standing still

I've been feeling a little under the weather since Wednesday and when not scouring the internet for interesting pictures and ideas, I took some pictures in the yard, worked on some knitting projects, watched the season finale of Lost (!) and am just generally laying around and drinking lots of tea.
I am working on this baby blanket for Dagny, who I haven't seen in a whole week! I hope to see her again soon.
I'm also almost finished with this crazy collar/scarf type thing. The model on the left is wearing it in different colors. I used this gorgeous hand-dyed orange yarn and probably spent way too much money on it- but whatevs, you only live once! The pom-poms came out gigantic and are kind of funny. They are a combo of the orange yarn and another yummy cream colored textured yarn. After making the first pom pom, I realized the cream yarn is really too nice to use as a pom pom and it's cool texture gets lost because all you see are the ends- but that's what I bought it for, and I will have some left over to knit into something cool looking! I just have to attach the poms and put the finishing touches on this.
Now onto the garden, I planted a lot of veggies in pots because I haven't finished digging up a space in the lawn for a garden in the yard. Plus, the things I did plant in the ground: broccoli, zucchini, peas-- are all becoming lunch for our neighborhood posse of groundhogs-- who literally hop the fence to get into our yard. I used to think they were cute but now they anger me!!!!!
Here are some highlights from the veggies in pots.
These are beets:

These are swiss chard:


and chives:
I also have lettuce, parsley and baby cantaloupe-- but you get the idea. My goal is to transform the backyard into a lush garden with veggies and flowers. It's kind of slow going at the moment-- but I have grand ideas!!!

Here is Phase I though!

This is the before pic--- crazy overgrown and dangerous cactus patch, a tangled mess of prickles, weeds and grasses. This is a little space just behind the deck--


and after: Those yucca or century plants (whichever they are) are going to go too-- they are just a bitch to pull out! I came home from work one day and fueled by a little bit of angst at the boyfriend, I pulled the whole mess out myself-- there is still a big pile of cacti in the yard waiting to go into the trash bin.
Anyhoo-- I am envisioning some lillies along the back and sedums amongst those rocks (more artfully arranged of course) for this space.