Dragon's Orchid Garden

Knitting is therapeutic. Knitting is calming. Knitting is creative release. Knitting can also be hard on the eyes and finger joints. I have two (of eight) projects going now that could not be more different from each other. One is a mat for the kitties shaped like a big mouse rug . It’s a pattern from Pet Projects by Joanna Osborne and Sally Muir. The other is a Diamond Lace Bookmark from Dizzy Spinster Designs by Heather M. Brown. One uses size 10 needles and Wool-Ease Thick and Quick yarn, the other uses size 1 needles and Katia Gatsby Lux DK weight yarn (leftover from Liz’s shawl). When my eyes get tired, I can switch to the cat mat. When my fingers and hands get tired of holding the heavy stuff, I switch to the tiny needles. And so, you can persevere to the finish of the one thing you have going, or have several going at once to match your mood and current capability. It’s nice to have options in life and knitting. From Blogger Pictures From Blogger Pictures

This spring, the hubby decided to build a pond in the backyard. We’ve been gradually creating a little oasis since we bought this house in 1992. At that time, the back yard was nothing but sand, a couple of oak trees and an unsightly burn pit. For years, we would find pieces of glass, bolts, wires and other trash every time we made a new flowerbed. One spot in the middle of the yard would never grow anything, including grass. Wayne decided it would be the perfect place for our pond. The pond would be a good place to put our butterfly peacock bass, Jack, who was outgrowing his 55 gallon tank in the house. Our friend, Leon, had given us a 160-gallon pond form that he wasn’t using. It had been sitting in our shed for a year or so. Wayne started digging in the area of the old burn pit. After setting the form in place and backfilling, he cleared an area around the pond and put down weed block cloth. He then filled the pond and put in a filter system of his own design, using a ...

At work, we're having an auction to raise money for United Way . This year I've decided to donate a hand knitted washcloth and a nice scented soap. The high bidder will get to pick the color and pattern. I purchased the Zodiac patterns from KrisKnits . They are really fun to knit and I have scads of Peaches & Creme yarn from Pisgah .  We have lots of bakers offering cakes and brownies, administrators offering front line help at the library (oh, yeah!  shelve the 700's for 3 hours!), and I've auctioned orchid plants, but this will be a first for this type of craft.  I'll let you know what my offering brings.

What did I do every day after work, before I had a computer and the Internet? That would have been 15 years ago. I had a chance to remember the good old days when I lost my connection for 3 days this week. I have DSL through Internet Junction . It relies on Verizon to supply a working phone line to my house.  When the DSL light on my modem would just blink at me, I called Verizon first...on my cellphone (Sprint), because there was so much static on my land line that I couldn't converse.  The automated Verizon voice, very pleasant btw, had me do a test or two on my end and then informed me that they could have a technician at my home no earlier than Monday the 19th (5 days away at the time), sometime between 8 am and 9 pm.  Woohoo, thanksalot.  I was resigned to wait.  Later that night, dear hubby answered the phone and the nice automated Verizon voice asked a few yes or no questions, one of which was answered incorrectly, "yes" and the trouble ticket was closed....

Don’t throw away your cracked terracotta pots. My clever husband, Wayne, discovered a method to fix them. We were watching Antiques Roadshow one evening and saw an old porcelain plate with a crack repair made with metal staples. A cartoon lightbulb suddenly appeared over his head as he thought about all of the old cracked terracotta pots in the garden shed. The next day, he fixed several of them and has saved all of the old pots now! Those things are expensive, especially the big ones. The repairs look really cool and are quite sturdy and now we have many more usable pots. You will need a variable speed drill with a 3/16” carbide tipped concrete bit, heavy gauge wire, pliers and wire cutters. Wayne used 16-gauge rebar tie wire. First dunk the pot in water to soak the terracotta. This makes it less brittle and keeps the dust down when you drill it. Carefully drill a hole about ½ inch on either side of the crack. Use a steady medium speed and not too much pressure. Let the bit do the wo...

It's arrived! That season that passes for Autumn in Florida. We had a cool snap a couple of days ago. It got down into the 60's for a few nights, brrrr (it's back to 80 at night, now). The weather prompted several of the orchids in the back yard to start blooming. Now that it's not raining as much, we water them, mixing quarter strength orchid fertilizer (20-20-20) and a few drops of Superthrive for each gallon. Water weakly weekly , during dry weather. Species Vanda - this one has 3 flower spikes on it and has just started opening.  It will have 10 flowers on one spike and 3-4 on each of the other two.  The flowers are large at about 5". Deep Purple Denrobium lc. mini purple Maikai again. This time with 3 flower spikes. This is the plant featured in my blog header. It's one of my favorites.

While futzing around on Ravelry, I spotted a pattern for a dishcloth with a cow on it . My wonderful stepdaughter collects cows (not real ones, that would take up a lot of space). Making it will require my learning a new technique. Double knitting is not something I was familiar with, but the results so far are amazing! The pattern itself was short on information for someone new to this method, so I went to YouTube and found a great series of three videos to get me started.  It was easy to follow LiatMGat's instructions. My only question, after watching all three tutorials, is how to bind off so that the bind off row matches the cast on row.  I'll ask her, and let you know what she says (unless you know and can tell me first).  I've changed the pattern a bit, using the video's cast on method instead of the pattern's (tricky one, that, but looks nice), and adding a stitch on either side for the slipped first stitch and the purled together last stitch.  Now, w...

I've been home sick for the last two days.  You don't want to know the symptoms.  Suffice it to say that I stayed close to the bathroom.  The one good thing is I knitted.  The knitting made me forget for minutes at a stretch that I was not feeling really chipper.  I made a washcloth in black yarn with a skull on it .  Until I started writing this post, I didn't think of the symbolism equating with my state of health.  Since I'm feeling somewhat better tonight, I've started another cloth in a festive ombre yarn with a lace leaf pattern .  I've also been reading posts by Crazy Aunt Purl , which have made me laugh.  Always good therapy, laughing and knitting.