Osborn Fiber Studio

This is our third spring in our little house, and that’s long enough that I can tell what all these little shoots in the garden are going to be – not from horticultural knowledge, but from remembering where things were last year. For example –

Baby crocuses at the foot of the stairs:

 

Baby irises by the mailbox:

 

Baby tulips along the steps:

 

 

Baby lilies (I think) scattered through the yard:

 

And, um… creative baby lilies?

Baby peas on the kitchen table:

 

Baby Zuzu’s Petals in a project bag:

 

And baby final research paper, on the sofa table.

 

 

Pea shoot transplantation was our project for this morning, as those tiny shoots have grown like… well, a shot!

 

 

 

Doing research to grow these plants taught me why it’s taken me this long to really try gardening from seeds on my own. There seem to be as many possibilities and opinions for how to grow peas as for how to grow children. I read a lot of articles with tremendous differences in their advice – differences that matter, I would think – and I had to synthesize and decide what would work best in our circumstances. Pretty much like parenting.

I really liked the twigs-as-trellises idea I got from one article. I hope they work. I think I will tie some cotton yarn between the twigs to make a little more of a lattice at the bottom. I’m a little concerned because a couple of those twigs are remnants from pruning our giant azalea, and I remember reading somewhere that all parts of an azalea are poisonous. Hmm.

Oh man, we made such a mess. I’ll tell you what, though; it feels pretty good to sit down to work on a sermon with dirt under your nails. And the obligatory sprout culling that comes with transplantation provided my first tiny harvest.

 

 

Pea shoots are a delightful little snack. They tasted like peas. I’m not sure why that surprised me.

I decided to turn last week’s impulse purchase into a baby Zuzu’s petals for a baby human. It’s a very clever little design – a cowl that looks like a shawlette or kerchief! And the pattern is well written and clear. I adjusted the size by simply using sport weight yarn and US4s with the worsted-weight instructions.

 

It fits Naomi perfectly, for the moment. Perhaps because of my fiendishly short row gauge, the head hole is only just big enough. So this does not bode well for this garment’s future as a fall accessory. Suddenly I am hoping for another cold snap!

 

Naomi should really do the yarn review, as even though she doesn’t really like wearing it, she still picked up the finished cowl and rubbed it happily on her face. It’s 100% baby alpaca fuzziness, with a plied construction (that I think will make it more durable, less pill-y), and subtle heathering. Naomi even succeeded in picking a color that slightly echoes the full-blown crocuses in our yard.

Well, this post has gotten long enough. I leave you with a dirt-covered baby handing me a lens cap at the end of our potting experiment. “No more pictures please mama!”