I'm plant- and cat-sitting for a friend while she's away in Berlin and Paris, and I rediscovered the beauty of the streptocarpus plant. 
They're from southern Africa, and they're related to the African violet. They're even hardier, though, and their blooms are just gorgeous. Anyone know where to get one in Chicago? Or even Minneapolis, Milwaukee, or Madison? Seeing this one reminded me of old times. My old roommate was from S. Africa, and her botanist father had managed to bring some of his streps to the US when they moved, so I have a soft spot for them. Maryanne (who just happens to have the cutest photos of Gnuman the Gnome's Seattle adventures on the Knitting Gnome Swap page) tagged me for the 7 random things meme that has been making its way through the blogosphere.
1. I love learning languages. My main ones are Latin and Greek (classical, not modern -- please no "It's Greek to me" jokes), but I've also studied Spanish, German, French, and Old English. Next up? Old Norse, I think.
2. Cheese is one of my favorite foods. Gjetost, English huntsman, fresh chevre, hand-dipped ricotta... I blame this on living in Madison, Wisconsin for a number of years and having many opportunities to try all sorts of artisan cheeses. Not good for the waistline, though, especially since I also like Cheetos.
3. I can wiggle my ears, and I sometimes do it when I'm nervous.
4. Paul and I have been together since we were 19. He's my favorite person in the world even though he really likes sports.
5. I'm good at playing pool, but only when I'm really pissed off. So I usually don't play anymore.
6. If I don't get my coffee in the morning, I'm a real bear. Seriously.
7. I feel happiest in the mountains. Wildflowers, big horn sheep, marmots, trees, clear air = heaven. Now if I only I could find a way to combine this with Classics, knitting, and coffee. BTW, have you heard that Glacier National Park is losing its glaciers?
Want to play? Consider yourself tagged!
8 comments:
Interesting list! I'm with you on numbers 1, 2 and 3.
You have a real serious addiction. Have you tried tea in the morning?
The sweater is looking adorable! You could definitely use another yarn to seam, especially since the sewing yarn is basically hidden (on the right side) for mattress stitch. I'd still go with something that's a similar color, though.
Hooray for cheese and mountains. Even better: eating cheese in the mountains. :)
You may want to also try sewing thread (gasp!). But really, you should try at least triple stranding it for heft and stability also good for back stitching knits. My yarn diet is going so-so. I had to get some dish cloth cotton cause I wanted a certain color but that's about it. Little knits (www.littleknits.com, hehe. just call me an enabler ;)is having a sale on noro and I haven't bought any yet but if there's any left by monday I may have to cave in! It's really hard not to buy any!
Hi! Thanks for playing along! I'm with you on the cheese & I can wiggle my ears too! And I definitely have to have my coffee (though I don't find myself too grumpy without it :) Thanks for your nice comments on my Gnuman photos too & the nice comments you left on the gnome swap site. I appreciate it! Oh & thanks for mentioning those gorgeous flowers you posted - I *have* to find some of those! Any suggestions where to look?
"He's my favorite person even though he really likes sports." Haha! I can relate! The bolero looks great, I know that yarn splits alot. For the Baby Bobbi Bear I had to do duplicate stitch around his neck. It was bad. Maybe something smoother that's just a similar color? It probably won't show that much in the seams.
Have you tried seaming with embroidery floss? Pretty easy to get a close color and it's less bulky for seaming.
I'm with you on #6! But seeing people wiggle their ears FREAKS ME OUT. If we meet and you do it, I won't be able to look at you. :)
I'm a big language fan myself. I took about 2 weeks of modern Greek - it was a bit "Greek" to me with the different alphabet, and only one semester of German, but I did more time on Spanish, French, Italian and Latin. I just finished my first semester in Japanese!
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