Best Quote I Heard All Day
Cats are smarter than dogs. You can't get eight cats to pull a sled through snow.--Jeff Valdez


I want to go on record as saying I love animals, with cats as my first preference. I miss my cat Milo, who's been gone for a year, and I plan to adopt a kitten.

However, I am really not sure why the anthropomorphizing of animals needs to figure into knitting.

Puppy Love
Will someone please tell me why it's necessary to combine your pet's antics with your knitting activities on your blog? It's really only of interest to you, unless your dog Woogums has suddenly sat at your computer and written the first draft of a romance novel.

In which case, I'll enjoy seeing Woogum's interview with Barbara Walters on 20/20.

What's got me on this rampage is not so much reading about other people's pets but that knitting and pets has now been combined into a web ring. That's right--the Purling Puppy webring.



Give me a break.

I believe there is also a webring for cat lovers but I didn't want to check it out.

I'm presuming that the average age of a Purling Puppy ring member is about 12. Or possibly 14, since the owner ends her rules for joining the ring with "Yay puppies. Yay knitting."

That sounds like what John's daughter Katie would say. And she'll be 14 in August.

Now don't be leaving me snotty comments about how mean I am. I just think dog blogs should be dog blogs and knitting blogs should be knitting blogs. I really don't give a crap about your pet. I do care about your knitting.

Is that so mean?

Knitting Stuff
Not much to say on that front. I'm cranking along with the Taos, got the directions written, and Elly will get her copy tomorrow. Because of course, she bought some too. I wish I could be motivated to get some housework done, but knitting on the deck seems like such a nicer option when I'm home.

I am finally getting around to putting the Ran tunic together. I get all fussy about how I finish my knitting and in this case, I will be doing a 3-needle bind-off to attach the sleeves to the armholes. How do I do that? Well, it involves seaming the shoulders together (also 3-needle bind-off) and then picking up X number of stitches around the armhole, and then binding them off with the open sleeve top stitches. Makes for an impeccable finish. Mind you, it works best on a drop-shoulder sweater. It can get a bit fiddly doing the pick-up on a fully-fashioned armscye. I've done it but you must make sure you have selvedge stitches all the way up the armhole. You should do so, anyway.

List-o-Mania
Wish I could say that I've been keeping up with the lists but frankly, they're such snoozers, I only read them during lulls in my poker hands, when I've folded.

I was amused to see that the X-Dragon got called to task on Knit U for failing to infuse the magazine with more technical articles. His excuse? There's technical info incorporated into the directions. Oh please. So, as the tasktaker noted, that means that if you wish to garner technical info, you'll just have to make one of those gawd-awful designs.

When Knitter's first started, it touted itself as a teaching magazine. Too bad the present editor doesn't take a look at the back issues, when the magazine was worth the paper it's printed on.


IK, OK
I picked up this issue in Saratoga and despite what I thought initially from the few pictures I saw, it's pretty good. Most of the stuff I wouldn't wear at my age but I liked the lacy tank-top and a few of the other projects. I don't have to want to make a design to appreciate its attributes.

At least it wasn't an endless parade of frou-frou scarves and ugly color combinations.

Condolences
I'd like to express my sympathy to Annie Modesitt, who recently lost her mom. Annie's eulogy to her mother was so extraordinary, that I felt as if I knew her. I am so fortunate to have my mother hanging around, knitting with me. I'll remember to tell Elly how much I love her tomorrow when I see her.

Anyway, it's time to work on writing other than the blog. My final word to you is,

Yay handy. Yay rare.