101 in 1001 Update
So a quick update on the items I’ve worked on since identifying what I can do last week:
54. learn to crochet
As it turns out, I had already purchased a crochet hook and I had some balls of wool as well, which is always a useful thing when learning to crochet.
I found some directions in a book I own on how to crochet. Last night I attempted to follow them. Attempting turned out to be the correct word to use because my chain stitch looked odd and then trying to do the next type of stitch resulted in a mess of confusion.
My next plan of action is following along with some Learn to Crochet videos on the Lion Brand Yarn website. The added complication that I initially thought wouldn’t be one (since I mastered knitting just fine), is that I’m left-handed. The other complication is that I’m pretty sure the crochet hook I purchased is too big compared to the wool I’m using. Wouldn’t hurt to find a smaller one when I’m out and about next.
94. work up to blogging regularly
Well I published three blogposts last week and because I didn’t do just one, I’m only challenging myself to publish another three this week. It would be nice to also have some drafts in progress but I’m not going to bust a gut over that for now.
I’m happy with my progress on this task, especially since I don’t feel stressed in trying to keep up with it. Let’s see whether that changes in the coming weeks.
22. get a stable vegetable garden going
So this is our chaotic vegetable garden. It’s been a bit neglected recently, and with the changing weather it’s all over the show. Our vegetable garden is set up as a grid of four gardens. The garden in the foreground is our “main vegetable garden”, simply because it’s the one we got going first. It currently has gherkin plants, aubergine plants, zucchini plants (there was meant to be a variety but only zucchini produced) and along the western boundary bean plants. The gherkin plant is ready to come out and the remaining zucchini, I mean marrow, need to be harvested. The bean plants are having their second wind and I need to harvest what has grown also.
Here are a couple of close ups from this garden patch.
Look at how lovely and glossy that Aubergine is. And if you click on the picture below you’ll be able to see a giant “gherkin” growing with the beans. Our gherkins grew too big for the most part (I’m not admitting to being too slow at harvesting), and so we’ve been eating them as cucumbers instead (seeing as they come from the same family).
So my task for this week is to harvest all the vegetables I can from this garden, remove the plants that are at end of life and then straw over the garden, until we purchase some green manure crops (if we even do this year). I need to also look into whether I need to lay some manure down under the straw if that’s better left til Spring.
I’d also like to remove the corn plants which are clearly at end of life, tidy up the garden they’re in and also get that one strawed for Winter.
I’ve got to keep the momentum up in the gardens as the recent rains have drenched the ground and the grass in the area will soon be more mud than grass which will make any work in the garden that much more difficult.
I have also been through our seed stash and there’s quite a number of options for Autumn sowing that can be done. I need to get out into the garden before I can consider those options further though.
Other
I realised last night that I have 2 tasks on my list that were meant to be updated on the 26th December 2010! Since I haven’t put any thought into what I could make of these tasks as yet, I don’t want to make a hasty decision and put the first thing that comes into my head. Instead I’m giving myself a week to thoughtfully consider what tasks I’d like to add to the 101 in 1001 list. Any suggestions?
