You can take the knitter out of the garden, but not the garden out of the knitter.....

Now that the wedding garter is out of the way, I am haunted by something Eden said to me before she went on holiday to Norway in mid August.....'Maybe the sea silk shawl will be done when I come back'. Hmmmmmmm. I have been knitting like a fiend, and it now measures about 46" in length, but I want to use up all the yarn before I cast off. So on and on and on it goes. I think I can have it done before Eden gets back after Labour Day, but then I got and do something like this.

This is what our front yard looked like 2 years ago. And this is what it looks like after this weekend (the dead tree wasn't done this weekend, it took me a whole summer to do that). Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining. I love to get my hands dirty in the soil, feel the sweat on my brow and and plant beautiful things inthe garden. It just takes away from my knitting time. My mother has often said that knitting takes a second stage to gardening in the summer, and in many ways she is right.

Anyway, what I did was removed the dead grass from one side of the tree to the walk way to the house and made a little planting bed. I have reseeded the rest of the lawn and put down some stepping stones. I half suspect that the lawn has grubs (as I did see a few) but I am not too sure how many it takes to result in damage.

The end result of this planting should be less watering next summer, as these are all draught resistant plants (again, minus the tree.....I think it dried up due to lack of water). If the grass dies back again, I'll make the whole front yarden a flower bed. That is if my knitting doesn't get in the way.

She likes it.... she really, really likes it....

Ok Shauna, you can look now....

The shower is in a couple of hours, and I put the finishing touches on the garter this morning. Overall, I am very happy with the results, and hopefully Shauna feels the same. I will post again later tonight to tell you how it went.

This project has had a lot of help from many people.....Ravelry (knitting website) for getting me in touch with people who have already done this pattern and gave me advice, Annette and Flora for giving me ideas on how to sew on the bias tape and attach the elastic, Eden and Jennifer H. for doing 'fittings' for me.

I've learned much from knitting this little garter, the most important of which is I can knit just about anything with some help, perseverance and drawing on my past skills. It has also reaffirm to me that I love knitting, as it is a wonderful way to show people I care for, how much I love them.

Shauna, don't look at this until after Sunday....

OK, well, she is sure to look now. Right? I didn't have to tell her what I was doing, and was able to find out what colours she is using for her wedding, fall colours.

So the shower is on Sunday, and I have got the blocking in place tonight. I hate, HATE, knitting to a deadline. What if something screws up? What if it looks awful? Now that the knitting is done, I am worried about the blocking. When the blocking is done, I will worry about the sewing in the elastic. I am trying to get this done ASAP, as Heather's cousin is coming in from Vancouver on Thursday, and I won't have anymore time to devote to this little project.

Think positive knitting thoughts for me.......

Lace and bugs...

I will definitely call myself a novice lace knitter, and it frustrates the hell out of me. I can't tell you how much time it took to figure out this little bit of lace knitting, but I did get it. If it is any comfort to me, my mother (who has been knitting for most of her 81 years) didn't get it at all. It also helps that I went from a 40 gauge crochet cotton (shown at top) to a much thicker 10 gauge. Sort of like going from knitting fine dental floss, to thin string.

This lace garter will eventually be a present for my friend of Shauna for her upcoming wedding. I am only posting this as I will need to reveal my project to her tomorrow. I would like to get ribbon in her wedding colours, but I have no idea what they are.


While working on my newest piece of knitting (which I need to have done before Shauna's wedding shower on the 22nd), I came across some very interesting wee beasties.

This is a Hummingbird moth. It is out of focus, as it was moving so fast (but not as fast as its avian counterpart). I knew it wasn't a bird, as it has antenna out of its head. Absolutely amazing.


Also, this bee was nice enough to sit still and let me take about 20 pics of her (only a handful actually turned out).