FO: Drop Stitch Scarf

this is the scarf that I thought was lost forever, until I prayed for it to come to me.... and it did. this, of course, has changed my entire perspective on the concept of praying.... but I'll save that for another time!

in order to close out the year the right way, I will leave 2008 by writing up a post that focuses on my new favorite thing - a finished object!

Project: Drop Stitch Scarf from Ravelry
Yarn: Ella Rae Palermo, Color #7
Needles: addi turbos, 4.5 mm
Start to Finish: August 2008 to December 2008
Recipient: Kathy, my sister-in-law

Special thanks to my Mom and my dog, Titus, for being such willing models on Christmas Day.

All the best to you and yours in 2009!

Krista :-)

i lost my knitting.... and have since lost my mind

seriously, we are in trouble here.

last summer, i started this scarf for my sister-in-law because i knew how much she wanted a handknit scarf. i carefully chose a fuschia blend wool (so not that colour in this photo, but I digress) because she has super cool black hair and brown eyes and fuschia would look super cool on her.

so, anyway, i've been plugging away at this drop-stitch scarf since summer and i finally realize the other day that i better finish it because Christmas Day is ... um... SOON. so i started up again with renewed vigor and then...... well, then..........

i had to clean. the house. for a party.

and somewhere in my cleaning, i put the scarf somewhere in a "safe place" because i would obviously remember, after the party, where i put the yarn.

however.

i can't remember where the safe place is and i cannot find the half-knitted scarf that I now only have two more days to knit. i've looked in all of my knitterly places - like baskets and closets and plastic containers, but to no avail. i've also looked in all non-knitterly places - like the dog's toybox, the fridge and the TV cabinet. no luck.

i am now only left with my mother's advice:

"just sit down and relax and say "Okay, scarf, come to me"" and it will."

okay, mom, this one's for you and full proof that i've lost my knitting and my mind:

Okay, scarf, come to me!

**ETA Dec. 23: The freaking scarf came to me! When I least expected it and when I was most relaxed. And I found it in the TV stand!!! Who knew? The lesson here, of course:

Never doubt your mother.

shawl fever.... not really

Previous posts have alluded to the difficulty I had finishing this shawl, however, once it was finished, I immediately thought about starting another one!

As a finished project the Goldielocks Triangle Shawl is quite pretty and very light. A perfect accessory to any type of outfit. I just might knit one for myself one day, considering that I have 2.5 more hanks of the stuff.

The specs: Goldielocks Triangle Shawl from Fleece Artist
Yarn: Goldielocks yarn from Fleece Artist (but I don't see it on their website anymore so maybe they no longer have it)
Needles: 6 mm addi turbos
Project length: about 10 months
*** no modifications, except that I probably cast off too early and next time I will cast off with a bigger needle. *sigh*

For: Mom.... on her birthday!

baby fever

I'm not quite sure there's anything cuter than a pair of baby booties.

Anything? Anyone?

I didn't think so.

These booties are for my friend/colleague Corinne, who is expecting her first baby in December.

The 411:

Pattern: "Be-ribboned Booties" from One Skein Wonders.

Needles: 3.25 mm addi turbos.

Yarn: Lang Mille Colori, can't remember the colorway.

Comments:This was a super bulky yarn purposely knit on a smaller needle to increase the strength and warmth of the bootie. Sometimes the yarn was difficult to knit with on such a small needle, but the variegated colors in the yarn and the simple garter stitch combined to make such an awesome texture, that I forced myself to stick with it. I did have cramps in my hands for days afterwards, though!

And I couldn't bear to give Corinne a pair of booties without a cute sweater to match!

The 411:

Pattern: "One piece Baby Kimono" from Mason Dixon Knitting

Needles: 4.5mm addi turbos

Yarn: Rowan soft baby in yellow

Comments: The yarn wasn't as easy to knit with as I thought it would be, but it ended up being so soft that I don't really care. The pattern itself was a dream to knit - excellent for TV watching. I improvised on the closing of the wrap front - just using ribbons and buttons. Hard to explain how I did it, but let's just say that the only effort required was sewing on the button and slipping the ribbon through the knitted stitches to create a tie. I'm quite happy with the end result.

Cue the picture of super cute button detail:

FO: Dishcloths for Kim

These dish cloths are for Kim, a co-worker of mine who turned the concept of tradition on its ear and bought a house by herself. Let’s face it, it’s fairly common to wait until one is part of a couple to make such a monumental purchase and I’m proud of Kim for choosing not to wait and to go it alone. Such an accomplishment deserves something small and noteworthy – like some cotton dishcloths and kitchen soap from Tval.

Congratulations, Kim! I, too, was one of those females who stared tradition in the face and purchased a home on my own. It’s an accomplishment to be proud of because it means that there has been years of individual scrimping and saving to make a dream come true.

Aren't we women awesome?

Pattern specs: Traditional dishcloth pattern (the one where you cast on 3 stitches and then start each row with k2, yo, k to the end to increase and then decrease with k2, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k to end)

Yarn: Bernat dishcloth cotton

Needles: Addi turbos, 4.5 mm circular

FO: whale of a tail hat (project spectrum continues)

I spotted this hat in a craft shop during my most recent trip to Newfoundland. Spotting the hat equals finding the pattern (in my mind) so off I went to Wool Trends in St. John's and found it - it's called A Whale of A Tail hat and it's by Cabin Fever.

This hat is surprisingly easy to knit - even the little whale tail at the top was not that difficult - only a little awkward. I mean, the tail is done with dpns and when you're down to 8 stitches and you're knitting two together and trying to keep the wool from twisting, I felt like I was just barely controlling it all, but it turned out okay in the end!

Wool: Ella Rae Palermo

Needles: Addi turbos 4mm / 60 cm long then switched to bamboo 4 mm dpns to finish

Modifications: I started the decreases a lot earlier than called for because I wanted the hat to hug my head and not end up like one long tube.

Totally enjoyable and fun. I completely intend to wear this on my morning dog walks during the winter, because something has to be fun and enjoyable about walking the dog in -25 degrees and complete darkness at 6 a.m.

Posts will be even more brief and sporadic over the next few weeks. School is starting up and God knows what will come up between now and October that will sabotage honest knitting and blogging efforts.

sometimes the decision to finish is made for you

As I have previously posted, the lovely horseshoe pattern scarf was taking nothing short of forever to finish. A finicky pattern, combined with slippery yarn and needles, tested my patience for almost a year and a half. But then, along came Lolly and the Project Spectrum Water element and I said to myself, "enough is enough, this is the inspiration you need to finish this personal knitting nemesis of yours."

And so, with renewed vigor and inspiration, I decided to switch the type of needles I was using (from Addi turbos to bamboo) and off I rode towards the finish line. One Friday night, however, as I was nearing the end of the skein (I figured I had approximately 1-2 repeats of the pattern left before casting off), I decided to take a break from the knitting and my marathon viewing of the Season 2 DVD of Gilmore Girls, and went upstairs to check email.

Well, email turned into internet surfing, which turned into checking my blog roll, which turned into Ravelry surfing, which basically turned into me being completely absorbed by the computer. Now this, you may agree, is perfectly fine as long as you don't happen to own a miniature schnauzer puppy with a major yarn fetish. Which I do.

So, the realization that I had left my long laboured over Handmaiden Seacell/Silk blend horseshoe pattern scarf on the seat of the recliner in the living room WITHIN eating distance of the schnauzer with a yarn fetish was somewhat like the realization that Sephora cosmetics (oh, makeup how I love thee) was finally coming to Canada -- I think the earth moved. And, as a result, I developed a sudden likeness to a certain Usain Bolt and probably made it downstairs in less than a second to see how much damage had been incurred to my knitting (my time getting to Sephora was significantly slower and hampered by a 20 minutes drive downtown - for those who need to know).

Anyway, sure enough, no recliner seat is too high for the "Super Schnauze" when the end result is chomping down on some yarn, and when I landed in the living room, there sat Titus on the living room rug surrounded by Handmaiden yarn, calmly SWALLOWING and EATING the remainder of the skein. It was the most concentration and devotion you will ever see on a dog's face and his thought process was incredibly obvious: this (swallow) is (swallow) sooooooo (swallow) good(swallow).....yummmmmmmmmmmmy (swallow).

How maddening. Seriously.

Is it much of a surprise, then, that my only way to stop this madness was to pick up the yarn from the rug and start pulling on it? Pulling so that what had just gone in to the dog's mouth was now coming out? I tell you, I had no choice - that skein cost me 35 bucks and I would be damned if the dog was going to dictate when I was actually finished with this scarf.

So I pulled.

And pulled.

And pulled a little more.

After about a minute of solid pulling, I was left with about 5 feet of goopy, swallowed Seacell yarn and a dog with a huge yarn-eating grin on his face. My only choice? To cut the yarn off, cast off, and try to salvage the remaining pieces in case I wanted to add on a fringe. Which I haven't done yet because I think I'm still traumatized by pulling 5 feet of yarn out of my dog's mouth and stomach.

As I said at the beginning... sometimes the decision to finish is made for you.

And, sometimes, the dog knows better than you do because the scarf is just fine as it is.

restoring order

have you ever noticed that sometimes you declare something to be true and then, once it is declared, it changes to something else within days?

such is what happened with the last post, where i declared that I seemed to be starting more and finishing less. ever since I wrote that post, I have been obsessively finishing things and restoring order to my home. the finished items will come later... right now it's about restoring order.


restoring order (decluttering, reorganizing, tossing out, recycling, buying new) seems to be what I do on my vacation. as a teacher, i have ooooooooodles of vacation time (no need to make me feel guilty, my DH does that) and i find myself using "restoring order" as a way to relax. i find that the chaos of a school year does not allow me to keep up with housework or simple organization, so i tend to do it during holidays. it grounds me.



on my current "restoring order" list:

- cleaning up my office to make room for a new dresser to hold my yarn and a new bookcase to hold my books

- finding art posters that we purchased in Nice, France on my husband's desk - they get new frames tomorrow!

- finding wedding gifts in the spare bedroom closet and either: putting them to use where they need to go (e.g. the new ironing board cover) or finding places to display them

- cleaning up the laundry room with a new rug, new shelves, and a new curtain - because laundry should be more fun than it really is

- gathering up gently used clothing and housewares that I no longer need to donate to the local women's shelter

- writing thank you notes for our wedding gifts


.... and much much more, of course. Some might wonder why I would choose to do so much during my holidays. And I say: because it makes me feel balanced, grounded and centred like these rocks:



















how do you restore order to your life? do you find it as relaxing as I do?

starting more, finishing less

It seems that this summer may be a lot about starting things and a little less about finishing things. The Argosy scarf has been finished, the horseshoe pattern scarf is definitely closer to finished than started (it's my Water project for Project Spectrum), but the Goldilocks shawl has been s-h-e-l-v-e-d. Listen, I lurrrrrrrrrrrvs me some garter stitch, but there's something mind-numbing about garter stitch when I'm working on that shawl...... it kills me, it pains me, it makes me want to chew broken glass.........

So while it's been shelved, I continue work on other projects. The perfect baby kimono, a la Mason-Dixon knitting, and a little Whale of a Tail hat that I happened upon when I was in Newfoundland (see first pic). It's just a basic hat with a little whale tail that comes out the top of it, like a whale's tail comes out of the water. So cute! And it will be for me! So I continue to work on it....

And finally, in addition to travel, eating, shopping and lots of sleeping, this summer has been a whole lot about Titus. We've become so attached, that he now has to sit on my lap while I am at the computer; it is somewhat difficult to update a blog when a 25 pound miniature schnauzer is on your lap and breathing in your face. As DH and I always say......

"At least he's cute."

FO: Ashley's Argosy

These are my friends Karen and Ashley. Ashley (to the right) is heading off to Thailand to teach for two whole years this Friday. She is going to be missed - she's bright, hilarious, beautiful, organized and she has one amazing laugh. On top of this, she is a great friend and many moons ago, I decided that I wanted to knit her something to take with her to Thailand.

Now you just can't knit any old thing and send it on to Thailand, since I understand that it is somewhat of a tropical country and woolen garments/accessories/items do not exactly make great Thailand fashion (all you people who spout about the breathability and "wicking-ness" of wool can just shush right now, even you guys wouldn't knit something out of wool for someone in Thailand). So I dove into the stash and resurfaced with some Paton's Grace (color: tangelo - sounds like ice cream!) and some 4 mm needles (the wrong needle size in the end, ...pecsh!) and the perfect pattern: the Argosy scarf. It took quite a while to knit but it was worth it because it blocked like a dream and now Ashley is going to float off to Thailand with gorgeous cotton-y scarf like beautifulness wrapped around her neck.

So you'd think that, after all of my enthusiasm for this project, I would have the presence of mind to take a picture of Ashley while she was wearing the scarf, but I was too busy giving her a hug and wishing her well. So instead, I'm stuck with this crappy picture of the Argosy in its completion.... and if someone knows how to photograph the color orange, please let me know!


Safe travels, Ashley! Keep in touch! xoxo

Homeward Bound

Off to spend a week in my favorite place in the world - Newfoundland (see pic). My cousin Natalie is getting married on Saturday so it will be a week full of serious Newfoundland-type partying.

Making good progress on the Argosy scarf (thank god) and will finish in the next week. I will bring it with me on my trip and will hopefully finish, but not while I'm partying, okay? I will also bring a baby sweater that I am working on. Hoping to make lots of progress on that because I will rely on my super-knitting grandmother to help me figure out seaming the sweater together.

Enjoy your week. Looking forward to posting photos when I return!

Lazy Canada Day........

Happy Canada Day!

Living in the nation's capital usually means that Canada Day is a full on marathon of celebrations. This year, however, DH and I didn't have the heart or the desire to get in on the celebrations... leaving it to the hundreds of thousands of other people who would be willing to celebrate on our behalf.

Today was the perfect day for Canada Day - sunny and hot, but not too hot (no humidity), and NO rain. A breeze to keep you cool so that you didn't need the A/C, and, of course, plenty of lazing around. So we lazed around all day, and then we lazed around a little more and then we capped it off with this most yummy dinner - barbecued ribs, jasmine rice, bacon wrapped asparagus and steamed corn. And not one iota of it cooked by me!!! If you had a husband who could cook like this, you wouldn't cook either.... And so I don't. I consider it my contribution to humanity by not cooking and contribute other ways - like by doing the dishes!

Despite the excessive lazing around, however, I managed to have a ridiculously productive day. I had 4 important telephone conversations before 11:30 a.m, I did four loads of laundry, I knit a baby bib, I read, I went to my vacationing parents' house and cleaned out their fridge, I walked the dog twice, I had a nap, I did a little shopping to prepare for my trip to New York City on Thursday, I updated my projects on Ravelry and now I'm updating my blog. And yet I still feel relaxed! Go figure!

So, I'm taking inspiration from the A.D.D. knitter and am making plans to finish up some projects that should have been finished ages ago but have not had the privelege of finished glory. This will be especially difficult for me because I am in a constant state of start-itis; and start-itis is completely responsible for my never-ending "procrastin-ism" (my definition of procrastination).

So, in pictures only, here's what needs to be done. See if you can figure out which ones are: the argosy scarf, the horseshoe pattern scarf, the mitred square baby blanket and the triangle goldielocks shawl.

Am going to NYC on Thursday for 4 days and my plan is to finish ONE of these projects by the end of my trip. I look forward to posting a finished pic next week. Cheers and Happy Canada Day!

Welcome to Parker Thomas!

Parker Thomas is the latest addition to our family's growing list of great-grandchildren - I think he's the SIXTH great-granchild in 3 years. It just won't stop - every time we turn around there's another announcement of another pregnancy. Don't get me wrong - I am not complaining. I just think it's hilarious that my cousins are obviously having tons of sex!

But hey, more sex means more babies, and more babies means cute little outfits like this. This is my standard vintage baby sweater, knit in King Cole Smooth DK on 4 mm Addi turbos. I actually don't know the name of the colour but I thought it was so cute - it's kind of like a grass green. And the hat was actually supposed to be a bonnet, but I thought a bonnet was a little TOO vintage and I decided at the last second to go with a touque style instead. This resulted in some fandangling creativity - thus the two wooden button detail on the back. But......isn't it just so cute?

For some reason, the whole thing reminds me of Cabbage Patch Dolls. No idea why.

So Parker apparently made his first trip to church last week and he was wearing his snazzy new sweater. I'm sure he picked up a girlfriend or two in between the recitation of the Psalms!! I haven't had the pleasure of meeting him yet, but I look forward to doing so in just a few weeks.

Welcome to the world, Parker! We are so excited to meet you.

ps. It's my busy time of year - marking and more marking to get through. I shan't attempt to write much before July. Stay cool, dudes! xo

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

This one is for my Mom and Dad.

Mom and Dad have the cutest love story ever - a love story that I tell my students all the time because their story is about a life time of love. My parents have known each other since they were kids - in fact, they practically grew up across the street from each other. I mean, they've known each other so long that they probably don't remember a time when they didn't know each other. Isn't that crazy?

So, apparently, the love story goes that waaaaaaaaaay back in 1967, my sneaky matchmaker Mom was desperately trying to set my Dad up with someone else until he finally told her to stop because he actually liked her. Well, talk about getting your matchmaking panties in a knot - what was a girl to do but actually fall for the cute boy with the lovely brown eyes who lived across the street? She did, all right, and I know she's not regretting it!

So, if you put it all together, even though my parents have been together since 1967, they've actually been in each other's lives for a lot longer than that. I mean, 41 years is a long time to know someone, let alone love someone, and as someone who has just been married for 6 months, I look frequently at my parents' marriage for the inspiration I need to keep my own marriage super special. Here are some things about my parents' marriage that inspire me:

1. They keep each other laughing.
2. They encourage each other to have their own interests and be the best at their own interests.
3. They encourage other. Period.
4. They put their marriage above all else - they are partners, and if you don't like it, well, that's just too bad.
5. They listen to each other.
6. They accept each other - recognizing that neither one of them is perfect and shouldn't be expected to be perfect.
7. They work together to have a good life. They have consistently demonstrated to me what teamwork is all about.
8. They know that marriage is hard work and they do what it takes to make it work.
9. They are the EPITOME of commitment. Come on, people, what part of 41 years don't you understand?
10. They kiss and hug every day. This is probably the most important one of them all.

I know I could list more, but I don't want everyone to have all of their secrets - I'd like to keep a little bit of it to myself for my own use ;-). However, what's most important, is that we are all surrounded by people like my parents who are making marriage look easy when we all know that it takes hard work.

But thank God I don't have to look too far for a great example.

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for demonstrating the joy of marriage, the beauty of commitment and the tremendous tenacity and power of love.

You are my inspiration!

FO: Toni's cushion

This one is about the patience of friends.

This cushion was started over TWO years ago for my friend Toni. I started it when I had just started knitting and was naive to the ways of yarn - super chunky mohair-y yarn that's a pain to knit and is impossible to frog. But I kept with it and actually finished it a year ago.... and it still took another year to finish.

I say it again, this is definitely about the patience of friends.

And in this two year period, Toni may have mentioned this cushion to me just once; where she may have asked how it was progressing and I may have brushed it off and said, "Oh, it's fine." And then, being the super patient person that she is (in addtion to the very spiritual person that she is), she simply let go of the attachment to when she was actually going to receive it and let me finish it in my own good time..... which happened to be over two years.... but I digress.

What I didn't realize is that it's not as hard to knit something as it is to figure out: how are you going to put it together? what buttons will you use? should you use ribbon? how does seaming actually work?... and what is always, always underestimated, how much time is this actually going to take?????????????????

So, as I said before, for some things it takes about two years, but what I also realized through this is that if you're lucky to have a friend like Toni, two years is the perfect amount of time because it's appreciated no matter what.














Thank you, Toni. Your friendship warms my heart and keeps me strong in the calmest and most stressful of times. Namaste!

FO: Florida Mittens

After losing two days of school last week due to freezing rain and excessive snow fall, you can imagine how not really excited we were to cancel our March Break trip to Florida because of the 40 centimetres expected over the weekend. The snow days had given me some time to knit, but working on a baby blanket in pastel blues and greens was not going to get me through a consistent 16 hour snowfall - I needed colour! So as soon as I could, I headed over to the LYS and picked up two balls of Lang's Mille Colori (colorway 057) and set out to spend the snowstorm knitting myself some Florida mittens.

I loved knitting these mittens so much that I think I really did knit for almost 16 hours on Saturday - I didn't pay attention to the passage of time because I was in a serious zone! This pattern did not require knitting in the round and it allowed me to practise my seaming and weaving in ends - which really proved that I was pathetic at both because if you look closely you will see that the stripes don't match up. But what do I care? I've got a new pair of mittens and they match with both of my winter coats and many of my scarves. I am styling it up these days.

So, these are my Florida mittens because they are colourful like Florida and they just might melt some of the 40 cms of snow we did actually receive. Note where they are located in the picture..... but obviously there is really no melting going on. Just lots of shovelling, as you can see in the pictures below:

The picture on the left is the pathway in to our house. The snowbank to the right is actually about 12 feet high and if we get more snow this week, there will be no other place to put it. Even my secret space - up around the lantern stand you see in the back corner - is full of snow and, if you look at the picture on the right, is now a snow bank on its own.

So, Dad, when you said, "Don't put that lantern stand there, the wood will swell up with all of the snow," and I said, "We never get snow there, Dad, don't worry about it," this is where we can comfortably say that you were right and the lantern stand is probably going to be warped beyond belief by Spring. Oooooooooops.

Anyway, the snow also made it completely impossible for Titus to find a place to pee in the backyard. The poor little guy had to find a space UNDER the side burner of the BBQ, which prompted the creation of an actual play space for him. I guess you can say we really had no choice, especially if you look at how happy he is.... Yay for Titus!

At least someone is appreciating the snow!

FO: What will be known from now on as "My Standard Baby Sweater"

I've found the perfect pattern for the perfect baby sweater.

It is knit entirely in one piece, the pattern is easy to follow, it doesn't get boring to knit and it's cuter than the picture of my dog that concludes this post.

On top of this, it really only took me a few weeks of intermittent knitting to finish it up. This is very encouraging for me because, quite frankly, it is baby fever around here (not me, everyone else is pregnant, though) and this pattern just might save my butt when it comes to thinking of the perfect gift.

In addition to this, it only requires that I seam up the sleeves and weave in the ends. Of course, due to my excellent procrastination skills, it will inevitably take me a few weeks to do this very small part that would probably only take 30 minutes to complete if I actually made the effort.


I was lucky enough to find this little gem of a pattern from a stash of pattern books that my aunt saved for me when she moved my Grandmother to a senior citizen's complex. My grandmother used to be a very accomplished crafter (knitting, crocheting, sewing, ceramics, etc) and I feel so fortunate to have something that was hers to carry on her tradition of crafting. I have no idea how old the book is, but the price tag says 35 cents, so I'm betting it's older than me....! Even so, it doesn't matter how old a knitting pattern is, it still creates something classically adorable. Check the pic:

So, I have officially dubbed this"My Standard Baby Sweater" and it just may appear on a baby near you sometime soon. I used Sirdar "Snuggly" DK, shade 0347 on 4 mm needles (Addi turbo circulars). I thought the red was a good choice for either a boy or a girl, especially because I don't know the sex of the baby it has been knit for. However, I will not use this yarn again because it split constantly, and I found that very frustrating. In the end, though, it didn't even use 1.5 balls, so I will not say anything more because that now means I have 5 more balls of this stuff to knit up!

And so, it wouldn't be a post without the latest picture of MY baby and his newest toy. Honestly, have you ever seen anything cuter than this?

FO: Stashbuster Neckwarmer

It all started with this very pretty yarn by Debbie Bliss. I think it's called Maya. I loooooooooooooved the colorway and kept it in my stash for a long time because I only had one skein and wanted to do something special with it.

Then I finally realized that time was going to pass quicker than finding something "good" to knit this with and went out and found this neckwarmer pattern from here.

Very handy... verrrrrrry easy to knit. Perfect for me during exam time when I'm marking like a whirling dervish, like a woman possessed, like a cat on a hot tin roof, like a street with no name...(oops, wrong simile.... anyway...). I must admit, though, it was my first time working in the round on circular needles and let's just say that some areas will need to be cleverly camouflaged with some creative piecing. Notice also (scroll down), however, that I ran out of the Maya ( I didn't have as much as I thought - another rookie mistake) and I had to find a complementary colour that was going to provide a solid colour border as well as not look like poop on a plate.

Hence, the choice of Natural Charcoal in Paton's SWS. Quite possibly one of my favourite yarns ever. Look at my finished project here, wrapped around a candle so that it stands up and looks pretty:

But, you see, I didn't really feel like the candle was the best model, so I set my sights to finding a more appropriate model.... like something/ someone with a neck. First - I considered myself, but nixed that because it was only 7 a.m., I had been up since 5 and had not yet had a shower or put on makeup, so I was looking pretty hideous. Second - I considered going upstairs and putting it over my sleeping husband's head and snapping a picture, but nixed that... I mean, he was asleep, for God's sake, and he'd look worse than I did, not to mention the ill effects that would be brought on our (new and loving) marriage because I had the bright idea of pulling a multi-colored, handknit neckwarmer down over his head while he was sleeping. This would clearly be one of those Mars/Venus things where the woman thinks her idea is innocently fantastic and the man not only thinks she's from another planet, but threatens to put her on one with his bare hands.

So, I took a good look around the room and couldn't believe that I hadn't thought of the most perfect model ever. He never talks back, he's generally good humoured and he's cuter than my husband and I put together on our most loving day. Cue the dog wearing the neckwarmer:


What a pose! What poise! What control! What style!! He wears it and he wears it well!

And no, despite what it looks like in this picture, I'm not one of those crazy people who dresses up their dog in hats and sweaters. I have standards.... kind of..... let's just say that I won't mention Titus' winter jacket anytime soon.









And on a "new favorite books" note, you should really make every effort to read this book that my friend Jena lent me. Jena found it hilarious, I found it incredibly sad, but at the very least, it made us both think about life a little more than usual. Read it. I couldn't put it down.

this week's cuteness involves yarn