Little Seedlings

Spring has definitely sprung here in Colorado. The trees are starting to bud, tulip beds abound in my neighborhood, and the allergy-related headaches have reared their ugly head (har-dee-har-har). This also means that it's time for me to get my gardening started, which I did yesterday. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, and I figured that was the perfect time for me to get my herbs planted.
Clockwise from top left, that's basil (two packets -- I accidentally overbought), fennel, chives, lavender, and snapdragons (not an herb, but I had a packet of seeds from my Grandmother and an extra pot -- I figured "What the Hell?"). I couldn't find any mint seeds, but I did find an already-sprouted plant at the Sunflower Market, so that's on my kitchen windowsill already being enjoyed.

I tried to grow herbs last summer in Houston -- I had basil and chives. The basil had started to sprout, but they hadn't quite gotten big enough to enjoy by the time we moved. I have the feeling the searing heat and the never-ending mushrooms sprouting up probably stunted their growth anyway (the chives never even sprouted). Here's hoping I see some greeniness in the next couple or few weeks!

My knitting is still stitching along. The super secret project that I'm test-knitting for Y2Knit has been started and I'm making good progress, but I still won't post any photos of that until the pattern has been published. I CAN tell you in the meantime that the yarn I was sent to make this project is quite lovely to work with. That's Laramie, from Mountain Meadow Wool and it's a lovely 100% Merino. Because of the way the yarn is milled and spun, there is still some vegetable matter embedded in it, and I get little pills as I knit along. All that means is that the yarn wasn't processed within an inch of it's life before it was spun up at the mill. The vegetable matter is usually removed when the yarn is picked or combed through to remove that type of thing; the small pills are because the shorter fibers were not removed during the same process. The only downside (in my humble opinion) about this type of processing is that it leaves it with less-than-perfect stitch definition -- which is really only an issue depending on the type of project you're knitting up. The yarn is really lovely to knit with and I think this project will come out quite nice, if I do say so myself.

In the next couple or few weeks, it will probably be warm enough for me to plant my vegetables. I haven't gone shopping for these plants yet, so more on that when it actually happens. But I am planning to at least have tomatoes and bell peppers, and perhaps also some green beans.