Eco-friendly

Everywhere you turn these days you run into someone or some entity preaching the redeeming qualities of being eco-friendly. Everything we eat, everything we buy, everything we do is supposed to be eco-friendly if you are to be considered hip, savvy, or at the very least politically correct. Um, yeah....OK.

I know these "preachers" are talking about saving the planet from doom and destruction, or at least "global warming." I have another take on how to be eco. Call it Kristina's way. My eco is driven out of a little kindness, the generosity of others, a desire to improve the World, and dire necessity. My eco is economy-minded and has only a little to do with "living green." Above you will see Exhibit A of my Eco-K: a stunning ruffly-pink gem of blooming wonderfulness. This gorgeous bloom is on a Japanese tree peony located in my front flower bed just in front of a hedge of deep pink azaleas. It started blooming in mid-April and the last flower is just now fading. A wonderful knitting friend, Leo, gifted these peonies to me two years ago when he couldn't find space for them in his family's garden. It was a most generous gift to be sure. I read the catalogs and know what the sellers want for these high-end plants. I doubt I would ever splurge on them myself, but thanks to a good friend my spring garden has an extra dose of delight. Thanks Leo!!!



Below that gorgeous peony is Exhibit B: the flowerbed outside my bedroom window. This is a marvel of eco at it's best--composed mostly of plants found on the "scratch and dent" sale table at a local garden center. The towering foxgloves were marked down because bad weather an insufficient watering left them with broken flower stems. Who wants to pay $8-12 for a huge pot of busted blooms? Not me...and I didn't. There were 3 plants in each pot, so now I have a self-sowing, self-perpetuating perennial that is an eye-catcher in my garden and requires a minimum of care. I've grabbed foxglove "steals" twice now, once 2 years ago and again 2 weeks ago. Oh boy!!!

The pretty peach and sultry deep purple iris rhizomes came in a bargain box I was gifted a few years ago. Irises don't bloom for long, but while they do the aroma and beauty is unmistakable. They cover a lot of red clay too--and I have gobs of that here in Tennessee. I also have amazing blue irises that have the fragrance of the finest of perfumes...and I didn't have to go to Nordstrom's to buy it!

Finally, the spiky stems covered with pink and white flowers is another "scratch and dent" steal that also self-sows--Nora Barlow columbine. I've seen this plant on sale for cheap in catalogs before, but always preferred the more traditional columbine form of the Winky series plants, both the deep periwinkle/white and the pink varieties. I've changed my mind. Both are wonderful in the spring garden. Add a few bleeding hearts in both the cultivated and the native wildflower forms and I had a show outside my window! Now that's my kind of eco... Eco-K! And oh, that's pretty "green" too :-)

Summertime Knitting

Since I haven't been exactly diligent in keeping my blog up to date I thought I'd start back with a progress report (or two) on what I've been doing the past 3 or so months. First I must tell you what I haven't been doing as much of....gardening. The workload is getting to be more than this old girl can handle. I did turn the big Five-0 in June you know and I guess my age is starting to show along with the limitations of fibromyalgia. I still adore flowers though so my answer is flowering trees, shrubs, bulbs, and perennials. I think this Forever Pink hydrangea is stunning, yet it requires very little care at all. That's a plant I can dig!


On the knitting front, it's been a super lacy summer. Things started out last spring when I started knitting this gorgeous shawl as a part of the Spring KAL for the Lace Knitters group that meets at my LYS, The Yarn Haven. Each person chose a project from the recently published Knitted Lace of Estonia by Nancy Bush. KLE is an awesome book and this shawl, the Lilac Leaf Shawl, was perhaps my favorite design in the book. I love the leaf lace pattern and have knit it in a number of different projects, but when combined with the restrained addition of nupps (a type of cluster stitch that is characteristic of Estonian Lace) in a diamond border, it's a real winner. I knit my shawl using a luscious shade of a soft purpley pink alpaca & silk lace yarn (Classic Elite Silky Alpaca Lace) and US 5/3.75mm needles. I used a generous needle size for the yarn because this design was meant to be very open and airy. The finished shawl used ~1.5 balls of yarn and measured 20" x 66" which is just perfect. Everything about this shawl was a two thumbs up for me. WooHoo!


Braced by the positive experience of knitting the Lilac Leaf Shawl I next turned to a long-time WIP that had been hibernating in a basket for a seriously long time - Evelyn Clark's infamous Swallowtail Shawl. Zillions of knitters made this shawl, including many who had never knit lace before...or since for that matter. The original pattern was little more than a generous scarf with a pretty edging, but I wanted more. I wanted a big shawl...a BIG shawl. Why? Because I had discovered that the few little shawls sat in my closet and never got worn. Oh, OK. So I added many extra repeats to the top portion of the shawl, like 10 extra to be exact. The pattern called for 14 reps. The design demanded extra reps be added in groups of 5, but one set (19 reps total) wasn't big enough so I stuck it out (BORING) until I had 24 reps total.

I was already weary by this time, but when I hit the Lily of the Valley edging I kinda lost my love for the project. Knitting nupps was a huge pain in the you-know-what. Ugh. And so the shawl sat for more than a year while I found it in my heart to forgive it for being a pain and finish. I found a few helpful tricks for knitting good nupps and pushed my way through. The completed shawl used only one 2oz. ball of white Jaggerspun Zephyr, was knit on US 2.5/3.0mm needles (tiny!), and measured 30" x 60". So, after all that the shawl is a nice size, but it still isn't big. It is pretty though and I'm glad I stuck it out.

Birthday Surprises

A middle-aged single woman with no kids and a fairly quiet and unexciting life doesn't really expect much of any significance to happen on her birthday. It's the side effect of being childless...no "Happy Birthday Mommy" to follow you for the rest of your life. My Mom always remembers and celebrates with food (dinner out, cake, etc.) and a modest present/treat of some sort...one not usually wrapped up in paper and ribbons but always wonderful. If any one else remembers or acknowledges my birthday it's a treat - much appreciated but never anticipated nor expected. I think that's why I am so stunned tonight. Let me explain.


I slept in this morning like usual. So when I did get out of bed I headed over and turned on my computer so it could do it's thing and be ready when I am.It's an old computer now and has way too much stuff on it, so it's moves excruciatingly slow at times. While I waited on the 'puter I peered out my window to look at my garden and check the weather. Surprise number one was the little critter in the first photo. Yup, a baby chipmunk was feasting on sunflower seeds from the bird feeder. They're cute so as long as they don't munch on the wrong things (ie. my flowers) I let them stick around. Besides, Miss Emme my dachsy just loves chasing them! Now that's fun to watch! Of course Emme never catches the chippers or the squirrels tho' she almost caught a skink yesterday before I snatched her away. Poor critter scooted for his/her very life! Mother and I just hooted over that chase until it became clear Emme was going to win! But I digress....

Now awake, medicated, and DietCoked up, I sat down to read my email. Jiminy Crickets!!! All my emailboxes were loaded....with kind wishes for my birthday! Well I never in my life have seen so many folks take the time to drop a quick line to wish *me* and Happy Birthday. It was already amazed by the time I got through the email, but Ravelry put me over the top. Apparently Ravelry adds a little birthday icon to your Ravatar on your big day letting everyone know it's your birthday. Ohmigosh! I still haven't read all the private messages. There were numerous kind words on several of the forums I frequent in addition to the private messages. You know, it's pretty cool to have lace knitting friends across the globe offering cheery birthday greetings. These are such great people! I mean I knew that before today, but today affirmed it. Thanks ya'll! you're the best!!!

While still stunned by the email birthday messages (before I saw Ravelry) I went out to do my morning walk around the garden. Even before noon it was unusually hot and humid today. The roses are fading from their first wave of blooms, but the calla lilies, daisies, veronica, and balloonflowers are coming on strong. in addition, I have a hedge of Stella D'Oro daylilies the like of which I've never seen anywhere before! Massive waves of golden yellow flowers! And to think it all started with one measly plant purchased oh, say 6 years ago? They will have to be dug and divided this fall. Right now I am most smitten by a intensely saturated pink hydrangea in the front bed. Called Forever Pink, it is a repeat blooming hydrangea that is always supposed to be pink, regardless of soil pH. I bought 2 small plants 2 years ago, but they have never had a serious bloom since the Easter Freeze last year zapped all the hydrangeas. I was lucky any even survived.

Fueled by Martha Stewart Living, Victoria, and Southern Living magazines, I am now hydrangea crazy. I just can't seem to get enough of these amazing flowering shrubs! And since I have a barren back fence line that needs to be filled with sun loving things, I now have a place to put new plants that will grow to be fairly large. I bought myself 2 hydrangeas on clearance for Valentines Day, and they are settling in nicely along the north fence, but I want more! So when mother and I went to Lowe's for peat moss and compost/manure mix today I just couldn't help but lust over all the hydrangeas the vendors were hauling in off the trucks this afternoon. My lust was satisfied when mother spied the blue flower shown the above photo. I get to buy what Mother sees and likes :-) this time it's a Forever and Ever Hydrangea...also a repeat bloomer but one that is blue or pink depending on the soil pH. For now it is blue, tho' I suspect it might change when it gets planted in the ground where the pines once lived. We'll see!

Although the blue hydrangea wasn't on sale, I did stroll past the Stressed Plants table to see if I could find any bargains. I struck paydirt! Yup, for a whopping $2.99 each I toted home 2 everblooming white gardenias. The tag says they'll grow to be 2-3' tall and bloom all year round. We all know how yummy gardenias smell, so I am excited! I almost wish I had grabbed one or two more while I was at it. Heck, I may go back tomorrow and see if any are still there.(there were lots today). Now I have lavender and tuberose and gardenias and roses all growing in my garden...that's what I call a fragrant garden! Yum! Happy Birthday to me!!!

Hurray it's May!

May might just be the most perfect month out of the year. April is awesome, but there are still too many cold days so it can't be in 1st place. June has traditionally held 1st place for the best month of all in my mind, but that has been heavily influenced by the fact that my birthday is in June...and as a kid, school let out for the summer in June. June is still very good, but it does get hot in late June so I think I'm going to let it fall to 2nd place and grant May the top spot.


One of my reasons for adoring May is the flowers. You know the story...April showers bring May flowers...well, it is true! I have worked like a dog for about a month now trying to get my garden and yard into better shape. Most of the perennials have been dug up, divided, and replanted. The roses got a good hard pruning and it shows! They are shooting up like mad and are full of buds. The climbing Queen Elizabeth rose in the front bed is just starting to bloom. There were maybe 6 blooms today out of the 30+ on the bush. Just wait till Mother's Day next Sunday when the bush will be in peak bloom. Ah, it will be stunning. As for now, the pink roses are hard to pick out because of the abundance of blossoms on the azaleas this year. All the TLC I've given over the past several years is finally paying off. The puny things have become fat and glorious. They should do even better next year because I will have moved the rosebush to more spacious quarters, thus giving the azaleas more room to spread.


While I'm talking about flowers, I should identify today's photos. Up first is the exquisitely fragrant blue beaded iris---the State Flower of Tennessee. This hybrid has a delicate periwinkle hue and a delightfully sweet aroma that I find to be intoxicating. I want this scent in a bottle! When I came home 10 years ago this iris patch had one miserable clump clinging to the chainlink fence. It was surrounded by rocks, red clay, and the lawn and was well-shaded by a huge maple tree. The tree is gone, I turned the area along the fence into an authentic flower bed, and the iris patch has grown so much that I must dig and divide this fall. Digging iris is a chore, but I'm thrilled to have this one multiply to it's hearts content so I'm happy to dig.

The second photo is this year's pleasant surprise. You see about 3 1/2 yrs. ago I bought a bunch of spring flowering bulbs and planted them. The following year the tulips bloomed, so did the daffodils. Even the miniature narcissus and hyacinths bloomed. But the Dutch Irises did not. For the last 3 springs I have watched the green shoots of the Dutch Iris start to come up in October and November...growing bigger over the course of the winter and early spring (which seems very odd to me), but no flowers. I presumed things would be the same this year and planned to give up on them and pull the plants this summer. And that's when the things decided to flower. Surprise! The Dutch iris in the front bed are all in flower today. The ones in the shady bed in the back have buds, but no blooms yet. I think they need more sun so I will transplant them later this year.

I threw in the last photo to give you an idea of how one of my smaller aquilegia (columbine) plants looks in it's current covered-with-pink-blooms state. This is a Winky Rose acquilegia...one of 3 in my garden at present. Encouraged by the success of these columbine, i bought a new plant off the half-price "stressed plant" table at Lowe's last week. The new plant is a Nora Barlow which has a different shape to the blooms. There is one shoot with buds on it...the other taller shoots were spent and I trimmed them. The plant was a bit dry and pouting after a very cold night the day I bought it, but now in the garden she's perking up quite nicely. I also snagged a pack of pink snapdragons off the bargain table, but they were a bit more stressed being annuals. I potted them in Miracle-Gro Mix to baby them. Pots are useful in that I can move them around in the hopes of prolonging the life of the flowers once the temperatures start to sour and the snaps start to pout in the hot sun.

I've focused on reclaiming two major areas in the backyard over the last 2 weeks. One area is right behind the house where the English Ivy is trying to take over the world. I'm maybe half-way through the chore...and some of the scariest work is left to do...scary because it's the densest places where scary things/critter could be hiding. I'm being brave though and working on things now before the spiders really get going. Later in the summer it's way too terrifying for me to get in there ;-) The other spot is at the very back of the yard where the neighbor's formerly tall pine trees used to shade everything. Now with the trees gone, the entire area turned to nasty weeds and other native growth. Slowly, section by section, I have hauled countless wheelbarrow loads of weeds...with the roots also dug out by hand...out of that stretch and dumped into the far corner of the yard to "return to nature". It has been a massive task...and I'm not done, but the progress is really showing up. Saturday night I cleared out one area (~5-6 sq ft)and freed a wild dogwood tree from the clutches of a vicious weed called bedstraw. Today I rescued a second dogwood, but it was more work since it had competing "weed trees" also trying to smother it.

I have one more garden "surprise" to share, but I'll wait until the next post when I have downloaded the photos off my camera so you can see. With all the heavy yardwork I haven't made as much progress knitting as I would like. Frankly, I couldn't knit more as the pain and stiffness in my hands was the worst I've ever experienced. The fibro pain has been justifiably bad...and well-drugged, but I'm starting to see the effects of degenerative arthritis in several knuckles, esp. in my right hand. This is not good when I'm knitting with 20wt cotton thread and size 1 needles. Yikes! Yes, this is the Colonial Bouquet Doily from the August 1956 issue of Workbasket that I found in my collection. It is stunning. I have about 12 rows left to knit...photos will follow! I'm on the last repeat of the budding lace section of the Swallowtail Shawl..almost ready to switch to the Lily of the Valley border! I've added a few more rows to the Orkney plus I started a Fancy Fulness Shawl from Birgit's Knitting Delight Mystery KAL. The I hope to gift the FF to someone dear to me, so I won't say much here...lest the intended recipient find out about it! Sometimes surprises are wonderful :-)

Now that I've tried to cram a week's worth of stuff into one post...sorry guys! I promise to update more soon. Speaking of updates...did you notice that I've been fixing my sidebar? Yes, I've been working on my KAL buttons and links, the blog links, and other stuff over there. It's getting better but I still have lots more work to do. I haven't forgiven Blogger yet for lying to me about the saved back-ups..but I'll get there eventually. But...my friends have been wonderfully supportive...and have offered great tips on what to do. Gee, thanks guys!

A Wild Ride

It was a wild ride in East Tennessee this weekend. Forget that the weather went from cool, cloudy and raining to sunny and warm. Forget that I got mega sick early Sunday morning and had one of the worst days of my life. Forget all that because the Lady Vols were red hot last night, determined to win their Final Four match against rival LSU. The odds were not in the LV favor given that Candace Parker was playing with a dislocated shoulder. It certainly was not their best game...but then LSU wasn't playing at it's best either. It was a fiercely physical game...more like a boxing match than a basketball game at times. Watching Sylvia Fowles and Candace Parker go at each other, esp. away from the ball, well...it made a lot of the guys playing the game look like wimps! Yowzer!


Kudos to the AP for taking these awesome photos, which I found on the Lady Vols Sports website. The championship match between Stanford and Tennessee should be awesome. The match-up between Candace Wiggins and Candace Parker should be equally awesome. Candace Wiggins received one of the big national awards last week, so she has been recognized. But....Candace Parker got the big one again this year...the Naismith Award. I was so happy to hear that she won, esp. after the deep disappointment of not receiving the SEC player of the year award this year...a real shock to LV fans. Way to go Candace!!!!


My knitting time has been devoted to a blue Flower Basket Shawl. I cast-on early last week, and I hope to be finished by the end of the week. Since this is a shop sample, I'm not going to knit a Kristina-sized shawl (that means BIG). I've got 9 repeats of the 2nd chart completed and I figure I'll do somewhere between 12-14 repeats before adding the edging. Right now I've used only half a ball of the Misti Alpaca (~25g or 220yds.)..not very much really. I took the photo a couple of days ago, so the size has grown considerably, but you can still see the color and fabric produced on US4 needles.


It was a gorgeous spring day today, so I couldn't leave without sharing a photo from my garden. These are pink narcissi...a later blooming variety with t delicate blush pink trumpet. I have them in my pink rose garden bed along with pink tulips and pink hyacinths. What could be more joyful than that??? Perhaps a lace shawl knit out of a very fine pink lambswool???? That's what I had in mind last weekend when I made my long-anticipated journey to the northeastern corner of the state to meet up with my knitty friend Regenia. It was a rather gray and rainy day...I drove home in a deluge...not fun. But the shop hop, dinner in a great little place, and the friendship more than made up for the rain. Reg took me to Knits and Pearls in Kingsport first where I met Andra. I loved Andra, I loved her shop, and I really loved her amazing knitwear designs!!! Sadly I couldn't afford to buy the yarn I lusted over, but I did pick up some great beads and 2 of Andra's patterns--one vest adn the other a pullover. One of my Knitting Fearlessly goals this year is to knit a sweater...that fits ;-)

Our next stop was Yarntiques in Johnson City. Located in an old Victorian home, the shop was as quaint and delightful as it's location. They had yarn and etc. tucked into every nook and cranny...it was rather like going on an adventure hunt. The shop was filled with women so it took awhile before Reg could flag down the owner so I could see the lace yarns. Apparently they are kept in a back room out of reach of curious toddlers with potentially sticky hands ;-) They shop was a bit of a zoo, but I found the yarn I had been searching for...Lacey Lamb. It was a bit over my budget for the end of the month, but I bought 2 balls to knit that yummy shawl from Vogue Knitting. Now I just need to find time to cast on. I got to meet the man in Regenia's life, Matthew David, who treated us both to dinner at a fun little converted house, now restaurant in Jonesborough, TN. I totally loved the place and the food was simple, but delicious. I hadn't had a good hushpuppie in awhile, so I was very happy :-) MD is a great guy, I liked him immediately. I think he and Reg are a great match and I wish good things for both of them *wink, wink*

Trick or Treat???

Can you believe that October is over??? If you ask me, it's really some kind of cruel trick, especially considering we've had no real "Autumn" to speak of. Here in East Tennessee we've had nothing but record drought and record high temperatures. Today, on Halloween, my rose garden looks more spectacular than it has all year. Go figure? The little sticks of lantana that I planted back in May have grown into an enormous hedge where, this afternoon, I had my first little Trick-or-Treater come to visit. Isn't that a spectacular photograph? I was stunned by the beauty of this Monarch butterfly perched on the lantana.


I haven't posted in a week (blame Ravelry), so I have lots to say. Of course I can't resist a beautiful baby, especially when that baby is my great-niece. My nephew, Tyler, and his wife, Mary Katherine, had their first child back in June while Tyler was in specialty training with the Navy. He graduated last week and is on leave for a few days before he has to report for duty at Pearl Harbor (I know, rough assignment--Hawaii!). I don't they were in TN more than a day before making a bee-line to our place so that great granddaddy Plaas and great aunt Kristina could get their hands on baby Isabella. Oh she is just too cute for words! She totally looks like her daddy...everything except the red hair :-) She has the same tiny ears, and cheeks and chin, and....there's a lot of Plaas in that child. Bella loved my Father...she couldn't take her eyes off of him, which simply delightful to us all. I was thrilled to get this especiialy good picture of Bella with my Mom.


I've been doing my fair share of knitting this week too. After excessive agonizing over what should be my next lace shawl project, I finally cast-on. The funny thing was I pored over a long list of "wanna knit" shawls for weeks only to rather spontaneously jump in an cast-on for a mystery KAL (Mystic Waters) after liking the image on the 1st chart. I didn't think about it much, I just grabbed some purple cashmerino I recently acquired from ColourMart and started knitting. I'm not quite finished with the 1st clue and the 2nd one was released today, but I'll catch up. So far I'm quite pleased with the outcome :-) You never know with "mystery" knitting... bwah-ha-ha-ha


I couldn't focus exclusively on the Mystic Waters Shawl because I was busy with a lace scarf project I volunteered to do. I love Sandy, the owner of my closest LYS, The Yarn Haven. She has been so gracious to me and I'm thrilled she opened her shop in a location that is literally just across the street from where I live. I want her to do well. So when I dropped in about 2 weeks ago I was thrilled to discover she had added Madil Kid Seta to her lace yarn section. But when she showed me this viscose thread the vendor had persuaded her to buy as a carry along fiber for the MKS, I had serious doubts about it's "marketability". So, in a moment of spontaneity I volunteered to come up with a lace scarf design using both yarns and knit a shop sample for her. If folks could see how they could make something wonderful with these fibers, then I knew it would sell.

I left the shop with my offer open and the next day Sandy emailed me back to take me up on it. I was quite excited and went over to pick up the yarn. I bounced a few ideas off on her at the last FNKC meeting and went home to finalize my design. It was to be for newbie lace knitters, something easy to knit, yet pretty enough to make for holiday gifts. The picture here was taken after 2 days of knitting. I used size 8 needles and the yarns together were bulkier than my norms, so my body protested with screaming pain in the forearm. I had to slow down for a few days until the flare subsided, but even still I had the scarf finished in only 11 days. It could easily be knit in a week as I'm not a particularly fast knitter (I'm good, just not fast ;-)

I took the finished scarf to Sandy this afternoon. We were both thrilled with the outcome. I'll post my details and photos (hopefully) tomorrow. I still need to finish writing the pattern up. I promised to deliver it on Friday when I head over for the next FNKC gathering. This was so fun and I was pleased to be able to do it just because, not for money or to get anything back for myself--well, other than the sheer joy of doing a good deed for a really good person. That's the best part of all :-)

Saturday Update

Another week has rolled past. The Vols are playing Arkansas State at Neyland Stadium tonight--not a big enough game to be on the usual TV stations so I'm listening to the game on the radio. It's a trade off not being able to watch the game...it's much more fun to be able to see what's happening but I get more knitting done tuning in to the radio broadcast. I much prefer our UT announcers over anyone else, so that's a big advantage to following the game on the radio. No matter, the bottom line is the Big Orange desperately need a seriously good win after the shellacking we suffered at the hand of Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators last week. No defense! Things are looking good as they just scored another TD with 1 min. LTG before halftime. Leading 31-14 at the half sounds a lot better to me!


I took a few more pictures of my garden this week. It's still terribly hot and dry, so the garden looks kind of ragged. My roses are filled with blossoms and I've never had such an abundance of lantana before either. They look more like shrubs than flowers and they are covered with big fat fuzzy bees and a multiplicity of butterflies. Miss Emme, the wonder mini-wiener dog, is fascinated by those bees and she gets irritated with me for not letting her go after them. Children!!! I planted some bronze tipped golden mums out by the lamppost and in a few flowerpots this morning. It's still kind of hot for mums, but as long they get plenty of water they'll be OK. I was pleased that several of the little lavender mums I planted last year came back and are blooming quite nicely too. Gotta love those perennials :-)


I chose to share photos of 2 of my favorite plants today. The first is a blue hybrid passionflower. This flowering vine really takes off and starts to spread and bloom in August. Mine is a little late this year because I moved it to the back of the backyard where there would be more room for the vine to spread. I love the complexity of the flower and it's delicate features. It's amazing that a wild vine can produce such spectacular blooms! The other picture is native wildflower here in the Smokies that blooms in the late spring, fades in the summer, but returns with new foliage and flowers again in the fall. The native pink bleeding heart (Dicentra eximia) loves a moist shady location which makes it a bright spot under the trees.


Moving on to the knitting front, I've been focusing all my attention on the Icarus Lace Shawl. Regenia has taken me up on my throwdown so now I really want to finish fast! The pattern calls for 5 repeats of a 24 row section of chart 1 before moving on to the more interesting lacy stuff. I'm working on that 5th repeat but I'm concerned about the size of my shawl and how much yarn I still have left over. The original used 90g of Fino, which is a little bit fatter than the Lace-a-licious I'm using. They are both baby alpaca and I'm using the same size needles, but I'm at about the half-way point and I've only used 20g of yarn. That ain't very much folks. I've pretty much decided to add an extra repeat and I might even add a 2nd one depending on how things look after 6 repeats. A bigger shawl is good, a smaller shawl would be disappointing, and since I have plenty of yarn I'll just knit on!


I love the way the colors of this yarn are working out in this design. Icarus is well-suited to a subtly hand-painted fiber--something you can't say about most fine lace shawl patterns. I just received another cone of new lace yarn from Richard at ColourMart. This time I purchased a blend of 65% cashmere/35% silk in my favorite "BonBon" blush pink. I already have some pure silk yarn in this colorway in my stash, but I was unprepared for how stunning this cashsilk would be--all the softness and halo of cashmere with the strength and sheen of silk. Wow! I think I might like this blend even more than I love pure cashmere. I'm considering patterns for this yarn, but am leaning towards knitting one of the Shetland Sampler Stoles from either A Gathering of Lace or Victorian Lace Today. Of course I have lots of time to change my mind while I finish Icarus, but right now Hazel Carter's Stole in AGOL is in the lead. Oh yummy!

Simple Pleasures

You know, it doesn't really take very much to make me happy these days. I think I demanded much more of my self (and others) when I was younger. Perhaps that's just the way it is as one gets older. Maybe not. Either way, I'll take my joy wherever and whenever I can find it. More often than not, I only have to look in my own yard to find joyful things. Sometimes, if I'm lucky, I capture those images with my camera. Today was one of those days. The first photo shows a Spicebush Swallowtail butterfly nectaring on one of my most loved wildflowers, the Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis). The spicebush swallowtail is a large butterfly (~4") and the iridescent blue hindwings glow in sharp contrast to the vivid crimson red of the cardinal flowers. (Can you believe I took that picture! Yowser!!!)

I fell in love with Cardinal flowers the first time I saw them in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park maybe a dozen or so years ago. I attended a plant sale my 1st fall (9 yrs. ago) back in Tennessee to complete a graduate school assignment. The gardenistas (is that a word???) were hauling 1 gal potted cardinal flowers out by the little red wagonload. I just had to have one so I carefully chose the perfect plant, a splurge at the time, and took it home. Given a nice shady or semi shady spot, a little compost, and plenty of water and in a few years you too can have dozens of cardinal flowers to brighten your yard in August and September when everything else is withered. You'll have enough to transplant to every shady spot you have and more to share with friends and family. Add a few Lantana to the mix and the butterflies and hummingbirds become your daily companions (esp. if those butterflies cocoon in the trees and bushes around the house). I never said joy didn't require a little work!


I'm delighted beyond words that this photograph turned out. Let's just say I tested the limits of my camera's ability to focus at maximum zoom. This is a juvenile Cooper's Hawk perched in a very large tree in my neighbor's yard. The tree may be in his yard, but from our deck & patio we get maximum enjoyment from it. This summer we've had an unusually high number of visits from a pair of Cooper's Hawks. This tree is a perfect place to scan the underbrush for prey like chipmunks, rabbits, field mice (eek!), snakes (yikes!!!), and even squirrels and groundhogs. And to think I live in a subdivision in a very populated area of town! These large raptors look quite massive when they decide to drop by my birdbath. Needless to say every one else vacates the premises in a hurry. I'm grateful to have such a natural form of rodent control nearby :-)

So, that's what's happening in my garden, now for the knitting content (this is a knitting blog, right?). I dropped in at Loopville yesterday to chat with Jinka, the owner, and see if I could exchange the 2 balls of Kidsilk Haze I bought 2 weeks ago. Long story short--do not expect KSH purchased now to match in color/dyelot the KSH purchased last winter. I tried and it didn't so rather than keep the mismatched balls I figured I trade them in for another color and maybe add a ball or two to knit another project. Jinka was a sport and I left with 4 balls in a yummy deep burgundy color called liqueur. So now I have 3 balls of Trance and 4 balls of Liqueur and decisions to make on which 2 shawl patterns I want to knit. Maybe I will finally knit something out of VLT

I ran into Judy Sumner, our local famous designer and the woman behind Knoxsocks Designs, while at Loopville. She does walk-in tutoring 3 afternoons a week but no one showed up yesterday. That was great for me because Judy had just received one of the new Japanese Stitch Dictionaries she had ordered and she was anxious to share this newfound treasure. I was practically speechless this book was so good. These stitch designs, which included cables, lace, edgings, and the like, were so far superior and creative way beyond anything I have seen coming out of the United States or Europe. I left the shop drooling and chanting "I want, I want, I want!!!" Better yet, the price point was no worse the buying the Barbara Walker Treasuries according to Judy. That means I can afford it if I plan well. I have the ISBN# and where she ordered them so maybe next month. Judy was busy designing a sock pattern for a popular handpainted yarn company, so keep your eyes open! While I'm at it, you should check out her website. There are some very nice sock patterns there and you would be supporting one of the most kind and generous ladies I've ever had the pleasure to meet.

Whew! I'm getting long-winded here, but I just have to share my used bookstore find before I shut up and call it a night. As a part of my dejunking endeavors I gathered up a bunch of gardening and flower arranging books to trade in at McKay's, my favorite used book store. I knew I get pretty good credit for these books and I was right. It was a good thing cuz' I scored a copy of EZ's Knitting Without Tears in superb condition! I've been trying to slowly acquire all the Elizabeth Zimmerman books for my knitting library as I consider them to be among the bones of a good knitting library. You know, right up there with the stitch dictionaries and lace books like AGOL and VLT. So while I'm standing there in the craft section I meet a couple of ladies from a neighboring town and one lady points to a book on the shelf and tells me it's on her must own list, especially if you ever want to design your own sweaters and such. She said the magic words, design your own, so I grab the book and start thumbing through. I can tell right away that she is correct and I decide to splurge even though the price point ($8) was a bit much, I thought, for an old book. Later i decided I had made out like a bandit with this book: The Complete Book of Progressive Knitting by Ida Riley Duncan (c)1940. This little green book has it all, from how to knit to how to design a skirt or sweater with the proper proportions to a small stitch dictionary at the back. I just love vintage books--another simple pleasure in life.

Knit on!

The List is Shrinking...

The list of unfinished knitting projects that is. I can't believe I'm getting such a rush out of finishing things, especially since I'm such a "process" person who loves to start stuff but doesn't always feel compelled to finish everything I start.



Today's finished project is a pair of socks I'm calling the Little River Socks (LRS). I saw this lace pattern in a scarf design and I really liked it. I took a brief gander around the net looking to see if I could find a sock pattern that incorporated this lace, but I didn't see one. I had a nagging suspicion that a pattern existed somewhere, but I decided to unvent a pattern for myself using Crystal Palace Panda Cotton, one of my favorite sock yarns. I started my 1st pair of LRS using a variegated yarn and a cast-on of 64 sts. I finished the 1st sock and found the variegation obliterated the lace pattern and 64 sts was too many for a nice fit with this chubby sock yarn.


Rather than knit the 2nd sock, I decided to use a solid color Panda Cotton in blue and try again, this time knitting over 56 sts. The 56 sts proved to be just right and the 1st sock fit perfectly, so I went ahead to finish the pair. I cast-off this morning and in a few minutes I had the ends tucked away. You gotta love that star toe--no grafting! My LRS were ready for their photo shoot.


I headed out to the garden to shoot some pictures. The pictures I took of Meida's socks in the garden were such a hit I thought I'd try and replicate the experience. My garden looks quite pathetic after a summer of record heat and record drought. I find myself envying the folks who are getting all the rain, even if it's flooding. It's been so dry here in East Tennessee it feels more like the summers I spent in the Utah desert. Fortunately the lantana I planted is drought resistant and I have several "hedges" of it in my front yard. Besides being a nice backdrop for photographing knitted socks, lantana is a magnet for butterflies and bees. Just by coincidence a big, beautiful black Eastern Tiger Swallowtail happened to be dancing from blossom to blossom right where I was photographing socks. I snapped several shots of the butterfly and was delighted to find they turned out. You can't see the iridescent shimmer of the blue on the hindwings in the picture, but I think the butterfly surpassed the socks for a great garden picture.

I took more pictures of the socks which will be posted on my Flickr page here along with all the details of the project. You might want to buzz on over and feed on the eye candy there :-)

PS. After going through all the working of writing out my own pattern, I did find a published free pattern using the same lace on the SockBug's site. I don't know how I missed it! I guess that means I won't need to post my pattern after all. Cool, I prefer creating to pattern-writing any day!

Little Volunteers

It's been more than a week since I updated ya'll on my knitting projects, but what can I say? It's hard to have show and tell when you're un-venting a sock design and you don't want to show it just yet ;o) I'm certain it's an unvention, but I haven't seen this design in anything I've looked through recently, including the more than 200 sock patterns I had saved from online (free or otherwise) that I just burned to a CD_R disc. What I can tell you is that even taking a simple lace/cable motif and dropping it into a basic sock formula still takes work and lots of test-knitting to make sure that things like gauge and fit are all working together in harmony.


The first sock I knit was out of a multicolored yarn (Panda Cotton, of course! my new favorite sock yarn). The yarn is great, the colors are great for fall/winter socks, the design is pretty good too, but they didn't create that nice harmony as the colors overwhelmed the stitch details. I discovered that the sock was a bit too baggy too as the 64sts that were perfect for the stitch pattern were too many for a nice, snug fit over the ankle and foot. So I cast-on again using a solid color yarn and 56 sts this time. So far thigns are looking good, but I'm still working the gusset decreases so it's too early to know for sure.

I'm also knitting a little on the MS3 "Swan Lake". The unveiling of the theme and the asymmetrical final design caught most folks off-guard. I half expected the asymmetry since Melanie's last stole, Hanami, was her 1st asymmetrical design. Even still, the Swan Lake design seems to be quite distinct from what I can tell at this point. It'll be quite interesting to see how the final clues shake out. I've been knitting on the natural-colored stole and am planning to knit the "wing" although I haven't gotten to that point yet. I'm very skittish about grafting 2 halves of the stole together in the middle after I finish the knitting as my "Kitch" stitch is quite terrible as to nice even tension. I was pleased to get the email from Melanie today announcing a non-grafting symmetrical solution to the dilemma. I was racking my brain as to what to do for my blue stole, and this looks like an easy answer to me :-)


I didn't want to leave without sharing a few cheery pictures, so I thought I'd show you a few little "volunteers" that showed up in my veggie garden. The sunflowers were "planted" by the birds who love my birdfeeders. Did you notice the second sunflower picture? It's actually 3 small flowers blooming in tandem--2 in the back and one centered on top. Strange, huh? I planted a few seeds last year for a Zinnia hybrid called "Thumbelina" They are miniatures and are quite cute. Of note was the phrase last year, as I didn't plant any this year. No, they just came up along the edge of the lawn and next to the raised planter boxes. I just love the plants that liberally self-sow adn grow without any work on my part.

Sweaty Saturday

We've been in a serious drought here in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains this spring. This is not good for my lawn and gardens. We've also had remarkably low humidity--similar to that of Utah where I once lived. Low humidity has it's advantages because you don't *feel* the heat as much. But the rains finally came yesterday, and they brought the sauna with them. I just came back in the house for some air-conditioned relief after some serious sweating while planting my beautiful foxgloves into the flower bed just outside my bedroom window. They are just a glance away from the computer :-)


There were three big plants crammed into the single pot I purchased. I always look for such pots as they often provide the best value for the dollar. Armed with a serrated knife, I conducted surgery and soon had three beauties that I'm sure will be delighted at their newfound freedom. Surely plants, like people, love it when they are no longer crammed into too tight a space. I planted 2 outside my window before my energy gave out. I'm still debating where to plant the 3rd, but I suspect somewhere along the north fence will be nice. That's where I put the St. John's wort yesterday. The SJW promptly thanked me by popping open three fuzzy blooms.Oh my gosh they are so pretty! They look very similar to the ones I took pictures of in the high desert canyons of Utah and Wyoming.

Yesterday was still pretty rough in the aftermath of the migraine. But I did get back to my knitting. I decided to keep on knitting on the Alpine Scarf until I had enough of the lace pattern done to be able to fairly judge whether or not I needed to go up a needle size. Basically, I did this because I was too lazy to swatch with a 3.5mm needle and I didn't want to frog what I had already done, especially the carefully done crochet cast-on that would give me the perfect edge to my scarf. I'm halfway through the 1st repeat and am pretty pleased with how things look--maybe I made the right choice after all!

I also picked up the Bugs Shawl and knit 3 more rows. I love the yarn I'm using for this project, but gee, the dark blues and grays sure are hard on the eyes! I'm getting lots of practice making right and left twisting stitches (or 2 st. cables if you prefer). I discovered that the "bobbles" that I knit the other day were (as I suspected) not true bobbles, but were really nupps. I was watching an episode of "Knitty Gritty" on DIY and Lily Chin was demostrating different textured stitches. When she got to bobbles I watched carefully as she increased (as I had done), then turned the work and purled back, turned again and knit across,finally knitting all the sts. back into one st and leaving a nice raised "bobble". See, a knitter learns something new almost every day :-) Knit on!

Birthday presents

Today's my birthday, which is totally cool with me as I like birthdays. Birthdays mean good food and presents, generally things I give myself since I'm a single woman. Hey, if I don't give them to myself, there wouldn't be any presents! A few friends have sent e-cards, which is kind and thoughtful but the same as getting a *real* card that you can hold in your hands and re-read a hundred times and paste into a scrapbook along with pictures of the cake, the dinner party, and a list of the presents. You just can't do that memory-making stuff with cards sent via the internet. But I am digressing...

I ordered my first birthday presents over the weekend--the 1st two Barbara Walker Treasuries. Amazon has notified me they have been shipped and to expect them on Saturday. The next wave of presents happened on Monday when mother insisted I come tot he Mall to look for a bathrobe on sale that a friend of mine wanted. By the time i arrived, the robes were all gone. But I went to Crabtree & Evelyn instead and splurged on some body powder and soaps in my favorite fragrance Summer Hill. Yum!

But that was Monday and the big day is today, so I went to Home Depot to find some petunias to replace the pansies which need to be pulled out of my garden and planter boxes. I got the petunias (my Mom's favorites) and then I saw them. My heart skipped a beat as I gasped at their beauty. Yes, it was a display of foxgloves in full bloom. I had foxgloves in my garden in Utah the last year I was there and they were so delicious! I've wanted some ever since I came back to TN, back I either didn't see any to purchase, or they were cost prohibitive. But today the price was right and after all, it*is* my birthday so I bought the big girls and brought them home.

The foxgloves I chose were a pale lavender and should go quite nicely with the bright lavender bee balm, dwarf shasta daisies, pink calla lilies, and blue and pink columbine already in my garden. I also picked up a wildflower that I love because of its distinctive bloom--St. John's Wort. No, this isn't the version most people think of--this is the yellow outer petals filled with fine yellow hairs bloom that you see in the wild. Yes, like the one's I used to see hanging off the cliffs in the Uintah mountains--the "real" St. John's wort. My plant has loads of fat buds, but no blooms, so it's going to be fun watching this one grow and bloom. There will be pictures to follow!

I love June!

Can you believe it's June already? This year has simply flown by, but then I don't mind because June is my favorite month. It's my birthday in a few days, and my garden is in full bloom, and the weather is warm but not intolerable yet, and June is just so much fun! I updated my knitting with pictures yesterday so today it's the garden. Today's featured selections include the "Spicy Delight" rose (the dark pink one that looks like it's been "spotlighted" by the sun), a pale lavender clematis, the fiery orange-pink "Tropicana" rose, and a beautiful pink Calla Lily. Did you know that Calla Lilies came in many colors? I have white, pink, and dark raspberry pink Calla lilies in my garden. The funny thing is they grow from a tuber that looks like a russet potato. Who knew?

My garden has had a rough spring, what with the unusually warm March followed by the awful Easter deep freeze and complicated by neglect from the dissertation-distracted gardener. But the good news is my rose garden has never looked better. The bushes have finally matured beyond the "will it survive" stage and the floribunda roses are getting quite tall. I have more blooms this week that I've ever had in TN--more like the blooming i had in my roses in Utah where they thrive on benign neglect! Neglected hybrid tea roses in Tennessee die of black spot, fungus, aphids, and Japanese beetle infestations. In Utah all you *had* to do was water, and that's what sprinkler systems are for :-)

On the knitting front, the new clues for the Bugs KAL are up! It looks like I'll be knitting some praying mantis' and earthworms for this section. Now that's will be an adventure! This chart covers 80 of the 96 rows in this section of the Pi shawl. Yup, this is the section that goes on forever! But I've already knit 4 rows and have set a goal to knit at least 6 rows a day. It would be very cool to be finished by the end of June, but that's pretty ambitious.

I have one more exciting bit of knitting news--I finally placed my order for the 1st two Barbara Walker Knitting Treasuries. I had intended to get them from KnitPicks as they always sold them for a little less money than everyone else, but they are no longer listed on their website. The only book KnitPicks had from Walker was the Mosaic Knitting book. So I went to the next best place that I know I can rely on--Amazon! Not only did Amazon have all the Walker books for sale, but 3 of the 4 treasuries had been discounted a tiny bit ($1.50). Hopefully the books will be shipped on schedule and I'll have them in 1-2 weeks. It's been a long wait, but I just can't survive without them any more. I'll buy the other 2 books as soon as the budget allows. It's always a tough choice--do I buy yarn, lace needles, books, magazines, or patterns? It's always a carefully thought out choice for me and I've put off buying the $$$ books, but now the time has come to add to my library instead of my stash :-)

Spring Fever!!!

Spring has sprung, the grass has really risen, and boy oh boy is my garden growing! The unusually warm March has everything growing well-ahead of schedule, including the weeds. My time has been rather limited since I *am* writing a dissertation so I haven't had the chance to dig in and do my early spring yard work. Ugh! The beds in the back yard are a complete disaster! Well, they will just have to wait a little longer I suppose.

Today it was so perfect outside I just couldn't force myself to stay indoors hunkered behind my computer all day. Nope, no way. I got Spring Fever and the dirt was calling my name. So I took lots of breaks to slip into my new gardening clogs and well-worn gloves and haul out my little wheelbarrow. I got quite a bit accomplished too! I transplanted 2 small hydrangeas into the front bed in front of a Natchez (tall white) Crape Myrtle and a couple of small Burning Bush shrubs. I bought these hydrangeas for myself last year for Mothers' Day. I bought a small pot that had forced to bloom early in a greenhouse in Canada. After the blooms started to fade I decided to repot the bush into a bigger pot with better soil and was surprised to find not one, but 2 separate plants crammed into one tiny pot. Once separated, I had 2 happy little shrubs that bloomed for months in a sheltered location in the back yard. And now I'm gonna end up with 2 big shrubs that will make happy pink mopheads for years to come. And to think I felt guilty for indulging myself when I bought the plant to begin with ;o)

I got a few more things planted besides the hydrangea bushes. I bought 4 Winky Rose Aquilegias (cultivated columbine) last week for a great price at the Home Depot. I planted a couple of these last year along the north fence and they were beautiful. The front bed gets a lot more sun so I think these new plants will very happy. I added some new Oriental Lily bulbs to the area, all pink varieties (Mona Lisa, Lollipop, etc.), so I should have lots of pretty pink blooms this summer.

On the knitting front, I'm still working on the secret shawl. I'm just starting the 2nd repeat on the new pattern section and so far it looks good. I didn't make much progress today though because gardening occupied my discretionary time. And now it's time to go back to writing. I'll watch the men's NCAA championship game at the same time (I'm cheering for Ohio St. since they beat us to get there). Of course the "big" game is tomorrow night when the Lady Vols try to win it all for the 7th time. "Seven in '07" is the word around here :-)

Beware the Ides of March...

Or perhaps "Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble" is just as suitable an expression for how I'm feeling at this stage of writing the big D. Did Shakespeare have to labor as hard as I am to produce his literary works? Did he have to battle with exhaustion and wicked headaches and muddled thoughts? I haven't even started writing chapter 5 yet and my brain is so fried I can't think of what to say at this moment. Of course I'm not quite awake yet, so that may have something to do with it, but I'm so fried I can't even knit. Now that is bad!

We've had remarkably warm spring weather the past several days. When I needed a break all I had to do was stroll around the house, watch the birds and admire my flowers. The yard guys came and mulched the flowerbeds yesterday so they look especially wonderful this morning. The Bradford pear trees started to bloom yesterday and even the hydrangeas are beginning to leaf out. So far it looks like most of the perennials that I planted new last year are still alive and kicking so that's good news. I even found the bee balm I relocated to the north fence bed alive and thriving under a huge mass of weeds. That bed is a big mess, but it'll just have to wait another week or two before I can get it properly weeded and prepped for planting this year's crop of tomatoes. I haven't had time to deal with starting seed this year, so I may have to settle for buying my tomato plants this year. It's a small sacrifice to make for graduating, but it just had to be done :o)