A surprising sunrise

Now with less space in her home!

These are some new labels I designed for Plymouth Yarn Company. Grass up there is a cool cotton and hemp blend, hence the name. And Sweet Caroline and Covington are some new cottons that my mom will love. Dreamin' rounds out the bunch sporting the first label I designed for Plymouth. It's a sassy, sparkly mess of a label for a giant ball of yarn that includes the pattern and enough yarn to knit an entire baby sweater. And lastly, there is now more yarn than ever in my studio office because I just have to have multiple samples of my design work!

A blanket

Photo courtesy of NASA.

Since we've been on the subject of snow around here lately, have you seen this image of Great Britain? It's not supposed to snow in England, at least not more than a light dusting or something! But to see the entire island covered in white is just stunning. It's pretty enough to print and hang on the wall.

A conversation starter

Did you get a Dirt Bag for Christmas? Because I did, and that itself was the first conversation about this sack. Why, for instance did my best friend send me the Dirt Bag? "Because you're the only person that wouldn't get offended if I called them a dirt bag! And it's sooo cool," Susan explained.

She's right. I don't get offended very easily and the bag is quite clever. Its hearty burlap exterior is lined with an impervious blue tarp. I can use it in the garden but I love it so much I've been using it as my grocery tote. Today at Trader Joe's a man went out of his way to tell me a dirt bag joke.

Q: What's the difference between a Hoover and a Harley-Davidson?

A: The location of the dirt bag.

A little rain goes a long way

Gardening wasn't a hobby of mine before I bought a house on a quarter acre of nearly bare land. I had some idea of what to do with plants from helping my mother in her garden as a child. But gardening in lush and green Pennsylvania is not like gardening in the coastal dessert we call San Diego. I finally figured out that the sprinklers in the lawn were there for a reason, a good reason, it never rains here. Well, as Thomas says, never say never. We get about 11 inches of rain annually compared to the 45 or so inches I grew up knowing. And those 11 inches come this time of year meaning I have more gardening to do in the winter than in the summer.

I didn't know how much water to give plants, and as a result I lost quite a few plants in the early days of my California garden. Then winter came and plants began to sprout and bloom and grow. But then warm spring days led into hot summer sunshine and my garden suffered. Many of the plants are drought tolerant but I didn't understand they first needed to establish themselves before they could use less water. Now that I am equipped, albeit through trial and error, with a better understanding of what these California plants need to survive many more of them are doing just that.