Well this is a first! A daffodil in flower, outside, in Chiloquin, on January 19th‼️It should be under snow, and the temp in the teens, but it is instead 50F with no snow. 🌱🌏 #gardening

A new pattern that I just designed, featuring condors. The pattern will end up on Ravelry as 'Stranded Condors Beanie' after it has been tested. In the meantime, these 2 are for sale. 🧶🦉

Another commissioned hat finished. It was for a large head. I just hope I didn't make it too large! 🧶🦑 The pattern is available on Ravelry - Stranded Octopus Beanie.

Just got these 2 hats finished and in the mail. Both were custom orders. 🧶🦑🦊 Both patterns are available on Ravelry.

I finally got around to fixing my favorite winter hat so that I could wear it again. I've had this hat for a loooong time.

Here it is December, & the crabapples are still lighting up this tree in the sun like Christmas decorations. Usually the birds have stripped them by now, but there just aren't so many birds around this year. They did get all the tiny crabapples from 2 other trees, & the Eleagnus & Mtn Ash berries 🌱

We thought the porcupine that I had seen in our yard at night with a trail cam had left when the neighbor began construction & felled the trees the porcupine was climbing. But no, he's been asleep all day in a remaining willow tree. It seems there are still some things to smile about. 🦊

This week's garden article - Nov 10th. 🌱 #gardening

My garden column for November 3rd. 🌱 #gardening Oh, & the result of the stewed pears experiment was that I decided these are really not worth canning & I now understand the reason that they are also called sand pears. The flavor is quite nice but the texture is not. I suppose I could try jelly...

#ShowMeYourKnits cable week. I used cables to turn this pussy hat pattern into an owl. You can find the owl pattern here. www.ravelry.com/patterns/lib... or I could knit one for you. 🧶

Garden column for Oct 27th, 2025 🌱 #gardening

My garden column for October 20th. 🌱#gardening

My garden column for October 13th, 2025 🌱 #gardening

My garden column for October 6th, 2025. 🌱 #gardening

My gardening column for September 29th. 🌱 #gardening

Some autumn leaves for #ShowMeYourKnits autumn projects. The pattern is available on Ravelry www.ravelry.com/patterns/lib... 🧶

This week's gardening column, Sep 22nd, 2025 🌱 #gardening

My newsletter gardening article for September 15th, 2025 🌱 #gardening

Garden column for Sep 8th, 2025 🌱 #gardening

My newsletter article for Sep 1st, 2025. 🌱 #gardening

I'd been getting about 6-8 cucumbers a day, then it kicked up to 21 in 2 days, so I went recipe hunting. Minestrone soup with grated cucumber last night, followed by salad with sliced cucumber. Also made cucumber cake, & an addictive Indian cucumber/rice cake, plus lots grated & frozen for winter.🌱🍽️

A sweater for #ShowMeYourKnits. I knitted this one for a friend. This is Bev, wearing the sweater and a matching hat. I then decided to make the sweater pattern a free Ravelry download. You can find it here: www.ravelry.com/patterns/lib... 🧶

The sagebrush has some lovely patterns in it now that the new flower stalks have emerged. I planted a small area in my yard with what I think is Artemisia cana (silver sagebrush), although apparently there are about 10 species growing locally. It had all been cut down on my lot. 🌱🌿

The news today is so awful I can't read it, but luckily I have figs, plums, cucumbers, & apples from the garden to keep me busy. Here's my garden column for August 25th. 🌱 #gardening

#ShowMeYourKnits is baby week. I made these car booties several years ago. The pattern is Car Booties by MarinaKlin available on Ravelry. 🧶

It's sea buckthorn time! I've been picking every morning for a week, not an easy task. They say to freeze the stems & the berries come off more easily, but they fruit on old wood so I don't want to cut it off! I usually freeze them & add to smoothies. I tried jelly, & it set up beautifully. 🌱 🍽️

My garden column for August 18th, 2025. (This is from the Chiloquin News). 🌱 #gardening

After many years of trying I finally have success with strawberries. It has to be my new raised bed, or perhaps the warmer weather we get now, or perhaps just a little magic from somewhere. Anyway, I'm happy! There's nothing quite like the aroma of a basket of freshly picked strawberries🌱 #gardening

Stripes for #ShowMeYourKnits A few versions of Crazy Colors Cleopatra Chapeau. The pattern is on Ravelry. 🧶 www.ravelry.com/patterns/lib...

I was over at my zone 7 house while getting eye shots the last couple of days, and over there the first of the grapes are ripening. These are my favorites & they have outdone themselves this year! This is Jupiter. Lots more still on the vine. I see a busy time in the kitchen coming up!🌱 #gardening

My garden column for August 11th, 2025 🌱 #gardening

I grow red, white & black currants, & the white always do the best, but I never know what to do with them. I've tried jam, chutney, in salads, but finally this year I found something that I really like them in - white current curd! To me, it tastes a lot like the filling in a cheese Danish. 🌱🍽️

I'm harvesting beans this week. My favorite is Dragon Tongue bush bean. It does well for me regardless of weather. I like to slice them and boil until tender, and then sauté them with butter and slivered almonds. 🌱🍽️ #gardening

My gardening column for August 4th, 2025 🌱 #gardening

It's been a thunderstorm kind of week, but very few have actually hit us, & when they did, there was no damage, & no fires started from lightning strikes. Same was not true for the rest of Oregon & No. Cal. where they have been putting out fires almost non-stop. The sky has been gorgeous every day!

My garden column for 7/28/25 🌱 #gardening

I've been using Topaz Photo AI to sharpen up some of my old scanned photos and today tried it out on this very blurry trail cam shot of a porcupine climbing a tree. I really like the result - it's almost like abstract art. 🐡🌿📸🦊

My garden column for July 21st. 🌱 #gardening

Summer knits for #ShowMeYourKnits. Most of my sweaters were knitted with cotton because I am allergic to wool on my skin. This one I turned into a pattern - www.ravelry.com/patterns/lib.... I almost wore it to death. 🧶🐡 #inverts

A mystery solved! Since spring I've been finding small willow branches on the ground that look like they've been chewed by beavers (which we have), but these branches were chopped from a tree way above beaver height. I put out my cheap trail cam and found the culprit. Sorry about photo quality. 🌿🦊

This is the cauliflower named graffiti. Such an appropriate name! The head is not very big on mine but the color is just gorgeous. I'm imagining it for tonight's dinner with a cheese sauce on top. 🌱🍽️ #gardening

My garden column for July 14th. 🌱 #gardening

I have a couple of areas in my yard where I just let the native flowers do their thing, and they combine so well together that I have to stop & gaze every time I walk past. I do water these areas a little as the large native area that is not watered can't support some of these. 🌱🌿 #inverts

It's blue for #ShowMeYourKnits this week and I have so much blue I don't know where to start, but here's a knitted blue tarantula. The pattern is Taciturn Tarantula and is available on Ravelry www.ravelry.com/patterns/lib... 🧶🐡 #inverts

8 species of native lilies grow in Oregon. I grew this one from seeds that I collected in the southern coastal range several years ago. It survives in my much colder garden, possibly because it is in a pot standing in a few inches of running water, year round. 🌱🌿 #gardening

Clary sage is wafting its pungent aroma about whenever I brush by it in the garden now, but better than the aroma that wafts into our house at night when we leave the windows open, from a skunk and her FIVE kits who are living in our garden. Clary sage reseeds itself every year in various places. 🌱

Ocean Spray (Holodiscus discolor) is a lovely small shrub that grows locally in the damper forests where I live in Oregon. It spreads slowly by underground runners but I have never been able to get one of them to take, so I had to buy my 3. 🌱🌿 #gardening

I saw this bee in my garden and I cannot identify it. I don't think it's a bumble bee because it has a shiny abdomen that is small and pointed, and also it's face looks too squared off. I'd appreciate any suggestions. 🌱 #invertebrates #insects

My garden column for this week. 🌱 #gardening

I've been off getting eye shots, but that gave me a chance to pick some goumis in my zone 7 garden, where they are fully ripe & very tasty. Over here in my zone 5 garden they are still mostly green & being eaten by robins & cedar waxwings. Nothing eats them over there. Now, what to make? Jelly? 🌱🍽️