Seduction of a Wisteria Vine

GARDENING
Most of us have at one time or another, been gifted a plant. Sometimes they are for indoors, and sometimes they are meant to be planted outside.  I have a friend who is a Master Gardener and she was "cleaning out" her back yard of unwanted plants several years ago.  We had not been in our house for very long at the time, and I was more than happy to take the extra plants off her hands.  Most of them have worked out really well, and I'm ever so grateful for her generosity.
 But one plant, while beautiful and healthy, has begun to take over and manipulate (yes I said manipulate) the other plants in the vicinity.

Garden of Eden - NOT

The blooms have gradually ceased because of the competition with the other plants.  And the roots of the wisteria have literally strangled the once healthy hydrangea underneath.

Wisteria vs. Hydrangea - no contest

This bully plant comes on strong with vines, leaves galore, and quick growing shade.  What's not apparent is what's going on underground.  The roots are growing wide and deep, surrounding other plants' root systems like a zombie invasion. And the roots of a wisteria can't be pruned like their vines overhead. I had intended today to just move the shrubs underneath to a new location, allowing them more morning sun, and  less competition for water.

Insidious Roots

But no, there was NO moving the shrub, because on further inspection, I could see that the wisteria roots had taken over the neighborhood like the gang in West Side Story.  Surely they've been snapping their fingers and flipping their switchblades when I wasn't looking!

This morning I knew I had one  day to either move or remove whichever plant I determined was the problem.  Clearly it was the seductive wisteria.  It kills me how much I've bragged on this vine and Instagram-ed pictures of the almost non-existent blooms.  No more.  I sawed and clipped and pruned until my arms gave out.  That sucker is toast. Good riddance to bad rubbish.


SPINNING
I did actually participate in the Spinzilla challenge, although not online.  The colored wools that were dyed back in the summer found their way to my spindles and wheels. Maybe mittens??

Purples, Greens and Blues

KNITTING
This afternoon my ever protesting muscle groups made their demands.  Espresso and knitting until time for supper.  Espresso has been deposited to my tummy.  Now for the knitting.
I'm watching Eunny Jang's video on how to knit cables from a chart, and found the inspiration I was looking for.  Ah yes!

One of the things on my New Years Resolution list was to learn to knit cables from a chart.  I can cable just fine, and really enjoy it, but complicated cable patterns make me look away.  I'm all of a sudden shy, and I know why.

 I don't want to flex my mental muscles and learn a new technique.  (By the way, I learned how to spell t-e-ch-n-i-qu-e today.  It has a CH where I would've put just a C)
Anyway, I'm out to learn to knit cables from a chart, and that may just take me all the way to Christmas. Guess what you're getting for Christmas, honey?

Incredible!! (Blogiversary)

Today I feel incredibly proud of myself.  After setting a goal last January to learn to steek a sweater, hopefully handmade, I have completed my task!!  There really are no words to type that would convey how amazing this feels.  Its a sweet and simple euphoria to make a really good, fitting goal, and then to meet that goal within the time frame you gave to yourself, and after having overcome numerous obstacles to get there.  Probably this is like running a 5K for some people, or making an important journey.  There's hope fulfilled, accomplishment, and a lot of exhaling.

CUTTING THE SWEATER OPEN

I didn't realize how much I'd been holding my breath lately.  The final stages of this sweater have by far been the trickiest.  Its finishing touches have made me collapse every so often, thinking this was just going to be one more sweater that I'd throw in the back of the closet and never wear.  My goodness I was not sure if this was going to happen or not!

PICKING TRIM AND SEWING UP THE RAW STEEKED EDGE

CHOOSING AND SEWING THE BUTTONS

Steps to the final phase:
After making the actual sweater, the center front section had to be crocheted on either side of the steek stitch.  Then the whole sweater had to be cut up the middle.  LIKE AN AUTOPSY.  Oh my word that was hard to do.  And after having read all the comments from the online class by other knitters who had complete disaster with their sweater,  I was shaking in my boots!  Then the facing band had to be sewn on either side of the steek, and finally buttons and button loops added.

BEFORE BUTTONS

AFTER BUTTONS

What a journey to card this beautiful white fleece months ago, with some delicate angora. The carded wool was spun on my Kromski Symphony wheel, and then knit by hand.


When I learned to spin, making a sweater from wool I'd spun was one of my main goals.  I moved to Tennessee in the fall of 2001, and moved into this very house 12 years ago next week.  Not long after moving here I set out to learn how to spin.  Which I did.  In late October 2004 I started blogging and have made myself stick with it - mostly to keep up the momentum of projects started.  To this day I don't really know who reads my blog, and I get very, very few comments, but that doesn't matter.  I don't blog for numbers or feedback.  I blog for me.  Like a diary.  And I'm so glad I've been posting about this sweater these last few months.  It has given me the push I needed to stick with the project to the end.   So, here it is.  My first Icelandic sweater; picked and carded, spun and knit entirely by hand.  Yay for me!!

FINISHED AND READY TO WEAR!!

What I did today (no knitting, just chit chat)

So today I've had a ME day.  Every so often I need a little time to myself.  Some women/men go the spa, golf course, mall or shooting range.  With the way the economy is lately, it seemed prudent and even frugal to just wander around my home town, doing things that I might not ordinarily do.  Today I did a couple of things that I felt would put a little gas in my emotional tank while saving gas in my car's tank.

(As I type this from my backyard, my computer is sending me lots of pop ups to tell me  that I have no spyware protection, that the world will end in less than an hour if I don't update, scan and arm myself immediately.  I thought this ME day was supposed to get rid of the stress, not fill me with more.  I need more gas in my tank, not threats from my laptop!)

So, back to today.  I always join a friend of mine on Tuesday mornings to pray at the church.  I'm not Catholic, but it would be pretty cool to show up one morning and find some nuns praying on the front pews, with some candles lit nearby.  I always wanted to be a Catholic, mostly because my whole neighborhood was Catholic when I was growing up.  Catholics got to go to church on Saturday night, the women got to wear pants and they had this great "Lawn Party" every summer.  Oh yeah, and they took communion all the time and dancing was okay with the priest.  I grew up Baptist, and that's a whole 'nother story. 
So anyway, I went to church this morning to pray, and when we were through, I went to a local park to take a walk.  I brought my iPod and earbuds, and made sure to wear my hiking shoes and cargo pants.  The weather was beautiful; sunny and clear.  Perfect for walking, right?  But I got to the park and it was full of young mommies and their tots, strollers and sippy-cups.  It felt really warm in the car, and I chickened out.  After a few minutes I drove a couple of miles away to another park that proved to be perfect and inspiring. The paved walking trail follows the path of a creek, in one big meandering circle. One lap around  was 9/10 of a mile.  Some of the path was shady and the breeze was enough to keep me cool for the entire trek. 
After the walk, I went home to get some lunch, change clothes and go to the Books-A-Million to get a cup of coffee and check out the latest books. 
I'm so proud of the book stores that made it through the financial collapse a few years ago.  I really want to support them if I can, so I try to buy something every time I go, although mostly its just a magazine or cheap paperback.  Either way, its my way of saying "Way to go!"
On the way home from the bookstore, I drove to the local rec center, to see how far the walk would be from my house to there. I'd like to try doing that walk every so often, although there's one part of the walk that inevitably creeps me out.  I don't know why.  It creeped me out today when I drove over there.  They say our area is full of civil war battlefields and there's no telling who might have died there a hundred years ago. 
So, maybe I won't walk to the rec center after all.  Maybe the half mile there and back would be better spent at the track by the creek. Don't you agree?