Category Archives: Crafts/DIY

DIY Herb/Garden Markers

Posted in Crafts/DIY, Plants/Garden by

I’ve always been a big fan of plants and gardening, but I’ve never actually grown my own food.  I decided to take the plunge and start out with some basil, so I bought a variety pack of seeds at Home Depot.  They were only about $5, so relatively cheap if things don’t work out.  Basil is amazing took cook with and the pack came with Cinnamon, Italian, Lemon, and Thai.  I can’t decide which I’m most excited about; I use Italian basil on a regular basis, Thai basil will enable me to enhance some amazing Thai dishes, and I’ve never used the other two, so I’m really excited to try them out!

Now, with four different types of basil that will probably all look the same, I was going to need a way to differentiate which is which.  I had a bunch of old corks lying around (I’ve been collecting them for show and reasons like this), and with some pinterest inspiration, my DIY Herb/Garden Markers were born.

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All you need:
Corks (how many depends on how many markers you need)
Permanent Pen/Marker
Your seeds/plants/and all the fixins for that

How to do it:
The process is incredibly simple (as I’m sure you’ve figured out)…all you need to do is plant your seeds (I don’t have an actual garden, so they are in a rectangular pot), write the name of the specific plant or type of plant on the cork, and put it in the appropriate spot!  I split my seeds up into four square sections in this pot, so I put the marker where each one ends.  Voila! You have your markers.  You can also add sticks to them, too if you want them to pop up more.  I would recommend using kebab skewers cut in half.

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My Foray into Crochet

Posted in Crafts/DIY, Crochet, Needs Work by

I’m not sure why I decided I wanted to learn how to crochet, but here we are. I like making things, so it seemed like a fun thing to learn. I’d really like to make a hat/beanie and even maybe a sweater or blanket at some point. I chose crocheting over knitting because from online research, it seems more versatile than knitting. There are tons of arguments for both sides, though. I see it as similar to the snowboarding vs. skiing debate; all depends on the person which is easier, what they eventually want to make, design preferences, etc. But anyway, here’s my first attempt at knitting…it looks more like a deformed cat toy, but, hey, it’s a start. My main issue is that I’m making the loops too tight, so I need to work on that.

crochet

I’m using this book I got off Amazon, which is a crochet book for beginners. It comes with all the basic tools you need as well as instructions on how to get started, different stitches, and a bunch of patterns for beginners. Only thing I had to go get was yarn and I was ready to start! I read that light yarn is best to work with when you’re first starting because it’s easier to see the loops, so I bought light blue and grey yarn.  They’re just standard size yarn and match nicely and hopefully soon I’ll be able to make something useful!

yarn