Be very careful what you put out there because...

shit always comes back to find you.

So, last week I went to see the daughter of some friends of mine who I'm helping with english.  As I was walking to my car with my friend and his little daughter my friend said, "oh!  I forgot to show you the gifts that the Befana brought our daughter!  They are two little dolls that have tags on them saying 'fatto a mano da Lynn'.  Do you knit dolls?"

Well, the answer is "of course I knit dolls."  And of course they are mine because, well,1) not too many people around here KNIT dolls. And 2) there CERTAINLY aren't too many people around here who knit dolls who are named Lynn.  So, as this is running through my head, I was remembering those dolls that I made so long ago and, well, I was wondering if I wanted to take responsibility for them.  You see, even though 8 years ago when I made the dolls I had already been knitting for almost a decade, I'm an immensely better knitter now than I was then.  I also have much higher standards for myself about what is an acceptable finished product.  So I say,

"What do they look like?".

My friend said, "one has dreadlocks and one is an old lady.  But, well, they MUST be yours!  I mean, how many people KNIT dolls and how many of those knitters are called Lynn?!"

"Yeah, I suppose.  They must be mine." I mumble.

I went back today to meet with my friend's young daughter, and there they were, sitting on the table in their living room just waiting for me like little Frankensteins, two of my little dollies.

"um, yep.  those are mine."

Be very careful what you put out into the world because shit always comes back to find you.

For the record, I do actually think they are beautiful because I'm their mom but if I knew then what I know now, I'd never have let them out of my studio.  By the way, the one on the right is called Sally, named after my grandmother because they have the same hair.  I'm not sure about the one on the left. If I had to guess based on her hair and her clothes, her name just might be Lynn.

ambition and pride

Some people knit things like this:



I've been knitting this:

And this:




 I guess I'm just slightly less ambitious than others.


For what it's worth, I did write the pattern for this one myself.





I'm so proud.

things that go beep in the night

I really need to unplug, to wean myself from the computer and all thing that beep and squeak when attached to a wall.

Last night David and I had just settled into bed when we heard a strange noise.

"What's that?", he whispered.

We listened some more.  The noise came again.  And again.  The unfamiliar, disyllabic sound came at regular intervals of 20 second or so.

Despite living in the middle of nowhere on the top of a mountain surrounded by beautiful nature and wildlife, I asked " is that animal or electrical".  Can it be true that the only sounds that register with me now come from some thing's battery dying?

David didn't embarrass me with an answer...or he was wondering the same thing.

Then the call, as I had come to understand it was, started getting fainter as its source began retreating from on our house.

"Animal." I announced.  Being as intimate as I am with my electronic toys tools, I was aware that none of them had, in the immediate past, grown little digital legs that would have been carrying them away from ear-shot.

"What do you think that WAS?  I have never heard an animal sound like that?" I chattered on to a mostly sleeping David.

And here's the clincher..."how can we google a sound?"

I think today I'll step away from my laptop (she says as she's blogging with her first cup of coffee of the day), take a long walk, and look for tracks.

Tracks should be easier to google.

First project of 2012 ... DONE

What's that you say?  You have a baby shower to go to this afternoon and totally forgot to get a gift?


Or did you say that it's your grandma's birthday and you forgot THAT? (shame on you)


Or did you say that you have a movie marathon planned for this evening and accidentally put all your blankets in the wash at the same time thus leaving you with nothing to cuddle under on the couch?

Have no fear.  Friends, meet the lap duvet...

 



I whipped up that little pup in like 3 hours yesterday.  Seriously.

Here's what you do.

1. cut two pieces of fabric and some batting all the same size

2. sew them all together


3. sew little dots of quilting.

That's it.

If you don't find my instructions to be quite as, um, say, detailed as you would like, go here.  Actually you should just go here anyway because this blog/website/shop is just too great to not know about. 

Other little bits of advice should you find yourself in any of the above situations:


baby shower--  if you really feel obliged to attend, as opposed to just mailing the gift, you don't have to play the games.  Just tell everyone you are allergic, it's a condition that induces immediate nausea and projectile vomiting.  It's a real condition, I know because I have it.

grandma's birthday--  don't forget the card.  grandmas keep those.  it's important.

movie marathon--  forget about whatever you've downloaded for the evening and start tonight with season one of Downton Abbey.  Just do it.  And make lots of popcorn because you'll watch the whole season in one night.

New Year's Eve Maberga style

So, three days ago I was taken ill.  So ill that I haven't been vertical for more that the 20 seconds it takes for me to walk from any horizontal post in my house to my bathroom.  Yes, I think I'm dying...but then, A) I tend to be a big wimp when I'm sick, B)  I also tend to exaggerate, and C) well, I hate to break it you all, but we are all dying, eventually.

Yeah, ok.  So I've been taking some medication as well. 

Anyway, since I don't have the brain power or the tremendous wit to form my own New Year's Eve post tonight, I would like to direct you all to an awesome blogger who I've recently discovered.  I find that her New Year Post says all that I really need.  GO HERE.  Thank you, Emma.  And I hope that you knitters in the reading pool will check out her patterns.  Cool stuff.

Happy 2012 to everyone. 

Merry Christmas

from Maberga







Is that or is that not the most Charlie Brownish Christmas tree ever?  Yes, thank you, it is.  That's really the look we were going for.

If you find it as completely lovely as I do, and would like to replicate the effect in your own home next year, here's what you gotta do...

1.  Liberally, and I mean LIBERALLY, trim your olive trees.  Strew all the just cut branches around your property for inspection. Pick the biggest and the best one (duh.).

2.  Put the branch in a basket in your bedroom.  You don't need to put it in water.  As the branch dries out, all the leaves start dropping thus enhancing the overall feel.

3.  Hang a couple old and dried out chili peppers from the garden and the 4 christmas cards you received on the branches of your branch.

4.  If you feel exceptionally creative, you can make a few ornaments like this Star of David that I made (6 pointed stars are easier than 5, plus it really confuses people why you'd put a jewish star on a christian icon)

It's that simple.

So, David and I fell asleep on the couch last night listening to a Radiolab show.  If you don't know Radiolab, check it out and enjoy!  Anyway, I was saying that we fell asleep on the couch.  I woke up at about 3am, wide awake with jetlag...or maybe because I've been doing nothing but sleeping ala a narcoleptic since I've returned home.  I got up to get a glass of water and stepped on this...

That's a tooth, by the way.  A really big tooth.

When David woke up I asked him if he had any idea where this came from....hoping to god that he didn't say "my mouth".

"Oh yeah, yesterday Q found a skull while we were playing lemon."

I don't know what's stranger - that, in the middle of the night, I stepped on a big cuspid from an unidentifiable animal or that I know what playing lemon means.


Actually, the strangest thing is that having a dead animal's skull appear in our garden and having our dogs play dentist on it didn't make headline conversation news for my husband.