Garden-y

Where I've been most of the time:

Sometimes with a friend or two:

Vegetable Garden

Obitsued Licca

I couldn't wait for the garden to produce, so I had to buy an armload of veggies to tide me over... I made fresh pickled veggies (Italian style):

Nom, nom, nom.

More. New.

**NOW with action shots!**

My Monet vest is finally done:

Elann Camila (50% cotton/50% linen) in Strawberry Ice

Pattern from Rowan Classic Nature

It took forever (actually a couple months, but I suppose "forever" is pretty relative). Small gauge, knit in 3 panels, trim separate, you get the idea. It mostly took forever because I got bored and tossed it aside after I finished the back, but luckily I'm fairly obsessive, so I couldn't leave it unfinished... The Elann yarn was not so great to work with- KP has a much softer cotton/linen blend, but I really liked Elann's strawberry color. The pattern was pretty straight-forward, but like most Rowan patterns, not for beginners.

I did change the lace pattern on the bottom edge.

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So, while I was avoiding finishing Monet, I did Ogee (a wrap-around skirt

for wearing over jeans and such):

Lion Cotton-Ease (50% cotton/50% Acrylic) in Lake
Pattern from Interweave Summer '07

This pattern killed me at first, but it's pretty easy to get the hang of after the first few rows.

It's fast and fun, and the Cotton-Ease was a good replacement for the pricey

(but pretty) Rowan Tape.

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And Ysolda's Cloud Bolero:

Debbie Bliss Alpace Silk (80% Peruvian baby alpaca and 20% silk) in 17, a grey-blue

Pattern from Interweave Summer '07

The pattern was great- the sleeves work in like magic, knit in one piece, and the yarn was heaven. Soooo soft and lofty... it's like a lap full of kittens. I left off the ruffle-ly trim... it didn't seem to need it, I thought.

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And a hat. Because I can't seem to stop with the hats.

Louisa Harding Kashmir Aran (55% Merino Wool, 35% Microfibre, 10% Cashmere) in 04
Pattern from The Knitter's Bible: Accesories

This yarn is super soft, almost cotton-y. The pattern is for a more fitted beret, but I used a larger gauge to get a more slouchy one.

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What could distract me from knitting such fun patterns, you ask? Well, it could be the monster hauls we are getting in our veggie garden:

And the excitement of the first waterlily to survive Laika's attention:

Or perhaps the lovely Laika herself... (see last post).

My knitting neglect.

Ok, I have been knitting... I've got a sweater almost done! I'll post pics when it is.

What I have been doing:



New inventory for Etsy! There's tons of shrinky pieces (my first!) and some other bits and bobs I've been working on. I'm pretty happy with the new stuff... I hope others are...

Go here to look:
http://nillakitty.etsy.com/

And gardening! It's harvest time, yo!

Our new garden! We only built it a couple months ago, so I didn't plant a ton of stuff since we we so late, but since we had such a long cool spring everything did really well...

We even have lettuce still! Not for long I bet... It's like 104◦ out today.

Chamomile! I'll have maybe enough for a whole pot of tea this year!

Mini-peppers, squash, and lemon cucumbers are all ready (the melon will take awhile longer), plus chard, beans, and lettuce... Tomatoes in a couple weeks, methinks...

Laika's not sure about the looks of this...

Yaaaaay! A salad entirely from my garden! Yummmmm...