I've finished one Puerperium Cardigan, and am on to the next, for my sister to give to a friend. It's one of those addictive little patterns, like the Baby Aviatrix or the Baby Surprise Jacket. Somehow, it's hard to stop at one! I've been making them with cotton/silk/wool blends from my stash; knitting with cotton is not my favourite, but seems right for babies born in Spring.
I'm reading various gardening books, dreaming my way through these late winter days. The snow still lies thick on the ground, but the forecast is calling for warmer days ahead, so hopefully we'll see the grass soon.
One I reread every Spring is Janette Haase's From Seed to Table. What I love about it is that she's a gardener in the Kingston area, which is only a few hours south of here; she grows and harvests the same things I can grow and harvest here. It's a wonderful year-round guide to growing a wonderful garden.
Roots, Shoots, Buckets, and Boots by Sharon Lovejoy is a perennial favourite. It's so full of beautiful ideas for children to get involved in gardening (including a pizza garden!). So far I haven't managed to do anything with it, but I dream of the Sunflower House as an outdoor play space for my children every year at this time. I think this is the year!
Pop over to Small Things to join in the Yarn Along.
Pop over to Small Things to join in the Yarn Along.
Your second book looks really appealing. (I have three littles.) Is it for the Northern land too? Or is it more general?
ReplyDeleteWe've still got snow too. Spring should be around the corner soon... :-)
We live in mid-Ontario, so I think it would be fine! Sunflowers, marigolds, morning glories, pumpkins, etc...it's beautifully illustrated, too!
DeleteOh my goodness but that is pretty. I love the rainbow yarn, it is just perfect!
ReplyDeleteAnother gorgeous sweater on the needles! You're making me want a little baby to knit for, darn you. I MUST check out Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boot - sounds just like a book that would be well-loved by my little gardeners (and the big one).
ReplyDeletethat yarn is amazing. wow. and roots shoots buckets and boots! oh we love that book. i really like the authors other books as well, so much fun to read and look at. there is so much to do in that book pretty much where ever you live. we live in AZ and it is still a great book to use to garden with the littles. :)
ReplyDeleteI just love all Sharon Lovejoy's books, but and often give Toad..Shooting Stars as a grandma gifts to new grannnies! Did you know she has a blog? I just found it a couple days ago!!!
ReplyDeleteThis is the second time this week I have heard of Ms. Lovejoy, I think that must mean something!
ReplyDeleteYour knitting is just beautiful.
Happy Yarn Along!
Root, Shoots, Buckets and Boots sounds like a wonderful book. I'll have to check it out when C is old enough. I can't wait for the day she can come out to the garden. Last year she napped in her portable crib under the tree while I gardened.
ReplyDeleteLovely sweater, and both your books sound wonderful, I will have to check them out. We are about 5 hours from you, just outside of Peterborough, so From Seed to Table would be great to have. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteTwo and a half hours, actually!
DeleteI love all the colors you are using!
ReplyDeleteI love your rainbow sweater. I can't believe you had all those colours in your stash, that is something I am missing in mine. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeletewhat a good choice of books.
ReplyDeleteThat pizza garden sounds very promising. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking about the vegetables/herbs I want to grow in my garden this year, too.
I dream of planting a sunflower house one day. The sweater looks beautiful. I love the change of colours.
ReplyDeleteYou have inspired me to dig out my copy of Roots, Shoots...can you imagine Rheya toddling around a sunflower garden this fall?? SQUEEE!
ReplyDeleteThat little Puerperium is beautiful! I love all the gorgeous colours. I have to check into the Roots, Shoots… book as well. We are hoping *next* spring to have our own little piece of earth to work on, and I'm on the hunt for activities to bring the children into it… Thanks for the inspiration! xo
ReplyDeleteWe keep saying we are going to do the Sunflower house as well. Maybe this is the year! Maybe we should start a sunflower house challenge.
ReplyDeleteThe sweater it adorable, I love the colours.
Jennifer @ Dark Blue Dragon
Such bright colors and stripes. That will be one well-dressed baby. I have several of Lovejoy's books and love them. The illustrations are so charming.
ReplyDeleteoh how pretty your sweater is! love the sweet colors, i'm sure it will be most welcome in the cotton (it's very kind of you to make it in that, i feel the same way about cotton).
ReplyDeletei think you might be interested in this post, there are some links you might like,
http://www.loritimesfive.blogspot.com/2012/03/lovejoy.html
xx lori
With inspiration I purchased both of these books at Chapters Online - indigo.ca. I paid under $30 for both of them, and shipping is free if your purchase is over $25. I'm also a member so I received an extra $1.50 off each book - both otherwise they're both on sale. Thanks for the tips! I plan to have beautiful and productive vegetable and flower gardens this year and hope there are some tips in these books to help me out. Thank you!!! :) As for sunflowers, we have had some productive and not so productive years with sunflowers here. I am going to try again this year. If I have a wedding this summer at my in-laws home, I want to make sure their wildflower garden is FULL of huge sunflowers. How magical! Last year our sunflowers suffered from drought as they're in an area of the garden that we can't reach with our rain barrel catcher and our hose/wellwater. This year we have a pump to put in our pond so hopefully we'll be able to better keep them watered when the sun gets hotter and the rain becomes less plentiful come August. We'll see! Very excited and a little put off by today's snowfall (I could see grass!), but I know that spring is not far away. Now to figure out where to get seeds, hopefully some heritage seeds. Any suggestions? Enjoying your blog...
ReplyDeleteK