Garden June 4, 2008

Grr. I am slightly annoyed because I just wrote a post and for some reason it did not publish and it did not save, and now I have a meeting. I will try to get it done before people arrive but it was supposed to start a minute ago.

As I was saying, I am attempting a small garden this summer. Unfortunately the high desert is not the most ideal place to garden. In fact the growing season is only 90 days. Our farmers’ market doesn’t even start until July 14th! I am somewhat pessimistic but thought I would give it a try anyways. So far I have planted spinach, lettuce, marigolds, summer squash, and zucchini. The lettuce is the only thing that has dared to come up thus far. I am nervous that it will soon be destroyed by a frost, or deer, or rabbits, but I am keeping my fingers crossed. On a side note, as development spreads into space that was once inhabited by wildlife it becomes more and more common to see wildlife in neighborhoods. One example is mule deer in Alamosa. They roam around in people’s yards, on the college campus, just hanging out and eating. I don’t blaim them at all but I do wish they would leave my garden alone. Here is a picture I took of a couple of them in my neighbors front yard. There are two more next to them.

To avoid the harsh elements of the desert I have decided to grow my tomato plant indoors. As you can see in the before and after photos the one tomato is growing slowly but surely. I am hopeful that more will come about soon.

Before

Now

If anyone has advice about gardening in the desert I am more than open to it!

Fun Filled Week May 30, 2008

So life has been very very busy lately. It seems like it may finally be settling down but I know it will pick up again in less than a week as I will be leaving town for ten days to go home. I am excited! Anyhow the last week has been crazy. Tuesday we left town for our volunteer retreat in the Rocky Mountains. We were fortunate to only have to drive 3 hours whereas the other volunteers had to come in from as far as Seattle and Baltimore. We spent a great few days in the mountains participating in various fun activities including catching up with old friends, hiking, contra dancing, eating awesome food and so on. Below is my friend Ashley and me who is volunteering in Seattle and attended my same college. This is right before we got lost on our way back down to the retreat center. Oops.

Folowing camp we spent the weekend in Denver and Boulder enjoying various activities including a Coors Brewery tour (no me gusta Coors Beer), a Rockies game, more hiking, and the dreaded Bolder Boulder 10k that I have been “training” for the last couple of months. Unfortunately I was not as dedicated in training as I hoped I would be and thus I was not really looking forward to running 10 kilometers at a mile high. Thankfully it was a wet and cool day and the energy at the race was amazing. I also had a great running partner, Erin (second from right) who made it much easier. Our time ended up being about 73 minutes which is not great by racing standards but I was very pleased. You can see how tired I look after the race. It was really fun though and inspired me to be more dedicated to running. I think for my second race I will try a 5k though.

Further Frustrations. and something pretty April 29, 2008

So last week I wrote about how I had lost my camera chargerand so haven’t had the opportunity to take any photos lately. Which is sad because there are a lot of fun things of which I would like to take photos. Well luckily (which turns out to be unlucky later you will see) I found my charger in my desk drawer. Why I hadn’t thought to look there before I don’t know. Anyhow I found my charger just in time for my parents’ visit. Yay! So last Thursday we went to the Great Sand Dunes and I was so happy because I was able to take my camera. I later discovered this was a very bad idea and I now wish I hadn’t been

able to charge it. Some of the sand got into my camera lens. It won’t retract. It is broken. They say I can send it to Illinois to get it repaired, but I’m thinking that with shipping and a lack of warrantee that repairs w

ill end up costing about the same as buying the same camera in its latest version for about $150. Which, as a volunteer, I most definitely don’t have. Luckily my birthday is in about 6 weeks so perhaps my parents will chip in on a new camera.

So that sucks and I still don’t have pictures to share so instead I present this amazing art piece that I discovered while reading fog and thistle’s blog. Fog and Thistle does great paper cut artwork which gave her a great apprecation for artist Jiyeon Song’s art.

Using a matrix of perforations, light passes through the pavilion’s surface producing shifting patterns, which transform into the text of a poem. It takes about 8 hours to see the entire poem, with each line visible for about an hour. The specific arrangements of the perforations reveal different poems according to the solar calendar: a theme of new-life during the summer solstice. During the summer solstice, the poem will contain the theme of “new life”. During the winter solstice, the poem will be on “reflection and the passing of time.”

The time lapse video on the artist’s website shows the poems through the day and seasons. Cool huh?

The Birth of Hilo Verde February 20, 2008

So as I said earlier I have been knitting regularly for about four months. Originally I took up knitting to be able to provide a inexpensive, personal, and high quality gifts for friends and family members. I knit up several hats for friends and family. Additionally I knitted socks for my boyfriend, embroidered a set of kitchen towels for my best friend, and a table topper for my mother. All of these gifts were well received and I have to say I was pretty proud of my work.

Christmas came and went and I was still knitting with the same fervor as before but this time I didn’t know what to do with my products. I had more scarves and hats than I could use myself. A friend of mine and fellow volunteer has an Etsy shop where she sold her handmade items and she encouraged me to try it. Thus Hilo Verde was born. My friend and I spent awhile brainstorming names and I have to admit that I was pretty picky. Finally we settled on HiloVerde which means Green Yarn in Spanish. I chose this name for several reasons. First, I lived in Spain for 9 months while I was in college and came away with a great appreciation of the culture and language spoken there. Also I am currently volunteering in the San Luis Valley of Colorado where there exists is an amazing mix of Hispanic, indigenous, and American culture. I wanted to honor these two locals with my shop name. I also wanted to allude to the fact that I would be selling items that were produced in a way that was environmentally sustainable and thus “green”. Almost all of the knitted items in my shop are made from recycled or natural fibers. Additionally I strive to support local businesses whenever possible.

Knitting Roadblock February 19, 2008

The famed original headaband – check back
for the new and improved (maybe) version.

Well I have been knitting regularly for about four months now and unfortunately I have come to an the knitters’ equivalent of writer’s block. I have been working on a couple of projects lately and cannot seem to move forward with them.

First, back in November I bought a great hand dyed silk/angora blend that I was using to make a hat. This was back before I knew really anything about fiber types. The yarn lacks any give and so the hat was just blah. I ended up taking it out and redoing it about 4 times before I decided to set it aside. Four months later I was feeling industrious and picked up the discarded skein. This time I planned to make a lace leaf pattern on a hat. I though surely after four months of knitting under my belt I would be able to produce a beautifully laced hat in no time. Think again. I have probably taken out and restarted this version of the hat another four times! The problem with lace is that once you make a mistake it is much more difficult to go back and rectify it than other patterns. This hat is still in progress so check back for updates.

The second never ending project is a headband from super soft hand spun, hand dyed yarn. I had just a little yarn left over from a couple of fingerless gloves I knit and I thought a headband would be perfect for this ultra soft wool. My first attempt I finished in one night despite repeated unraveling and reknitting. I posted this on Etsy but found that I had a hard time promoting the item as I wasn’t wild about it myself. This led me to once again unraveling it and starting anew. It is currently sitting on my kitchen table and I have yet to do the finishing touches such as buttons and appliqué flowers that I have crocheted.

So all in all it has been pretty frustrating couple of weeks as far as knitting goes. It seems I just can’t finish a project! I should probably set both aside and just start an easy no brain project for the time being. Check back for pictures of the finished projects.

My First Post… of any kind February 18, 2008

Well I’ve never been much for personal networking or blogging sites, but I thought I would give this a go. I recently started a small business at hiloverde.etsy.com and was looking for a way to promote my goods. I thought that a blog was a good option for reaching people outside my circle of family and friends. I plan on writing about my projects, other people’s work that I appreciate, and various other topics that I am currently contemplating. Thus far any of my attempts at personal journaling have failed as I don’t write regularly. Hopefully this blog does not meet the same fate!