Growing Things

This spring, I have tried my hand at some gardening, of various sorts.

In the backyard, we have/had onions, potato plants, a strawberry plant, rosemary, and tomatoes. Mostly, my crop has been a shining example of laughable and puny, although so far everything has proved edible.

I have learned that this is the difference between caged tomatoes (big) and staked (small):



Same variety of plant, even.

I have also learned that Central Texas soil is really tough to work with. I can grow better things out of that nasty poly fiber-fill stuff than I can from the clay-heavy crud that's in our backyard:



Pattern: Lucky Bamboo by June Gilbank
Mods: I made the stalks shorter; my yarn choices (scraps) meant that the stalks were turning out relatively bigger than the pot and sand.

Lace, Intarsia, and Stamina

That's what this required:



No more complaining from me about how rough this sweater treated me, in-utero. And you know what? I think it looks great on. Wore it for a whole day yesterday, and it didn't stretch out, even.

Oh - and it's unblocked. The pattern doesn't specify, but I'm content to let it stay that way. And I'm not sorry.

Pattern: #03 Multi-Pattern Top by Gabrielle Hammill from Vogue Knitting, Spring/Summer 2006.
Yarn: Lion Brand Microspun, and hey, don't judge me. It's what the pattern called for and it's inexpensive. It's also splitty and unfriendly to the hands, plus the acrylic content isn't my fav, but I must have bought it over two years ago for this pattern.
Needles: Size 4. I don't often go down a needle size, much less two, but judging from other FOs, that's common for this pattern.
Mods: None, really. I did skip a few rows on the short-row collar, but it's not hugely dramatic.