Greetings from Earth

I subscribe to G Magazine - and was thrilled to hear last week that a short note I sent in is going to be published next month! It's about how using a fountain pen (with a refillable ink bladder) is even more environmentally friendly than using pencils. As a thank you, they sent me a pressie! Some gorgeous cards, wrapping paper and gift tags from Earth Greetings! They are really wonderful, and all printed with vegetable-based inks on recycled paper.

Cute attack - this is Rincewind enjoying a cracker!


Q2 deadline has been met, now I'm into writing for my third quarter (75 puzzles in 3 weeks, again). At least I'm past the halfway mark. And I have a cover!

A little bamboo

I'm making a little tank top using the purple bamboo (Lincraft Bamboozle) which was once, briefly, an Ogee Lace Skirt. Using the basic v-necked tank top pattern from Knitting Lingerie Style, and adding a lace pattern to the lower section to help the yarn go further. The lace pattern is the one from the Lacy Summer Socks pattern in the same book. It's lovely because it sits perfectly flat without blocking!

Am nearly halfway through The Book - my second quarter deadline is Monday. I'm seriously exhausted by Thursday each week, but have to keep going. My Technical Editor has started reviewing the puzzles, which is rather exciting (this is the job I did for Wiley on another book earlier on this year). Sorry, very brain dead here, can't think of anything clever or even interesting to say, or remember any news. Just wanted to reassure you I'm still alive! Nighty night!

Saturday Morning - War Time!

I'm trying very hard to set up a modest vegetable garden, I've made lovely no dig garden beds, lots of mulch, and have spinach, parsley, sage, mint, rhubarb, and so on already growing well. I've been raising seeds for summer crops inside, and when they got big enough, planted them out. Only to have them utterly chewed to bits by the next day! Aaargh!

At first I thought it might be cabbage white caterpillars ... I sprinkled with Derris Dust ... this helped a little, but didn't really stop the wholesale destruction that was now across the entire veggie garden, even the established plants were being attacked heavily! There were no shiny snail or slug trails either. See what I mean?

Last night Hubby and I did a midnight raid - took our torches out and checked the beds. WELL. Bloody EARWIGS! They were swarming over the entire garden, and clearly chewing away. Every plant had dozens of the little beasties all over them! I've never seen so many earwigs in one place! This poor doomed zucchini seedling (my baby!) had 10 on the job (I've circled them in orange).


So pyrethrum spray was next (yes, I sprayed immediately, around 11pm, catch the buggers unawares!). I did a bit of research online, and made a trap using oil and soy sauce, in a margarine container (holes around the top edge, put the lid back on, set down into the soil). This morning my few remaining seedlings (I think it's only the cucumbers left) are intact, hurrah! And I've caught some earwigs in my trap too.

I had no idea that earwigs could do this amount of damage to a garden, but there you go, you learn something new every day ... I had been noticing a fair few earwigs around, in the house and so on, but generally I don't worry about them too much. Obviously this 'glut' of earwigs isn't helpful for a veggie garden, though! Hopefully now I can counteract and get my veggie garden growing again!

(ETA to fix the link to Earwigs)

Springing Forward

Despite working like a mad thing on The Book (7 am to 7 pm most days!), I do get a bit of knitting time in front of the telly most nights.

Who'd have thunk it - when you work regularly on one project (my Spring Forward socks), they get finished quickly! The first sock is done, and I'm only about 6 cm off the end of the second one ....


Here's how to knit the heel flap using magic loop ... just back and forth as you'd expect, with the instep stitches sitting there quietly, waiting their own turn.


And checkout today's Questionable Content! LOL, infinitely recursive spacetime doilies and cashmeredynamics!

When I need a break from writing I've been working on this Escher jigsaw - FINALLY finished yesterday; I think it took a month! A tad insane, all that black, grey and white!


A few weekends ago my sister, her hubby and young Ben came over for a picnic - it's still such a novelty and a wonderful treat having them living in the same city as us! Ben (who is nearly 3!) helped put the candles in his daddy's birthday cake ... what a cutie. He's still not really sure about me, I think I sound too much like his mum, so he's very shy - but we're slowly getting there.


And finally - CONGRATULATIONS to America on voting in Obama - we're utterly thrilled! A momentous day.

OK, back to puzzles. All the text is written (I'll see it all again in January, during the Author Review). Puzzle tally : 67 written, 165 to go! In 7 weeks.