Crochet and my Container Garden

I have started a new crochet project, I saw a pattern on the Lion Brand web site (you have to sign up, but the patterns are FREE) that I really like the styling of.  I want to make myself a easy wear, comfortable type tunic top for the cooler days coming this fall and winter.  The Lion Brand pattern is called Dinner at Eight.  Now the first problem is it's measurements are not quite right for me.  The second problem is the only yarn that I have enough of to use for the project is Red Heart Comfort, which is considerably chunkier than the Lion Brand Glamour called for in the pattern.

I often adjust patterns for things like scarfs and simple things, so creating a similar tunic as shown on the Lion Brand site with such a different yarn is proving to be a challenge.  Now, so far, I have completely changed from using single crochet in every stitch to doing a single crochet chain 1 combination, which makes the yarn a bit more drapy -- all single crochet made it feel like cardboard!  The sizing for the pattern goes from small, to 2xl, and achieving a test swatch with the Comfort yarn was pretty much impossible, but when I follow the instructions for the pattern using the medium sizing, the actual measurements are very close, so that is what I am going with, except the number of rows to crochet must also be reduced by about 20%.   So as I progress, I am sort of rewriting the pattern and if this works well for me.  I will post it when I am done.   Now tho the question is?  With the substantial changes I am making does this mean the pattern is my own, but inspired by the lion brand pattern?

So while I was outside, because the morning sun is slightly overcast and the colours are as close to TRUE as I am likely to get, I thought I would take some photos of my garden this year.

We have had a very cool spring and early summer with many cloudy overcast days and my garden is feeling it.

My geraniums, a staple for me every year because they remind me of my Mother, are thick and green with blooms being few and far between.  Right now this is the only bloom cluster on 6 plants!

Spearmint, which is usually at least a foot or more tall and hanging over the side of the container, are barely six inches and I have not cut any for drying for spearmint tea this winter.

I have a dark shady corner at the back fence in my yard where only ferns or hostas grow and this year the hosta has been very slow to come up out of the ground, so I keep a home made bird bath in the corner.  I have a container pot filled mostly with cedar needles debis, with a few dinosaurs and rocks with crochet covering the base.  The stand is a very old - from the 1970's I think plant stand that I used in my house but now is the main holder for the drain tray that holds the water for the chick-a-dees, jays, sparrows and occasional squirrel if Pearl doesn't happen to notice.

I got some dahlia tubers at a church plant sale but they have a major problem.  I suspect that there was some kind of insect that rode on the tubers and they come up and eat the foliage faster than the plant can grow.  No other plants in my yard are affected like this.  I have got to the point where I am thinking of cutting these down and pour dish washing soap into the container til next spring, which is what my Mom used to do to what she called "bad spots" in her garden.... It almost always worked!

And now, to turn around my computer chair and pay attention to some of today's olympic events!  I am an Olympic Games fiend!  For the two weeks of Olympic Games where ever they may be, I am glued to my tv and prefer to watch the live feed, rather than the primetime bits.  This morning from 4am to almost 8am, I was watching the Woman's Bike Road Race, pulling for our Canadians, but glad for Marianne Vos who ultimately won the Gold.