Last year, I grew two tomato plants, each purchased from a hardware store. One was a grape tomato (no idea what variety), and one was a “Better Boy.” The Better Boy was certainly not better. The grape tomato plant did fairly well, supplying Emily with tomatoes all summer (and a few here & there for the rest of us), but I only got a couple of sad tomatoes off of the Better Boy.

I decided to try growing from seed this year. I picked two varieties, “Red Grape” and “Juliet.” You can guess what the Red Grape variety is. Juliet is a type of sauce tomato, like a Roma. I chose these because they had no San Marzano seeds (seed crop failure last year), and because no one else in the family likes to eat tomatoes plain. They’ll eat a few on salads (but they’d prefer the grape kind then), but that’s about it. But I love salsa. And sauce tomatoes make the best salsa!

I’m planning to plant 2 of each type in the garden, so if all 8 plants grow well, I’ll have some extras to sell. As of today, all 4 of the Red Grape seeds have sprouted, and 3 of the Juliets.

I brought them into the office today to go under the light. I had to transplant some of the onions to make room (into cells that hadn’t germinated or the seedling died).

Next up is peppers!

My onions are falling.

You can’t really see it in that photo, but most of them aren’t standing up straight anymore.

I think I have figured out why, in all my searching for how to grow onions from seed, that everyone grew them in a flat together, rather than divided as I did.

They hold each other up that way!

They still seem to be growing though, even if they are falling over. They have their second leaves now, and I’ve had to trim them down a few times. So I’m still holding out hope that they will do fine.

I finished my Ripple Afghan tonight, with time to spare. Gold medal for me!

Better than 2008’s DNF results.

Details:
Started: July 15, 2008; Finished: February 28, 2010
Pattern: Easy Ripple Afghan
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton-Ease; assorted colors
Needles: Susan Bates crochet hook, size 8/H

Between Day 4 and Day 10, I crocheted another 17 colors.

The afghan was square at this point. And big enough to be functional. So I figure by the end of the Olympics I should have a blanket big enough to be called “finished.”

My girls, wearing their new sunglasses, ready to go play out in the snow.

Of course it took us longer to get them dressed than how long they stayed outside.

Here’s my progress as of Day 4.

I’ve crocheted 8 more colors.

I thought I’d take a “before” photo of my Ripple Blanket before I started the UFOlympics tonight.

I doubt I’ll “Finish” the blanket during the Olympics. I don’t even know at this point what “finished” will be. Whenever I think the blanket is long enough to be functional! But who knows, maybe I’ll crochet faster than I think I can.

This year, I’m starting a lot of my garden from seed. The first thing to be planted was my onions.

Yeah, not much to look at yet! I planted 144 seeds. This variety is called “Copra” and it’s supposed to be a good storage onion. I didn’t have much luck storing my onions last year – it was really wet towards the end of the season, plus I don’t know what variety they were other than “yellow.” :) I’m hoping these will work out better!

I’ve never grown onions from seed before. My dad has always used sets (and that’s what I used last year). So this is a huge experiment all the way around!

A few of the seeds have already sprouted (2/10/2010 – 3 days after planting)! Tiny little white sprouts.

I love this yarn. I have a couple of tops that are red & black, and I’ve never had a pair of handknit socks to match them.

Now I do!

The yarn had a lot more orange in it than I initially thought, but it’s still perfect (and thus it also matches anything orangey I may wear too!)

I really like the Patons Kroy sock yarn too. It’s soft and strong, and the colors are nice & vibrant. And it’s available in big-box stores, so it’s easy to obtain. Which I think I will be doing…my mom really liked this yarn too, and wants a pair of her own – but I only have 1 full skein left and some small bits of leftovers. Not enough for a full pair of socks for her (especially since I’ve been informed she wants the legs long!). So I will probably pick up another skein someday.

Details:
Started: November 3, 2009; Finished: January 15, 2010
Pattern: My own basic sock
Yarn: Patons Kroy Socks Stripes, 55615 Bronzed Berry Stripes
Needles: Brittany DPNs: size US 1