Knitting In The North: Yarning Along

This week, while I join in with Small Things at her weekly Yarn Along, I've switched from escaping into good fiction to looking to the days ahead.

We've had more snowfall warnings here in the past week than we did all last winter, and while I shovel (and shovel and shovel) the white stuff, I've been dreaming of this year's garden. We cleared space in our backyard in the fall for a new garden bed this spring, and I'm trying to be practical while we decide what to plant. I've been watching what we eat, what we buy, and what everyone seems to prefer, so we can focus our planting to get the maximum benefit.

Because we have a relatively short growing season here, learning some preservation methods seems to go hand in hand with the gardening. Along with the canning books, I'm thinking about what to freeze, what to dry, and even if we could manage to make and use a mini-root cellar. Obviously, not everything can or will be done this year, but at the moment, I'm in the heady dreaming stage, and I plan to enjoy it while it lasts!

The plain vanilla socks on my needles are for my father-in-law. The lack of stitch pattern and colour changes is making them a bit slow going, but I'm going to tuck them away for next Christmas, which is motivating all on it's own.