green ramble in our nation's capitol

May has been the month of travel for me. Here I am on yet another quick trip to DC! This was a serious work trip -- with a workshop, research in the Library of Congress, and interviews for my dissertation research - but I did sneak in a happy ramble one afternoon.


I strolled by the Capitol building, then through the U.S. Botanic Garden. I was dazzled by the orchids, the passionflowers, the bromeliads. But what drew my eye most was the simple, stunning beauty of the ferns.


I love ferns. We had a fern motif on our wedding invitations. And when I briefly had a line of naturally-dyed yarn, I letterpressed my own tags with a fern stamp, made from a scanned fern from my backyard.

I'd love to draw ferns into my knitting. Maybe I'll have to play around to make a fern-evoking lace pattern. Wouldn't you love this draped across your back like a shawl?


After the Botanic Gardens, I wandered down the mall to the Natural History museum. It was oppressively hot and humid. So I ended up taking a break in the shade of a soaring elm tree


I put up my hair, let the faint breeze cool my neck, and pulled out my knitting for a bit of a dreamy green spell.