sweet nothings

There's no written pattern and no Ravelry page yet, so I'm going to have to link to Marnie MacLean's blog in order to show this off, but she has come up with the most awesome set of baby gifts ever. Stuffed monster and matching hat (3rd pic down). Everyone I know already had a baby, so there aren't any new ones coming for awhile sadly. Who will I make this for?

I have a lot of things in my Ravelry queue that I will never use. This felted mini-top hat is a perfect example. Where would I wear that? Honestly? But isn't it gorgeous? Couldn't you just imagine yourself in a big fancy skirt having tea and wearing that hat?

Where would *I* wear it though? To the grocery store?

Still, I can't make myself remove it from my queue, just in case. :)

Last year I did all my canning in a great big boiling water canner that only held 7 jars, big or small. I canned many jams and pickles and sauces in that canner, one tiny batch at a time. Then for Christmas I got a pressure canner, and I was so impressed that it'd can a lot more jars at once. I think the box says something crazy like 24 half-pints. Imagine all the time I'd save!

Yesterday my mom and I tried to make some strawberry (and strawberry rhubarb) jam. I figured that since we could can them all at once, we could make two batches (in two pots) to speed things up. But see, minding two pots along with doing prep work for another batch means that things can go wrong. I ended up undercooking both batches and neither set up. Then only about half of the jars sealed in the canner. Then, when I tried to reboil the first batch so it'd set up, I realized that it was burnt. I checked the second batch and that was burned too. How can something be undercooked and burnt at the same time?

I did the third batch by itself and I boiled it instead of pressure canning, and that one batch turned out delish. I guess some things aren't meant to be pressure canned - or made in larger batches. I'm still excited about the pressure canner and what it'll mean for pickles and things like that, but now I know not to try it on jam.

Also, last night when I was taking lids off burnt jam so I could clean and reuse the jars, I cut my finger open with a butter knife! Bad canning experience all around.

Thankfully I got more than 14 cups of chopped rhubarb from my garden, so I can have another go at it. Strawberry rhubarb jam is my favorite and I'd be so sad if I missed out this year. So tonight, more jam.

Sometimes I read Design Sponge for inspiration, and today they posted THE thing, the inspiration. It's a home that combines modern with cottage and also uses a lot of pink and aqua. If you threw in a couple splashes of red, this would pretty much be my dream house (except maybe that zebra rug).

There's a link to their store, Uptown Country Home, as well. I started to link to a few things I liked as examples, but then I pretty much wanted one of everything.

Instead, I'll show you some rugs I liked:

The Black Oven is a blog that combines baking and black metal in delicious and hilarious ways. Have a look.

I found a baby bunny in my strawberry patch. He's very tiny and he burrows down so that you can't even tell he's there, but I saw him when his mom came to feed him this evening. He's smaller than a tennis ball, but his eyes are open, and he has funny big feet.

Of course that means that I'm done harvesting strawberries for the season, but I don't mind. I'm just happy that there ARE bunnies around here at all. And I plan to move that bed in a few weeks anyway, so I'll just add some blood & bone meal or something to deter them next time. No big loss, as long as I can salvage some of the plants so I get more next year. I guess we'll have to see about that when tiny Mr. Bunnersons is done living in there.

I just happened across this website, Folia, that looks sort of like the Ravelry of gardening. Of course, like Ravelry it's in Beta mode and you can't use pictures unless they're on Flickr so I may never get any uploaded, but I'm kind of excited to get an account set up. I'd love to see if I can really keep track of all my plantings online, instead of in a million notebooks.

I just got an email that KnitPicks is carrying preknit "sock blanks" that you can dye and then unknit, or even just knit straight to socks as you unravel the blank. Superwash merino blend, and only $12.

I'm all enmeshed in my spinning right now (and still going on the gardening) but I'm thinking that I'd love to try to dye my own yarn. I'm so picky about colors, and I think it'd be super fun to make my own.

I'm about 2/3 done with the gardening for this spring. The fruits and veggies are all planted, and the shade garden is in place except for one plant I need to order online. I put a new azalea bush out front, and dead-headed all my daffodils and tulips and hyacinths. I still need to plant the herb seedlings that are growing in my craft room window, and dig the bed along the fence for my lilac bushes and some flowers. I may also have to replace a couple of plants that didn't grow back, but I'm still holding out hope that something will poke out of the mulch any day now, so I'm still holding off on that.

But today... all I want to do is spin some yarn. My wheel has been sitting there with some very poorly done shetland wool singles on the bobbin for just about ever.  I haven't been doing much with the wheel because I was distracted by other projects, but also because I don't seem to be catching on and think I need a class to sort it all out. But... I got some batts last Fall that I really want to play with today for some reason. I've never spun from a batt before, and I imagine that it'd be so different than roving and much easier.

But if I start, who will finish the gardening? OH NO!

I came across this acorn pouch today, and I NEED it. But, see, I can't crochet. I might have to find someone who can, and offer a trade for some knit goodies.I must have that acorn!