Spring

Spring has sprung, finally - well I'm not seeing any green shoots yet, but it will be soon.  

Some flower bulbs I planted last year came up this year, I can't wait to see the flowers - I believe they were orange and purple.

I've started a few veggies, but I need to wait a little longer, I can only put them out in the garden toward the end of May - so I don't want to start too soon.
I have some interesting seeds coming from Baker Seeds... Rainbow Corn, Blue podded peas, Purple Beans and Purple Cauliflower.  Can't wait to see those fully grown.

I'm thinking about buying a pressure canner, much as I'd love an "All American" I think the "Presto" is more my price range.


I do have the book "Putting food By" and have been reading it on and off for a year or so. 
  Lots of handy tips, and it seems pretty straight forward and easy to understand, there are even a few recipe's I might like to try. 
I'm not much into making jams and jelly's - but canning veggies would be really handy to be able to do.  
Next check I get - I'm getting the presto and a canning kit.

First lighting of the wood stove!

Tonight we lit the wood stove for the first time, with the temp going to dip to 27 it was just lovely.

We had to clean the chimney first, and to do that the easy way we brought up the forklift - so there was a carnival ride of sorts going on around here.

Chunky Hat

Using size 13 circular and 13 DPN's.  One skein of Lion Brand Hometown USA.  (I used Kansas city Wheat)

This pattern can be purchased for $5 at Ravelry.
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/chunky-hat-5

What happened to winter?

Strange weather this year, today we reached 90 degree's, last year this time we had snow.

2009 the weekend of the 9th - 11th of October brought us 10 inches of snow.  Today, heat and a little bit of rain/thunderstorm in the evening.

Frilly Ponytail Hat Pattern (adult)

Using Lion Brand Wool Ease and size 6 circular and DPN's.





This pattern is for sale on Ravelry for $5.
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/frilly-ponytail-hat

HAY

We purchased our final load of hay, and Mike and Trenton went to pick it all up today.

Trenton got to drive the truck through the field while Mike and two friends helped pick up the bales.

We now have just under 200 small square bales.  Should last us a year!

Knitting 2011 calendar

My 2011 knitting a day calendar arrived and I could not wait to open it, there are some cute patterns there that I'll be sure to try.

Knitting: 2011 Day-to-Day Calendar