The zucchini that ate South Dakota

Our various garden plots aren't doing as well this year as they did last year. The combo of a late spring, a great deal of rain, and then some really horrendous heat (nothing but corn likes a heat index of 118) set everything back by at least a month. That said, interesting things are finally happening.

A friend gave us a single climbing zucchini plant. It took a long time for it to do anything, and it was fairly reluctant to climb the little trellis that we fashioned for it. But it surely did crawl. It not only expanded a good 8' in front of the stalk, but it snaked around the front of the house, another 10'.

It is also setting the most fascinating fruit, which look nothing like regular zucchini. We've eaten one or two, and they're okay, but I suspect they'll be better as ripe squash. Or more fun yet, as dried gourds. We'll have plenty of options, since it's zuking out all over the place- curly fruits everywhere.

My grape tomato plant is huge, and there are hundreds and hundreds of blossoms, but not many sets. By this time last year, we were harvesting bowls full of tomatoes every other day. This year, we've been able to pick (and immediately eat) a handful here and there, but that's it. We may well get another two months for ripe fruit (the plant is close to the house, so it won't freeze easily), but it's going to have to hustle if it wants to catch up to last year's levels.

I started the heirloom tomatoes from seed, and though they're behind as well, I am finding lots of little tomatoes on the vines. We probably won't have enough to can, and it'll be late to dry them, but I doubt we'll have a hard time disposing of them when they finally do ripen. We've picked a few, and... oh my... they're wonderful.

The jalapenos are thriving though. I've already sliced a half-gallon of them (I do them refrigerator pickle style because canning them makes them mushy), and we have many more to come.

I planted something else in this pot in the spring, but it held marigolds last year, and the volunteer flowers overtook everything. At least they're pretty. Pushy, but pretty.

We planted maybe 10 hills of mini-pumpkins, and for our trouble we got lots of vines, and many many blossoms, but only three pumpkins. Next year, we'll plant them in a different place. And I'll skip the mini-variety. If we're only going to get three per season, I'll opt for size over cute.

This little fellow chose his camo well. I wouldn't have seen him if he hadn't jumped when I got close to his hiding place.

I know they're weeds, but I can't bring myself to pull them out.

The cottonwood tree knows that fall is coming.

So do the crabapples.

These marigolds are not accidental. They partied and went a little wild while we were in Michigan.

Finally, while we were in Michigan, the water level in Turtle Creek fell. The water is still higher than normal, but it's a lot lower than the level has been for a year or so. The high water mark is way up on the peninsula, where the dark green starts.

This is A Good Thing. If we're going to get the wild and wet winter that the Farmer's Almanac is predicting, it would be handy to go into it with the water lower than flood stage.

This 'n That- Part 2

American Idol is on three nights this week, which means I'll be writing late into the night tonight, tomorrow, and Thursday. The Top 12 Guys are on deck tonight, and it'll be an interesting evening (especially since Casey got out of the hospital in time to perform). As usual, AI cuts into regular blog time and space, so this will be short and sweet.

My world is still white, but the driveway has been plowed, so I can get in and out. I have done very little driving in the past month- it's sort of nice to be able to do a solo grocery run again:

I finished a small size Winter Garden Hat, and have enough left of the Rowan Colourscape yarn left to knit another this size, if I want to. So far, all of my BT'oKT hats have been adult sized, so it's good to stock up on a few for kids.

And blog reader and Ravelry friend, Georgienne, taught my Fair Isle Fingerless Mitten pattern at the Knitters Retreat at Sauder Village, in Ohio, this month.

Her class used the Freebie Friday pattern to knit their own fingerless mittens. Above are Georgienne's pair.

And then she adapted the pattern to regular mittens. I love how they came out!

Thanks for sharing, Georgienne!

As always, if you'd like to share anything you knit from any of my patterns (from the blog, or any of the books), I'll be happy to post pics!

This 'n That

I only saw one movie last year, and that was Inception (I was there alone- not alone, as in not having a movie date, I mean that I was the only person in the entire theater. It was a mildly unsettling experience). When it comes down to it, I rarely see any of the nominated movies until they come out on DVD (a result of living a long way from a first-run theater, and a disinclination go go anywhere at night). But I always watch the Oscar telecast, just to see the dresses.

Mostly last night, the dresses were stunning (and I don't say that lightly). Mila Kunis managed to look nearly naked and yet fully covered, and totally amazing. Hailee Steinfeld was perfectly adorable and age-appropriate.  Helen Mirren was Helen Mirren was jaw-dropping. I liked most of Anne Hathaway's dresses.

Even the intermediate ones weren't bad. A bit of sparkle around the neck would have kept Jennifer Lawrence's dress from looking like a formal version of Farrah Fawcett's swimsuit. A little less foof would have helped Halle Berry's dress. Nicole Kidman would have looked fine, minus the hip-wrap.

There were only a couple of real disasters: Annette Benning's dress did absolutely nothing for her (and was Warren Beatty drunk on the Red Carpet?). Cate Blanchet's dress looked like a mold encrusted picture frame, featuring her torso. And the less said about Scarlett Johansson's hair, the better.

All in all, an entertaining show, if you mostly ignored the hosts (who weren't as awful as many are saying, they just weren't very good). And there's no such thing as too much Colin Firth. Since The Oscars aren't American Idol, I could knit instead of taking notes.

I took a short break from plain and mitered leftover hats to knit Mary's Winter Garden Hat. The pattern is available from her blog, and on Ravelry.

I love love love the swirly decreases.

This lovely hat is a quick knit- I started it around supper time, and finished before the end of The Oscars. The yarn is Rowan Colourscape Chunky, colorway: Autumn, which I bought at Athena Fibers, before we left for California. It's beautiful yarn, and I thought I was going to make a mitered hat with it, but the repeats are too long. Turns out, that was a good thing- it's perfect for Mary's hat pattern. And best of all- one skein has enough yarn to knit two hats, and since the color changes are long, and the shades change throughout, Hat #2 is not going to be identical to Hat #1, except for the stitch pattern.

The Opal Dumbledore socks are coming along. For a colorway/repeat this chaotic, it's matching up perfectly! Go figure.

And finally, things are back to normal on Amazon, with Fearless Fair Isle Knitting doing just fine, thank you. But for one brief moment on Saturday, there was some major excitement in my neck of the woods!