Description

Long before it was fashionable, our former First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson, was an environmentalist and a visionary who realized that conservation of our wilderness was vitally important to our planet.  She worked tirelessly to preserve and beautify our environment.  During the Johnson Administration, more than 200 environmental bills were passed, including Wilderness Act of 1964, the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the Wild and Scenic Rivers Program, the 1965 Highway Beautification Act as well as many additions to the National Park system.  The Johnson Administration was the most active administration in conservation since the Theodore Roosevelt Administration which established the National Park Service.  This is due in large part to Lady Bird Johnson’s environmental initiatives.

After leaving the White House, Mrs. Johnson concentrated on Texas.  She was a leading force in the beautification of Texas roads and highways and encouraging municipalities and highway districts to utilize native Texas plants and wildflowers.  She emphasized not only the beauty of the wildflowers but also the ecological advantages of using native plants.

The highways of Texas during spring time are a cacophony of color, with wild flowers in full bloom.  Here, we know spring has finally come when the roads are carpeted in Texas wildflowers.  You will see Indian Paintbrush, Buttercups, Prairie Verbena and primrose scattered along the sides of roads and highways throughout the state.  But the one wildflower that signals spring has arrived in Texas is the Texas Bluebonnet.  With its deep purple flower, it completely blankets roads and fields throughout the state.  The purple carpet these plants create is truly a beautiful sight that only lasts a few weeks each spring.  Texans rush out to take pictures in the fields of purple.

This box contains some new colorways, including Castilleja (Indian Paintbrush), Densiflora (Indian Warrior), Bluebonnets and Rose of Sharon.

This box is a special box, that says “Hello Spring!”  It contains:

• A knitting pattern for a rectangular wrap that will be great for those early days of spring when the air is still nippy, throughout summer when the air conditioning gets on the chilly side and into fall when crisp air returns.  The pattern gives you the option of making it as small or large as you would like.
• The yarn to make this wrap.  The pattern as written calls for 5 full skeins of fingering yarn.  There is an adaptation that utilizes 2 full and six 50g skeins of yarn.  Total yardage regardless of the option you choose, is approximately 2,315 yards of yarn. If you choose to use the option containing the six 50g skeins, I will include a printout of the adaptation of the pattern, as well as a link to a Ravelry project that used this method.  It is not a difficult change and provides a more colorful wrap.
• A Texas Wildflower themed project bag that is large enough to hold all the yarn  and notions while you work on your project
• Stitch markers, a pin for your project bag and a few other goodies
• Your choice to add on a Knitting-themed t-shirt.  The t-shirt comes in your choice of pink or green.
• For those of you who crochet, and would like to purchase this box, let me know and I will point you to some patterns that would work well with this box

This box will begin shipping the first week of April.