Nothing like a snowy January day to make me want to page through my gardening catalogs and websites.

I’m trying myfolia this year.  It’s a sort of funny hybrid between social networking and garden tracking.  I even splurged and upgraded to a paid account because I kept encountering necessary features that are only available to “supporters.”  They have made it just usable enough with the free account that you use it enough to want to get the paid account, though.  I’m still adding my gardening history, but if you’re on there, I have a bunch seeds for trade if you’re interested (username maitreya).

Also trying Sproutrobot, which has a nice (free!) feature to email you when things need to be done.  However, it has a limited range of plants, and you can’t keep track of particular varieties and plantings like in myfolia.  The hand-drawn directions are really cute, though!

Gardenaut lets you put in a zip code and what plants you want to grow and outputs all the planting dates.  The main site seems out of commission, though.

The WSU Extension for King County has a ton of useful fact sheets.

Vegetable garden resolutions for the year:

• successfully start and transfer some plants
• build a cold frame (a not unrelated goal)
• finish some compost
• plant only things I want to eat
• plant primarily things that are better to grow than to buy

I ran across the book 100 Pretty Little Projects at the bookstore the other day and was pleased to see that my old potholder pattern made the cover!  The back cover, but, hey, I’ll take what I can get.

Poppytalk posted this amazing letterpress handkerchief calendar by Mink Letterpress, and I was super sad to see they’re sold out (though the artist says she might do another run!  Fingers crossed.)  So I decided to rummage through my own collection of handkerchiefs and scarves to get inspired.

This Vera one looked pretty east to copy, so I got out my watercolors.  I’ve been wanting to paint something since I came across this post on easy watercolor techniques at Gardening Gone Wild.  She suggests tracing something to get a quick start.  The white bits on the scarf from the slight registration differences between layers follows another of her suggestions to use the white paper to advantage.

Anyway, it turned out pretty sloppy, but a fun way to spend an afternoon.

When I was visiting home last month, my mom noticed some cute earrings and hairpins in a shop.  They were obviously made from fabric-covered buttons, so I thought I would try to make her some.  I had everything already: kits and hairpins, plus some small-print fabric scraps (these are from charm squares) and E6000 glue.

I’m always kind of astonished at how quick and easy these things are, with such nice results!

The annual calendar post.  Not as many as last year, possibly due to delaying until January to bother to get them.  I still haven’t found a new desktop calendar (I’m anxiously awaiting Geninne’s, though), so I’d appreciate any suggestions.

Lab: Rifle Paper Co. 2012 Botanical Calendar.  A splurge, but so pretty.

Craft room: Letterpress cross stitch calendar by Pistachio Press and Aesthetic Artwork.  Two great tastes that taste great together.

[Photos from the relative designers' websites.]

On vacation over the new year’s weekend, I tried this crochet circle-in-a-hexagon pattern from the book Crochet Adorned as a possible coaster design.  The idea being to make a few different color hexagons that you could arrange into a pattern on a table.  In this yarn, it’s a little too big, though, and maybe more appropriate as a trivet or plant pot pad.  It’s an interesting pattern where you crochet into the spaces between the stitches instead of like normal.  Gives it a little more heft and makes the rounds blend in a little more.

My garden gave me vegetables for Christmas. I harvested all of these today except for the delicata squash.

L to R: turnip, delicata squash, golden beet, carrots, beets, radishes, about to be tossed with olive oil and salt and pepper and roasted.

We’re eating the beet greens tonight, and I’m blanching and freezing the turnip greens to cook with black eyed peas and ham for New Year’s.

I got a free review copy of Crochet Stitches: Visual Encyclopedia by Robyn Chachula, which was very timely because I’d lately been looking to buy a crochet stitch pattern book.  It’s a nice book, with a good variety of stitches, motifs, and edgings.  Each pattern includes a photo of it worked up.  The  photos are ok, though some of the color combinations are pretty terrible.  The instructions are presented as written directions and stitch diagrams.  I always find having both to consult is very helpful.  There’s a section that describes each of the stitch types, which is the only part of the book I would have liked more detail and illustrations.  I can never remember exactly how stitching around posts works, for example, and I wasn’t able to get it right from the book alone.  Because of this, the book makes a good companion for a more introductory stitch guide (or the internet).

I modified the balloon stitch pattern in the book to make a quick/easy/cute cowl for my sister.  The pattern calls for 5 stitch bobbles, which were too big in the bulky yarn I used, so I reduced them to 3.

Yarn is the new Martha Stewart roving wool yarn.  It might just be my favorite yarn I’ve ever worked with.  Bulky so it works up fast, but good stitch definition and easy to crochet with.  Very soft, especially for wool, and the colors are pretty too.  The cowl took three balls.  Instead of being sewed up at the ends, it fastens with two big buttons that slip through the stitches easily, which makes it adjustable.

It worked up crazy quick, just 2 days, and would have been even quicker if I hadn’t needed to go pick up more yarn.

Given how much I like the letterpress ornaments I got at the craft fair yesterday, I decided to try my hand at making some for the ornament swap.

Made on the L Letterpress using the zigzag plate from the Spooked Printing Plates set, cut out with a circle die, and strung with waxed linen.

I made a few others with solid color panels behind to provide a little extra something, but I think I like the plain ones the best.

Went to the annual winter craft fair today.  Mark made a deer ornament at the screenprinting demo from Handmade SimpleKraft:

The letterpress ornaments are from Constellation & Co.

Other favorites from the fair:

• The Victory Garden, fun crochet in embroidery hoops
• Chet & Dot, cuteness
• Rocks and Salt, skirts
• rebe, dresses
• Stone & Honey, jewelry
• ilfant press, awesome graph paper-y stationery
• makool, clothes
• Beef & Lamb, wallets
• Bella Sisters, amazing embellished coats
• Stubborn, resin jewelry