Bitten by the African Violet Bug

During the time I've been living here, I've been experimenting with different plants. I've grown lemon balm, herbs, random plants that in my heart, I knew would fail (like tomato plant, chamomile, and lavender). None really had me excited about them. However, I've recently been hit by an African Violet love. They can grow for years, their flowers are beautiful, they have the weirdest leaves. What's not to enjoy about them?

My first one was purchased at Home Depot, and it was the saddest little thing I'd ever seen. It was pretty sick when I got it, it wasn't blooming, and it had brown spots all over the leaves (apparently from top-watering). But, I got it anyway, I didn't realize it wasn't supposed to look like it did. At $2, I figure I couldn't go wrong with it. Even after I gingerly cared for it, trying to bring it back to life, leaf after leaf fell off, until it finally died. Afterwards, I ended up at Lowes, in search of another African violet. One look at their display, and I was shocked! I had no idea an African violet was supposed to look this awesome.



Oh yes, I found the most adorable pink Optimara variety plant, and it looked fantastic. Compared to my sad Home Depot one, this one was amazing. Sure, it's got a few scratches, and blemished leaves, but it was like pure gold in my eyes. And, it was blooming as well! I brought it home, and it wasn't long before I found myself back there, picking out another one. Now, every time we go to Lowes, I manage to come home with another violet. To make matters worse for my windowsills, when Tyler does something to get him into the doghouse, he knows that by bringing home one of these, all is forgiven (even if he does manage to find the most unattractive blooms).

My birthday is coming up soon, and I may or may not have spent $85 on 11 new violets from an online seller, that should be here middle of next week. Erk.

Ravellenic Games 2012

For those who don't know, Ravelry is a really fantastic site for knitters and crocheters. It is a community, store, pattern haven, and information portal for everything yarn-related. I love Ravelry, and much of my life really revolves around it. For every Olympics, they put on Ravellenic Games (formerly known as the Ravelympics). These games are where knitters and crocheters participate in our own Olympic-type games, starting a project at the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, and going on a quest to finish that project by the time the closing ceremonies come around. It's a wonderful way to be motivated to finish a project, challenge yourself, and have a great completed object at the end. When you post your finished project into the finish line, you get a medal (an image to post to your profile, project page, or where ever you wish), as an added bonus.

I've been knitting for a few years now, have tried many different techniques, and knitted several different things. I was definitely confident to participate in these Ravellenic Games. And, I'm really glad I did. My choice of project was the Summer Flies shawl. In my past shawl knitting experiences, it takes me many weeks to finish. Mainly because I get frustrated when something goes wrong, then I put it down and don't come back to it for weeks later. I wanted to push myself to finish a shawl in a little over 2 weeks, with mistakes and all.

I started out, and was amazed at how fast it knitted up. I was on a roll with this shawl, and even finished a little earlier than I expected to. The games ended on the 12th, I finished knitting it on the 6th. It wasn't until the 11th that I did the finishing touches on it though (mainly blocking it, which took longer than I expected). I photographed it and posted it into the finish line just in time, however. Just barely. I have to give my fiance credit for helping me take the photo of it though. He stood there with the camera, taking many pictures as I looked at them saying "Yeah, I don't like that one, take another." The poor guy.



I am unbelievably pleased with it. I finished on time, it looks fabulous, and when fall comes around, I'm going to wear it everywhere. Oh yes, I am. It will also look fantastic over my cold weather pea coat. Also, it was with this project that I gathered courage to attend my first knitting group. I do have a lot of social anxiety, so attending the knitting group was huge for me. It was at a residence which raised my social red flags (I kind of feel better meeting on neutral grounds, like a coffee shop), but I went anyway, and am really glad I did. The women I met there were really great, they didn't make me feel uncomfortable or awkward in their home, and I left there feeling really excited for the next meeting.

Anyway, I'm still hoping and waiting for my medal for finishing my Summer Flies, it's obscene how many times I refresh the forums to see my name listed among the other Ravletes. But it should come soon. After participating during these games, I can't wait for the next one, I had such a fun experience, and it really boosted my love for knitting even more than I thought possible.