I said I’d find out. This is me finding out:

Brief note: It’ll be more or less the same as last time, there will still be a nominal entry fee of $1 to offset prizes and ap hosting as well as to discourage dead beats. We’ll register in August and start on Labor Day Weekend. If you have no idea what I’m talking about: Dish Rag Tag is a competitive knitting relay race. Try it, you’ll like it.

I don’t know why Ellie has a whistle around her neck.

Truman was hit by a car a few months ago – he was a Katrina rescue before that. His people couldn’t afford the surgery on his hip so they were going to put him to sleep. Our vet is getting “soft in his old age” and fixed him anyway. Truman was living at the vet with the clinic animals, Factor (the blood dog) and John Quincey (a cat that turned up in our yard a few years ago). Since he is an old man and indifferent to cats, I really can’t imagine a more perfect dog for us. So here he is. ALL of his fur is here too.

We also hosted a Guest Dog who turned up in the driveway on Saturday morning.

She has ears, she’s just doing something funny with them.

Guest Dog had beautiful manners and a collar but no tags. So she spent the weekend with us in the garage and the outdoor kennel. We had called everyone local to tell them we’d found her because I was sure her people would call looking for her on Monday. Sure enough, she had just hopped into the truck with our Amazing Animal Control Officer when our vet called saying that her people wanted to know where she was. I like it when our guest dogs have happy endings.

Speaking of happy endings, I’m about to sew that little calico together.

You would not believe the amount of concentration those spots took.

That little kitty head took forever! Mostly because I needed all my brain to work on her. I don’t get to use all of my brain on any one thing very often. Just see above for why.

“Farrah” from Farm Genevieve

This will be a good one for a lumpy, bumpy, slubby, chunky, thick and thin yarn. Or a boucle. I suspect fun colors will work well if you prefer a less traditional animal.

I sort of started last night and then pulled it all out. I’m now considering seed stitch in addition to my thick and thin for extra bumpy. I have to see how much of a pain that is with all the increases and decreases. I don’t want any aggravation about which stitch to purl…

That’s about all I have to show for the past week and a half. Whee!

I’ve got two critters to finish up (a custom calico and an orange Cat) and then I can start on my patterns for this year! I’ve got three alphabet animals planned with an option for a fourth.

The theme to this year appears to be texture.

Pitcher Plants

Visiting the Splinter Hill Bog Preserve this morning.

A LOT of crackers.

Everything is covered in cracker crumbs.

And everybody.

Betty also loves carrots.

Pulling the carrots and getting ready to plant the tomatoes. And the peppers. And the corn. And the squash. And the catnip.

I forgot that I was naming all the modern-style toys after flowers, so I went with ‘Hydrangea’ for the hippo. Now I’m working on a classic dog, an elephant and I’ve got a bear in a really luscious merino/alpaca in my To Go bag. After that, I need to do a classic monkey and a Roger cat and then I’ll feel re-stocked enough to work on something new!

Daisy Dog

Now I’m working on a Hippo. A I can’t decide if she is a Plum Hippo or a Persimmon Hippo (it’s a new shade). Probably Persimmon. It’s more fun to say.