Rambling Projects and Garden excitment..

It took one Stanley Cup playoff game to finish up the pink tunic.  It's been waiting around for an awfully long time to get hemmed.  The neckline needed a small modification and the Bayeux stitch animal cuffs were added.  It turned out quite nicely I think.   I wore it to a school demo and was quite pleased with the fit.

More Stanley Cup spinning took place as well.  The black skeins are Shetland and it's lovely, soft and clean fibre.   I really wanted to use a long draw but it just refused to cooperate, unless I reprocessed the rovings by hand, which wasn't happening.  Instead, spun it with a short draw.  It took much longer to spin but I'm very happy with the results.  I still have a few yards of  black roving to to spin.  It may be the end of the prepared roving for Stanley Cup spinning and  I may also have to card as well..   Hmm I guess that is what intermissions are for?

Garden excitement is also happening.  The tomato plants are looking quite nice.  The peppers are slowly growing.   Actually almost all of the seeds I started are in reasonable shape considering there is almost a month yet before they should be planted.   Except the parsley.  It's old seed.  It's also slow to germinate.  I may have to buy a plant this spring..  egads!  I don't think my sage plants made it through the winter either, so that's two plants on the needed list.

Tiny Indigo Tinctoria Seedlings

The indigo seeds I'd planted earlier have done nothing.   After doing a bit more research, it turns out that Indigo Tinctoria likes warmth as in 24C constant temperatures to germinate.  One suggestion is to put the pots on a heat mat.  It also helps to soak the seeds overnight.  We keep our house cool and I don't own a heat mat, so I soaked a paper towel, sprinkled a few Indigo seeds on it, folded it up and slipped it in a plastic sandwich bag.  I put the bag on the rack over the grow lights, so it would get some heat for at least part of the day.  A couple of days ago, there were a few spots in the paper towel. I opened it up to reveal some sprouted seeds.  I planted these in soil.  I really wasn't sure that any would survive, but so far of 8 seeds germinated, all 8 are still looking alive.   That spurred me on to plant some Madder, Dyer's Knotweed and some Chinese Woad as well.   All the seeds are last year's so we'll have to see how well they germinate.

 

The first full sized daffodil of the season.  It's growing in the middle of the lawn, presumably planted their by our feisty grey squirrel.  You'd hardly know that we had a squirrel nearby at all except for an occasional rustle of branches.  I did see him at the bird feeder a few times this winter.  He was no skinny little runt of a squirrel!   However I'd have never thought to plant a daffodil in the middle of the yard.  It turns out to be a lovely place for it, so he can stay and eat the leftover bird seed.  After all, I'd see up to 20 crows there at once, so what difference could 1 squirrel make?

Oh yes, and somebody, please make it stop raining!