Blooms & Knits!

Passiflora caerulea

Started these seeds back in February 2007 for a horticulture class project. To make a crop, and my choice was passion flowers. I did two varieties, this one pictured is Passiflora cerulea, from seed, and I also did cuttings of passiflora "x" I call it, because I still have no idea what color it will be, since it was growing wild in the greenhouse.

 And a size reference!

Why do I love them? I have no idea, maybe because they are the most striking and unusual of anything I've encountered in my pre-horticultural life. It stuck with me for a long time, and even redeems itself again by blooming. I feel tempted to give them all one last feeding of bloom fertilizer, but I'll just let them settle into their crevices around the house, since they're all doing so well.

____

Knits knits knits..  it's been a week of finishing and small projects. I don't have much focus for big projects lately, but I think I'm going to have to hunker down and knit my pocket scarf and a nice slouchy hat.

Yum, dim sum!

I made a cute little dimsum catnip ball for my kitty, who very unusually does not like catnip. In fact, she backs away in terror if you present it to her. Well, I can't say there's anything wrong with an anti-drug feline.

 

Seasonal coasters...

I also knitted a set of four lil candy corn coasters. They knit up quickly, but I'm a little impatient and fidgety for swapping colors.

Knit either of these:

The Coaster

Dim Sum!

oct 20-09 - x 3

Harvest ready...

I passed some beautiful hedges of roses, their hips were so shiny and ripe they almost seemed gem-like. It was pretty nice.

I feel healthy today.

If you haven't heard about Kentville's Pumpkin people, then let me introduce you to a few. Each year, the Pumpkin people (I believe there must be some kind of secret PP council out there) appear in huge crowds and gather. They usually follow a year's theme. This year's theme being the ever exhausted theme of Olympics.

One crowd....

As you can see, they are very active. This chap has mastered

the ski jump (just pretend that he isn't "stuck in the tree").

___

Currently knitting up some little things. I think this year I'm going to try to make a few little gifts, and I really want a new hat, one that is fluffy and warm and slouchy. But I'm still also going to knit the others in my queue as my skill grows. My stockinette stitch looks mostly flawless now and my tension looks good, so I'm proud of a small achievement. Actually, if I figure out intarsia and mittens by the end of the year, I'd be happy. And I'd also like to felt something eventually...

And I have so much yarn, why the heck not make a patchy blanket? Make a few different squares, all colors, matching or not..generally medium to bulky yarn, different stitch patterns and if I get the intarsia or fair isle downpat, something more special. Watch me though...I will buy 5 new bundles of yarn, JUST for that purpose.

It's a good day to rake leaves, but they're really still just too pretty to rake them yet. Tomorrow if it's sunny and not too windy, I'll tackle it--I swear. Maybe if a friend drops in, I could borrow some motivation to start pulling the asters out of there so I can begin my garden next spring.

Oct 16 - 09

First Post

Well, maybe not officially the first post, but the first that really matters. Just to give you a little heads up, this is a photoblog, the first that I've ever attempted, so this may be a challenging endeavor for me. But I live in a beautiful place and I have a relatively interesting life that I could do it if I put my mind to it.

This blog is meant to replace my old, whiny not very interesting Livejournal. I found myself deleting everything from my past, and as I slowly catch up, I continued to fill it with unimportant posts. So here's to breaking an old terrible habit!

Things you may find photographed:  Knitting/Yarn related stuff, Cooking and experimentation in the kitchen, DITL posts (which are a lot of work so they will be rare!), Other crafts that I often make (I enjoy arts and crafts, so I'm still a kid at heart, hehe). Also, various pics of nature and every day life.

That's all for now!

Cereal & blueberries,

D

101 things to do in 1001 days

This was a list I began back in my Livejournal days, inspired by a community of the same name. The list was officially posted and started on January 3, 2009. Anything that I complete as of being posted here on blogger will be linked to and shared with photos!


This list must be completed by Friday, September 30, 2011
Italicised items are currently in the works! Stay tuned for their updates!

1. Go to Montreal botanical gardens + insectarium
2. Get my butt to the museum of natural history
3. Find a hort/gardening/insect community to join around town
4. Get my driver’s license - (Beginner's acquired, driver's ed only affordable post christmas..)
5. Learn all the crochet techniques required to make something.
6. Actually crochet an amigurumi
7. Learn how to knit well (Current Skill level: Beginner/Advanced beginner)
8. Knit myself a scarf
9. Knit myself some mittens
10. Knit myself a hat
11. Redo/Redesign my business card
12. Get married
13. Lower my blood pressure without medication
14. Do a few seminars on plant care
15. Set up a vivarium (for insects - Either a Giant Leaf, or an Indian Stick)
16. Plant a lavender garden
17. (help)Complete the kitchen (with cupboards/floors/walls) and moved out.
18. (help)Complete the bedroom  ..and moved out.
19. become decent at meditation
20. Go on a spirit journey
21. Finish at least one story concept on the go
22. Get down to 150 lbs
23. Get a truck/minitruck
24. Get my diplomas/hort certificates framed & hung
25. Get my Certified Horticultural Technician stamp
26. Get into a job at a nursery again
27. Go on a survival/roughing it trip
28. Go Kayaking
29. Go snowshoeing
30. Fall in love with winter in general
31. Paint on a massive canvas
32. Make some of these passion flowers bloom View here!!
    
33. Take an art class/workshop
34. Go swimming
35. Re-format my cookbook
36. Create a new recipe
37. Raise monarch butterflies
38. Raise more black swallowtail butterflies
39. Get a Ginkgo tree (have 3 seedlings)
40. Start at least 2 bonsai trees
41. Draw a comic strip (4 panel)
42. Draw a comic page (a full color page)
43. Get my budget plan together
44. Get a full time job doing something I enjoy
45. Negotiate to adopt a dog.
46. (if 44, then jog or walk with dog habitually)
47. Create a tradition for the summer
48. Go (regular/easy) camping in New Hampshire mountains
49. Re-learn French, be capable of full conversations - working on this
50. Learn how to sew w/machine
51. Make a lavender wreath
52. Go to a spa
53. Get my ears pierced again
54. Get my ginkgo leaf tattoo
55. Give up pop
56. Collect seeds from one growing season
57. Read a French Novel
    
58. create a rough tropical plant shop biz plan  Done.. just need the startup $
59. Adopt an optimistic philosophy
60. Go to a Mooseheads game
61. See another musical
62. Print some photos for the walls
63. Go to a big amusement park; ride all the coasters there
64. Help design a forever house
65. Get down to 135 pounds
66. Plan a conservatory
    
67. Plant a temporary tropical garden for summers
68. Create a vision journal with at least 10 pages
69. give up hot dogs, sausages, and “mystery meats” - Still struggling with this beast.
70. Give up jerky
71. Knit myself a REALLY warm blanket
72. Give up non-green cleaning products
73. Go to a convention
74. Get the rest of my things that I own from my parents’ place
75. Any of 74’s items I no longer want, I will donate or sell, or just get rid of.
76. Grow a giant pumpkin
    
77. Get a respectable wardrobe (no more paint/gardening clothes)
78. Become a better Geranium collector  – Collect 10 varieties (2/10)
    
79. Try and re-initiate my old vegetarian lifestyle
80. Beat an RPG video game from my collection
81. Read all my unread books, sell/donate the ones I don’t like, and buy no books till then!
    
82. Overcome my crippling fear of swimming in the ocean
83. Get a wii and marioparty. And throw parties.
84. Knit a Blanket
    
85. Recycle more obsessively. I live in Kings County, where you have to do this!
    
86. Pay off/eliminate half my educational loan debts
87. Go to the west coast to the petrified forest
88. Climb a tree
89. Have a picnic
90. Sculpt a figurine
91. Have a slumber party 
92. Catch a frog
93. Set up a fish tank
94. Find a home for all these damn passion flowers
95. Watch a sunrise in mushaboom (cottage place/ocean)
96. Catch fireflies
97. Read a(nother) book about core shamanism
98. Read a self-improvement/positivity book
99. Donate to a charity (Donated to: Foodbank, SPCA, Will be donating my hair soon)
100. Complete at least 50 items on this list
101. do ONE act of guerrilla gardening in my neighborhood

About the Image: Red maple photographed at Settler's Green, New Hampshire, September 2008.