June 2009 Archives

Late May Garden
Originally uploaded by kerner

This is my garden exactly 1 month ago. So pretty - peas threatening to climb off the trellis and into the trees above, tomato plants growing strong, lettuce plentiful...

My sad, pathetic garden
Originally uploaded by kerner

Here is my garden today. The peas and lettuce are done, so I ripped them out. They are spring crops so I guess I'm not that surprised that a week of 95 degree weather did them in. One of my tomato plants mysteriously turned yellow, shriveled up and dried, so I ripped it out. The remaining cherry tomato plant looks pretty decent, but the big tomato plant is growing like gangbusters, yet only has about 3 blooms on it.

How frustrating. Not that I really know what I'm doing when it comes to gardening, but I really had my hopes up this year. Even though I know it's too late, I planted some beans along the trellis just to try to salvage a little something out of the garden this year.

How is your garden doing not that we are in the heat of summer?

What a difference a day makes!  After having a minor freak-out over how busy my week was, I decided to take a "mental health evening" and stay home from church activities on Wednesday to do some much-needed catching up on household chores as well as just get some time to myself.  The evening started with quite a spectacular rainstorm, which I assumed would put a crimp in my plans for a bike ride that evening.  Luckily the storm cleared after about an hour and I was able to get in a ride in that brief low-humidity window that follows a good storm.

Between the physical activity and the gorgeous weather, I was able to clear my head and start to look forward to the rest of my week.  Of course, it didn't hurt that I have fun things on the calendar for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings!  But I can manage to stress myself about fun things too, if I don't get a little downtime in there to balance it out.


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Originally uploaded by kerner

Last night, Matt and I went out to dinner with our dear friends Will and Nicole and their 1-yr-old daughter (see her in the green & pink striped.  We see them all the time these days, since Matt and Will conspired to convince me that we needed to buy quarter-season tickets to the Springfield Cardinals, which just happen to be right next to Will and Nicole's quarter season tickets.


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Originally uploaded by kerner

Before the game, we went to Maria's to celebrate Nicole's birthday (that's where the "beer" part of the blog post title comes in.  I mostly needed something to add to the alliteration.  But - Negra Modelo - yum!)

I asked Nicole what her coworkers did for her birthday and she told me about this fantastic breakfast spread they brought in for her, including some wonderful homemade granola.  Well... what a coincidence!  Guess what I brought for her birthday!  (excuse the messy counter)  I used Africankelli's recipe, and it turned out very well (if I do say so myself!)  What a great gift, too - relatively cheap and easy to make, and it makes a TON of granola.  (1 jar as a gift and 3 for me?  Yes, please!)

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Originally uploaded by kerner

I am not really much of a baseball fan, but I am so happy that we bought those baseball tickets.  We were already friends with Will and Nicole, but we are getting to be so much closer from spending all this time together at the games.  I may even be a Cardinals fan by the time the season is over!

 

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Originally uploaded by kerner

Was it really only a little over a week ago that I was sitting on a balcony in Colorado, wearing a fleece jacket, knitting a wool sock and trying it on over another sock so my feet wouldn't get cold? I think the recent 95 degree days must have fried my brain, because it seems much longer ago than that.

The good news is, with the long drive to and from Colorado, I almost finished the entire pair. I just have the toe to finish on one sock (ran out of yarn) and about half the foot on the other sock.

The bad news is, I have zero motivation to knit these days. I am busy with work, church activities, and community groups I am in... I find myself having some meeting or event every night of the week. About once a year I try to do a "purge" of extraneous commitments I have somehow managed to get involved with, but I'm not really sure what I want to cut out this year.

Probably what I should cut out is watching TV, but I really do find it relaxing to collapse on the couch at the end of a long day and just zone out for an hour or so. I always tell myself I am going to schedule downtime on my calendar, but it never really happens.

Resolved: I will put nothing on the calendar this Sunday... a total rejuvenation day. (I couldn't quite call it a "rest day" because I know I have to do some tri training that day, but I'll get it out of the way early in the morning and then - I promise I will really rest!)

BenCady6.21.09
Originally uploaded by kerner

I intended to blog about some socks I have been knitting, but instead my weekend was mostly preoccupied waiting for this little guy to make an appearance, and then to find out his name! (They didn't find out the sex in advance, and I think my sister was convinced she was having a girl. so they never settled on a boy's name.)

My sister and brother in law live about 4 hours away, and she told me not to jump in the car and drive there when she went into labor, as she already had plenty of visitors. I can't wait to visit next weekend to meet Mr. Benjamin Robert and see proud mom and dad. (Seriously, how weird is it that my little sister is a MOM?)

I am very excited to be Aunt Sarah!

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Originally uploaded by kerner

See those two tracks snaking down the mountain in the picture there? That's the track for the Alpine Slide. You ride a little toboggan down the track, with only one handle for steering - push forward to go faster, pull back to slow down. (It wasn't quite as exciting as I remembered as a kid, but it was still pretty fun - especially since I was getting really TIRED after all that hiking and biking the days before. We were ready for something less phys-ed, a little more recess. =) Plus, I found a Winter Park Christmas ornament, to add to my collection of vacation ornaments.

I knit almost a whole pair of socks while I was gone (that's what 26 hours of driving in a week will get you!) I'll take some newer pictures and post them soon!

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Originally uploaded by kerner

Okay, so we didn't pick a very rough section of trail for the photo op, but I swear this was a pretty bumpy trail at times - at least for a complete newbie like me. We biked on a paved trail to Fraser, CO (about 2 miles from Winter Park) and went on some trails from there. I wanted to stay on the easiest trails (cause I'm a scaredy cat) but they were really ugly because a bunch of the trees had been cut down, so I braved the harder trails and it really wasn't too bad. Matt and I were both exhausted by the end of our ride, though! He found some iPhone app that tracks your ride, and blogged it here.

One more quick vacation post, and I promise I'll be back to my normal boring life. =)

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Originally uploaded by kerner

We were supposed to spend Saturday of our vacation with some friends of my husband's from Denver, but one of them was sick, so we went o the hike they suggested on our own.

I swear, the best thing you can do when you go on vacation is find someone who lives there (or near there) and ask them what you should do (and where to eat). This hike (actually two trails - Monarch Lake & Crater Lake) was fantastic. First, we walked along the edge of Monarch Lake, with beautiful mountains in the background, then up into the mountains. The Crater Lake trail has a series of three spectacular waterfalls on it. I'm not exactly sure what the protocol for counting waterfalls is, because I would have counted the second one as about 5 different waterfalls, all tiered one on top of the other. The trail went pretty near to the river/waterfalls, but you could hike right out to the edge - close enough to feel the spray and cold air coming off the water (that was very recently snow).

Like our hike the day before, we had to turn around before the end of the trail, because the dark clouds were rolling in and we didn't want to get caught in a storm up on the mountain. We high-tailed it out of there, but it was still about 7 miles back to the car. It rained on and off on us for about the last 3 miles of the trail, no big deal since we had our rain jackets.

We finished off our day by completely gorging ourselves at Hernando's Pizza. Our friends from Denver drove up to see us after all, and between the four of us we managed to nearly polish off two large pizzas... and after all that hiking, I didn't feel the least bit guilty about it.

Have I mentioned that I love vacation?

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Originally uploaded by kerner

On our first day in Winter Park, I decided it would be fun to head back to a trail that I had hiked with my family when we visited here several years ago - Byers Peak Trail.

(Actually my dad almost tumbled down Byers Peak after we reached the top of the trail, but luckily my mom vaulted down the mountain and stopped him from rolling down the mountain. But, I remembered that there was a really good view from the top, so I thought it would be fun to go again.)

Anyhoo, we got to the trail and started hiking. Pretty soon we started seeing some snow on the trail. No big deal, it was easy to walk around. Then the snow covered the whole trail, but we were able to follow the footprints of a couple of other hikers that had gone through the day before. The snow got up to about our knees, and the dark clouds of an afternoon rainstorm started rolling in... we decided it was time to head back to the car. We heard there was a white-out snowstorm in Winter Park the day before we got there, so we didn't want to get caught in a bad storm.

We didn't have any flurries on the way down, thankfully. We headed back to the condo and had a relaxing afternoon of reading, napping, and napping before a homemade dinner in the condo and watching The Dark Knight.

I love vacation...

Cherry Cricket
Originally uploaded by andy andrews

On the first day of vacation, my true love gave to me... 10 hours of driving! Actually, it wasn't as bad as it sounds. We left early, ate lunch in the car, and just powered through to Denver, where we took a break in true Colorado style. We got a few mountain essentials at the REI flagship store, and had a great dinner at Duffy's Cherry Cricket. It's a classic old burger-n-beer joint smack dab in a really ritzy shopping area. It was recommended to us by several different people after my husband asked via Twitter where we should go. (I really love twitter for stuff like that! I've already had at least a couple of Colorado friends welcome me to their state, too!)

After we finished dinner, we continued the drive on to Winter Park. The air got colder and colder as we drove up the mountain, and by the time we pulled into the parking lot, it was 40 degrees and raining. Brrr!

If I can get Matt to quit showing me all the cool features on the latest iPhone update, we'll start planning our day tomorrow!


Photo credit to andy andrews via flickr.

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Originally uploaded by kerner

All of the Russian doll tanks are completed and winging their way to their new owners via the USPS. Since there might be a few people who read this blog that don't already participate in Finny & Donk's Sewing Adventure, also known as CRAFT:Along, this was inspired by one of May's projects, the Farm Chicks' Embellished Tank. If you'd like to join us for June, check out the projects here. (And be sure to join the Flickr group!)

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Originally uploaded by kerner

Stitch-Witchery wasn't working for me, so I ended up using a heat fusible backing for the fabric called Heat 'n' Bond Lite. It is sort of like interfacing, so I found that it worked best on knits where the fabric is laying smooth against the body, not waving free in the breeze. (It looked too obvious that it was an applique, and that whole appliqued sweatshirt look was not what I was going for.)

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Originally uploaded by kerner

The Heat n Bond requires you to stitch down the fabric patch after its been ironed on. It seemed to stick pretty well with just the ironing, but I wasn't sure what would happen once I washed it, so I followed the directions for once. There wasn't really a problem sewing on the stretchy shirts because the HnB stabilized everything. Easy peasy.

I have one last Russian doll that my friend Brianne asked me to add to once of her daughter's 2T shirts. I think that one is going to be the cutest of all! This is definitely an easy way to jazz up a storebought T-shirt or onesie in no time. I foresee many decorated T-shirts in my niece's and nephew's future!

I ironed the Heat n Bond to the back of the fabric, then trimmed it down to size.

The big reveal
Originally uploaded by kerner

My friends Matt and Meredith are adopting a baby girl from Ethiopia. They passed court and will be traveling sometime this month to pick up their new daughter Zoe. Since my close group of friends starting having kids a couple of years ago, I have sort of created a tradition of making a baby quilt for each of them.

So far I've made four. Before Zoe's quilt, I've made a pink & brown quilt for a baby girl, and primary colors + neon green quilt for a baby boy, and an orange and green zoo animals quilt for soon-to-be niece or nephew (they're not finding out).

My favorite square
Originally uploaded by kerner

For Zoe, I wanted to do something different. I ordered a charm pack and a fat quarter bundle of African fabrics, to make a modern patchwork quilt with an African twist. I lucked out on my trip to San Francisco and found a large remnant of fabric from Mali at Britex Fabrics that I used as the backing. More pictures here.

I really love how this quilt turned out. Originally I was going to butt all the squares up together, but my husband/style advisor (ha!) thought it was too much. I added the black cotton sashing and it all just came together.

I really got frustrated with my quilting on this project. I have just been doing it by setting the stitch length as long is it will go, basting and pinning, and hoping everything turns out ok. In my post-project cleaning frenzy, I found all the sewing machine feet and got them organized - hot dang, I have a walking foot and I didn't even know it! For the next babe that makes its appearance, I promise a much more evenly quilted quilt!

Handmade by
Originally uploaded by kerner

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Originally uploaded by kerner

Cherry Tomatoes - Hand for Scale
Originally uploaded by kerner 

June 6 Harvest
Originally uploaded by kerner

How fitting that I harvested my first veggies of the season - both sugar snap peas and regular peas, along with some lettuce - on the same day that my pastor spoke about the importance of bringing our best to God - our first fruits.

As I sat in church on Saturday night, I thought of how earlier that day I gobbled up those delicious sweet peas (some of them didn't even make it into the house). After watching them grow all season, watering and tending them, it was so exciting to finally, literally, enjoy the fruit of my labor.

I have to say, the phrase "first fruits" has to mean more to a gardener: You know exactly how long you've waited, and all the work that goes into it, before you ever get a single edible thing. I was challenged by that sermon to more consciously bring God my best in all that I do.

Summer Reading
Originally uploaded by kerner

There's nothing like an upcoming vacation, is there? My husband Matt and I will be driving to the beautiful Colorado Rockies in less than a week, and I'm having great fun thinking about all the things I could do with my time off. Reading... knitting... hiking... biking... Oh yeah, don't forget eating at great restaurants!

I am pretty well set in the book department thanks to a productive trip to the local used bookstore. As far as knitting goes, I think I'll wind up the rest of the yarn for a cotton sweater I started recently, and maybe I'll actually be able to finish it.

For the hiking, rafting, and other outdoor activites, I still need to do some research and look at some maps before we go, BUT I also need to make sure that I don't overschedule my vacation with a million activities, as I have a bad habit of doing. I really want this to be a relaxing vacation, but I fall into the trap of feeling like I'm "wasting" my time off if I'm not out doing something every second of the day.

Still though - I really need to chill. Between school, work, and volunteer activities, Matt and I are ridiculously busy. We haven't really even sat down and talked about what we want to do on this trip. I guess at least we'll have something to talk about during the 13 hours in the car on the way there!!

To try to keep myself on track, as well as make this whole project manageable and not just beat myself up over what I don't do, I am trying a new approach for the next few months. For each of the Style Statement categories, I write down one thing I'd like to focus on for the month. Sometimes it's something concrete like "paint the living room" and other times it's more of improving a habit or attitude.

I got the idea for this from someone's blog... I can probably find it if I think about it for a minute...Ah ha! It's Graceful Creative (a whole blog devoted to following her style statement).

I'll post my June goals in a couple of days. For now, I'll reveal my latest knitting project, which also was my "creative" goal for the month of May.

This shawl is a gift for my husband's grandmother's birthday. Originally I thought I would be really creative and try to design a shawl myself, but after ripping it out about 5 or 6 times and a birthday deadline looming, I decided that I needed to get real and just knit something from a pattern.

Project Details:

Pattern: Leaf Lace Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark

Yarn: Lulu's Yarns Supersock Merino

Needle Size: Size 6

Pattern Modifications: None... why mess with perfection? =)

Time to knit: about 3 weeks

Final impressions: Matt said his grandma liked yellow, but WHOA this yarn is really yellow. I was worried it would be overwhelming, but it was not bad at all once it was blocked and had all the big lacy holes in it.

Late May Garden
Originally uploaded by kerner

Around New Year's, I wrote a post about how I was not going to make resolutions this year. Instead, I was going to pick a theme for the year and try to live it out to the fullest. My theme is also my Style Statement, Cultivating Joy.

I also chose this snippet of Kerouac that encapsulated the theme: "to be in a state of beatitude, like st. francis, trying to love all life, trying to be utterly sincere with everyone, practicing endurance, kindness, cultivating joy of heart."

So, now that we're well into the year, how am I doing? I made a list of small steps that I thought would go along with the theme for the year.

Read more fiction. I discovered the local used book store and I am having great fun selling old books for store credit and discovering what they have on the shelves that day. Very rarely is there a new book I just "have to have," and I've been a real slacker in the reading department for about 5 years, so there are lots of older books that are still new to me. I have learned by lesson though - if you see a book and you want it, don't assume it will be there when you come back!

Take better care of my veggie garden and our native plant gardens. I'd say I'm doing pretty well at this if I do say so myself. My peas and lettuce, which I'm growing for the first time, are doing great. I need to weed the flower gardens and put new mulch down, but hey, I'm still a work in progress, right?

Spend more time studying the Bible and in prayer. I always have room for improvement in this area, but I have joined a weekly study with some other people by age at church, so that helps keep me on track, at least on a weekly basis. We're getting ready to take a hiatus for the summer though, so I need to find a daily devotional or something to read. I don't do very well just winging it on my own.

Knit more gifts for others; less for myself. I've been doing pretty well with crafting for others at least as much as myself. I even made an embellished tee for my sister to wear this summer after she's no longer "great" with child.

I have a couple more Russian dolls left to cut out of the fabric, so I will reward those of you who managed to read this far into this ridiculously navel-gazing post. If you would like a tank top with a Russian doll on it, leave me a comment saying so, and what shirt size you wear at Old Navy (S, M, L, XL etc.) First three commenters get shirts!

Third Time's a Charm
Originally uploaded by kerner