Finally, FINALLY, I finished the boy's Hempathy sweater! I started it in May 2010 with some sale yarn from Stash, the now deceased LYS that I miss so very much. I think the sweater was finished a few months later, but the sleeves were kimono-like. Not only were the sleeves enormous, but they stopped short of his wrists, so they were double stupid. I forbid him from wearing it, even though he swore that he didn't mind the ridiculous ginormity of the sleeves, because I had visions of him pointing to those sleeves explaining to coworkers and friends that his wife was forcing him to wear this hand knit sweater, and of people giving him a sympathetic look in return and telling him that he is a good man. No way was I going to be that knitting cliche!
I stuffed the sweater into a cloth grocery bag, and then shoved it into a cabinet, and it didn't see the light of day until I unearthed it a few months ago. I was shamed that something that took me so much time and so much yarn was not getting any air time, so I ripped back both sleeves, took some more of the boy's arm measurements (which proved difficult because it was hard for him to stop flexing and talking about his "smoking guns"), and knit some appropriate sweater sleeves. He now has a functional sweater that, if I may say so myself, looks jaunty and hip. Done, done, and done!
Last weekend, the beet greens were ripe for thinning. Since I have an affinity for trimming and picking, and since I have not been taking part in the nightly slug and snail hunting, it was my task. We ended up with probably 1/2 a pound of beet greens that were quickly washed, then wok-ified. I stir fried them with olive oil and garlic, dusted them with a bit of freshly ground salt and pepper, and then we inhaled them. The boy wondered why we were bothering with beets when the greens were delicious. I must remember to buy some more deep, leafy greens seeds specifically for cutting.
Since we seem to be the only gardeners who cannot get zucchini to come out of our ears, this made me feel like less of an urban farmer failure. In fact, I think that our squashes are shrinking in size, which probably means I should cut them off to end their agony.
The sweater looks great. Congrats to you for doing the rip and re-do! (One of my favorite activities lately.)
ReplyDeleteZucchini: So you do have little baby zukes, and they shrink and wither? If yes, that just means that the fruit (baby zukes) aren't getting fertilized. Sometimes you have to help with plant sex. Use a little paintbrush, or even your finger, to take pollen from male flowers (no zuke bump underneath) and brush it on the center of the female (with baby bump) flowers. You'll have big zukes in no time.
Now I feel like the Dr. Ruth of plants!
Congrats on the sweater re-do!! i know what you mean about not letting him wear it when it is not up to snuff in your book. that is how most of my projects go when i make stuff for Bill! and nice going on the beet greens!! looks like 50 wanted a go at them too... :)
ReplyDeleteFifty checks out all the vegetables in the house. She has to make sure it isn't corn, her most favorite food ever.
ReplyDeleteHilarious post! So funny and well written about the whole sweater thing. And those boys and their smoking guns. Sheesh. It's univeral, I guess.
ReplyDeleteSo - you can eat the beet greens, huh? I planted a bunch and they aren't looking very beety . . . just leafy. And now I'm leaving for two weeks so I probably missed my window for sauteing them. I'm going to try that next year.
Rani, even when your beet greens are mature, you can eat them. They're great cooked! The baby beet greens are especially succulent, but they still get a kiss of heat before eating.
ReplyDeleteAwesome job on the sweater! It looks great!
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