"I suspect that there may be a problem or an intruder near our territory."

I love these dog bark translations! They're also pretty accurate. Blondie uses #4--"He-ey! Pay attention to me!" (my trans.) and #6--"I have to go outside!" (my trans.) a lot.

I don't think he's going to be a drum major any time soon....

I wouldn't exactly call this stick-twirling bear "dexterous." But then again, he doesn't have thumbs...

tardy cardigan

I finally finished this cardigan that I've been working on for a little over a year. I made a big push so that I could wear it on my trip to Northern California over spring break. (See how sunny it is behind me? See my springy outfit?)


It actually needs a tiny bit more work: the button holes need to be reinforced with a special embroidery for that purpose, and the button band needs to be reinforced with a ribbon (that's what I get for picking heavy buttons--see that one sagging?). I got the buttons at Nina. They're actually not wood, but some sort of nut. For a while last year, a bunch of the boutiques on Division were selling jewelry with the same buttons repurposed as beads.

My next sweater project (way on the back burner) is thankfully in the round--I need a break from all the finishing this sweater took. As always, it was too short the first time I knit up all the body pieces. Stupid long torso! I've actually seen (I think on knitty) this article about how you can add short rows to sweaters if you have a long torso. Maybe it's time to look into that. Then, it was actually a rolled-edge pattern, but I modified it to add the ribbing (and the little lace stripe on the right front). So I had to pick up the button bands along the edges of the front. Then there was a lot of sewing--the back, fronts, and sleeves were all knit straight. Then I had to add the neck, and then weaving in all the ends! I did that on the plane on the way to SF. And then, voila! It was ready to wear!

Now I'm working on a lot of baby projects, none of which will be able to be shown here until they are presented to the babies.

Melissa's Geographical Heritage, Pack Animal Edition (plus a bonus!)

The epitome of Britishness, the shire horse, is threatened. The Shire Horse looks a lot like its cousin draft horse, the icon of my hometown brewer Anheuser-Busch, the Clydesdale.

Is the donkey the epitome of Italianness? Having a sizable chunk of Italian heritage, I think I could find pros and cons. Here's video of the annual donkey race in Torrita di Siena, Italy, which is nearly 400 miles from my great grandparents' native Napoli.

Bonus! I think I see Ringo Starr over there in the shade...