Today is bright, sunny and warm. No doubt about it, spring is here. Outdoors it is still too soon to plant as there is still another month of possible cold snaps and plant-crushing snow ahead of us, but inside the plants have gotten the message.
I bought grow lights last fall and moved some of my favorite plants and roses back indoors for the winter. The plants eventually quit blooming and some of the roses are engaged in mildew/spider mite wars. So far those roses are winning, but there have been some close calls and trips to the garage for treatment and isolation. The orchids, however, have just flourished under the new lights and my jade plants put out so much new growth that I took cuttings and started several new pots. Anyway, never mind the jade plants… look at what happened with the orchids!
I need to do some internet searches to see if I can propagate new orchids from those roots… I look at this plant and wonder if I should stop feeding it orchid food. Strangely, the orchid that is blooming has the worst growth of the bunch; maybe all of its energy is going into the blooms? Right now it is an orchid mystery and I’m just enjoying the blooms.
The rest of my time has been spent nursing an infected ankle (No, I don’t want to talk about it! Bad ankle, bad!) and knitting away endlessly on projects that never seem to get done. I keep adding new balls of yarn, knitting away, but they are still not done. I am drowning in yarn here, people!
I’m now below the V-neck and knitting like crazy on the body. This sweater is really, well, boxy, and each round of knitting takes forever, and the length is growing, but slowly. Once I was below the increases and shaping for the upper part of the sweater it became “knit until you have the length you want” knitting. I keep knitting, and knitting, and knitting, and knitting… you get the idea. I put it aside to hibernate for a little while.
Socks! Let’s do some quickly rewarding socks, I told MacKenzie.
Umm… there is a reason they say you should read the pattern carefully before you start knitting. I skimmed the pattern text, found the pattern chart for the size sock that I wanted, and got to work. I love charts! Oops. This chart is not designed to be knit exactly as presented as the pattern is designed to allow individual customization; lots of customization. I ended up ripping out the sock twice! Ugh. The yarn and needles went into time out right next to the V-Neck Boxy sweater.
Yep. Not sure what I was thinking here beyond that this was a stunning design and I wanted it right this second!! This is another endless knitting project. The balls slowly shrank as I knitted on and on and on in garter stitch broken every now and then with lace. I worried about the yardage of the third color, the wine-colored yarn, as part of it had been used to knit the Sturgill sweater… that ball is only 75 grams of yarn, and I used almost all of the first ball of yarn before the switch to pink occurred. Ugh! Maybe I should use the dark grey from the Geology socks for the third color and make the socks out of the wine colored yarn…
After agonizing over yarn choices, amounts of yarn, and in what combinations I should be using them, I am finally happy with what is coming off of my needles. The only trouble is… there is so much endless knitting ahead of me. Endless knitting broken up only be the little charts of the geology socks.
I’m dreaming of a new project. Hmm… maybe I should go stash shopping. I could cast on a couple of new projects… Nordiska is calling me… I saw a fast cowl pattern at the LYS…
Hot mess knitting is pretty exhausting, but for me it may be an essential part of my creative process. Eventually I will have finished projects. Stay tuned, it is sure to happen someday soon.
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone. If there is a holiday celebration for you this weekend, I do hope that it is a good one.
Yarn, Books & Roses 
beautiful flowers! 🙂
Thank you. It is hard to get orchids to bloom (it has something to do with big temperature swings), so I am always thrilled when one does. So happy with the color of this plant.
it is so very beautiful. what a lovely color to view this spring. 🙂
Just in time for Easter.
🙂
Wow you’ve been busy. Love the purple yarns in the boxy and socks. Orchids roots need light which is why they are sold in clear pots. They may have exploded new roots to get the light they need. If you can find a glass or nice clear plastic pot it should stop sending so many upwards.
I cruised the internet learning about roots yesterday. These roots that are exploding out of my plant are air roots, and the plant is using them for CO2 and water absorption, which means they must also be doing photosynthesis like you said. Who knew that was a thing? No wonder that plant is growing like a weed! I need to get some orchid books! My goal for this year is to get more blooms.
I think I’m in a pink/purple phase; I’m just in love with those colors combined with greys right now.
I hope the ankle eases
Me too. There is debate about whether this is an infection or a blood clot, but they put me on antibiotics to see if that would take care of things. Good thing I have knitting as I’m still off my feet. 🙂
Your knitting looks great even if you feel like you’re getting nowhere. One day you’ll suddenly have a bunch of finished items and you’ll be wondering how they all are done:)
Your flowers are stunning!!
That’s what I tell myself… just keep knitting and eventually projects will be completed. I’m trying to make some progress on the destash project before t hg e end of the month!
My goodness – you and Mackenzie have been busy! First, your orchid blooms are amazing – just lovely! Your sweater and socks and shawl are all looking beautiful as well 🙂 Sometimes it take a minute to find the right colors/combinations, but when you do it is magic! I think that sweater is going to be beautiful in that yarn – the little sparks of purple are lovely 🙂
MacKenzie and I have been crazy busy.; eventually there will be finished projects to show for the work. I’m glad for the feedback on the sweater yarn. I was so nervous about those purple flashes, but they look great in the fabric coming off the needles. I’m always surprised by indie dyed yarns but that’s part of the joy of using them. 🙂