So Purdy!

I know I mentioned before that I was making a shawl, but I was in a heavily medicated state. The pattern is the Traveling Woman by Liz Abinante and the yarn is Malabrigo Silky Merino in Nocturnal that I purchased from Knit Schtick. I love this yarn and I love the shawl. Of course I didn't leave well enough alone and added beads! Yay beads! So pretty!

And speaking of pretty, my gardenia now has not 1, not 2 but 3 whole blooms! 3 blooms! Ah ah ah (ala the Count from Sesame Street)! YAY for good patio feng shui!

Bad patio feng shui

Have you ever had one of those periods of time where work seems to suck your soul from your very being. Let's just say, I've been there.

Then today my gardenia blooms. I have owned this plant for.... years..... over 2 years.... and never a blossom. Tons of buds that would turn brown and fall off. But never one flower!

Here it is shortly after purchase and repotting:

Then here it is 1 year later:

I know, it looks dead. BUT here it is a year and 4 months later:

A bloom! A true flower! A beautiful flower!

I had tried reading on gardening blogs and websites and tried some strange things....coffee grounds in my gardenia, it was a dark and scary time people... Then one of them had a joke about how finicky gardenias were and only liking light when it was northern light from a southerly direction or some nonsense like that. And I thought, what if my gardenia is suffering from bad patio feng shui? I moved it. That's it! Moved it about 5 feet to the left. AND IT'S BLOOMING!

Sometimes it's the small victories.