Knitting Musings

Prisoner of Astrakan

(thanks to Erin for the title!)

Yeah - due mostly to an almost complete lack of knitting time, the Debbie Bliss Shawl Collar Cardi is stuck - here's the back. Both fronts and both sleeves are complete, but the shawl collar is huge. I hope to finish this before the end of time.

So instead of making progress on my sweater, I'm making progress on my Cherry Blossom koigu sock. It's a simple lace-rib pattern, over 50 sts on size 1 needles.

Speaking of socks - another knitter has succumbed to their siren song - K and I met up early on Friday morning at a local *
And yes, I started her on Koigu. It's like the drug dealers - you give them the good stuff so they'll get hooked faster.

And that pretty much maxes out my knitting content. I have 2 pairs of socks to photograph, but apparently they didn't pose, on their own, for the camera, so no pics yet.

So, using the "fallback" technique common among knitbloggers seeking to distract from the lack of knit-blogging -

PRESENTING THE CUTE ANIMAL SERIES!!!

On Saturday, S and I headed to REI to use our 20% off coupons, and buy a tent and a few other things. Because REI is one of the best companies out there, they allow dogs in their stores, and even have a little doggy water bowl by the drinking fountain.

So Abby helped us pick out this tent - we got the full-sized version because she thought the little one would be a bit cramped.

Next, Abby consulted with S about the comfort level of the various sleeping-pads. In this picture, Abby seems content to allow S to judge the pad for himself.

However, true-to-form, Abby quickly decided that she needed a bit more room. Eventually, S ended up testing the other pads on the floor.

But it was good that she rested up - on Sunday morning, we headed down to the Tidal Basin to check in with the Cherry Blossoms -

- which are not quite blooming yet, but are really really close. But do you know what's even more exciting than some stupid flowers on some stupid trees?

DUCKS.

In fact, even though these particular ducks were not playing fair and wouldn't come out of the water, ducks are SO interesting that we had to resort to the "carries" method to even get to the Tidal Basin. Later on, we had to revisit the ducks a few more times - you know, just in case they decided to get out of the water, waddle over to Abby, and let her catch them.

Eventually, though, we convinced Abby that the ducks were selfish little bastards who really wouldn't be coming over to play, and that maybe it was time to go home and get some breakfast.

Apparently, she got enough exercise on her field trip, because this is what she looked like on the ride home:

And finally, in the ultimate attempt to distract you from the complete dearth of substantive content in this post, I present:

Dog, Cat, and Sunny Spot