My mini African Violet

Looking at my poor mini African Violet plant, I wondered to myself if I can still save it...

It was only 4 months ago that I was very proud of my effort in providing intensive care to the tired plant. It involved placing the plant inside a sealed plastic bag for around a week. I think it was to increase the humidity around it.

2 weeks after it came out from the sealed plastic bag, tiny new leaves can be seen coming up in the center!
 
Not long after my celebration of success, I stupidly let the plant somersaulted onto the floor, tipping the plant and most of the soil out of its pot and creased a few leaves as well!!! I quickly put the plant and soil back into its pot, but the damage is done. After a few weeks, leaves started to wilt. I tried to save it with the sealed-plastic-bag-intensive-care method, but unlike last time, after a week or so, there was still no visible sign of recovery. :(

Several weeks down the track, this is what my mini African Violet looks like now, suffering from a lack of water as well...

My poor mini African Violet - at least it's still green in the middle.

...and this is what it looked like fresh from the nursery, with its friend the yellow Moon Cactus.

Oh dear, I wondered if I would ever get it back to looking as good as it was. :P

More tomatoes...?

I have been peeking inside my mini greenhouse every morning to check if there are anymore tomatoes coming. Each time, all I could see were flowers that have finished blooming and ones that are about to open, but finally, yesterday I noticed one developing baby tomato! :D

My second mini tomato is coming!

Hopefully these flowers will turn into mini tomatoes too!

Crochet newborn beanies & headbands

I have been busy the past few days and have finally completed my very first newborn beanies & headbands order for a relative!

I made this lot mainly to test my water (and my crochet skill)! Hopefully, I would be selling the improved versions and more styles in the near future! :D

My very first crocheted newborn beanie with flower in wool.

White newborn beanie with detachable flower in cotton.

Newborn headbands in cotton with different decorative pieces.

Crocheting

My very first crocheting attempt was to make a sakura following online instructions.

I searched Youtube for tutorials on the various stitches required on the pattern; going back and forth between the pattern and the Youtube videos! Trying to learn 4 to 5 crochet stitches in one go was quite a challenge for me! I finally got the hang of it on my fourth attempt!

The pattern I used was from here. I used pink yarn for the inner petals, and a baby blue/baby pink/white mix yarn for the outer petals.

Crocheted Sakura

With my new found confidence on the basic crochet stitches, I then moved on to something more useful like a hair scrunchy as well as a little heart just for fun. :)

Crocheted hair scrunchy & crocheted heart

I then ventured into the world of headbands, making up the headband strip as I go and added a rosette to make it girly. :)

Crocheted thin headband with a rosette

I am currently working on a bunch of newborn headbands & beanies for a family member. Will post photos of them when they are done! :)

Knitting

I jumped into the world of crocheting and knitting about 12 months ago. Funny how I don't remember the reason I decided to do so. I had no previous experience in either of them, except a simple scarf I knitted back when I was in primary school. I think I didn't even finished it myself! I must have just knitted a few rows, at most half of the scarf, and my mum finished it off for me! LOL.

Anyway, back in early 2012, I somehow wanted to learn how to crochet, and embarked on my quest to find my first crochet hook and yarns at Lincraft, but instead I was attracted to their display of several ruffle scarves. Next to the scarves was a small TV showing a video on how to knit them and it looked so easy! By the time I made it out of their doors, I have bought myself a pair of bamboo knitting needles and a ball of their Elicia yarn in my favourite colour to try out. :)

Lincraft Elicia ruffle yarn in mauve mix colour

It was really very easy and fun knitting with the Elicia yarn - minimal effort with great result! I was able to whip up a nice scarf in no time!

My very first hand knitted ruffle scarf!

  

However, based on the pattern that came with the yarn, the resulting scarf was too bulky and long for this little panda mum! So, with the leftover yarn from the same ball, I knitted a shorter, narrower one and the end result looked much better on my small frame! :)

Short ruffle scarf knitted with Lincraft Elicia yarn

I was a little hooked on this fun ruffle yarn and a few months down the track, I stock up on more colours! They make a great Mother's Day or birthday present for the special lady in your life! ;)

From top left clockwise: Plum Mix, Orange Mix, Pink Mix, Tea Rose & Magenta Mix.

When I am done with my current crocheting project, I might knit one of each colour mix to show those who may be interested. :)

My small balcony garden

A little over a year ago, I started my gardening adventure on my 9th floor, south facing balcony with the Anthurium plant that was given to me as a farewell gift from my old work.

Since then, I have tried to grow the following from seeds:

• Thai Basil - failed. No sign of germination at all.
• Lemon Scented Bottlebrush - failed. Also no sign of germination.
• Tiny Tom Tomatoes - managed to get 20+ seedlings! But only one survived to fruiting. :(

My Anthurium plants resting on a greenhouse shelf

 

My lonely tomato plant is still flowering.

During the year or so of gardening, I have fought battles with gnats, powdery mildew and thrips. It's probably to do with my bad watering habit. :P

My lonely tomato plant lost most of its leaves as a result of powdery mildew, but still managed to give me one tomato (yes, just the one.) and is still flowering right now. I hope that means I'll be getting a few more tomatoes soon!

My poor mini tomato plant in the mini greenhouse

My balcony can get quite windy at times, as there are no other buildings shielding us from it. We also have 2 air-conditioning outdoor units mounted side by side on our balcony wall as seen in the photo above. So, both the wind and the warm air from the air-con units are no good for my plants. In come the mini greenhouse I got from Bunnings for under $30! My Anthurium plants sleep in it when it gets too windy on the balcony. :) Now I wish I got the bigger/taller one!

Recently, I have read that there are edible plants that can be grown on shadier balconies. So, next on my to try list would be:

• Leaf Lettuce
• Broccoli/Cauliflower
• Brussels Sprouts
• Spinach
• Carrots
• Garlic

Now, I just have to do further research on whether they are available at my local nursery and when to sow these seeds! :D

My new adventure

A belated happy new year!

This panda mum is going to roll into something new this year - blogging!

I have finally decided to start a blog of my own to share my adventures on balcony gardening as well as my new found hobby of crocheting (& knitting) with those who may be interested, instead of posting to my fb wall, and potentially annoying a number of my "friends" who might not care at all.

Being a self proclaimed panda mum, I like to go with the flow most of the time. If no one is interested in this blog, that's fine. It would serve as my visual diary then.

To start with, let me document the progress on my Anthurium plants.