sI have recently found several ways to put my knitting obsession to good use. The first is knitting wool baby hats for an organization called afghans for Afghans. They currently have a goal to collect 100 baby hats and 100 baby socks from volunteer knitters by April 28. These hats and socks will be delivered to women by volunteer midwives in the Bamiyan region of Afghanistan.

Baby hats are both fun and fast knitting projects, so I'm glad I found a way to work on my skills while helping others. So far I've tried out 3 different patterns. First, the simple cap from my Stitch 'n' Bitch book. It's all in stockinette stitch, so you can knit it without really thinking. Here's a pic:



Next I made a hat with ear flaps, which I figured would be good to keep the babies toasty. It came out pretty well, although it was tough to attach the flaps to the main part of the hat. After that, though, it was a very simple knit as well.

My third hat has diagonal ribbing, which is more difficult and takes some concentration, but is also more fun that knitting a simpler hat. One of my favorite things about knitting is how a cool pattern can come out of the simple combination of knitting and purling. I don't have any pics of the third hat, but I will take some once it's finished.

I hope to get at least 5 hats complete by April 21st, so that I can send them off to afghans for Afghans with some time to spare. I think that should be fairly easy to accomplish, so maybe I will make more than 5. Not sure about socks, though, they are much more difficult.

Next Tuesday, April 4, a new farmers' market is starting up in Highland Park, the neighborhood adjacent to ours. It runs from 3pm to 8pm, so I might actually be able to make it after work. That's my plan anyway. If we do go, I'll take some pics and report back on what's available.

One thing I like about this farmers' market is that it's on the Metro Gold Line, so people can take the train down to buy their produce. The LA Metro site actually has a list of all the markets you can reach on the Gold Line and other metro lines. Just follow this link.

If you live nearby--or close to a Gold Line stop--check out the new Highland Park Farmers' Market to support local farmers and help build community.

Old L.A.'s Farmers' Market
Avenue 57 & Marmion Way in Highland Park
Tuesdays 3pm to 8pm

For our most recent Good Girls project, we signed up to help out at the historic Lummis House off the 110 freeway in the Arroyo Seco neighborhood of Los Angeles. Once a month, volunteers come to help the house's official gardeners keep up the grounds (which feature drought-tolerant native plants). Here we are, leaving my house on a Saturday morning, our trowels poised to dig! (Clockwise from top left: Merete, Audrey, Rachel & Mirabai)


The Good Girls had a really great time on this project. When we arrived, we were given a tour of the house, which is really amazing. It was built by Charles Lummis, who was one of those fascinating characters from the early 1900s who made his way in the world using his own wits and ambition. The extremely nice tour guide/volunteer coordinator gave us a quick summary of his colorful life and showed us all the interesting and innovative details of the house. I would definitely recommend the Lummis House as a place to bring out of town guests. It's one of those great hidden gems of L.A.

After our tour, we were put to work weeding a large section of ground behind the guest houses on the property. There were a LOT of weeds, but we managed to pull them all--with the help of a professional gardener and a couple other volunteers. We were lucky that it had just rained, so the ground was soft and the weeds came out quite easily.

When we finished weeding, we were served homemade tamales donated by a neighbor of the Lummis House. They were delicious! Overall, I'd give this volunteer project a big thumbs up. We all had a great time and everyone who we met at the Lummis House was very nice and fun to talk to. I think we'll definitely do the project again.

This isn't really informative, it's just an amusing anecdote that illustrates how much Dakota and I looooove cacti.

This Valentine's Day, we gave each other small gifts. Dakota left early for work that morning, so I put a fuzzy old man cactus decorated with a bow on the table when I left. That way, Dakota would discover his gift when he got home.

When I arrived home that night, I was confused, because there was a cactus on the table that looked just like mine, but it had curly hair. Had Dakota's Valentine cactus gotten a perm while I was at work?

Nope. It turned out that Dakota and I had purchased each other not just the same gift--a cactus--but also the exact same type of cactus (an Old Man Cactus from Mexico)! We are truly obsessed.



Both cacti came from this really excellent cactus nursery called California Cactus Center. It's basically a cactus-lovers dream store, or maybe a cactus-lovers crack dealer. They have so many amazingly cool cacti there. It's really fun to just walk around and be surprised by all the weird, alien-looking cacti around every corner. When we re-do the back yard, I suspect we'll be getting a lot of our plants from California Cactus Center. Perhaps they have a frequent shopper discount.

Here's a close-up, side-by-side comparison of our cactus' hair.

Check out these delicious peas and carrots I harvested from my garden a few weeks ago! The peas are from these organic seeds I planted in the late fall, and the carrots have been slowly growing in the garden since last summer. I'm not sure why the carrots took so long. I think our garden soil still needs a lot of enriching. I really have to get around to tending the compost bin so we can add compost to the garden after the winter veggies are done.

Luckily, the peas seem happy despite the bad soil. I actually harvested more of them last weekend. I eat them whole--pod and pea together--and they are extremely tasty. I think freshness really makes a big difference.

Meanwhile, my beets and onions are slowly growing--helped recently by some much-needed rain. Beets take a really long time to grow, though. So, I must be patient.