Rosalie Gilbert

There is so much going on in the US, news-wise, that at times it feels hopeless. Then there are snippets of hope. I am focusing on what I personally can do as well as finding comfort in normal things. (Why on earth would we send hospital ships to Greenland?) There are too many imponderables to go there.

The weather was nice for a short time. I got my husband out to therapy and chiropractic adjustment. They have performed miracles. He's moving without pain. Also this week, I chopped up tree branches to start leveling a place for one of the new garden beds. The fresh air and exercise felt good. This week I made blueberry muffins. I wanted to see how the freeze-dried berries worked out. They are fantastic!

I started a new sweater. That alone is a story. I had three half-pound skeins of a yarn that had been dyed in onion skins. The color was weaker and weaker with each skein. I redyed them blue but some turned out more green; there were spots didn't take a lot of color. When I unwound the skeins, there was a lot of breakage. I can't sell skeins like that. I decided to make a sample piece based on the last sweater I made. It's a dead simple pattern. I am currently alternating rows with each of the three different color ways. It's not too bad.



Overall, I am not buying this yarn again. It's possible the breakage is caused by age. Who knows how long the mill had it? I've experienced this before with other indy-dyed superwash yarns. The superwash process involves bleach which is harsh on the yarn. According to "the internet", the manufacturer coats it with a petroleum based coating. I hate to tell them, but in order to machine spin yarn, all yarns have an oil of some sort added. Regardless, I degrease yarn before dyeing it anyway. But, I find superwash yarns break easily. They take color beautifully, which is why so many artisans use them. I just hate yarn breakage.

With so many indie dyers out there, wool isn't my best seller. Alpaca, linen, hemp and organic cotton are. I'll stick with those. Meanwhile, I'll have a large over-sized sweater for next winter (if nothing else - I still have a case of this yarn to sell).



The preparation for this year's garden is coming along. I have a flat of leeks and another of potato onions going. I packaged lettuce seed and planted the chaff. I have a huge amount of lettuce growing from the chaff. The sweet potatoes are starting to give me slips. The goal is 48 slips. Nine is a good start. Sometimes they don't produce until May. All of this is right on schedule.

Tray One, planted on Imbolc, contains seeds for 5 each of Catnip, celery, Parsley, Thyme, Savory, Rosemary, and more lettuce. I'm transplanting the lettuce this week. The rest are slower to grow. Tray Two is on a heat mat. It has Feverfew, snapdragons, Bells of Ireland, Eggplant, Artichokes, Lemon grass, Statice, Delphiniums, and basil. It was planted on the Lunar New Year. A lot of the seed was older. We'll see what actually germinates. It's early enough that if it doesn't, I can find something else to put in the flower bed. All those plants can either grow in pots or are listed as 8 weeks before last frost plants. Next up will be the 6-8 weeks before last frost plants. I pulled two sets of those today. Tray three will be based on more 8-10 week plants. Tray four will be 6-8 week plants. I have a lot of transplanting lettuce to do before I start those. The lettuce is for the indoor garden, not the outdoor one.

I have a few potatoes that I started from eyes again. Those are in plastic cups. I didn't keep track last year if any of those survived. This year I'm marking the grow bags so I know if it's worthwhile. I don't have a lot of space for potatoes inside the house. The bulk of potatoes will be planted by April 1st.

The Wheel Turns toward Spring.