The Camera Returns at Last!

Newsflash! The camera has returned from Alaska, so that I can actually share a bit of my knitting progress. (I'm sure that the world has been waiting with baited breath.)




Anyway, there's been substantial progress on my Vintage Pink Cardigan . . . the back and most of both sides of the front. The only minor annoyance so far is that, due to an apparent vertical gauge discrepancy from the pattern, the right neckline starts at a different place than the left neckline. This is no big deal . . . it just means that I'll have to frog back the left side and make it match the right. The length of the right side is dependent on the stitch detailing, so it pretty much dictates how both sides are modeled.



Actually, this pattern would make more sense if the knitter was instructed to first knit the right front, then the left front and THEN the back. But I realize that this would diverge from usual knitting pattern convention. Whatever. Other than that, I LOVE the pattern, especially the stitch pattern on the front, and the cashmere is to die for.

I mailed out my Sockapalooza socks to my sockpal a week ago and haven't heard from her yet. Yikes - did my frugal - ahem - cheapskate tendencies, which caused me to send the socks first class instead of priority mail, derail them and make them get lost in the mail? Please, please, tell me it's not so! Sockpal, put me out of my anxious misery and contact me!

(Heard from the pal who's knitting for me, finally! She's almost done with my socks . . . and I can't wait to see them!)



Since I referred to my menagerie in my blog title, I thought I'd include a quick shot of part of it in the actual blog. Here are Oliver, the Bichon Frise, and Lucy, the Havanese. Oh, and you can see the DH's foot in the back. I guess he qualifies as part of my menagerie!

We took aforementioned canines on a little adventure this weekend. (Okay, so it doesn't take much to qualify as an "adventure" to the doggies.) We tried out Ollie's "nose leash", designed to prevent pulling on the leash, and it worked beautifully. What a pleasant surprise! We were walking along our little local lake, and stopped at a tiny beach where a lot of other dogs were cooling off in the water. Our two have always been pretty phobic about the water, but I enticed them in to tummy depth (approx. 5") of water with treats by wading in myself . . . and they loved it. They were clearly much more comfortable after wilting in the heat just moments before, even after drinking copious amounts of water from a water bottle. Afterwards, as you can see, they chilled with us on the bed, completely content after their little frolic. A good - and low-key - day was had by all.