I’ve already gone and gotten myself the January + February 365 Kit (yes, I’m starting my 365 Project in April.  So what? I’m a bit quirky!) and a cute little graph paper.  Crystal’s work is fun and fresh, and makes seriously awesome pages, so go check it out!

As a human, I can’t ever affirm my kids perfectly– heck, on crazy days I struggle to do it even to a small degree.  It is darned hard in the busyness of life to really LOOK people in the eye, to make them know just how precious they are. It is doubly hard when 80% of the hassle in your day is coming from the kid most in need of affirmation.  I take great comfort in knowing that God loves my kids more than I do, and that He, unlike me, is a perfect parent.

I cannot tell you how mary’s words spoke to my heart.  As I struggle through this trying season with this precious boy, I need to remember that I am not a perfect parent (gracious, I am so far from a perfect parent!) but that I can only strive to be a human, imperfect parent and rest in the comfort of knowing that my boys do have a perfect Father.  and I need to remember that the God who loves them perfectly also loves ME the same way.  Even when I lock myself in the bathroom to escape my boys for 5 minutes.

The first few years we lived here, we had one spot where we did all our planting.  It’s nestled in the back corner of our (small, suburban) yard, sheltered on three sides by fencing and the shed.  It was safe from tromping toddlers, and everything we planted grew like gangbusters.  But as our family grew, we realized that we wanted to grow the garden.  We wanted to be able to plant more varieties, and put our produce up for winter.  So, we expanded, and the original garden spot became what I affectionately refer to as “The Red Bed” - it’s where we grow all our tomatoes. Here’s the Red Bed last July:

It’s about 5′ x 11′, and gets a fresh helping of compost every spring. We turnt he compost in, then cover with wet newspaper and salt hay. We n-e-v-e-r have to weed this bed, because of the newspaper and hay. It rocks. In the picture above, the row closest to shed is brandwines, middle is cherries, grapes and romas, and the row closest to the fence is romas and amish paste. I just used the last of the tomatoes we put up from the garden last year, so I’m reeeeeeeeeeeally ready to get back out in the dirt and get growing!

Last spring, we added two new beds. After going back and forth on the best way to use the space we had, I decided to go with a Square Foot Garden. Two 4′ by 6′ beds, divided into a grid of 1′ squares. The Hubster built the boxes for the beds quickly one Saturday morning, and then got all fancy by surrounding it with some lava rocks. We filled the beds with a mix of our compost, peat moss and vermiculite. Here’s what it looked like the weekend after, when I’d planted a bit.

I cannot tell you how well everything grew in these beds. We planted several kinds of peppers, strawberries, lettuces, tomatoes, cukes, peas, green beans and several herbs. No chemical fertilizers, just our compost, and this is what it looked like in late July:

The yield from these two garden spaces was well over 150 pounds of produce. We had more tomatoes than I knew what to do with - and that was AFTER I’d canned salsa, barbecue sauce, and spaghetti sauce. We’re enjoying some relish now that is from our crop last year. We had pickled green beans with dinner last night that I canned back in August. It’s most definitely the best garden we ever had. And I can’t wait to do it all again this year!

So, what are your plans for a garden this year?

Aren’t they lovely? That’s absolutely scrumptious handspun BFL from my friend Meri at HandSpun by SweetKnits (Go ahead, I’ll wait here while you drool over the handspun) It’s dyed in the perfectly named Snowmen at Night, by Selah. (An aside - have you read the book Snowmen at Night? So. Cute.) I am in love with this yarn, it’s a treat to knit with. Watching the color develop, without any jarring changes because of how well the handspun is well, spun; it’s so much fun.

Only, I really hate working two socks on two circs. Really, really hate it. It’s a tangle of needles, balls, yarn flying everywhere. Sure, I suppose it’s great because I’ll have two socks finished at the same time (instead of struggling through Second Sock Syndrome) but - ugh I just can’t get into a groove like this. Fiddling with the circs, always switching and fussing with which needle I should be using.

So, I’m admitting defeat. I’m a traditionalist. Handknit socks are meant to be made on double pointed needles. The way they’ve been made for centuries. Maybe that makes me a fuddy-duddy an old-fashioned knitter. I’m okay with that.

The socks and I are much happier now.

A good friend of mine is thisclose to giving birth to her fourth child. I know a little bit about those fourth babies - how they pretty much have no choice but to adapt to the family routine, tag along to the market at a week old because everyone else needs to eat, and how virtually everything the touch has been touched/played with/worn by someone else who came before them.

I wanted to make sure that this precious babe had something handmade just for her. A sweet something that wouldn’t be outgrown quickly; no, rather, something that could be loved and used for many years. A reminder that even though her mama has been through it all before, that she is so very special and loved in a completely new way.

It’s a very simple blanket, basically a giant granny square. It’s worked in CottonEase, one of my very favorite baby yarns, in a riot of various colors.

Granny Blanket for Baby
Yarn: Lion Brand CottonEase, one ball each of the following colors: Lake, Terra Cotta, Plum, Maize, Lime and Hazelnut
Hook: I hook
Gauge: not critical, since it doesn’t need to fit

The Purl Bee has excellent info on the Basics of Crochet, so please refence that if you need some guidance.

I used Attic24’s excellent Granny Square Tutorial to get started, and then just kept going (and going, and going) until I had worked through almost 5 full repeats of my colors. The colors were worked in the following order, one round each: Hazelnut, TerraCotta, Lime, Plum, Maize, Lake. Work 4 full repeats of the color sequence, and then work the 5th repeat up to the Maize. With the Maize, I worked a single crochet in each stitch around, to give a nice base for the edge on the last round. The last round is worked as follows (with Lake):*[hcd, dc, hdc] in next stitch, skip 1 stitch, sc in next stitch, skip 1 stitch; repeat from * to end of round.

It’s certainly an easy project, reminding me once again that simple can be immensely satisfying.