Finally I can post a photo of some knitting I’ve finished. Squirrel mittens, from a pattern courtesy of elliphantom.com. I knit them in honor of my Duncan’[s canine friend, Toby. Toby loves squirrels and is a really good sport when we yell “squirrel” at him. He turns circles and yipes and generally has a great time.

Duncan is not so keen on squirrels. He only tried to chase one once — unfortunately I was on the other end of the leash, being pulled hither and tither as the squirrel jumped off the ground and into some ivy for cover. Did I mention this was outside of a church assembly room where I had gone to vote? So we had quite the audience for our little show.

On the knitting front, I’m still working on the Starmore sweater, but I am shaping the front neck. Which means I’m being closer to being done with it. Not that it isn’t fun to knit; it is just that it has been a long time since I knit a sweater, it feels like it’s taking a long time.

That’s all I have to say tonight. Here is a photo of two huskies — try to guess which one is Duncan.

Here’s something I miss — the smell of perfume. Not dousing oneself in it. But wearing enough to waft a hint of flowers, or a hint of somehting tangy or fresh and hopeful. Wearing perfume always made me feel fresh and hopeful.

However, nowadays so many people — including me — have trouble handling second-hand perfume and aftershave that it’s just not something I smell anymore. And today I miss it.

On the other hand, there are smells that I’d sooner forget. I encountered one on a day long ago and it is with me still.

It was the day after Thanksgiving and my job involved waiting on customers all day long. I came to work in the morning after a hellishy long commute and had a killer sinus headache. The knd where you just want to sit somewhere with your eyes closed, hoping your nose will start running to clear the congestion.

I finally got through the morning, ate lunch and felt the headach going away. Then wham — in comes a man who smelled of something horrible and the headache came galloping back. Even the money he handed to me smelled. It was agony! I hung in for the rest of the day, because it iw what professionals do — hang in and hang on. Only not so much now that I am older.

As the scent of spring has been replaced by lots of rain here in California, i have been inspired to continue knitting the Starmore in-the-round gansey. Although it is no longer being knit in the round; the split for front and back has taken place.Guess what? Knitting a row of 173 stitches goes a lot faster than knitting 346 stitches each round. The fact that my efforts have accelarated has added the inspiration for me to continue on.

The biggest knitting news of this blog enty is the arrival of my wooly board. A new toy! It arrived just a few days ago from Halcyon Yarns. I haven’t opened the package yet but I can hardly wait to assemble it. I dare say it will come in handy for drying sweaters too. Which is good because I can’t have a clothesline where I live.

So on I go with my knitting. Someday I’ll post photos of the sweater and the wooly board. Got to have something to look forward to!

Darn, the weekend is over. The need to work for a living always slaps me in the face on Monday, most likely from having worked for more than 30 years. And needing to work for 20 more. At least it keeps me in yarn.

My current knitting mood is finishing projects I’ve started. So I picked up the Alice Starmore sweater that, at this point, is getting very heavy as it is knit in the round and I’ve reached the sleeve gussets. I love knitting in the round, so it’s all good. I just have to be strong. The gansey weight yarn on small needles means my hands need to be strong, too. So knitting can be exercise, even if it isn’t aerobic.

I was in my old neighborhood on Saturday, which meant a visit to my once-upon-a-time LYS. Where I picked up some sensationally soft silk sock yarn. I can hardly wait to start knitting with it. I have to be strong, though, because I have some socks already in progress. I must be strong sometimes.

I’ll end this entry before things get too depressing. And with a photo of Duncan the dog. I finally moved a photo from one computer to another; here it is!

Whew, the dog is out of control tonight. Hide the yarn and the needles — he’s on a rampage.

When Duncan gets bored, he attacks my knitting, throwing balls in the air and chasing them around the room. He often can be found with yarn strung around his muzzle. He’s taken to eating my knitting needles lately. Just lost a wooden double pointed needle today.

So to tame his wildness, I took him for a walk. We headed across the street, which is a lot full of weeds that hide little critters and the occasional cat. Here’s a husky fact — they are known as cat killers. Now, I’m not about to let Duncan get close to even hurting a cat (okay, he shook a dead one once, but it was stiff, believe me — it was disgusting). However, the other day he happened to flush a cat out of the long weeds and now everytime we walk in the lot, Duncan bounds through the weeds hoping to recreate the situation. So I was cracking up at his silliness, wheezing with asthma as he handled the weeds like he was pulling a sled through the snow. He had a great time, and energized himself to get into even more trouble with my yarn. I was exhausted, of course.

He’s finally settled down, allowing me to blog, knit on the Alice Starmore sweater and generally recharge for another day of work tomorrow. I meant to get the camera out and take some project photos, but the best laid plans definitely went awry today.

I am back from a lovely week-long vacation at the beautiful central California coast. Morro Bay, to be specific. I relaxed, sniffed the eucalyptus trees and did some knitting. Not so much as I supposed I would, but enough to make me happy and the Duncan puppy ticked.

We were set up in our traveling Roo trailer, enjoying mostly good weather and lots of good food. I found a new yarn shop in the little town of Atascadero (also home to one of California’s state hospitals) and added some sock yarn to the old stash. And in Cambria, I found a wonderul sock yarn from Wales. Gorgeous colorways. I can hardly wait to try them again.

Right now there is some trepidation in Larry Laredo, my true home. I had the toaster oven working, and the buzzer drives my little dog crazy with fear. Poor pooch; I don’t know what happened to him that may him so frightened of noises. He also doesn’t like the snap of campfires, so he spent a lot of time in Roo although he loves to check out the beach.

Even though Duncan doesn’t care for camp fires, I managed to have a couple, allowing me to cook two dinners. One was an old standby, hot dogs; the second was hamburgers cooked on a cast iron grill (because who knows what animal has been pooping and walking on the outdoor grills).

I ended the vacation working furiously on a sweater designed by Alice Starmore. I am truly in a groove with it, so it will remain my project of choice for now. Until something else captures my eye, of course.