Cactus

I thought I would be so smart and give the proper name of this cactus I just completed knitting, but then I started looking at all the different images of cacti.  There are so many types with so many botanical nomenclatures I gave up.  Either an image would have the fuzzy-like characteristics of the knitted cactus but the flower was bigger or coming out from a different part of the plant or the flower was right and the cactus was wrong.  It is a cactus, clearly so, and I will leave it at that.

The inspiration came about after Jami sent me a host of photos of cacti taken by one of her friends.  They were so wonderfully shot they had me thinking about how much I enjoy cacti.  (I am a well-known black-thumb with house plants.  Paul risks losing them all when he leaves house plants alone with me for more than a week!  Cacti on the other hand are really, really hard to kill.  Over-watering is generally not my problem.)

When I was looking for a pattern to make the daisy for the Fiona Baby Sundress in 20 to Knit - Knitted Flowers by Susie Johns I noticed a cactus pattern.  That pattern caused me to remember an acrylic blue/green fuzzy yarn I purchased years and years ago sitting in my stash.  It was the perfect for knitting up a cactus.  Here's the results again, now shown in its permanent pot.

Johns used a dark brown coloured yarn for the potting soil of her cactus, but I chose a colour that reminded me of sand.  (If I remember correctly I believe cacti grow in sand not necessarily soil.)  Additionally the designer suggests one knit the circle of soil/sand and stretch it over a piece of cardboard.  My finished sand is cinched over the plastic top of a body butter jar.  The jar is 4 inches in diameter and its cover is slightly bigger.  The added bulk of the knitting pulled over the plastic lid causes the finished base to fit perfectly in this 5 inch diameter pot.  And without a real plan the flower and pot match; that was serendipity indeed.  The pot was purchased years ago.

This flowering plant will live in Minneapolis where it is very hard to grow and maintain a real living plant since it is abandoned several months at a time.  This cactus will add a happy pop of colour and remain flowering year round.  (BTW if anyone knows the real name of this cactus let me know, I remain curious about it.)