Oh that reminds me, does anyone have a swimming pool here? I can't imagine it would be worth the maintenance over the winter, but if so, I'd love to be friends this summer.
So I started thinking about all the things I wish I knew how to do better (or at all).
Speak Spanish.
Play the piano.
Use a sewing machine.
Plant a vegtable garden.
Well...nobody speaks Spanish here. We have no room for a piano or a sewing machine in our house. And I don't have a yard to plant things in...only a second-floor patio. But I wasn't stumped for long...
For my birthday, Justin gave me some pots to plant things in, along with bulbs of some of the flowers we had in our wedding. (Cue sigh)...Oh, and a big bag of potting soil. I might be the only girl in the world who thinks a big bag of dirt is a great birthday present from her husband...I'm replaying the scene in Father of the Bride where Brian gets Annie a blender as a wedding gift.
I made no assumptions about what role Justin felt like I should be playing in our marriage and instead took my gift as a cue that I could spend some money on planting some great things on our patio. I headed to Home Depot a few Sunday's later and came home with seeds to plant blueberries, strawberries and some other climate-appropriate flowers. I also bought a started kit for some herbs, which are doing quite nicely now.
Here's the parlsey (left) and cilantro (right). Justin was quite dissapointed when I told him that we couldn't start using them for another couple of months.
Here's one of my pots with some sprouts (I think calla lillies). I know a lot of my flower selections were probably not the most practical. But I figure I can make some mistakes with a lot less pressure when I'm using a pot.
So to be honest, the planting didn't take very long and when it was all said and done, I was left with a couple of pots of dirt that needed to be covered up because it was still getting below freezing at night. My thirst was not yet quenched, but I was out of "hobby" money.
I headed to Michael's to find a new hobby...and began my journey of learning to knit.
I know...I know...Justin has already teased me and called me a grandma. I don't care. The idea sparked in my head as a modification of my sewing machine goal...as well as that I was trying to find some cute things to buy for a baby shower up here. It was slim pickin's...and then I started thinking, what if I could MAKE cute baby shower gifts and not have to buy lame ones from Target! I could teach myself to knit!!
Even standing in the back of the craft store, I was doubting my attention span, so I bought one of the cheapest bunches of yarn and some knitting needles for like $2. That way my investment wasn't too high. I sat down in the store and started thumbing through a knitting book that cost $29.99 and felt like I was reading Chinese. I decided I'd try to find some "How-To" video's on YouTube and checked out with my yarn and needles for less than $5.
To my delight...I found some great videos on YouTube. Here's my first project that was supposed to be a small square.
After making more lop-sided squares, I started getting bored and realized if I didn't start a project, I'd soon quit this new hobby. I asked Justin if I could knit him something (to which he responded he'd like for my first project to be a blanket)...and so I began working on his scarf. Here's the progress so far...it's about a foot and a half long...
This scarf is taking a lot longer than I thought it would. I still have intentions to knit other cute things later, but unless I want to buy some new needles, I have to finish one project at a time. I can't just put this project down because I'm bored with it and start something else...something I'm notorious for doing.
I'll post a picture of Justin wearing the final product...hopefully it won't take until next winter for me to finish.
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