Author: Susan

Autumn gardening

I took an afternoon trip over to Molbak’s (the enormous nursery and garden center in Woodinville) since all of their bulbs were 25% off. They have a café, so I got H to sleep in the Moby wrap while I walked around, then I had a Salmon Pesto Goat Cheese Pizza (yum), and then I did a second pass to actually collect my purchases.

I’d been vaguely hoping to do some winter vegetable container gardening, but it seems like most of the things I’d be most interested in eating should have been planted in the summer. Oops. I’ll do some onions and garlic, and I got some pretty ornamental cabbages to fill the remainder of the space.

I am so, so excited about the bulbs. There are more daffodils to add to the patch outside the kitchen window, since those were so cheery and happy last year. I‘m going to put the pink and yellow Blushing Beauty tulips in a container along with the Pink Frosting tulip/daffodil mix. They‘ll go on the patio. The purple crocuses will go with the purple tulips and white mini daffodils in small groups around the patio and possibly in our rock wall. And then the bright Early Spring bulbs can go in groups under the pines outside our bedroom window. I‘m not sure how they‘ll like the acidic soil, but it‘s worth a shot.

I’m always better at buying bulbs than actually getting them into the ground, but my goal is to have them in sometime in the next two weekends. The daffodils are supposed to be relatively squirrel proof, and then I just have my fingers crossed on the tulips and crocuses — if they ever make it, it will be a gorgeous welcome to spring next year.

Cute in the handknits

The sweaters I knit are starting to fit, even if the shoulders are still way too big and make him look like a little linebacker.


We joked that he looks like an old man in it – all he needs is a pipe and an armchair by the fire. Also too cute from the back:


That collar is something of a mixed blessing. When we have him in the moby, it folds up and keeps his neck warm. But when he’s hungry, it’s practically cruel to have something that tantalizingly close to his cheek.

Quick baby socks!

I finished the baby socks yesterday — even with only small random bits of knitting time they zoomed along.

I keep managing to misplace my pattern notes, but found them again long enough to type them up:

Knit in the round on circular needles, using the magic loop method.
Gauge: 5 st per inch.

CO 24 st loosely on #6 needles.
Switch to #5 needles.
Join in the round and knit as k2, p2 rib for 18 rounds.
Arrange stitches for heel flap: first 5 of next round and last 5 of previous round on one needle.
Knit these ten stitches for 8 rows.
Knit across heel flap again, then pick up 4 stitches down the side of heel, knit 14 stitches across top of foot, pick up four stitches up the side of the heel.
Arrange stitches for foot: 12 stitches on top-of-foot needle, 20 stitches on bottom-of-foot needle.
Next four rounds: Switch to stockinette for the bottom-of-foot needle, and decrease on each end of the bottom-of-foot needle.
Each needle has 12 stitches, 24 st total.
Knit a further 15 rounds (or to desired length), ending with the top-of-foot needle.
Next six rounds: switch to stockinette for all stitches, decrease 1 at each end of each needle.
Kitchener off the last 12 sts.

I’m definitely planning to make another pair — quick satisfying knit and warm baby feet are a great combo. Also, we switched from the newborn hug hold in the moby wrap to the hug hold, and now his little feet stick out and get quite chilly, so socks have been essential. The verdict is that these still don’t stay on perfectly (he can definitely get them off with some agitated kicking) but they fit his feet well and seem to stay on better than the too-small store-bought ones. Plus, there’s something satisfying about using up stash AND avoiding paying $3.50 for such a tiny item.