Knitting with others

Last Saturday I once again went over to Tampa to meet up with some fellow Rockin' Sock Club members. This time it was Phoebe, Alyson and myself. Have you ever had one of those great afternoons where you meet up to knit and talk talk talk and all the sudden it's four hours later and oh my gosh one of you has a rather long drive home? That's the kind of afternoon it was. Phoebe worked on a beautiful sock using Black Bunny Fiber. Both times I've knitted with her I've come back home with a long list of indy dyers to try. Alyson worked on her Bellocq stockings (Stitch Diva). They are gorgeous, gorgeous! Be sure to visit her blog and check them out. If you get the urge to make them yourself, she's even started a KAL.

Alyson mentioned this on her blog, too, but one of my favorite moments was when we were approached by an elderly woman with what I think was a heavy German accent. She said she used to love to watch her mother (or grandmother, crap I forget) knit when she was little. She thanked us (thanked us!) for bringing back such good memories. I wanted her to pull up a chair so I could ask her tons of nosy questions about her (grand)mother, where she was from, if her (grand)mother taught her to knit... Instead I just smiled and thanked her. For some reason I was curious why she didn't mention if she knitted. Why? Why did no one teach her?! I try to keep a lid on my nosy side; I love people's stories, even if I can't remember the specifics.

I've been working on some Monkeys, but I'm not going to show you yet. I'll be done in a day or two so I'll take photos then. In the meantime, let me try to distract you from the lack of knitting photos with some viney goodness in my yard.

Last year I decided to go native in my yard. I moved all my non-native plants to the backyard so at least my front yard is 100% native (Except the grass, which takes up 80% of my yard. I suppose it's more accurate to say that my yard is 20% native). The plan is to replace any dying non-native plants in the backyard with native ones so eventually my backyard will be native, too. There are a few non-native plants I may not have the heart to get rid of. My jasmine, in bloom now and smelling beautiful, is two years old and finally draping itself over the fence: When I open the back door I'm greeted with a whiff of jasmine!


In the front yard, I opted for some Cross Vine (Bignonia capreolata). Planted last year, it's starting to get some good blooms. One of the misconceptions is that Florida native plants aren't as attractive as the popular plants. I think the Cross Vine is beautiful:


Today was a very odd day in Florida. Cold and rainy. I loved the cold. My yard loved the rain. Others at the house weren't as thrilled.