Where Can He Be?

Please come home, Boing. Please.

I Love This!

This YouTube clip has been making the rounds. It's charming:



What a ton of work — here's a warm round of applause to the creators.
Want to see how it was made?

Catchin' a Wave -- Too Cute!

I wouldn't have believed this, had I not seen it. They're soft, sweet, adorable and ... very brave. I love these little guys even more. I'd like to know the man's story. Is this his pet?

Still Lifes (Lives?) With Pets ...

... Or: All right. Everybody outside while I try to take these pictures. The first is called "Tank Top with Kitten Foot":


It is going to be another sample for the shop, a Nashua tank top. I'm using their Creative Focus Linen (50-50 linen and cotton) instead of their 100 percent cotton, which has gotten, uh, mixed reviews.

Project No. 2 is "Cable Braid Scarf with Nosy Puppy":


This was (is still) my unofficial Winter Olympics knitting project. Using a shop pattern from All About Yarn, it uses four skeins of Rowan's Kid Classic, strands held double, so net yardage is two skeins (huh?). I will probably get one more skein and work from both ends to make it a titch longer; nitpicky me might make it a bit wider next time, but I'm sticking with the Kid Classic. Yum. This is also very nice worked single strand with Big Wool or a similar super bulky.

Isn't he just about the cutest thing? (Don't tell Henry I said that)


He was tied outside the auction barn in Hinckley a couple Saturdays ago. I'd tagged along with the horse trainer, who was trying to sell a pair of saddles. I didn't buy him — or anything else, for that matter — but someone did. $32.50 and ... sold! I have to say that there is a whole lot of cr*p at these gatherings, but there were a few gems, too: a brand new Carhartt jacket comes to mind. Mostly what I was thinking, however, was why hadn't I brought a little project along?

A Quick Trip to Florida

This little outing came up rather quickly a few weeks ago. Mom has Parkinson's disease and, for whatever reason, it was giving her more problems than usual, so my parents decided to come home from St. Petersburg early this year. They were under some time pressure to get home for a doctor's appointment, and they asked my sister and I to help them close their little place for the season.

They have the ritual down to a very exacting routine, actually, from emptying the fridge — "leave the beer for Fred. He likes that kind" — to slipping the panels behind the sliding door — it helps reflect the summer heat — to leaving small pans of kitty litter all over the apartment -- apparently it helps absorb moisture. It works for cats, so why not?

It wasn't all about vacuuming and covering furniture. We had a day to get the short tour of some of their favorite haunts. This bridge will haunt me, that's for sure:


We were already on the water, four lanes of traffic, and we weren't even at the bridge. I stayed calm and didn't throw up. I stayed calm and didn't throw up. I stayed calm and ... We crossed it coming and going to Ellenton Outlets, where I did a wee bit of shopping at the Birkenstocks store (the best part — the clerk didn't smirk when I told her what size).

Of course, we stopped at the beach -- Madeira Beach, about 10 minutes from their place. This is my sister — we both were a little stunned that we were actually here, barefoot on powder sugar sand.


This is me — maybe those smirking clerks have every right to purse their tight little lips. I do have big feet!


I like these pictures of Mom and Dad. Get a load of the bare-chested wonder in the background. It was a cool, 50-55 degree day; even us Northerners had a jacket on.



And, one can't hardly go to the beach and then not bore others with pictures of the water. ...





You're welcome.

A Little This, A Little That

Now that January has morphed into February, we've entered the longest half of winter. One remedy? A quick bit of knitting. If not the cowl from She Shoots Sheep Shots, there's this, a free pattern from Blue Sky Alpacas:


They are weightless and surprisingly warm. Knit with size 5 double points -- the few that Henry hasn't eaten -- and cast off with a size 7, to ensure an elastic top. The yarn? Blue Sky's Brushed Suri, plucked from one of the irresistible walls at Shepherd's Choice, at the new store in Anoka. I'm thinking that, for the next pair, I'll add a small ruffle around the bottom.

If you can't be knitting, nothing says you can't be reading about knitting. There's this novel,



published last summer, but which found its way into my hands a few weeks ago. If you love Ireland, or all things Irish or Aran sweaters or all of the above, you will probably enjoy this — even if you aren't a knitter, but the book is more fun if you are. Unlike some other novels with knitting threads (sorry. had to say it), this book rings more real: no wooden conversations, for example, and no discussions among the characters about their 'relationships.' eee-yeewww. Full disclosure, however: I found the main character a bit too shrill and paranoid, but I have never had her emotional baggage, either. The book is available here or at any bookstore or library.

I am at least two years late to this party, but I'm having a great time anyway:


If I ever knit a washcloth, please check whether my meds have gone bad, but there is so much more than that in here. The authors are just so darn funny — and realistic — did I mention that there is some fabulous work? I want to make ... alot of the projects. I picked up my copy here, but it is also available here, of course. Haven't seen it in any yarn shops lately, though.

Surfing on a Thursday

Look what I found, clicking around the Web. I'm not usually fond of these kinds of things, but this one is kinda sweet. Find it here.


Then there's this cowl, at She Shoots Sheep Shots. It has the ever-popular two-fer of being lovely as well as feeding that wee craving for instant gratification. (You know you want some. It's January.) She used Silk Garden Chunky and Misti Alpaca Super Chunky. Very nice.