the not knit post

Not that I haven't been knitting. I've been knitting quite a lot, but I don't have pics yet. Let's start off with a nice gratuitous poodle pic:

Josie in the hostas

Since this pic was taken the hostas have bloomed beautifully, proving (against all other evidence) that not every green thing put into my care dies within a month. Although when I think about it, all I did was buy them and decide where they should be planted. Still, that's usually enough to sign a plant's death warrant.

Come to think of it, I do have one FO pic to show:

baby bibs o' love
lily sugar n creme
mason-dixon pattern

These are way fun to knit. If only I were of an age to know more babies! My mom asked if I would like to knit something for her friend's new granddaughter in Hong Kong, and of course I was delighted. I even had the yarn in my stash, thanks to last year's overenthusiastic storing up for ballband dishcloths at the AC Moore sale (I got tired of dishcloths after about 10 of them, which is probably what would happen with the bibs).

As for non-knit FO's, here are a couple of little somethings that got whipped up on a verrrry rainy day in Chincoteague this week:

We actually needed a butter dish. I can't say that we need a gecko, but I think T will like it for his wall when he gets home from camp.

I keep meaning to post about recent reading, but this knitting stuff sure cuts into my reading time. I have, however, read the most recent Elizabeth George, What Came Before He Shot Her. It is unrelentingly depressing, but I did want to keep reading to get to the end. More recently I read, Richard Russo's Risk Pool, which, like all Russo's books, has a terrific turn of phrase and an absolute genius for character, plus a surprisingly poignant plot. I didn't love it as much as I loved Straight Man or Empire Falls, but I did love it. I read two Yarn Harlot books and found them happily diverting. And I've just started (about 50 pages in) Alison Lurie's 1987 book, Foreign Affairs. So far, so good.

I want to reread Alfred Lansing's Endurance. Need a Shackleton refresher.

I'm also enjoying Ravelry! Boy, I wonder if frecklegirl had any idea what she was getting into...