I'm rooting for early spring

This weekend was super busy at our house. We've had a rash of warm weather the last few days and all the ice and snow that covered the land has receded. It's probably not permanent but we've taken the opportunity to get out and get some things done around the yard. We discovered a pile of bricks next to our shed. Who knows what the previous owner had planned for them, but there are nearly 200 over there. I thank Planck for climbing the mountain and showing me they were there. We were planning to buy bricks to build our compost bins from-no need now!

We also planted the first of our seeds. We found some great Burpee kits that are all biodegradable and compostable as well as being darn cute.

See! They come with little discs of coconut planting fiber that expand when water is added. They reminded me of those firecrackers they used to sell (probably still do) that would expand little snakes of ash only it was little snakes of dirt. When the seedlings are ready to go in the ground, we simply rip the cells apart and plant them pot and all. The tray is compostable bamboo that will break down in six months. Josh worked quite diligently to get the dirt into each little compartment once we expanded it.

Here are some tiny garlic chives resting on the dirt.

Ever wonder how small an oregano seed is? Wonder no more!

We took a well deserved break to admire our handiwork. Now the little guys are resting downstairs until they start to sprout. We'll bring them up into the sun after that. I just hope we can get the roofer out here to give us some estimates while it is still so nice out.

In knitting news, I finished another pair of socks this evening. They are for the January Sock Knitters Anonymous challenge. Our challenge was to knit a pattern from an online magazine, beaded socks, or the mystery sock. I've been trying really hard to knit from stash so we have money to do all the lovely things with the house. Since I don't have any beads in there, I opted to knit a pattern from Knitty.com.

Pattern: Blackrose from Knitty.com
Yarn: Handmaiden Casbah
Needles: Knitpicks circulars in size 2
Notes: This is the first time I have used this yarn and I LOVE it. It is so soft and warm. The colors are very vibrant but unfortunately I can't capture them in the pictures. This is the first time I have mirrored the pattern on each side of the leg. It caused me some issues because I wanted to knit the second sock like the first. Some frogging ensued but they turned out well.