The Seedy Start

I've started my own seedlings for two years now but it still seems brand new every year. My gardening stuff unfortunately did not make the move to ON so first step was to get a new seed tray, and new soil, and new seeds! This adorable little green house was the closest to my place. I feel like I will be spending an inordinate amount of time in that place in years to come....

Now that The Stuff was replenished I got to hydrating the little soil disc things. I've never used them before, typically I just used potting soil and pots, but I think I will be using these weird discs again next year. They hydrated very quickly and the mesh makes them easy to move (if necessary). When my little plant roots grow in there will be significantly less fighting with plastic trays for plant freedom too. Yay!

I planted my tomatoes first but I also have a lot of seeds that I've collected over the last year: Apple and plum seeds from my Dad's backyard; Chestnuts from Washington; Citrus seeds from fruit from the grocery store; etc. (Also herb seeds, but pretty sure every gardener has bags of oregano and parsley seeds stashed around.) I found this good beginners guide to planting and caring for seedlings so we'll see what grows! Go Go Gadget Half-Assed Gardening Experiment!

After they seed rows were labeled and watered and lidded, I went on a hunt for a seed warming pad. This turned out to be a rather futile experience. So I turned to making my own heat. AKA Ikea lamp and a "Plant bulb". Despite if the light source is "appropriate" or not, it's warm! So grow seedlings, grow!! <3 

-Andrea

The Half-Assed Hobbyist

Real Winter

So I've had to eat my words over the last couple weeks. Being Alberta born and raised I have always expected winter to start October 31st and end after May long weekend. I expect snow for Christmas and lots of it. I expect only negative degrees when I check my rude weather app. Toronto it seems does not get "real winter" as I'm used too, but it does get winter. 

I went out on one such occasion (when Winter decided to actually stick around) to take some pictures. Some turned out pretty good. I suppose winter is better late than never!

-Andrea

The Half-Assed Hobbyist

From Box to Box to Neck

Like many others, I am rather procrastinate-y when it comes to finishing my knitting projects. Before the new year, I made a beautiful irish mesh cowl (Curtesy of Purlavenue). It's had a rough time coming into being. 

I bought the yarn from a shop waaaaaay back in Edmonton. Alpaca yarn died the most beautiful shade of blue. Then it was promptly put into my knitting box and ignored. Then put into a moving box and ignored. It became very forgotten. I was not friendly to my yarn. And it payed me back. The tangled mess that resulted from the neglect took me 3 days evenings to untangle. 

Finally free from it's purple friend/fiend, I followed the lovely purlavenue's pattern (adding a couple extra knits for my wide shoulders) and finished a lovely cowl. But it's sat finished waiting to be blocked for ...  two month now. 

Since I've been home sick a week now I finally got up the motivation to finish the project! Haha. Time and opportunity! So I started by soaking my project. 20 minutes was good enough (in cold water so the colour didn't run), and then I squeezed out as much water as I could (no wringing allowed!!). Placed it on a towel, rolled up the cowl, and squished more water out. Then, with a new dry towel, the pinning began. I seem to have lost my ruler, or I think the process would have been less guess work and more actual square-ing. Highly recommend using a ruler when stretching out a project! Regardless though, it worked out! Go half-assed blocking! (Still technically blocking, haha.)

-Andrea

The Half-Assed Hobbyist

The Rivervalley

There is one aspect of Edmonton that I won't ever forget. Right outside of downtown core, the Rivervalley waits. 

I got to go on more than one walk on my vacation back home and each time I was blown away by the nature that sits right outside the concrete jungle. 

I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking. <3

-Andrea

The Half-Assed Hobbyist

Secret Santa

Since I know very few people in the city, the GF of a friend offered to include me in a Secret Santa group of hers. The theme of the gift was homemade. It could be baking, or knitting, or wood work, etc, but it had to be handmade. Challenge accept! So I got the name of my secret santa-ee and begun my planning. (In other words, I mega creeped his FB page... Haha. Yay modern technology!)

I soon discovered that he was a mega nerd, like me, excited for the new Hobbit movie and a lover of all things space aged. So, with the new Star Wars trailer soon to come out, I got an idea. Stormtrooper in a tiny Christmas sweater. Obviously. 

So I set to work sketching a draft of what he would look like. Then I got to dig out my sewing machine and materials and make a pattern. I traced the drawing for the pattern, including a seam allowance. Then I bought some black and white felt and got to work. I wanted to make it as easy to sew as possible so I basted all the armour to the black body pieces and then sewed the head pieces together and the body pieces together in one seam. Success! 

Next, I got to knitting him a teeny tiny sweater. I've never actually been skilled enough to make a life sized sweater before so I read a couple patterns to get the gist of how to make sleeves. It took about 3 hours but my little galactic sweater was ready for business. 

After that, I stuffed XMS-1225 (also known as XMAS) with cotton balls, inserted a cardboard spine and stitched his head to his body. 

And my new little friend was off to meet his commander. =) 

-Andrea

The Half-Assed Hobbyist