Things That Grow

The T-shirts have been cut. I cut off the side seams and sleeve seams, then the neck ribbing.

The biggest design is 15 1/2" long, so I will cut the squares at 16". Some of the shirts are sleeveless, and they may not be that big, so I will have to put borders on them to get them up to the same size. I hope to get the designs cut off and ironed to the stabilizer this week. We have decided that, given the larger size the blocks will have to be, we will use only 16 blocks. 

I finally cast on one of the doll sweaters for the Oregon grandsons' Christmas dolls. Here's Parker, modeling the start of the first one.

The pattern is Bright Lights. It's designed for American Girl/Boy dolls, but I think the bulky look will be good for these two, and their new brothers are AG size, so they can share clothes.

I've made some progress since that photo. Soon I'll be ready to divide for the sleeves.

I learned about another neat way to add to your fresh vegetables when it's too cold for the garden outdoors. When you cut a green onion for salad, first remove any leaves that are starting to decay, then cut the onion about 2 1/2" above the root, leaving the bottom and whatever root is left intact.

Put the root section in a glass or jar with filtered or dechlorinated water* and leave where it has light, changing the water every few days. The leaves will start to grow again. (You can cut up the rest of the onion you cut off and put it into a salad or sandwich, or just eat as is.) The leaves will grow back.

In this photo, you can see four days of growth, from left to right, day one to day four. The roots get longer, too. When the leaves get long enough, you can start harvesting, keeping the onion in the glass to start over. I'm guessing this would work for chives, too.

We've had a lot of rain lately, but managed to get in a few walks in during the time when the rain held off. Rocky is still enjoying the walks with the family, and sometimes he walks most of the way, with the stroller reserved for when we need to move fast.

Rocky had his annual physical last week. The vet kept him for a blood draw that had to be timed just right after his thyroid and blood pressure medication. We left him with the vet and buzzed over to the dog park, so Dusty could have some social time with the other dogs. We need to take Rocky again soon, too, but it would be too much for him to go on the same day as a trip to the vet or the groomer.

Rocky was tired after his time at the vet, but the checkup went well and the blood work looked good, except his thyroid levels were high normal. He has lost some weight, so the vet decided to cut the dosage of the thyroid medication. He will check both thyroid and blood pressure in about three more weeks. The first night with the lower dose, Rocky slept all night. (He's been waking up most early mornings to drink and then go out.) We'll see if this keeps up.

Sunday afternoon we went to a concert. The performers were a group called "Hammers and Bows." They played Shostakovich's "Piano Trio No. 2 in E Minor" and Dvořák's "Piano Trio No. 1 in B♭ Major." The music was good, and it was fun to get out.

Toothless the Fairy has had to make another visit to Johan.

Meanwhile, in Wisconsin, Daphne got to perform in the Ballet LaCrosse production of "Heidi."

We got to watch online. She was one of the school children in the first act. They also made a shorter appearance in the second act. We were very impressed with her performance, which was lovely, even if you consider that we're her grandparents. The ballet was very entertaining, and even funny in places.

Now that the danced performances are out of the way, the Wisconsin grands have decorated their Holiday Tree.

There's no "War on Christmas" at their house. They use the tree to celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas, and Hanukkah is early this year. They will be at out house for Christmas, along with their younger cousins. Yay!

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for "Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart" in Children's. Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of our first book, Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, it would help if you left an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: The Bright Lights sweater for Parker.

What's on my loom: Still the trailer rugs. No progress this week..

What's on my sewing machine: Waiting for a new assignment.

What's in my hoop: Still the whole cloth quilt. Only a little progress this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Sky Blue, the retelling of a well-known fairy tale, but with some twists.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to Wildwood by Colin Meloy on the Audible app. 

What's in my wine glass: Sashay Cinsault 2020 again. Very nice, and a good value.

What's my tip of the week: We're back to growing sprouts. You can do this year 'round, but when fresh vegetables are easy to grow outdoors, there's less incentive. Here's the equipment you need: Seeds, a tablespoon, a quart canning jar, the outer lid with a circle of window screen cut to fit the lid and a tray that's big enough for the jar to fit into, but not big enough for it to lie down all the way.

First, soak a tablespoon of seeds overnight or all day, then drain. You can put the jar in the sink and then move to the tray when most of the water has drained. (Mushrooms came in my tray.) It will look like this when you leave the jar in the tray:

Every morning and every night, rinse the seeds. In four days or so, you will have a jar full of sprouts.

*You can use filtered water, if your water is heavily chlorinated, or leave some water sitting out in other jars or a bowl, so the chlorine will escape into the air. This can take several days. The sprouts seem to tolerate a quick bath in chlorinated water fairly well, though.

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with few changes. Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is now available for preorder from booksellers world wide. The link for Book Baby is here. The three stories are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is also available. The three stories in the first book are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less. 

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

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