Knitting, with Dogs

Spinnin' and grinnin'

One of the nice things about doing spinning demos over at Stone Mountain is that you get to meet and know the workers and the regular visitors.  One of the regulars that I always enjoy chatting with is Richard, who's also a good photographer.  Sometimes he sends me pictures he's taken there, like this one, where I'm almost surrounded.  You can just see the top of my head.  (Pictures used with Richard's permission.)

And other times I'm just spinnin' and grinnin'.

Progress pictures, as promised

Out of the snowflakes (mostly) and into the trees.

Snowflakes in Cedarwoods.  Chart F completed, and 10 rows into chart G. Over 700 sts on the needles.  Yeah, it's a lot of sts, but there'll be lots more before it's done.  :)  It's an easy knit, though.  I did switch to my ludicrously long Addi Lace Turbo needle, and that helped immensely, mostly because it's pointier.  I'm not fighting those k2togs and ssks anymore.

And though I can't match ESC with her pictures of stuff on Sadie, we do occasionally put Stuff on Jasper. 

Bouncer is bemused.  Or maybe disgusted.  Or just thinking about something else.  :)

A good day

Today was a good demo day at Stone Mtn.  There were lots of interesting people and the weather was great -- cool and dry, though the day started out drizzly.  It was one of those days I was really delighted to be able to sit outside and work.

And one lady told me a funny.  People often come up and just bluntly ask "What are you doing?"  I normally answer patiently, just saying "I'm spinning yarn out of wool on a spinning wheel,"  because honey, you wouldn't BELIEVE what people come up with on their own:

"Look, she's sewing!"

"Look, she's weaving yarn!"

"Look, she's weaving cotton on her sewing machine!"

Seriously.

But this lady today told me that her grandmother had a phrase that she'd use when someone asked her what she was doing when she was doing something that should be fairly obvious.

"I'm sewing buttons on ice cream."

I laughed for 5 minutes.  I swear.  The lady walked away while I was still laughing.  Hell, I'm STILL laughing.

I told her her grandmother was a genius.

New pictures of Snowflakes on Cedars tomorrow.  I'm up to the trees now, after recovering from an "oh shit" moment when I realized I'd hosed up one of the corners.  But laddering down (NOT frogging, yay!) let me fix it, after I thought overnight on how I'd tackle the fix.

No, I didn't take pictures.  I didn't want to jinx myself.  :) 

Found first lines

The caption for the Astronomy Picture of the Day for April 11, 2008 inspired me.  Go look at the picture, then read the poem.  Or vice versa.

 

At first, he couldn't see the Moon
But then, as small and shy
and thin as hope can be,
it came --
the evening's tiny
Mona Lisa smile.

Second chart finished

Snowflakes on Cedarwoods, Chart B plus a couple of rows of chart C, finished Saturday night:

And a gratuitous Jasper headshot:

I was watching Tarzan on TCM this afternoon.  Jasper was watching all the motion on the screen and doing his cute head tilt at Tarzan's yell and Jane's screams and the apes' screeches.  He was as entertaining as the movie.

Help a blogger, win a chance at a prize!

Danielle over at One Day at a Time has undertaken a couple of fund-raising ventures. She's doing both the Walk for Animals and an MS Bike Ride.  If you've got any Donation Dollars to spare, you can go here to read more and to get links to donate.

Donations (and blog mentions!) get you chances at prizes.   Mmmmm.... prizes.

And both are worthy causes.  So give if you can.  I'm broke, but I had a few $$ I could put her way!  I've got animals, and I've got MS in my extended family, so I can sympathize with BOTH causes.  Pick the one that appeals to you.  :D

Eponymous

Knitting:
Snowflakes in Cedarswoods, chart A complete:

with dogs:

A spinner's view

This was my view yesterday, captured on my crappy cellphone camera.

On the far left is a dogwood tree in flower.  Then there's a big pine tree, then a couple of magnolia trees all bedecked in wisteria.  Trust me, it's much prettier in person.  :)  There were more folks coming by on Sunday than there were on damp, rainy Saturday, but still not too many.  I really wonder how attendance at the park will be affected by the rising gas prices. 

For a poem for today, go over to this entry at Bedlam Farm Journal and read "The Road to Life".  I've read several of Jon Katz's books, but I just started reading his blog.  He's doing some nice photography and some nice work in other parts of his life.  And there's often good dog eye candy.  :)

Spinning, and more Nash

Whew.  Second day in a row for a 4-hour spinning session out at Stone Mtn.  I don't usually like to double-up like this, because it totally wears me out.  But I gotta go back to work sometime, so I might as well start here.

BTW, that bobbin I spun at retreat?  About 1000 yds of laceweight.  I was pleased with the amount.

Here's more Ogden Nash.  I love the line at the end and quote it often.

 

Taboo to Boot

One bliss for which
there is no match
Is when you itch
to up and scratch.

Yet doctors and dowagers deprecate scratching,
Society ranks it with spitting and snatching,
And medical circles consistently hold
That scratching's as wicked as feeding a cold.
Hell's flame burns unquenched 'neath how many a stocking
On account of to scratch in a salon is shocking!

'Neath tile or thatch
That man is rich
Who has a scratch
For every itch.

Ho, squirmers and writhers, how long will ye suffer
The medical tyrant, the social rebuffer!
On the edge of the door let our shoulder blades rub,
Let the drawing room now be as free as the tub!

I'm greatly attached
To Barbara Frietchie.
I bet she scratched
When she was itchy.

Because it's raining, and I have to go out in it

I found this in the Wall Street Journal about 30 years ago.

The rain, it falleth on the just
And on the unjust fella,
But mostly on the just, because
The unjust steals the just's umbrella.

Based on Matthew 5:45:
"That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."

I don't know why I have a compulsion to explicate things these days, but I do.