Felt Like Knitting

Asparagus

Michelle and Katie asked for pictures of an asparagus plant.  Here's what my plants look like now:

 

*Please excuse the weeds!

In the first picture, you see an asparagus spear just popping up from the ground.  This is what the plant first looks like in spring.  You have to wait until the third year before you can harvest a lot of asparagus.  The second picture shows what the asparagus spears look like when they are left to grow.  (Click the picture for a clearer view.)  The tips of the spears branch out and start to turn into leaves, as shown in the third picture.  In the summer, the plants are very pretty and grow red berries.

Friday's Flowers: Cherry blossoms

               

Friday's flowers and some other F's

Friday's Flowers:  Nasturtiums

                                       

(It looks like I took this picture in the middle of the night!  But, the ones I took with no flash were too blurry.  I knew I should have taken the picture yesterday afternoon.)  Like a lot of the other things in my yard, these nasturtiums came up from last year's flowers.  The yellow and orange colors are so cheerful, but my favorite things are the leaves.  They remind me of water lily pads.  The flowers and leaves are edible, but I've never had the courage to try them.  Have any of you ever eaten any?

Instead of some favorite F's, here are some F's in my life these days:

Feather and fan scarf

                                       

Have you been wondering if this is still a knitting blog?  :)  I have lots of projects started, but little time to knit on them.  This scarf is for a Christmas gift.  I can't decide if the yarn is working at this gauge.  When I pull it out to simulate blocking, it's maybe a bit too open.  Any thoughts?  I'll try to take another picture of it when my helper wakes up.  The yarn is laceweight yarn from The Woolen Rabbit.  (I don't see any laceweight yarn on her site right now, but she has lots of beautiful sock yarn listed.  But I'm not letting myself look at it.  Must. Be. Strong.)

Felting

For my goal of finishing one Christmas present each month, I worked on a felted bag in July.  The work was fast and furious there at the end and I only had the grommets to put in on July 31.  So, so close, but no cigar.  During this finishing frenzy I didn't notice that I hadn't sewn in my lining correctly.  Since I had already applied the magnetic snap closures to the lining, they don't meet up now.  Grrrr.....  I'm taking the snap out of one side (or maybe both) out and appliqueing a patch to hide the old hole marks.  Needless to say, I'm not working that fast anymore.  When I hit a snag, work slows down quite a bit.

Feeling poorly

Cleaning makes me sick.  No, I mean it.  I must have an allergy to dust because whenever I help clean the basement, I get a respiratory infection.  Well, the dust in my bedroom made me sick.  (Unless I really do have some kind of bug that has just coincided with the cleaning.)  My throat is so sore that it keeps me up at night.  Yesterday I missed out on a day of preparation because my stomach was upset.  Must have been something I ate because I'm feeling better today.  Okay, whining is over.  :)

Friday's flowers - Lantana

                        

One of my favorite annuals to plant each summer is lantana.  It comes in solid colors, but I like this variegated variety the best.  It always looks different and I love the combination of pink, yellow, and orange.  These two pictures are taken from the same plant (several weeks apart).  And like most of my flowers, I didn't plant these this year.  The winter was mild enough that they came back from last year.  Too bad I ripped out the ones closest to the house - I could have had lantana come back all around!

Edited to add:  I just looked it up and lantana is a perennial plant.  It's sold as an annual bedding plant around here, so assumed it was an annual.  Nope!

I just finished the i-cord for my Coco bag.  I'm looking forward to tossing it into the washing machine later today.  Right now I'm washing fabric and strapping to make some grocery bags.  I used to use cloth bags, but haven't in a while.  Then I read about this and felt alarmed.  The waste there is the size of Texas!  The plastic bags I use and recycle here in Georgia may not make it into this particular gyre, but reducing what I use is a good thing.

Friday's flowers - dahlias

                              

I don't really know much about dahlias.  My mom used to grow them when I was a teenager and I remember dried up dahlias hanging from our indoor clothes line in the basement.  These don't require the care that those did - I threw these in the ground once and they bloom every year.  (Is that because my mom's dahlias were growing in cold Ohio and these grow in warm Georgia?  Or am I really lucky that they're surviving at all?!)  I also have some beautiful red ones, but they're done blooming and I unfortunately deleted the pictures I had previously taken.  They look more like the pink one, but with wider petals.

I promised knitting in this post.

               

From left to right:

Shetland Triangle Shawl from Wrap Style - This lovely yarn was dyed by Kim of The Woolen Rabbit.  (This yarn is actually a different blend than the yarn listed on her site right now.  But, the color is the same.)  I know it's hard to visualize what this is going to look like since it's just a little wad of knitted yarn right now.  But look at this and you'll see how it's going to look.  Yes, I am copying Kim's choice of yarn and pattern.  :)

The Second Sock - Yes, I have cast on for the second sock!

The Little Coco Bag - I saw this bag recently on K's blog and decided to make one for my SIL for Christmas.  (I have not yet met my Christmas present goal for July, so this will keep me on track!)  I'm using Patons Classic Merino Wool and size 13 needles.  The bag is moving along quickly and I'm much farther than the picture shows.

Hats - Yes, I've finished something recently!  Hats 12 - 14 for my hat-knitting goal.  The two-colored hat is a Fake Isle.  If I want to meet my goal, I'll need to get busier with the hats, won't I?

As I was taking pictures of my last two WIPs (Ribby Shell and Surplice Lace Top), it started to rain.  So, I'll have to show those later.

I hope you all have a terrific weekend!  For those of you buying and reading the latest Harry Potter book, enjoy!  :) 

Friday's flowers - Black-eyed Susans

                                  

These black-eyed Susans are special to me because they were given to me by a sweet friend at church.  Several years ago we had a "time and talents" auction to benefit a local charity.  The items up for auction were things like homemade cakes, an hour of handyman time, and taxi service down to the airport.  I won the auction for the opportunity to dig up perennials from C's garden.   C and her husband have become our good friends since we visited their garden that first time.  So when I see these flowers bloom each year, I think of more than enduring blooms.  I also think of the enduring friendship and love of C and J.

Friday's flowers - purple hyacinth bean

                                    

This flower is from a volunteer purple hyacinth bean plant.  The original seeds came from the same friend that gave me the cosmos seeds.  The vines were growing around a bamboo pole form until it blew over in a windstorm.  It's been that way for a couple of weeks and now I'm afraid I'll kill the plants if I upright the bamboo poles.  So there are lots of blooming vines in my garden that remind me of cobras coming up out of a basket.  They're very pretty, but are starting to take over my weedy, pathetic garden.

                                                

Friday's Flowers - zinnias

               

I love zinnias!  They are so cheery and come in many colors, shapes, and sizes.  I did plant these seeds, but there are volunteers coming up from last year, too.  And yesterday I received some seeds in a swap package from Carole (along with some cosmos and aster seeds).  (More about the swap package soon!)  Our growing season is long enough that I can plant the seeds now to have more flowers blooming when these are past their prime.  A whole summer of zinnias - yippee! 

Friday's Flowers

         

                                      Cleome (Spider Flower)

Last year, I planted some cleome seeds that a friend gave me from his garden.  I loved seeing all the different shades of pink that bloomed.  Seeds were gathered, but misplaced.  Fortunately, some self-sowed and they're back!

Kim is showcasing her garden flowers on Fridays this summer and has invited us to show off our flowers, too.  (She even has a button you can save to your computer.)  What do your flowers look like?

Anticipation