03.28.08
More Plants
My parents bought my OH a hanging basket cascade thing for his birthday which will look really pretty when it is full of plants and they are in bloom in the summer, however I have been concentrating on vegetables and therefore haven’t bought any bedding plants so I needed to pull my finger out on this to either get some seeds to grow or get some plants whilst they were still small and cheap….
Fortunately my dad told me that they were selling bedding plants in Wilkinsons which were good value – for smaller plug plants they have a 3 for £5 offer or for slightly bigger ones a 2 for £5 offer – therefore I spent £15 and got lots of plants; geraniums, lobielia, petunias, fushias, and some more that I can’t recall the name of! So these are all in the greenhouse, currently still in their little modules since I had a hectic day yesterday. I was hoping to transplant them today along with digging the beds that need doing – however the weather is awful for digging so that may have to wait until tomorrow so I might leave the transplanting until then as well. Plus this has the advantage that my OH isn’t at work so I can just concentrate on the garden instead of worrying that Izzy will need attending to.
Also, I’ve had a busy week this week so would like to spend today just relaxing – that is allowed isn’t it?!
Izzy – 6 weeks
Izzy is now 6 weeks old and had her 6 week check yesterday. She is spending much more time awake and if focusing really well on things, she even follows objects when they move. She smiles much more often and gurgles loads. Wednesday night she slept all the way through (from 10pm to 5 am) which was great for me – and she did the same again last night, so hopefully this will continue. She beat her brother, he first slept through the night at 10 weeks!
She is now 8 lbs and is 55cm long – when I compare this to the charts that they have she is below average for her weight but spot on for her length. I’m not worried about her weight at all since her brother was similar and both my DS and myself have slim builds.
She is also much better at holding her head up without support – and of course so is still just a cute as last week…
03.25.08
Potting Up
I went out to the garden centre yesterday to buy some compost and treated myself to a few other things….
Whilst I was there I also bought some herbs, strawberry plants, a blueberry and gooseberry bush and some onion, garlic and potato sets – All items that I needed anyway so it wasn’t that much of a treat (well maybe the two fruit bushes were!)
I also managed to sow some seeds; namely marigolds, tomatoes, leeks, lettuce, aubergines, basil and courgettes. I have been saving the empty toilet rolls to sow my peas in, but completely forgot to bring them down so I haven’t sown any peas yet (I didn’t think trampling mud through the house would be a good idea) so maybe I’ll get chance to sow today, but it’s more likely to be tomorrow as I have a massive pile of ironing that really needs to be tackled.
I also put the onions and garlic into some compost in some seed trays to get them started – I know I need to put them in the ground, but I need to dig the plot first, so thought at least if I get them started whilst I dig the plot (either tomorrow or Friday) it would help progress them on a bit. I know this works as I did it a few years ago while I prepared the beds before planting. Also if they do set some roots this helps to secure them before planting out so that the birds cannot pull them out quite so easily.
03.23.08
The Greenhouse Is Go. . .
Yesterday I spent the day digging out the bed where my greenhouse was to go, moving the shrubs elsewhere and digging up part of the garden. I had to pause several times due to the weather, and in the end I was actually constructing the greenhouse whilst it was snowing – still, it was all worth it as now it is up and ready to go. All I have to do now is buy some potting compost (I already have my seeds and trays) then I can get ready to grow…
03.21.08
Birthday Cake
Knitting Pattern: Fitted Tank Top
Knitting: Fitted Tank Top Pattern
Tension
Using 3.25mm needles – 24 st to10 cm. I didn’t check the number of rows since this didn’t matter as I was measuring length as I went along.
Pattern
Back
Using 2.75mm needles cast on 97 st.
Row 1: K1 P1 to last st, K1
Row 2: P1 K1 to last st, P1
Continue in K1 P1 rib from rows 1 – 27
Row 28: K1 P1 K1 K2tog, then P1 K1 to last 5 st, K2tog K1 P1 K1
Rows 29 – 49: Continue in K1 P1 rib but K2/P2 to keep in line with the pattern at each end
Row 50: K1 P1 K2tog, K1 P1 to last 4 st, K2tog P1 K1
Rows 51 – 66: Continue in K1 P1 rib
Row 67: Change to 3.25mm needles and continue in stocking stitch starting with a knit row.
When the length is correct shape armholes as follows (this was row 127 for me when back measured 38cm from the cast-on edge)
Rows 128 – 129: Cast off 5 st at beginning of each row
Rows 130 – 134: Dec 1 st at each end of these 5 rows
Row 135: Normal row
Row 136: Dec 1 st at each end
Then continue straight in stocking stitch until the armhole measures 18cm (this was row 196 for me)
Then shape shoulders, cast off 8 st at the beginning of the next 4 rows. Leave remaining stitches on a holder to be used when completing the neck.
Front
Complete front as for back up to the point where you want the V-neck to start – this was row 90 for me.
Row 91: K45 K2tog then turn leaving the remaining stitches on a holder
Row 92: Purl
Row 93: Knit to last 5 st, K2tog tbl (through back loop) K3
Continue in stocking stitch dec 1 st at neck edge on every 4th row 11 times more (rows 97 / 101 / 105 / 109 / 113 / 117 / 121 / 15 / 129 / 133 / 137) whilst at the same time shaping the armhole as for the back but only decreasing at the neck edge. (About 18 st left)
Continue straight until armhole measures 18cm (196 rows).
Row 197: Shape shoulders by casting off 8 st
Row 198: Purl
Row 199: Cast off remaining stitches
Complete the other side of the front as above reversing the pattern as appropriate to decrease for the V-neck and armhole
Making Up
Sew the shoulder seams and the side seams together before completing the banding for the armholes and neck.
Armholes
Pick up 103 stitches evenly over the armhole (to do this instead of picking up every stitch, I picked up 2 stitches then missed 1).
Using a 2.75mm circular needle complete 14 rows in K1 P1 rib. I didn’t knit this in the round, instead I sewed the seam up hence using an odd number of stitches.
Repeat for the other arm.
Neck
Pick up 189 stitches evenly over the neck (again I picked up 2 stitches, then missed 1).
Using a 2.75mm circular needle complete 14 rows in K1 P1 rib. Again I didn’t knit this in the round, instead I sewed up the seam by overlapping.
Tank Top
Well I finally finished my tank top, I’m going to post the pattern shortly but obviously I only noted down the instructions so I know what I did (and so I could complete the front to the same instructions) and to my tension – so this is only really specifically for me. I’ll get around to posting a picture later
03.20.08
Meal Planner w/c 22 Mar 08
Since it is Good Friday tomorrow and also my OH’s birthday I’m going to do my grocery shopping today, therefore I am posting my meal plans a day or two early:
Fri – good question, I’m going to wing this one and decide when I’m shopping, OH was venison or something for his birthday meal….
Sat – Chilli con carne
Sun – out for dinner at my mums
Mon – Chicken curry
Tue – Meatballs (I never had them last time since they were out of stock! – I made maccaroni cheese instead)
Wed – Corned beef hash
Thu – Pork chops, new potatoes, lentils
Fri – Homemade pizza or fish and chips
03.19.08
Izzy – 5 Weeks
Izzy was 5 weeks old on Saturday, I want to record how she is now so that I can look back in the future and see how she has progressed:
She now spends much more time awake and is so much more alert. If we aren’t too far away she will focus on us and a longer distance then previously (previously she just focused on us at about a distance of arms length), she will coo when we talk to her and try to make other noises. She has the most beautiful smile, and smiles much more often than last week when she really started to smile properly – often just when we talk to her.
Last Friday (just before 5 weeks). although she woke up in the night (around 2 am) she didn’t need feeding; normally when she wakes in the night I cuddle her for a bit whilst I summon up the energy to get out of bed and usually only get out of bed after 10 minutes when she is just about to start screaming! However on Friday she went back to sleep… fantastic I thought, and hoped that this was the start of her beginning to sleep through…. well the good news is that since Friday she hasn’t needed feeding in the night, although she has still been waking in the night for a cuddle. I don’t mind this, Ash was 10 weeks old before he started sleeping through the night and after-all she is only 5 weeks so just the fact that she doesn’t want to be feed is a great start – it means I don’t wake up fully and get a better nights sleep.
Knitting: Tank Top
I managed to complete the neck of my tank top and have started on the armholes. I need to stay at home today as the greenhouse is due to be delivered, therefore a good excuse to attempt to complete the tank top. I bought some wool off eBay a while ago; 10 balls of Wendy yarn with lycra in black, and have been wondering what to make with it. In the end I decided on a tank top but knew what I wanted and couldn’t find a pattern to decided to make it up as I went along! So far so good, I believe it will fit – I was worried that I had made it too small since I wanted it to be fitted (as it contains lycra) but thought that I would to the other extreme and had made it too small. However after knitting up both the front and the back and tacking them together it appeared to be ok. Now that the neck is done it is looking even better, so hopefuly when the arms are done it will be really good and I will wear it!
If it does work out ok then I will post the instructions for knitting it up – however I am a size 8 and have obviously knitted it to my size so I will only post the instructions for a size 8. Having said that, it will be easy enough to alter accordingly…
