it’s Margene’s Birthday!!

linkage: I should have realized that are other collectors out there. For all of you pug lovers, or little tubby, baby animal knick-knack lovers here is the website for yesterday’s pig. Those three were a gift from the girls for a long ago Mother’s Day. I am positive they were purchased in a nearby gift shop. I actually have a number of things like that since that gift shop was in biking distance!

and now some knitting linkage ….. I had heard on Cast-On that there was a movement to organize a Barbara Walker website, one where volunteers would knit samples of the patterns. Sure enough those Mason Dixon ladies found it — The Walker Treasury Project! Inspiration abounds. If any of the knitting techniques for those patterns cause confusion, perhaps you will find an explanation at TECHknitting. Be sure to check it out – fabulous illustrations and clear directions. Hopefully she will have a book contract soon and our libraries will be the better for it.

thus endeth the linkage ……

the Daily Pork Report continues from my bedroom ; ) and further continues from the windowsill And yes Margene, I do a lot of dusting! or more truthfully, I need to do a lot of dusting …… Speaking of Margene, stop everything and go wish her a Happy Birthday!!!

ta-da!

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HERE YE HERE YE: I have joined the sleeves to the body! do you hear the bugles blaring? I was beginning to fear that this moment would never arrive. Thank God it did and not a moment too soon. The actual joining was simple in theory but slightly awkward to execute. It was probably a combination of lots of fabric, even more stitches and it being my first try at this method. The basic step is to have both sleeve tubes flanking the body tube. If you picture these as three circles touching, you will be able to see that the stitches in the portion where they touch (the underarm) are put on some waste yarn and kitchnered together at the end. The goal is to get the entire circumference of all three circles onto one needle, thereby joining the sleeves to the body and setting up to shape the yoke with raglan decreases.

I was reading my Sweater Workshop book last night and have decided to make a U shaped neck rather than a V. My intention is to make a deep scoop as well, but since I am not entirely certain of the measurements involved it will be something of a surprise as to how deep it ends up being. Who doesn’t love a surprise?

This moment of knitting was one of the highlights of my weekend. My other thrill was spending some time with Ginny and Flair! Filed under It’s a Small World Afterall, Ginny and Flair know each other through work. I met Ginny for the first time at Flair’s annual Halloween party. Ginny was out on Long Island this weekend and we planned a visit. She and Flair came to the shop for some shopping and knitting! Ginny is young enough to be my daughter if my life had gone horribly off course – Flair and I were trying to figure out if Ginny has an old soul or if Flair and I are just a pair of juveniles.

Your daily pig sits on Boar’s bureau. And is more of boar than pig – my collection includes the wild as well as the domestic!

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get the sensation!

I bought these two years ago at a gift shop in Pennsylvania, The Gallery at Cedar Hollow. As I recall it was a fantastic shop, filled with lots of great items. When you pull the string, their arms and legs go up and out. It’s comical although for some reason it borders on the naughty when she does it. Something about the way her skirt hangs with those crazy legs sticking out. The pictures I took do not do justice to the craftsmanship involved.

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a closer look? her, him

I just previewed this post and my God, these pictures really do suck! and my camera has no battery left, so I can’t retake them at the moment.

The knitting is getting closer to being exciting. Cara has decided that my recent bout of bloggy lethargy and general bitchiness is a case of small gauge. I suppose I should remind you all that I decided to knit this endless stockinette pullover on size 5’s. And just about everyone agreed that that was the better swatch. I should also remind you all that I am a large size woman. This is a shit load of fabric I am knitting! so yeah, I’m cranky about it.

But there is a ray of hope! Last night’s knitting brought me within eyesight of the metaphorical bend in the metaphorical knitting road …… I am on the second sleeve and have only three inches to go! Once this happens, I will join the sleeves to the body. Yes, this will make a tremendous round of knitting – however there will be the raglan shaping decreases along with the v-neck decreases! I can almost feel the metaphorical wind in my face as I ride my metaphorical knitting sled down that hill. It will be like eating a York Peppermint Patty.