Yours 'til Niagara Falls

What to Do When the Cable is Out

Most of the yesterday after a wind storm I had no cable and no internet.  But I did have a novel, The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox.  I loved the way the author was able to gracefully slip from character to character and past to present using dialogue.  I read it pretty much in one sitting.  I did not enjoy the loose ends left in the final chapter, but I'm a closure kind of person.

Little Frida got an extreme makeover.  Her 6" long hair is pretty and very soft, but to properly care for it, a minimum of 20 to 30 minutes a night of brushing is required.  Skip a couple nights and you end up with mats behind her ears and in her armpits. (Don't you hate it when that happens?)  Anyhoo... The mats were on the verge of getting to be too much and off to the groomer she went.  She went from looking like a bearded collie:

  

to a long-tailed schnauzer-y looking dog:

  

She wasn't too terribly traumatized by the whole thing, just a little shivery in the 50 degree weather we have just now.  And we had Sofie as a weekend guest.  She is generally a low maintenance pug, but the two dogs together can get pretty rambunctious:

 

Which brings us to another good thing to do when the cable is out.  You can pass the time pleasantly by knitting a pretty baby sweater.  My daughter's friend Amanda is expecting a little girl soon.  I am making an Elizabeth Zimmerman February Baby Jacket from one of the best knitting books ever, the Knitting Almanac.  I chose a periwinkle raw silk yarn.  Although I know it's dicey to present a hand-wash garment to a new mom, Amanda is a girl who can appreciate the accomodations which must be made for the finer things in life.  The sweater is coming along beautifully:

 

But, alas! there is a complication.  The dogs were fooling around and got into the knitting bag.  This is what a $9.00 skein of raw silk looks like after two mutts have a tug-of-war with it:

This might be considered a Gordian knot solved by Alexander the great with a bold stroke of his sword.  Let's hope it doesn't come to that.  I'd make the naughty dogs work on it, but they have no thumbs. 

What's on Sunday

I thought it would be nice to take inventory from time to time.  Here goes:

What's on my knitting needles:

This is the very beginning of the afore-posted Flintknits February lady Jacket.  I'm making it with a 100% wool hand-dyed by women who are members of a Chilean co-op.  I like it because the subtle color variations won't compete with the lace pattern.  I'm using size 8 Darrice needles.  My Wednesday night knitting group will be doing a knit-along (our first) with this pattern.

What's on my spinning wheel:

This is a pretty seafoam-y green mix of cormo and alpaca.  Soft as a dream.  I picked up this small amount (under three ounces) at the Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival two years ago.  I'm trying to spin it finely, but I'm having a little trouble making it even.  I will ply together two singles for a yarn suitable for a pair of small mittens or a child's hat.

What's on my book shelf:

Birds of a Feather is the second Maisie Dobbs book.  And, why yes, that is an autographed copy.  I picked it up in a Borders in Florida.  Jacqueline Windspear had paid an author's visit a week or so before I was there.  I love autographed copies.  I had to set aside The Time Traver's Wife.  I gave it my usual 75-page trial and couldn't warm up to it.  The idea of a naked, dazed man showing up randomly just freaked me out too much.  I will, as usual, give it another try later.  Memoirs of a Geisha took three tries and it's one of my favorite books.

What's on my house:

Caddis flies.  Hundreds and thousands of caddis flies! They cover my windows, doors, exterior walls, cars and outside furniture.  When you take down a hanging plant to water it, a cloud of these icky creatures rises to greet you.  The insect-of-the-week club is the only downside of living on the river.  There are gnats, mosquitos and spiders (arachnids, I know, but I lump them in) but caddis flies are the worst.  When you smoosh them they smear.  My daughter hates them with a passion.  They should be gone in a week.

What's on T.V:

It looks like PBS has a lot to offer tonight.  There is the love story of Bertie and Elizabeth and following that is Revisiting Brideshead.  I never saw it before, but I love and adore that period of history.