In The Garden

Pollen is everywhere today! I can see it on the coneflowers in the garden, on the patio furniture, on the windows, and on cars parked on the street. People are sneezing, and coughing, and rubbing their eyes - the plant kingdom is in flower and we are taking note!

The lavender is nearly ready to bloom - so fragrant! My friend Martha knows how to braid them to make something pretty and decorative - maybe she'll teach me. I will soon have hundreds of stems filled with perfumed blossoms. It would be heavenly to work with them in my hands for a few days.

In clay pots are the geraniums - red, salmon, fuchsia and pink - they love the sunshine on my back steps and walls.





Sometimes just looking at the flowers I don't really see them; passing without taking time to stop is missing a big part of what flowers offer. If a garden or a pretty basket or pot can slow me down, make me stop to gaze a moment, it's done me a favor. If I stoop to take in the sweet pure fragrance, my day is enhanced. If I examine the petals or admire a bud or gently touch a slender stalk I often experience amazement.


I hope you can be amazed, too; I am still knitting, (I can see, in those petals above, great color combinations for my next projects) but sometimes there are (yes, really!) things more important....


Beth

My first post

Although this is really Beth's site, she was nice enough to invite me to post here as well. Much of my inspiration for knitting has come from her- she seems to sense when I am lacking for ideas and will send me an email full of photos of her beautiful work as well as encouragement to start something new or pick up what I was already working on.

I am still finding uses for a huge stash she bought for me on a wonderful visit to her home. My first time with DPN (double pointed needles) was thanks to her enthusiasm for them and how convincing she was about how easy they were to work with once one got used to them.

Beth started this blog a few months ago and it has been fun for me to "check in" and see what she has been working on- knitting, flowers, items for her doll house, etc. It is a great way to keep in touch. Now that school is done until August, I am finding more time to devote to my knitting and put up a post of my own.

Here is what I am currently working on.



I made a similar blanket for my sister's wedding last July and once my mom saw it, she let me know that she would love to have one like it. I started this blanket a month or two ago and am finally making headway on it.

Like the one I made for my sister, this one is random. Random colors, random patterns, random widths of stripes.

To focus on randomness is a challenge for me. I tend to plan everything in advance- length, different yarns I will incorporate, pattern, etc. With these blankets, I simply go from one yarn to the next without much thought. As long as the color I just finished using looks nice next to the new yarn, I'm happy.

Here is the blanket I made for my sister.

I hope to have my mother's blanket finished by Christmas but as knitters, we all know there is no guarantee there.

Thanks for inviting me to your site Beth.

Ann

June's Arrival

A coneflower opens.



The pollen of a lily, revealed.



Greeting guests.

Beth