Chappy’s best friend, Horatio, came over to play today. They haven’t seen each other in about 9 months (sad, I know), but boy, did they have a good time!

They romped in the yard.

They wrestled.

They climbed on each other. (Sitting on Horatio is one of Chappy’s very favorite things.)

And after quite a while of that, they finally actually sat down.

  Horatio, of course, also brought his big sister along. Here’s a rare photo of Princess actually stretched out and sleeping while she’s (1) away from home and (2) mere inches away from the two crazy boys’ rough-housing.

And while the dogs were doing the doggy thing, I gave their mom, Cindy, a sock-knitting lesson. She hasn’t knitted anything in about a year, but wanted to do socks so . . . it took us about 7 hours, but she finished one short-row toe and took it home just in time to do the easy part. Nothing else difficult until she gets to the heel, and since that will be a short-row heel, I figure she’s at least got one under her belt. (I considered starting her on a traditional, heel-flap, top-down sock, but since she’s a visual person and not good at following written instructions, there would be absolutely no way I could have walked her through that over the phone.)

While she worked on her sock toe, I added some more rows to my now Flower Basket Shawl . . . since I decided not to risk ruining my beautiful Chai yarn by risking having to frog it another time, since my pattern simply was not cooperating. I also got two sock-toes of my own done, as well as sewing together the shoulder seam of my NbaT, so it’s ready to do the neckband.

I also pulled all my yarn out of my closet to sort through my stash . . . again. I don’ t know why I didn’t think to take pictures, but I didn’t. I have an obscene amount of Jo Sharp yarn, though–especially in the Aran weight that I’m really not that interested in knitting any more. The last few aran-weight sweaters I’ve knitted ended up being much too hot to wear, no matter how beautiful they were, so what am I doing with still more of the stuff? (Hint: The key word in the previous sentence begins with “B” and ends with “eautiful.”) I also have quite a pile of yarn in the office in the “RAOK” pile . . . stuff that’s really very nice, but which I am obviously not going to do anything with . . . You know I really don’t buy THAT much yarn . . . how do I end up with so much that I don’t need?

I don’t suppose anyone out there would like to trade a sweaters’ worth of Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran for an equal amount of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, is there?

Oh, and it’s official. I’ve given up on the Rowan Elfin cardigan. I slid the two fronts off the needle this morning at approximately 11:28 a.m. They will be resting with the completed back and the skeins of still-untouched Felted Tweed yarn in a plastic bag pending further arrangements.

The one drawback to the day? We had one of those Off! bug-repellant lanterns lit on the table, and by the time Cindy and the pooches left (around 7:20), my throat felt as if I’d been in a smoky room all day, I was coughing, and out of breath/wheezing. Not fun! It’s such a . . . comforting . . . thought to think that I was breathing in insect-repellant smoke all afternoon . . . that’s got to be good for my lungs, right??

  Anyway, Chappy got a bath after they left (badly needed after all that rolling in the back yard . . . I can’t remember the last time I saw so much actual dirt at the bottom of the bathtub), had his supper, and promptly zonked out for basically the entire evening. He curled up on the arm of my chair while I read–I was tired, too, and figured I’d done enough knitting for one day–and basically didn’t move for over an hour. He is tired!

One final note–today would have been my Dad’s Father’s 102nd birthday. He was born on July 3, 1903 in Germany, and died in 1967 of Alzheimer’s (though I’m not sure of the date, but then I was only about 10 months old). Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

Tags: Chappy, Family, Friends, General, Knitting/Spinning, Weather // 3 Comments »