veggie color

Colors serve all sorts of important biological purposes. Mating, hiding, getting caught, attracting pollinators, warning off predators... in the world of garden vegetables, color means "Eat me! I'm full of cancer-fighting anti-oxidants!" (Aside: I like when vegetables use big words like anti-oxidant. I imagine them pronouncing it with an endearing speech impediment or a funny foreign accent).

HWWLLB and I certainly spend more time looking at our vegetables than we do eating them. Not to say that we don't eat them, we do, but we spend an embarassing amount of time gazing fondly at them. I can't take any credit for the delightful rainbow of plants out there; choosing and arranging have mostly been the work of the man of the house. Mainly I pick and eat them. But seeing as how we have such great colors going on out there, I'm starting to think about growing my own dyes.

Wouldn't you love to have a dress the color of this radish?



I'm eyeing the beets that are slowly coming along out there and wondering whether the trimmings from when I eat them (because I intend to gobble up every last beet myself) would produce enough dye for, say, a skein of sock yarn. Hmmm...

T, companion of Shari, brews his own beer, which is a lot like knitting one's own socks and sweaters, I think. This ingenious fellow is now growing his own barley and hops for the beer brewing, which is a lot like raising the sheep yourself (or maybe growing dye plants?). His beers are delicious, by the way, and I find T and his tasty beer quite inspiring. I like the increased integrity of the project that results when you grow constituent parts yourself - not to mention the reduced ecological footprint.

Some dye plants that are also beautiful to grow:
Beets (of course!)
Indigo
Bloodroot
Burdock
Coreopsis
Sweet woodruff
Yarrow

Some of these are plants we already grow in our yard - I've just never thought to put them to work before, besides the usual looking, smelling and tasting good. Maybe I should go find a book on dyeing with plants. Y'all let me know if you have any recommendations!


it won't dye sock yarn, but it sure makes a purty salad

rainy weekend

Due to technical difficulties, the secret whatzit project is taking a little break right now. I had a yarn-usage target in mind for this project, and we are creeping up on the end of the yarn supply, with significant knitting still to be done. So I'll have to rip out the main body of the thing and rework it to be about 2/3 the size it is now, for yarn conservation purposes. Also, I think I lost a small piece of it during some outdoor knitting/revelry recently, though the drinking establishment in question swears they haven't found it. I think they're actually using it as a naughty cosy, but let's not go into that.

With technical difficulties staring me in the face, the only choice was (obviously) to cast on for something else. And now a momerath factory has popped up in my room:



The first one got lonely. Now he'll have a whole little village of friends. You can see some of them lined up here on the windowsill with raindrops behind them on the screen. They're just getting ready to start reciting from Jabberwocky.

I've also cast on for some socks that I'm hoping to successfully knit toe-up, following the inspiration from Ann Budd's article on toe-up sock knitting in the summer issue of IK. Is it just me, or is that article the only thing in the whole magazine worth reading? There wasn't a single design in there that I wanted to knit, and believe me I tried to like several of them, I really did. Anyway, I really like the idea of toe-up sock knitting for the economy of it - I'd like to use every last fiber of my fancy hand-dyed sock yarns and toe-up is the way to make that happen. I'm nervous about the short-row heels, but I think I've prepared myself mentally to make a good show of it at least.

Off to embroider some faces on the new momerath friends...

what year is it?

Am I back in college?

I'm feeling a bit nostalgic this afternoon, because of my irrational excitement about Björk's having a new album out, and on top of it internet radio is playing the Smiths (I swear it's not a retro station). I've also got a big pile of school-work hanging over my head, since the summer semester has just started - it seems to have started without me. There wasn't any break between the spring and summer semesters, and I just can't seem to keep up the work pace without nice long breaks in between.

But anxiety about school-work makes me feel young as well - some sort of memory deep in the neurons. It makes me want to blow off the afternoon's work, scour the thrift shops and find some great t-shirts to modify. Warm weather is back and I feel a strong urge for some Wardrobe Refashion-ing to spruce up my closet.

I think my yoga class is also making me feel young and springy. I'd been out of the yoga routine since Christmas-time, and even before that, though I was going regularly, I suspected that the flow class I'd been attending might not have been the best for my body and its various over-age-30 aches and pains. But recently I found out about a wonderful teacher who is right in my neighborhood. She is quite talented, and specializes in bone and joint problems, and she's so close that I can even walk to class! She's fabulous, and after five weeks of classes, I feel an old yoga mojo surging in my body that I haven't felt in at least five years. Is it muscle memory?

Or maybe it's food-related: Once I was in a workshop put on by the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association called "Grow your own salad bar," about growing greens in your garden, and the workshop leader said something about the way people brighten up and become more energized after eating a big plate of freshly-picked greens. At the time I was dubious, and thought he was being kind of woo-woo, but I'm starting to wonder if that's part of my feeling of physical youthfulness. Our garden is practically exploding with lettuces, and I'm eating a big salad about once a day to try to keep up with the supply.


the lettuce of youth?

Could lettuce be what's making me feel so spry? It couldn't be the Smiths...

I'll depart with a picture of the fabulous market bag that bugheart brought me last weekend... it's been my constant companion since then.

old and new friends

flame azalea in the rain, nc botanical garden

A more perfect Sunday would be hard to imagine.

Beloved guests arrived at our house like little elves sneaking in during the wee hours of the morning (noisy elves - they'd had champagne at dinner). Everyone slept late, and in the morning HWWLLB made a special breakfast and we drank a big pot of tea. After much lounging, it was time to go have brunch with two lovely Sew Green compatriots, bugheart and shari! This was a visit I have long been anticipating.

Do you know how it is when someone comes to visit, and you want to take them some place special, some place with incredible food and service that will please them and make them love you forever and also cause them to make a mental note of your impeccably good taste? That's not quite what happened on Sunday.

I suggested a favorite brunch spot for all the selfless and laudable reasons outlined above, only to be met with a rather surly waiter, a shortage of grits and the Official Most Schlockiest piano lounge music of all time. But despite the lapses in service and having to listen to the entire libretto of Phantom of the Opera played lounge-style, the food was delicious and the company divine. I could spend the rest of my days in terrible restaurants with those two ladies. In fact, if shari and bugheart were to invite me to have dinner tomorrow night at Olden Tymes, Chuck E. Cheese or even Hooters, I'd be there in a flash (I'd have beer though, for sure, plenty of beer).

After our brunch we met up with the menfolk for a relaxing, sunny afternoon of knitting, sipping cold beverages and munching on Locopops. mmmm... Locopops. First I had Mexican Chocolate. The pops were so good the first time that later we went back for another - this time I had Mango Chile. Have you ever had a popsicle that burned your mouth for a while afterwards? A tastier irony would be hard to find. Ah, the sweet, cold burn!

There are few experiences that rival spending time with an old friend. Except maybe making new ones. And eating Locopops. All three at the same time, well... I think I had a contentedness hangover on Monday. Every Sunday should be like that one!

Shari is a new friend for me. I have admired her blog and her photographs for some time, and have wondered if I'd ever get the chance to meet her in person, since she lives just a short skip away from me, right here in central North Carolina. She is as sweet, thoughtful and witty as she seems in writing, and she's also spontaneous and generous and really, a very talented photographer. Great photos pop out of her polaroid the way verbal gaffes pop out of my mouth - all the time, and without warning. I loved spending an afternoon with her and bugheart (another of the most spontaneous and talented people I know), and T and Grub and HWWLLB and Johnny, who are getting reduced billing today but are all wonderful and fascinating in their own rights (one day I will write odes to the menfolks). Thank you to my old friend bugheart for introducing me to a new friend! I feel very lucky today.

p.s.
You may have noticed I didn't take any pictures on Sunday. The official excuse is that my camera batteries died, but the other excuse is that bugheart and shari took oodles of great photos with their unstoppable polaroids, and no further camera-jockeying was really necessary. Get a load of them here and here. This one, taken by shari, really captures the spirit of the pola that reigned on Sunday.

more surprises

Again, more surprises are coming up in the flower beds of our new yard. This week, peonies!



I just can't complain about any of the surprises we've had with this yard. There are three of these big peony plants with fluffy white blooms and those touches of red inside. They're quite elegant.

I'm giggling as I write this, because from the other side of the wall I can hear HWWLLB talking to himself in the shower. I can't laugh at him outright, because I do it all the time, but it's still funny to hear him saying (with conviction) "yes, yes I think that's right," to himself in the shower. Personally, while in the shower I like to rehearse the speeches that I will never give.

The speech where I accept some sort of award from the Governor and then tell him off for his spineless defense of capital punishment.

The speech where I thank the audience for purchasing record numbers of copies of my book on why everything I like is so great / why everything that annoys me is so wrong.

The speech where the audience is moved to tears and tens of thousands pledge to stop buying food, clothes and plastic crap grown/made in sweatshops and only buy fair trade products or do without.

...you know, speeches like those. Do you practice speeches in the shower? Sing? Tell jokes? I don't know what HWWLLB is talking about in there, but it sounds important.

I loved everyone's guesses about the mystery project. Some of you have a better memory than I do and remembered my touting this project some time back - smarty. The guesses were great: 80's-style legwarmers, a stuffed cat, gloves, an uterus, a hat with tubular ties... all very good guesses, but sadly, all wrong. Hee hee! The mystery continues... for most of us.

I must go and bake something and hoover the cat hair... bugheart is coming! And tomorrow I get to have tea with her and shari! Enjoy your weekend.

starts and sprouts

The world outside is crazy, but in our backyard things are just right. The veggies in our garden are growing wildly. We've had greens, lettuce and radishes from the garden at most of our meals lately, and tonight the deliveries from our CSA begin. Ah, nature. Even when she's unpredictable, she's so very predictable. The sun rises again, every morning.



I started some pumpkin and melon seeds over the weekend. I wanted to start them in those little compressed cardboard cups, but didn't have any and didn't feel like spending any money, so I made some biodegradeable seed starters out of newspaper instead. I just wrapped a sheet of newspaper around a yogurt cup, trimmed, pulled out the yogurt cup and folded down the top edge - voila! I think they're kind of cool looking. Once the seedlings are ready we'll plant them directly into the garden beds in their newspaper nurseries.

Here's another start from the weekend:



If you can guess what it's going to be, I'll give you some sort of prize. But I bet you can't guess, so it will be a surprise for a Free Pattern Friday some time in May. It's so much fun that I just had to make it a secret. Things are always more fun with an air of mystery around them, don't you think?

And now, at the end of another stressful, unpredictable, roller-coaster day in the salt mines, it's time to go home and pick little green caterpillars off the broccoli plants and say hello to the baby nasturtiums. Thank heavens for green things growing!

free pattern friday: footies

The footie is my most favorite sock style, probably because I wear a lot of cropped pants and skirts with clogs or sneakers. Better than going sockless, the footie lets you show a little colorful sock, avoid blisters and bare your ankles to the warm spring breeze, all at the same time. They're also great for lounging around the house in your PJ's on a chilly morning. Best of all, no yarn purchase is necessary. Just use up some of the leftover sock yarn from your stash. Did I mention they're twice as fast as regular socks?

I almost feel guilty for posting this as a pattern, since many of you battle-worn sock knitters could whip these up without more than a glance, but Anita requested the pattern, and so you all receive. Enjoy!

size: child large (women's medium, men's medium).
* For lots of tips on changing size and gauge, see my Intro to Socks.

materials

• around 200 yards superwash sock yarn (more for men's size), fingering weight
• size 1 or 2 DPN's
• stitch markers in different colors.

The footies in the photo were knit (mostly) using Lana Grossa Meilenweit Colortweed (80% virgin wool, 20% polyamide). I ran out of yarn near the end and finished the second toe with another yarn, for which the ball band is long since lost. See what I mean about using up leftover sock yarn?

gauge: 7 st/in in stockinette stitch.

ankle
Cast on 52 (56, 68) st using two needles held together.
Distribute st evenly across 3 needles, place marker, join for knitting in the round. Knit 6 rows in K2P2 rib.

The stitch marker marks the center back of the sock; it will be at the center of the heel as you knit the rest of the sock.

heel flap
K 13 (14, 17) in st st. Turn work.
Slip 1, P25 (27, 33). These 26 (28, 34) stitches will form the heel flap. Place the remaining stitches on 2 DPN's to act as stitch holders until the heel flap is finished.

Row 1: *sl 1, K 1. Repeat from * to end.
Row 2: sl 1, purl to end.

Repeat these last two rows until you have knitted 26 (28, 34) rows for the heel flap.

turn the heel
Sl 1, knit to marker. Sl M, K2, SSK, K1, turn work.
Sl 1, P 5 st, P2tog, P1, turn work.
Next row: Sl 1, K to 1 st before gap. SSK using one st from each side of gap. K1, turn work.
Next row: Sl 1, P to 1 st before gap. P2tog using one st from each side of gap. P1, turn work.

Repeat these last two rows until all heel flap st have been worked. 16 (16, 20) st of the heel flap rem.

heel gusset
Sl the first st of the row, K to end. Pick up 13 (14, 17) st along the left selvedge of the heel flap. PM (using a new color of marker). Knit across held instep stitches, maintaining K2, P2 rib pattern. PM (again, don't use the same color as the "main" center marker). Pick up 13 (14, 17) st along the right selvedge of the heel flap. K to center marker. 68 (72, 88) st rem on needles.

Begin at the center back heel.
Row 1: Knit to 3 st before first M. K2 tog, K1. Sl M, knit in patt to next M. Sl M, K1, SSK. K to end of round.
Row 2: Knit.

Repeat these last two rows, decreasing 2 st on every other rnd, until 52 (56, 68) st rem on needles. Be sure to maintain the ribbing pattern over the instep (the heel gusset is knit in st st).



foot
Work even in patt until sock measures 6 (7 1/2, 9) inches from back of heel (or about 2 inches shorter than overall foot length).

toe
The toe will be knit in st st (no more ribbing). Begin at the center back heel.
Row 1: K to 3 st before first M. K2 tog, K1, sl M, K1, SSK. K to 3 st before next M. K2 tog, K1, sl M, K1, SSK. K to end of rnd.
Row 2: Knit.

Repeat these last two rows, decreasing 4 st every other row, until 26 (28, 34) st rem on needles. Now repeat only row 1, dec 4 st every row until 12 st rem on needles.

Begin at center back heel. Remove M.
Continuing with the same needle, K to 1st M, remove M. Using a new needle, K 6. You should have 6 st on each needle. Now graft the toe closure using kitchener stitch.

Weave in loose ends. Wear with low-top Chuck Taylors on your next Casual Friday.

important notice: This is a free pattern and you are welcome to use it for all the non-commercial purposes you like. However, you may not reproduce this pattern to sell, and you may not sell what you make with it. You may donate what you make with it to charity, and you may use it for charity fundraisers only if 100% of the proceeds are donated to the charity (and by charity I don't mean your kid's college fund). Thanks for understanding!