanigans due to inclement weather. But he is ready for next year.

Christmas Ornament

Well, the weather fits, it was snowing this morning.

I have finally finished the ornament for '1 Christmas Item Per Month'.

The weather and power problems at the beginning of the month sure took the wind out of my sails but I am trying to catch up this week before March is over. I will not be able to finish all my projects but at least a few of them.

Knitting

In between garden work and spring cleaning the only crafty thing I did was a little knitting. Another square for the grey and blue blanket and two little washcloths.

Sunday

Yep, we garden in the rain. With all the crazy weather we had recently I feel that I am running out of time and I wanted some of the stuff done before all the weeds get a growth spurt. So today we hauled home another load of garden supplies and covered the rose bush area with pine needles and I built my future sunflower bed. I plan to put big sunflowers in the middle and a dwarf variety into the holes of the bricks in the front and maybe some calendula in the holes in the sides. It was raining on and off today but we got it done. We also bought shiny new bird feeders. Since our yard is now practically cat free I want to have the birds coming back and also provide some entertainment for the cats. I have a busy week ahead of me and hope I will get a lot of the stuff on my to-do list done.