A Cactus is Forever

There are some people I know that love animals, but could never make the commitment of caring for a pet. I fully understand that to be a fact of our busy lives, what with school, work, and various obligations every day – It’s a lot of work to keep another living being happy and healthy, especially when they can’t really communicate their specific needs. The next step down from housing an animal involves caring for a plant, which can be oddly fulfilling to many individuals. It’s still alive and therefore dependent on your love, so it’s really not such a strange practice to find rewarding. They’re beautiful, inviting, and you only need to remember to feed them every two days or so.

However, there is still a fair amount of people (Caring, thoughtful, wonderful people, no less!) that are completely incapable of preventing a once thriving pot of flowers or what have you from turning into detritus in a matter of days. I hold nothing against these select people, nor do I judge them for their apparent negligence; Honestly, life happens.

For this group who are clearly not destined to be gardeners or care-takers of any sort, I may have found the solution. Certain plants are a lot heartier, naturally able to withstand harsh conditions… And so are fake plants, too! They’ll still keeps you company and can easily be found in any average craft store, but why buy something when you can just as easily make it?

There’s no denying it, real or not, cacti kick ass. We’ve had our pot of [real] cacti for longer than I can remember, but I’m positive that in my entire lifetime they have not grown even a full inch. They live forever on practically no nourishment and are almost guaranteed to look exactly the same for years on end. They’ll never surprise you by leaving “presents” in your slippers like a conventional pet might, and they won’t immediately expire if you forget to feed them once or twice.

For those who still can’t handle the proposition of being in charge of anything with any life to it, my knit cactus began from the basic concept illustrated on craftster. I added arms by putting a couple stitches on waste yarn, casting the same number back on in the same place, and then continuing with the main body until it reached a satisfactory height. Once complete, I returned to the open holes and used short row shaping to make the extremities point upward.

Now that I have a dog, real plants, and a fake cactus, it’s not so lonely here at home anymore!