A Few of my Favorites...

Geranium's are some of my favorite flowers. I think because there were tons of pink ones around the house I grew up in. I remember picking my mom little bouquets that she would place in a crystal vase. Now, I find myself even putting weeds in a vase if a little one cuts them for me. This lavender one came from a I took a clipping from my friend's first house.

This salmon one I bought on a whim at Target last year. I love the variegated leaves on this one. And I love the grouping in our yard...this geranium, a dwarf flax, and our bird of paradise. I just wish there were more blooms on the geranium right now. And the bird of paradise really needs to be dead-headed. When all is in bloom...I love this grouping of oranges and salmons. Highlighted by the purple iris to the right, high society garlic to the left, and the purple in the bird of paradise.I also love the softness of a Crepe Myrtle. We planted a 15 gallon pot about 2 years ago. It's getting there...but it's not huge yet. We want to keep it shrub-like rather than trimmed as a standard tree.
Here the frilly pink is juxtaposed by under plantings of Mexican Feather Grass. The feather grass is beautiful when it glows with the sunset. Since I'm not doing the digging in our yard...we have a lot of grasses in our yard. Those are M's favorites. Our zebra grass and a dwarf pampas are about to bloom. Maybe they'll have bloomed enough to photograph for next week.

Knitwise:

• I'm a little past the 1/2 way point on the Dream Swatch. I'm hoping to be done by the weekend. I did email my photo and the link to the pdf pattern to my MIL so she could see it. She loved the way it looked in Wendy's hair. She's excited to see the one I'm knitting.
• I finished the bottom of the Sidekick bag and picked up stitches all the way around. I love the SWS...except that like mohair...I find little fluffs in my eyelashes. And don't wear light colors then knit with navy...I end up looking linty. Other than that...it's a dream. Soft, fun to watch color changes, knits up quick. I'll have a purse in no time.
• I bought some cheap sock yarn for a practice run. I know, I shouldn't knit with 100%acrylic...but for $3.50 a sock...I could always give them away. I bought Moda Dea Sassy Stripes in Vintage. I've been looking at this colorway every time I'm Michael's for wool. If you look at the Vintage link and then click on the feet...there's a free pattern to download. I really wanted something this basic for my first try. If any sock knitters see me headed for disaster before I cast on, let me know. I'm just guessing that I make the M and hope for the best. If these don't work out, then I'll pay $35 for the sock class at my LYS. And while I'm thinking about it...I'm not sure if I'll really wear socks. Except for Karen Neuberger socks, and white socks for when I walk in the evening...I've maybe worn socks 5x in the last year. Or maybe this is a whole new start for me.

Exchangewise:

I signed up for the FALL FELTED BAG EXCHANGE. I'm not as fast as Miss Me (my upstream from the Spring Exchange) who already has her questionnaire up...but I'll be posting that this weekend. I'm so excited to have something for me to look forward to as we start school. As of this morning...there are already 28 signed up! I recognize about 1/2 the names...and there's a bunch of new ones I'll go look at. Now, how do I make the button on the sidebar link to the FFBE blog?