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 

The Online Bookshelf - Flora's Feast

An odd little example of late-Victorian anthropomorphism.

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. 

Home

I'm happy.  The kitties are happy.

Batdog is really happy.

Danger, Will Robinson

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

Bell'Italia

I would kill for a foot rub right now.

He Doesn't Like The Looks Of This

He's been eyeing the suitcase with misgivings all evening.

Quote Of The Day

image from Pinterest

Sometimes I feel that Trappist monasteries weren't really founded in any excess of asceticism but just to fulfill a felt need, a place where the naturally silent might escape from the born talkers. ~ Winifred Peck

We're Surrounded

Arrivederci, Baby

On my bucket list, because I want to see it before it disappears forever. I'm leaving Saturday.

Tatting - A Ruffled Doily from 1953

An elaborately ruffled, tatted doily from the February, 1953 issue of Workbasket magazine. Two pages of instructions on my Flickr account, along with tips on how to stiffen the end product using sugar.

Vintage Magazines - Galaxy, August 1959

Another BEM (Bug-Eyed Monster) encounter.

The Enabler

I introduced the New Kids to catnip.

Quote Of The Day

It's practically impossible to look at a penguin and stay angry. ~ Joe Moore

The Online Bookshelf - Fifty Birds Of Town And City

Published by the US Dept of the Interior, with full-color illustrations.  No date, but the foreword reads:

Early in this century, the old Bureau of Biological Survey put out a booklet called “Fifty Common Birds of Farm and Orchard,” with paintings by Louis Agassiz Fuertes.

In 1962, a former Fish and Wildlife Service staffer named Rachael Carson wrote “Silent Spring,” a book that changed American thinking about birds—and pesticides.

That first volume is out of date because of our great population shifts in six decades. And I hope that “Silent Spring” will be out of date some day; that our birds will live with us in an unpoisoned environment of cities and towns that are cleaner, healthier, greener.

So here is a new “bird book” from the Department of the Interior, geared to the 50 birds you might see in your city, with paintings done by a man who picked up the fallen Fuertes brush, Bob Hines. These are not endangered birds, except as all living things are endangered; some of them are living in or passing through your backyard or city park right now. Look well at Bob’s art; he is not commemorating the passenger pigeon but trying to open your eyes to the world about you.

And he is trying to suggest that these birds can live in our towns and cities so long as you help provide the healthy habitat they need, habitat that is healthy not just for them but for you.

Enjoy this little book, learn from it, and take a vow that our springs will not be silent of bird calls—and will be more silent of human clatter.

Free download at Project Gutenberg.

Scrap Craft - A Coin Purse from 1953

A day late but maybe not a dollar short -- here's a coin purse for children, to make out of leather or felt scraps and decorate with buttons from Mom's stash.  From the February, 1953 issue of Workbasket, one page of instructions can be found on my Flickr account.

He Said We Needed A New Garage

Only took him about ten hours to demolish the old one.  Single-handed.

Homeow-stasis

Notice how he has pulled it into a nice little pile so he doesn't have to share.

Kiss Me, I'm Irish

Reserve Cat has competition for the Irish stole.

Crochet - An Easter Bonnet from 1953

"Light and Airy As A Fairy" -- a crocheted cap for your Easter bonnet from the February, 1953 issue of Workbasket magazine.  One page of instructions may be found on my Flickr account.