On My Front Porch

Me and my big mouth have put me in a mild state of knitting panic. I am not off the hook regarding my friend's baby blanket. Here I was, smugly confident about surprising her with a hand-knitted baby ski hat and matching booties when all along she has been expecting a blanket! The blanket!

"I know about your special skills," she said when I asked her if she wanted anything specific from the ubiquitous Babies R Us registry. "From you, I'd like a blanket." Oh. Shit. Pardon my Lebanese.

I frantically made a mental inventory of my stash. The only yarn that would work is my coveted Laines du Nord Baby Cover which I specifically bought to crochet my own baby blanket. Oh. Crap. Worse, the colorway is just right for her because the variegated yarn, despite being pastel, is yellow and green - Green Bay Packer colors, her favorite team.

Fortunately I have 2 weeks until her baby shower. Drat these shower things. Why is it that grown, mature, sophisticated women willingly subject themselves to games like...Poopy Diaper...Pins in Rice...? It must be the gifts. I, too, will have my own baby shower tomorrow.

No pictures of the Packers blanket yet. It's just a simple basketweave pattern anyway.

Now, as for what's on my front porch. There was a dead lizard. I'm not going to show you a picture of that although at first I thought it was sleeping. Poor lizard. My cymbidium orchids are blooming wonderfully. These grow particularly well outside and like to be cramped in their containers. The more crowded the bulbs are, the better they bloom.






I bought these at Lowe's after the plants had already bloomed so I wasn't sure what color they were at first. The flowers stay open for weeks, sometimes months! The plants are extremely easy to maintain. The first year I watered them every week. Then I began to neglect them. It didn't matter - as long as they were fed every once in a while they were fine. They are extremely gratifying.










You may wonder what's so special about a tree sapling that I had to take a picture of it. Well, imagine this plant with absolutely no leaves or even buds. Just a stick, literally. That's what it looked like when Karl gave it to me for Valentine's Day. Now the maple is positively lush and we will plant it when the baby is born. We call it the "Karalyn Tree".



Another week gone by. One of the highlights was having lunch and knitting with Cyndi at the office. I think it was Cyndi who first suspected we actually work for the same company. Now she's on the same campus too! To think I would've missed out getting to know such a cool chick if it weren't for knitting and blogging. Serendipity. I have to admit, though, I envy Cyndi's spacious cubicle with natural lighting.

How did your week go?