fruit of our labor

Posted on Posted in designing, food and garden, projects

a rare sunny morning today . . . and the light is so pretty through these colorful leaves.
i manged to get some things potted up the other night in between rainstorms, which we’ve had plenty of these last few days.

which is good for that spinach i planted last sunday

but not so good for the asparagus crowns that arrived the other day and which i still have not gotten in the ground. if the sun lasts today, i’ll do it when my classes end this evening.

on the other hand, bad weather is always good for knitting

almost done. with luck, i’ll finish it up while teaching today. then we just need photos and the pattern will be ready. i’m thinking of doing a sock in this pattern . . not to be a bore, but i just like it so much, especially in this green. and with these monster skeins offered by michelle, i just might have enough left to do it.

(BTW, michelle’s husband, an arborist, fell from a tree about two weeks ago, and they could really use some good vibes to be sent their way.)

thank you to everyone who has emailed me to tell me to give my money away! there is still some cash in the matching fund though, and i’d really like to use it up. so, if you have a few bucks to give to claudia’s bike ride for MS (which is coming up this weekend), or have already given this year, please, PLEASE leave me a comment (you don’t have to say how much), and i will add $5 to it from the matching fund. i’m planning to send the funds in at the end of the week, so there are still about 6 days to help out if you can. thanks SO much.

now, sunday has become spinning day around here, due to the handspinning class we have been holding here at my house. this is great, because finally, i am getting some somewhat-regular spinning time in.

yesterday i made pretty good progress with this combed alpaca top i started a couple of weeks ago and have barely touched since (we didn’t have class last week). still, it’s getting done. and since it’s laceweight, it’s going to be rather slow compared to other projects i might be doing.

i decided though that one of the reasons i avoid spinning during the week is because my workroom is so cramped at the moment, due to the fallout from a construction project on the third floor (almost done, so a bunch of stuff got moved to my studio temporarily).

so yesterday during class, i made an executive decision to keep my wheel downstairs for a time to see if that will encourage me to spin a few minutes a day

with just a little bit of work each day, and sunday class time, i should be able to get all the alpaca spun up into enough laceweight for a shawl by the end of the month i think. not as much production as i’d normally expect from myself, but i do have lots of other things going on.

oooh, look what i saw in the tomato patch on saturday . . .

now i know what kind of tomatoes will be coming from the plants my friend kris gave me . . nice plum ones, mmm. and after further investigation, i also found these

now, if we could just get a few days in a row of sunshine, and maybe slightly warmer temps, we’ll be picking some of them soon. looks like last year i saw the first cherry tomatoes on the 21st of june as well, so we are pretty much on schedule if everything goes well. the big tomatoes are definitely earlier this year, but who know what will happen . . . it’s been chilly.

ok, gotta run; i have a class arriving very shortly . . . here’s something pretty to take away with you

28 thoughts on “fruit of our labor

  1. You should join 10 Minutes a Day for your daily spinning. You’ll be amazed at what a difference just 10 minutes can make!

  2. The plants are thriving! Everything looks great! I really love the scarf, and the yarn is gorgeous! It took three skeins? I looked at the Michelle’s site. Which weight did you use? Also, can we have any hints at all on your secret project??

  3. Hi Anne,

    I’m just delurking to say I’m very envious of your garden (as I live in NYC) and to let you know that I just contributed $20 to Claudia’s ride. Thanks so much for matching contributions — it’s a wonderful thing you are doing!

    Best,

    Sara

  4. My tomatoes are at about the same point (in Minnesota, where we’ve had plenty of rain, but very little sun).

    I gave to Claudia’s ride yesterday, thanks for the nudge!

  5. Hi Anne: I think my donation was the first to be registered on Claudia’s site. Thank you for the matching fund. Happy Knitting!

  6. Hey there. Love all the plant pictures. Just started picking up the vegies from my CSA – love the greens :)!

    Finally got around to donating to Claudia’s ride so you can give some more of your money away girlfriend!

  7. your garden is looking so alive. It won’t be long before you are treating us with photos of all the yummy food you make. the scarf looks great I Love that colour green. So wonderful to see you are spinning. I wondered if you were missing the spinning.

  8. I donated to Claudia’s ride today!

    I’m a reader, not a commenter, but I love the pictures of your garden. I set a few pots out in the lobby of my second floor apartment this year, determined to grow a few good things to eat.

  9. Ooh! I forgot about your matching gift thingy. I donated to Claudia’s ride the other day.

    I rarely comment (I’m a semi-professional blog lurker), but donating to good causes is a great reason to come out of hiding, especially when commenting about donating, creates even MORE donating…

  10. That scarf looks just as yummy as the tomatoes! And the spinning is looking beautiful (I have wheel envy…) 🙂

  11. I’ve had my Schacht out too this past week. It feels so wonderful to get back to spinning. That alpaca is gorgeous.

  12. I know I already told you that I gave to Claudia, but I wonder if I tell you that I gave 3 separate times if that means you can add more to the match fund?

    Pretend I’m 3 people!

  13. Lovely yarn you are spinning and what a nice wheel you have. The green knitting looks great, I like the colour.

  14. I love that green so much.

    Also, in an effort to make you poor, I just gave $25 to the MS Ride : D

  15. I’ve just made a donation to Claudia’s ride—I was not allowing myself to comment until I’d done so, but now I can how much I like the scarf and how well your gardenis coming along—ours looks positively anemic next to yours!

  16. The spinning looks really lovely! And I’m still (as ever) envious of your produce… though now I’ve moved to an appartment with place on the balconny for maybe a tomato plant or two…

    I just donated to Claudia, because the case is so deserving that a few more dollars in minus cannot be an appropriate reason not to donate.

  17. I just donated to Claudia’s ride!
    The green scarf looks lovely and goes so well with your garden!

Comments are closed.