September 6, 2008

Garden Notes and Some Knitting

Haven't had time for much knitting, so here are some garden photos. I discovered this guy in the back yard a few days ago while I was rushing to get ready for school. Even though I didn't really have time, I snapped a few photos so I could identify him (or her) later. I wish I'd thought to put another object in the photo for scale, because this was one ginormous slug. And kind of striking with the spots and all. Kate was way too interested, so I had to put her inside while I snapped the photos. Eventually he crawled off into the grass leaving a nice slimey trail.

So, if you know your gastropods, you'll recognize the above specimen as a leopard slug, so named for the cool spots. I found lots of info in the internets, but I especially liked this page which refers to them as "handsome," because--sliminess notwithstanding--they are something to look at.

Also featured in the garden this week are these wonderful Morning Glories.

My friend Beth gave me several seedlings in early spring. Thanks to our backyard squirrels, this is the only plant that survived. I planted it a bit late, so the flowers have only recently appeared--but I think they're gorgeous. I was expecting the usual blue variety, but these are huge white flowers about 4 inches across. They provide a nice bright spot just as everything else is fading away (like the purple coneflowers in the lower right corner of this photo). The purple asters have just started to bloom. I'll post pics next week when they really start to take off. I'm hoping today's rain (from Hurricane Hanna) will encourage the plants to bloom.

Even though this past week was only the second of the semester, I was busy enough that I had hardly any time for knitting. I still try to do a little every day though, even if it's just a half hour. So this week I did some swatching to find a good pattern for some Regia Bamboo I've had in my stash for awhile now. On the left is the Chevron pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks which I thought might show off the pretty colors of this yarn. On the right are Froot Loop Socks from the spring '08 issue of Knitty .

I didn't think either pattern did much for the yarn, though. Then I tried Retro Rib from Favorite Socks.
I tried this pattern once before in a different yarn, but gave up because I kept making mistakes. It's not a hard pattern to memorize--just 4 rows, with only minimal variation between rows 1-2 and 3-4. But I kept making mistakes. I'm doing slightly better this time, although I have had to frog bits here and there. The above photo isn't great, but I think that the pattern nicely shows off the colors of the yarn, even if the yarn overwhelms the pattern just a bit. So I'm sticking with this for now.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

B....a slug? Really?? Guh-ross. Pretty knitting pattern, though! :)cmr.

Anonymous said...

Ewww. Agree with CMR--gross. More knitting, less wildlife, please.

GK