Dogs on Thursday and Thorpe Love

Remind me again why I live in New England?


"Nobody knows the trubbles I've seen...oowwooo"

Did you know: With just a bit of finagling, your neckwarmer can double as a warm yet stylish chihuahua snood? It's COLD out there! On the plus side, though, it's the best winter ever for handknits. So many opportunities, and so many grateful recipients. Like Frisky, for instance.

In knitting news, I'm wishing I'd nominated Thorpe for a Bobby award. It is the perfect winter hat; quick to knit, warm, practical, and equally cute on guys and girls. Not only do my sons love theirs, some of their friends have started hinting to me how much they love them too :) Amazing that we have so many free patterns to choose from - so many talented and generous people out there!

My last Thorpe is too big for my little guy (though he insists on wearing it), and I am still mad at the yarn. As soon as I can get my hands on a skein of Malabrigo Chunky (LYS is fresh out!) in something close to red I'll be Thorping once more.

Happy DOT :)

ETA: Oops - guess I never posted about the second Thorpe, see below - full sob story available on Ravelry

Thorpe and Dogs on Thursday

News flash: LOL dog runs out of turkey jerky:



Halp am out of treats - gasp! - please send more thx.

Below is a project I just had to cast on yesterday - it is so fast and the pattern is very well-written. DS #1 hath already claimed it for his own. Something tells me I will be making more of these.



Pattern: Thorpe
Yarn: Malabrigo Chunky, Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande for the trim.
Needles: sz 9 dpn and circ, sz G crochet hook

I'm Back...

Hello :) I am finally home and beginning to feel better.

What I've learned: listen to your body - no matter what the doctor tells you. Anyone who suggests "waiting it out" as a strategy for dealing with extreme pain is to be avoided. Put your foot down and insist on high quality care.

I say this because, in addition to everything else that has fallen by the wayside these past few weeks, I have wasted valuable, valuable between-semester knitting time. My pitiful progress:


Lobster cloth for my mom, because she asked. It's a paltry reward for coming up to frigid New England from her warm winter retreat to sleep in a cot in my hospital room and watch endless episodes of What Not to Wear between rounds of walking me to the bathroom. Also, folding 1,000,000 loads of laundry, humoring the chihuahua, buying my kids Hef-style bathrobes just because, and generally being super-nana. Thanks, mom. The lobster is in the mail.


Another Bib n Burp set, this one for DH's cousin. Check out the dragonfly button :)

And that's it. sigh. Now I must hit the ground running with teaching and school as the semester kicks into high gear. After perusing the latest issue of Knitscene and getting caught up on my Ravelry trolling, I've quite an impressive wish list of projects to address. Hopefully February will be a whole lot less painful - and more productive!

Dogs on Thursday

I finished my multi-directional diagonal scarf. I love it, and Frisky does too:

Wha? Huh? zzzzzzz...

Also, thought you might like to have a peek at Frisky's rockin' New Years' Eve:

Wha? Huh? zzzzzzz...

It's good to be the chihuahua.

Gift Along 2008

See link in sidebar.

Yikes - a Meme!

Vivian tagged me for a New Year's meme! I am pretty boring, Vivian, but here goes ;)

New Year's Eve -- do you like to stay in or go out?
When I was younger I wore the lampshade, but now dh and I would rather cosy up at home with the kids and the dog.

Do you like to stay up or just go to sleep?
Always! Stay up!

Any special plans this year?
I was sick, so we had to plan our extravaganza around laying on the sofa. We all watched Mythbusters and the Three Stooges marathon together. At midnight, we watched the ball drop and drank ginger ale out of festive polka-dotted champagne glasses. Frisky used me as a nap mat. Woo-hoo!

What's your favorite New Year's memory?
Y2K - dh and I experienced a small moment of Y2K disaster panic in the final hours - I seem to recall that we ran out and bought some bottled water and batteries. It was exciting and the water lasted for months :)

Do you make New Year's Resolutions?
Not anymore, not really.

Feel like sharing them?

Do you do anything special on New Year's Day?
We just hang out and play cards and board games and stuff. Usually, the boys build a lego model of the new year (eg a 2007 out of legos).

I'll tag Cynical Knitting Gal and Brit Knitter if you haven't been tagged already ;)