Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Cost/Benefit Analysis

photo from icanhas.cheezburger.com

We're having a new driveway poured.

1. It's smelly and noisy, we won't be able to use the driveway until they're done, and Batdog is upset.

2. My side yard is full of half-naked, muscular young men.

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Crochet - A Rose & Pineapple Doily from 1953


From Workbasket magazine, February 1953. Instructions are on my Flickr account.

Friday, May 26, 2017

Quote Of The Day


And He shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away. ~ Revelations 21:4

Thursday, May 25, 2017

Getting Ready for Buenos Aires


They're going to have to work on that form if they expect to medal in Synchronized Stretching.

Saturday, May 20, 2017

Friday, May 19, 2017

Eheu fugaces


Batdog and I were in line at the Post Office when a small voice piped up "Look, mommy - that grandma has a puppy!"

Of course when I told Brian he laughed.

Thursday, May 18, 2017

The Online Bookshelf - British Butterflies


From archive.org, with beautiful color plates to download for free.

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

The Massacre Of The Innocents

image from Pinterest

Reserve Cat went outside at about 7am and stayed out for ten hours.  He is ignoring his food dish. 

There may be a nexus between this, and the nest of baby bunnies in the side yard.

Crochet - Baby Bootees from 1954


From the February, 1953 issue of Workbasket magazine, a set of crocheted baby bootees.  One page of instructions on my Flickr account.

Monday, May 15, 2017

Minx Redux


 


Someone has knitted the Minx and put it on Ravelry

Saturday, May 13, 2017

Friday, May 12, 2017

Quote Of The Day

Sympathy, by Briton Riviere

Nothing that grieves us can be called little; by the eternal laws of proportion a child's loss of a doll and a king's loss of a crown are events of the same size.  ~ Mark Twain 

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Loot


Compared to Ireland, Brian got off easy.  I visited only two yarn shops.  The first was in Verona, a tiny but memorable shop named after the owner, Jenny Klaer


The selection is amazing for the amount of space she has, and she carries vegetable-dyed merino from Dr Valentina Ferrarini. Why oh why didn't I buy more?


 In a moment of pure serendipity, when I strolled back to the Piazza dei Signori after getting not nearly enough yarn, there was a demonstration of yarn spinning and dying with none other than Dr Ferrarini herself showing off her plants and her process.



The second shop was a chain called Tricot Cafe in Padua, and offered a variety of quilting, knitting, and beadwork supplies.  I resisted temptation too successfully, I'm afraid.  I only got the book.

The bag came from the street market in San Gimignano.  Other than the yarn and some ecclesiastical necessities (rosary from the Vatican for a nephew who is being confirmed, etc), I didn't buy a lot; a couple of cheap scarves from street vendors in Mantua and Florence, the obligatory refrigerator magnets, a tablecloth.

Of all the towns we saw (Rome, Florence, Monteriggioni, San Gimignano, Florence, Pisa, Mantua, Verona and Venice), I liked Mantua the best only because it seemed such a personable and friendly town.  If it weren't for the cobblestones (original, knobby, extremely difficult to walk on), I could see myself living there. 

UPDATE: The lavender is laceweight 100% merino and is going to be either a stole or a shawl in a lace stitch.  The grey and the variegated are sock yarns and are going to be...socks.  I'm thinking of trying these socks for the grey.

Dr Ferrarini's merino is 200 meters and I have no clue what to make that will not be too plain (ie stockinette) and still show off the color gradations.  I wonder if she does mail order and how much it will run me to order two more skeins. 

Saturday, May 6, 2017

Home


I'm happy.  The kitties are happy.

Batdog is really happy.

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Danger, Will Robinson

There's a yarn shop four blocks from the hotel.