Well, April has been a gloomy month here on the Northern Plains. My seedlings are getting huge and some are showing some signs of stress, I’m not sure why. I think they must want to get in the garden as much as I do. We’ve slogged through head colds, strep throat and ear infections and we had daddy gone for 5 days due to work travel. When the hubby was gone I took the kids on a much needed quick trip to a bigger city about 2 hours away.
Mysterious leaf spots on my Marketmore cucumber plants.
Droopy, dead leaves on my Marketmore cucumber plant.
Atlantic Dill Giant Pumpkin plants doing fairly well.
If I could sum up our personalities using kitchen ingredients, I would be the staples- flour, butter, eggs whereas my husband would be the spices- cayenne, ginger, garlic powder etc. And after a 5 day absence, it was pretty quiet, bland and boring around here- we had to get out and do something! We were sorely missing the spice in our lives! So, on a rainy Friday, we loaded everyone up and headed to town. First stop, the yarn shop. As much as I love yarn boutiques, I find myself totally overwhelmed and can never make decisions standing amongst hundred of skeins of beautiful yarn. Fifteen projects pop into my head and I struggle to make a choice about which yarn to choose. I decided I’d try Cascade 220 on a new pattern I bought from Bergere de France. I’m hoping the yarn can be adapted for that pattern. Sometimes when you substitute yarns you can get an entirely different sweater than expected. As you can see in the photo, there is a lovely mink hat that I hope to wear with the sweater. I found that hat back around Easter time in a little antique store not far from my farm. It is vintage and LOVELY! I’m so excited for winter to get here! I can’t believe I just said that!
Before leaving I saw the most beautiful shade of blue peeking out from a stack of lovely yarn from Greece. It is a cotton yarn and I think it is just heavenly. I’ve been swatching it to get my gauge (on some new Addi Turbo Lace circular needles). I’m thinking it would make a lovely summer shrug, perfect for throwing on over a t-shirt when you’re in a cold, air conditioned department store, Target, etc. Even though I don’t have the pattern figured out yet, it’s been enjoyable just to sit and knit with it, to see the stitch definition and to enjoy the vibrant color. It would be the perfect yarn for a shawl as well, but after my Garden Roses Shawl, I don’t think I have the patience to do another project of that scope and magnitude for a while.
Second stop, Toy’s R’ Us. Of course, I promised the kids a stop to Toys R’ Us and it was the longest stop of the day. The baby was in love with everything she saw and getting her out of there was a trick. We ended up leaving with a plastic horse for her. For some reason she has a thing for horses. I’ve never seen anything like it and I’m not sure where it came from but even at 2 she has quite a collection of plastic horses. The tab for the stop wasn’t too bad considering there were four children involved- only $34. So, I considered that a successful stop – everyone left happy.
Third stop, HOM Furniture. I’ve been looking online for quite some time for some kitchen rugs. I had wanted a Persian style rug and had almost purchased one from Pottery Barn’s website several time over the last week. I just couldn’t make up my mind, so I thought a quick trip to a furniture store was in order. I went straight to their rug section and found several on sale that were contenders. In the end I came home with two rugs for less than what one Pottery Barn rug would have cost. They are certainly not as nice as the Pottery Barn rugs, but I’m happy and for the price, I won’t have a heart attack when the baby drinks a glass of orange juice while standing on them. I’ll have to get some rug pads though as they dangerously slide around the floor. The kitchen is warmed up considerably with the addition of a little bit of softness. Now to finish the painting, replace those horrible, eye-burning lights with something nice and make some window treatments.
And then home. We were home by about 5 which was good with all the rain, I didn’t want to be driving in the dark on unfamiliar roads and the baby wasn’t too messed up with nap/bed times either. It was a great day- very different from our normal routine and everyone had a nice time. I guess sometimes I need to be the spice and add a little fun to our lives. It was just what we needed!
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