What is it? (Garden Edition)

This spring, a new plant appeared in our garden. 

The flowers are about 2 inches long. 

It moved in on top of some coral bells. (I hope I can separate them next spring!)

The plant on the left is a toad lily from Rolling Green Nursery that I added to the garden last fall. I wonder if seeds for my new garden volunteer hitchhiked on that toad lily somehow.

 If you know what this plant is, please let me know in the comments or via email!!! Thank you!!!

Red Camo Hat

In February, Main Street Art held their first annual Knit In.

They provided a meeting place, yarn (including donated yarn from Riverslea Farm), knitting patterns, camaraderie and excellent snacks from private sources and the Newfields General Store.

The drop-in knitters provided our labor and good company.

From those ingredients, this red camo hat was created.

Inspiration & Motivation:

• Join the fun at Main Street Art
• Contribute a well-made, warm hat to New Horizons of New Hampshire
• I chose this gorgeous red yarn from a bin of different yarns because I loved the cheeriness of this color

What I liked about this project:

• Knitting in good company for a good cause
• It really is possible to knit a hat in a day
• It's a luxury when some one else makes all the decisions on a project for me
• I actually started and finished a project within days.....so unusual for me!

What I'd do differently next time:

• I didn't use Riverslea yarn which bums me out because I'm curious about what it's like to work with
• I didn't set aside as much of that day as I'd have liked....so I had hat homework!
• Something about the decreases at the top of this pattern doesn't sit well with me.
• I messed up, and forgot to make the "turn up" row, where instead of rib, it's a row of all knit. Ooops!!

Needles: US 7 double-pointed bamboo needles
Yarn: Takhi yarn from the 1980's, probably Takhi tweed of some sort
Pattern: Camo Hat by Merri Fromm from Blue Sky Alpacas Pattern Leaflet: Traveler's Series

Have you noticed that you can sing "Red Camo Hat" to the tune of "Red Solo Cup"? (For some reason, that song is such an earworm for me....maddening! Luckily I didn't name this hat til I was done knitting, or I would have been singing that song in my head the whole time!)

Related posts:
On Ravelry
Announcing the Knit-In

M&M Cookies

In the mood for a bit of baking over the weekend?

These cookies with mini M&M's are shockingly, seriously good!! I just had to share!

Enjoy!!!

I am knitting up a storm, so hopefully I'll be blogging about that soon too!

Old Bay Steamed Shrimp

My favorite way to prepare Gulf shrimp, in case anyone is travelling south!!!

1/2 cup cider vinegar or beer
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons OLD BAY® Seasoning
1 pound large shrimp, deveined

Directions

In a medium saucepan, mix vinegar, water and OLD BAY. Bring to boil on medium heat. Gently stir in shrimp, then cover.

Steam 2 to 3 minutes or just until shrimp turn pink. Drain well.

Serve immediately or refrigerate until hungry guests arrive. Best served with punchy cocktail sauce and lively conversation.

Happy Valentine's Day!

"Love is something eternal; the aspect may change, but not the essence." -Vincent van Gogh

Green Banana Silk

Motivation:

• Feel excited about this yarn and about doing a quick project that's for me
• I loved receiving this yarn as an unexpected gift, and wanted to complete this project before the next time I see the giver
  
• I wanted to get back into a satisfying creative routine
  

Inspiration:

• A weaving buddy gave me this yarn at a spring weavers guild meeting. I was so touched. I don't get surprises very often! (Especially not pleasant yarn surprises!!)
• I would love to create an open, spring-like scarf to wear in spring and fall indoors (not my usual, keeps-me-warm-in-winter scarf!)

What I liked about this project:

• I really like how the yarn and pattern work together to show off the luster and irregularities of this yarn.
• I tried lots of dropped stitch patterns, and really like that this one combines knits and purls with the dropped stitches to make a more interesting scarf.

Pattern: Opera Scarf by Laurie Kimmelstiel

Yarn: Frabjous Fibers Banana Silk Yarn

Just under 1 skein of yarn used.

Needles: US 10 3/4

Finished size: 5 1/2 x 56 inches

On Ravelry

Wake Up Call

Yesterday morning, when I was walking down the stairs, I noticed a weird brown thing in our yard.







I can't believe it was a fox!!!!

Scratching its neck

Getting up

Shaking his head, just like Bailey does

Stretching

Gotta stretch those back legs too

Ready for the day

Heading out

We watched it for about 10 minutes, when it finally got up and trotted away. During that time, several cars passed on the road (about 50 feet in front of the fox). It would pick up its head and look around when that happened, but then puts its head back down.

It was 18° F (-8° C) while we watched the fox. I would never have guessed that a fox would sleep out in the open like that. We watched from slightly before 7 a.m. until about 7:10. The sun was up the whole time.

Sorry that I've included some blurry photos....This was pretty much at the limit of what my camera and lens could do in that limited light through the window into the sun.

It was just so cool to see a fox wake up for the day. A lot of his actions, like the stretching and shaking his head, totally remind me of what Bailey does when he wakes up.

On New Year's Day, Acorn to Oak asked if I had any fox photos yet. Finally, I can say YES!