Friday, January 23, 2009

Fighting the Winter Blues


This is an experiment in winter gardening. I'm so exasperated by all the cold around here that I just had to do it, to hell with conventional seed starting dates. In my defense, though, it's highly probable that none of these plants will ever live full time outside. Except for maybe the tomatoes. (Yes, I planted tomatoes mid-January, sue me, it's boring here.)

There's basil, oregano, chamomile, tomatoes, and catnip. In retrospect I probably should have labeled the containers, but for a few of them its too late, and their seeds were too microscopic too identify now. The tomatoes are in the toilet paper roll though.

Everything, as you can see, is edible. Except for the catnip, which is going to be harvested and dried and stuffed into hand-made cat toys. If I could have a cat I would do it in a second, but Richard's allergic. The joke's on him, though, I'm allergic to dogs.

If this winter garden fails, I lost out on a few seeds, but I'll just toss the stuff into my compost pile. Otherwise, I'm going to eat like a queen, and the next door neighbor's cats are going to be the happiest fatties around.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Checkerboard Dishcloth

This cloth was was designed using alternating squares of stockinette stitch and seed stitch, to make a nice checkerboard pattern. I use my dishcloths in the kitchen, in the bathroom, and everywhere else in my home. Old cloths get used to clean the bathroom fixtures or for the rare times when I get down on my hands and knees and scrub down my kitchen floor.

I used 100% cotton yarn in worsted weight. Sugar 'n' Cream is my brand of choice, but any other comparable yarn will work as well.

A 120 yd. ball of Sugar 'n' Cream has knit up 3 full sized dishcloths, with enough left over to make one small


Pattern:

Cast on 31 stitches, & knit 3 rows.

Knit Repeat A 4 times.
Knit Repeat B 4 times.
Knit Repeat A 4 times.
Knit Repeat B 4 times.

Knit 3 rows, bind off.

*You can omit the last repeat if you want a smaller dishcloth, or you can keep adding on repeats as you see fit



Repeat A:
Row 1 - k3, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k5, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k5, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k3
Row 2 - k3, p1, k1, p1, k1, p7, k1, p1, k1, p7, k1, p1, k1, p1, k3

Repeat B:
Row 1 - k8, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k5, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k8
Row 2 - k3, p6, k1, p1, k1, p7, k1, p1, k1, p6, k3




This pattern is to be knit for personal use only, not to be knit for resale, blah blah blah, its my copyright, y'all know the drill. Be good and awesome!