Recently I was reminded of this project that had been lingering in my thoughts for a long-time. I wanted one of those cool, modern, plant centerpieces, made up of succulents and cactus, where the plants were kind of tumbling out of the pot. The recent inspiration came from my sister, who took some amazing photos at a San Francisco garden center, Flora Grubb. Looking at their site, not only do they have the centerpiece inspiration, they are also showcasing glass globes filled with air plants. This store looks like my kind of place!

Right after the injection of inspiration, I visited Olbrich Gardens, here in Madison. They too were featuring these succulent centerpieces and in their little garden shop, they were selling some very cool succulents. SB bought me a couple and then with a little searching I found a nice pot and a few more plants to fill-out they arrangement.

I didn’t want to fill it too full to start, so that each plant would have some space to expand. The only thing that may be missing is a couple of carefully placed stones.

With the Sunshine Throw, I officially close the 2011 Blanket Challenge. This blanket, so nicely modeled by Lola, is blanket number eight and is a beauty. There are two geeky knitting things that make the sunshine throw special. First, it uses a slip stitch technique to work two colors at once, creating the illusion of the decreasing and increasing vertical lines. Second, it has a two strand i-cord border that gives the edge a nice bulkiness and texture. Everything about this pattern came together perfectly. I couldn’t be happier with the end result and am excited to give it to a knitting friend/new mom.

As for the timing on finishing this blanket, it just makes me sad. I had planned for this blanket to take me a month, which would have meant that I met my goal of eight blankets in six months. Instead, life, work, the house and summer got in the way and it took me two months to finish. At the five month mark I had completed seven blankets and had just one to go. Success seemed like a sure thing. Oh well, I don’t regret any of the non-knitting things I did. All told, in seven months I completed eight blankets, which is still more than one a month.

Here is one of the happy recipients. He says this is the best blanket he’s ever had. The first day with the blanket he was already picking out a name for it. Last I heard the blanket was “Blue McQueen”.

Sweet number seven, the Fleur de lis Throw. The crocheted stitch pattern of this blanket made a thick, but not stiff fabric. It will be a wonderful winter weight couch warmer. I really like the lattice pattern and how your eye creates the fleur de lis shape out of the crosses. The only thing I would change, if I made it again, would be to make a slightly narrower and longer version. The edge on this blanket is so clean, no additional border was needed. No complaints there!

One blanket to go!

My 2011 blanket challenge: To make nine adult size blankets by the end of July, starting January 1st. After much agonizing, I’ve decided on a slight revision of only making eight blankets in seven months, rather than the original nine. I think 8 will still be a great achievement.

With two months to go, how close am I? Right on target! Yay! I’m about halfway through blanket number seven and know exactly what blanket number eight will look like.

Since I haven’t posted in a while, here’s a recap of blanket 3-6.

#3 & #4 were the same pattern with different borders. The bodies are a diagonal stripe knit with garter stitch and the edges are crochet. Both in bulky, superwash merino. These blankets are extra soft and spongy and the bold stripe makes them very vibrant.

#5 was the bulky cable blanket of my dreams. I have been wanting to make a blanket like this for a while now and I finally found the right kid, my eldest nephew. This blanket is knit with a 100% wool, bulky weight yarn. The border is part of the pattern and the cables are super 3-D. I had to pry this out of SB’s hands. I may have to make another one for us.

#6 was a return to the crochet ripple blanket, this time in a more pixelated design. I was very happy with how the colors of the stripes came together and the improvised crochet border. This pattern had a lot of tension on the sides and didn’t lay flat when finished. If I make it again, I’ll have to revise the pattern a bit.

#7 will be crochet and #8 will be knit and then blanket victory will be mine!

For years I’ve admired these simple glass “vases” from CB2 but being practical and trying to be frugal, I never bought them for myself. This Christmas they were under the tree, complete with flowering air plants and a little dirt for grounding, all from SB.

We talked about where and how to hang them and I learned that air plants, Epiphytes, don’t like direct sunlight. Not only do they not need dirt or very much water, they don’t want too much sun either. They define low maintenance.

After carrying them all over the house, I decided they needed to become part of a mobile. With the mobile expertise of my mother, the vases, plus a clear glass fish “vase” are now mobilized and hanging in the corner of our living room. I used bent coat hangers for the rods and clear fishing wire for the lines. Photo of complete mobile