A Snacking Block .... urban orchard

IMG_9798 Grant Street (Victoria BC) between Chambers and Cook is a very tasty example of what happens when trees and shrubs and plants with edible fruit and foliage hang onto the public walkway.

Once a  back alley, this block retains that ambiance which is presently being acknowledged and enhanced by becoming a greenway.

In the spring miner's lettuce offers the first salad leaves.


























IMG_9800 Now the raspberries are ripening and I recently discovered that the yellow ones are sweet and do not need to be left to get really red which certainly has increased my harvesting on the daily walk to the Polish Deli.  (The Deli and the Bagel Factory are at the end of the street by Cook.)   This is a wonderful epiphany.  I am not the only one to snack;  it seems most people think the berries are not ripe if not red.  Heh heh.




























IMG_9802 Next comes a Rainier cherry tree - the yellow ones tinged with red.  Very quickly the reachable cherries are picked by passersby but the to'ing and fro'ing of people and cars seems to deter a stripping by the starlings as happens to such trees in more secluded spots.

The crook of an umbrella is very handy with which to hook a branch and lower it down to finger-gripping level.



























IMG_9803 This elderberry bush (sambucus canadensis) is the edible kind with its black berries (some are not!) and the berries will be ready in a week or so.  I don't think people know what they are or that they are lovely to eat because in past years I seem to have had no competition in the harvest.

And this tree has a special meaning for me now - it is the mother of the two small cuttings I took in the early spring,  which both rooted,  and in a few years I could have elderberry bushes in my own garden bearing fruit.

























IMG_9804 Next there are pears. 

I don't actually remember snacking on pears from this tree.  Hmmmm...... 

































IMG_9808 Loaded with ripening  apples, this tree is across the drive from the Bagel Factory and for several weeks in late summer supplies me with an apple a day.  IMG_9807

































The apples are mostly high on the tree - but I am not above shaking any reachable branch to release the fruit; the challenge is to try and catch an apple before it hits the ground.  In any case if you eat it right away (and the apples are delicious!) there is no time for it to form a bruise. 

Unless one hits me!

Peek - a - boo .....

IMG_9824 .....  says the daisy whenever one walks into the room and catches sight  .....

Off the needles......onto the wrist......yippeee!

IMG_9815 The WIP from here got, sort of suddenly  (with the same sort of sigh of relief that you see a fretful child off to bed) taken off the needles and turned into this:  an exuberant  bracelet.

The energy that results from knitting with such energetic  fibres - both the linen/paper/acrylic and the fishing line have sproing characteristics - is felt when the item is being worn. 

Pea tester

IMG_9811 I wonder if there is a job where someone splits open just the end of a pea pod and takes out one pea and tastes it and if the pea is sweet and tender the rest of the pod is passed on to the vegetable processing factory or the gourmet restaurant kitchen and if it isn't quite delicious enough - the person gets to eat the rest of the peas in that pod.

Just wondering .........

Bracelet heading toward glove : wearable art

IMG_9789  The Habu yarn which is paper/linen/acrylic and looks like leaves on a vine fascinates and delights me. 

I knit the ring and crocheted an edging with silk.

Then I knit a piece about 3 inches by 8 inches with the Habu with a few rows top and bottom of the silk.

It was freeform knitting and purpose evolvable.

IMG_9791 Suggestions as to what it could become included headband,  necklet,  panel in a garment  and all were considered.  Veil on a hat as my mother used to wear came to mind. 

Then,  idly twisting it here and there on my wrist,  this ...... happened.   A bracelet that crept over the hand and pranced up the finger.  I liked it!  More silk got added to the ends of the piece and joined,  the finger shape got stitched. 

I wanted to show the 'profile' of the Habu and have it visible to me as I wore it.  

The yarn looks delicate - but is very sturdy.  I could likely play baseball wearing this.







Bubbles in the morning

IMG_9750 A soft, warm summer morning, not long after dawn, bubbles are released amidst bird song.

The six minute, forty-two second mesh carrybag from a tank top

IMG_9767 2 : 10 p.m.    Two tank tops arrive home from half price day at a thrift shop.



































IMG_9753 2 : 15 - 2 : 45 p.m.  They are washed in hot soapy water, rinsed in vinegar water,  hung in sun and wind to dry.


































IMG_9780 2 : 45  -  2 : 51.42  
2 : 56  -  3 : 02.42

Each tank top was hemmed along the bottom.

Presto -  mesh carrybags with  l) a blanket and book for the park or beach  r)  shopping




























Scarf : knit on arms with cheerfully- spun uncarded fleece

IMG_9779 Washed and fluffed and soft and vibrant fleece .....










IMG_9778 spun with no attempt to tame......




































IMG_9763 produces a  free range yarn ......











IMG_9761 which leaps gladly into arms being used as knitting needles.......










IMG_9773 to produce a scarf that is a heck of a lot of fun to wear.

A button from fishing line

IMG_9743 When I started experimenting with knitting with fishing line I also tried some crocheting and this piece was one result.  It's been hanging around since then;  not sure what it is.

Today, when it re-appeared in the bottom of a WIP basket,  it suddenly looked like a - dah dah - button.

It's being left in full view on the table and my antenna are now out to see what garment would be complemented and complimented by such a decoration if not also a closure.

WIP : Architectural knitting with Habu linen and fishing line

IMG_9738 This is Slow Knitting in both aspects - mindful and taking time. 

The Habu (from KBN) has been wrapped with the fishing line around a weaving shuttle - five or six times is about right - and then unwrapped one or two wraps while knitting;  trying to knit taking each strand from the ball and roll was impossible without frustrating tangles.  (I bet others have solved such a problem with nifty techniques......???)


IMG_9739 The experience of knitting with elastic bands and then later with fishing line and a cotton/silk yarn are motivating further adventures such as this.

I enjoy the result of knitting as architecture that 'houses' the body.  It is fun to wear.

Not sure what this WIP will evolve into ;  I'll keep knitting .....  and knitting  ......  and knitting ......