Can't keep myself....

....from posting another photo of my new Dendrobium "Burana" Pink orchid. Five of the flowers are completely open and the sixth one is just starting to open.

So far so good. It really makes me happy.  There is nothing quite like having a blooming orchid in the house. The flowers last so long. If I had a pot of daffodils or tulips they would be dead by now. Instead my lovely plant is still bringing me joy with it's perfect flowers.

Knitting wise -- I finished my popsicle scarf. I was going to make it longer, but got so sick of it,  I decided to cut it short. It's long enough. I can wear it a couple of ways:



I'm not at all thrilled with the way this knit up. The pattern stitch should be much more prominent, but decided not to rip it out. It's ok, but not what I envisioned.

Since I had another skein left I decided to try a new and different looking scarf pattern that caught my eye. It's mostly garter stitch with some knitted drops on one side that are quite intriguing looking. It's been a fun knit so far and quite easy to do. The pattern is Shizuku in case you might want to try it for yourself.

My next project was one of great necessity. I desperately needed an easy take along project. Thought I'd do without one for a while, but I found I really needed to have a project in my knitting bag that can be dropped and picked up at a moment's notice. This pattern fits the bill. It's a baby blanket of a "no name" variety found in Knit Along with Debbie Macomber: Summer on Blossom Street (Leisure Arts # 4729) . I like the pattern very much. I don't think I've seen anything like it in my travels in the blogosphere. It's a very enjoyable knit so far.
 


After the blanket is complete you have the option of threading a ribbon through the eyelets. Might be a nice touch for a girly blanket. This one is blue, so I doubt I'll be finishing it with a ribbon. Maybe another time....

happy knitting :)

Copyright ©2006-2012 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.

More Pink

I have more pink to show you! The pink blanket is finished. Lately I've been a one project kind of girl. Usually I have two knitting projects to work on. One for home and one to take along. The blanket fulfilled both categories, which means it's an easy pattern.
 
I'm very please with how it turned out, but I must say the photo's color is not so great. Very washed out. The close up of the pattern is more true to life.

Another easy pattern is this Popsicle scarf that I've been working on. It's my second one. I made a rust one Christmas 2010 for my daughter-in-law. This time I chose a pink yarn that is suitable for spring and maybe even summer. More pink with threads of many colors. I'm not sure I like this pattern for this (Red Heart Hula) yarn, but I'm continuing on and will see how it looks once finished. I'm not sure if it will block as it is an all acrylic yam , but feels more silky like a microfiber. I really doubt it will block, but we'll see.  
 
 I'm in love...with my new orchid. Here's a photo when the second bud opened.
   
It brings me such joy when each and every bud opens. Love, love, love it!
Here's a photo of bud number three opening. Don't you just love it? 

Stlll have a bunch more buds to watch and savor.

I've been spring cleaning and de-cluttering. It's amazing how much better I feel when my house tries to be clean and tidy. Wish I could be in this mood 365 days a year. This phenomenon doesn't happen to me often, so I need to take full advantage of it. I must have spring fever ;)

Look what I found. I just had to show you.  My spool knitter. An ancient, vintage, German, special  spool knitter from my childhood.Can you imagine I still have the original box and instructions in Deutsch of course? What I love about this particular one is that the pegs or nails are bent so as to not catch the yarn as you pull the yarn loops over themselves. Pretty cool. I have several spool knitters, but I have to admit this is the most unusual one.


Well, I guess that's about it for now. It's been a busy day today with being up at 5 am and some traveling, listening (to my book and jazz band music) and knitting, so now it's time to wind down and rest up. Daylight savings time starts tomorrow and I do so hate to lose that precious hour of time.

Happy Spring and happy knitting :)

Copyright ©2006-2012 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.

My new baby

I brought home a new addition to our family today. A new baby to learn how to take care of. No, it's isn't a small person or animal. It's my new orchid:

I was supposed to pick out an orchid for my Valentine as my wonderful husband was not comfortable to do it on his own. At the time I didn't find one that I wanted, so I figured I'd wait. I kept looking, but still didn't find the right one. You can see why my husband was afraid to pick one out....I'm too darn picky!! Well, today I stopped at Trader Joe's and was pleasantly surprised when I found this orchid. It's a dendrobium orchid. This is my second orchid. The first one I had was a phalaenopsis. You probably remember Miss Pink. I managed not to kill Miss Pink and she bloomed a long time for me, giving me so much pleasure for a very long time. I do love orchids so much. Hope I have good luck with this one and  I don't kill it, at least not right away. Maybe my blogging friend, Dee, an orchid lover, will give me some tips. Check out the new orchid she got recently. She bought it in a store in Florida that caters just to orchids. There are no such stores around here in Massachusetts.

I picked this one because of the deep purple rose color even though there is only one bloom on the plant. There are lots of buds though.Ten buds. I love buds. I love watching them and waiting for them to open. Oh, my I do hope they all open.  It's not very big which is good.
 
Some of the big showy orchids are huge and top heavy. I like the smaller ones. I'm crossing my fingers and hope I can keep this beauty alive. Looking forward to watching the buds open.  How did I do, Dee?

Still working on my Holding Hands Baby blanket. Other than the orchid, not much is new :) happy knitting :)

 Copyright ©2006-2012 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.