Super Sunny Saturday

Today it's warm (for November) but very grey. Yesterday may not have been quite as warm but it was a beautiful clear, bright day and, fortunately, that was the day we chose to go to the Alpaca Festival at the Howard County Fairgrounds. It's only the second year for the festival...to say it wasn't crowded was an understatement. As a comparison: At the Sheep and Wool show you can stand (being gently buffeted by the crowds) in the Fairway and look out over a seething mass of humanity. At the Alpaca Festival, you can stand in the middle of the Fairway and look out over...two or three people. Only three of the barns had exhibits...but what nice exhibits they were!

I happen to think that alpacas are adorable.

This white one was very, very white...I'm sure she makes lovely yarn.


There were a number of babies. The cutest one was sort of a creamy color and looked as though he had been manufactured by Gund. Sparkly clean and fluffy and huggable and six weeks old. You just wanted to bring him home to keep on your bed and squeeze. Unfortunately, I was so busy ooohing and awwwwing over him and giving his mom under-the-chin skritches that I didn't get a good picture of him. The only one I got was blurry.

This little baby was nestled down beside her mom and was a gorgeous grey and white.

How can you not love these faces?

Did I come home with anything? Well, unfortunately not an alpaca. But some yummy pale blue alpaca and mohair blend yarn. And the Blue Heron Company was there and, although it wasn't alpaca, I came home with some Rayon Metallic in a gorgeous greeny-bluey-grey with silver sparkles. Yum.

Then we grabbed a quick lunch in Sykesville and went to visit with my aunt and uncle who live near there and who I do not see as often as I would like. My uncle had just gotten a Kindle Fire and we spent most of the visit "helping" him figure it out. I'm afraid we didn't help as much as we confused. Unfortunately, they don't get a very strong wi-fi signal in their house, so downloading books is not as simple as it should be. Cool device though!

Wish List Redux

I was thinking this morning about an email conversation I had with someone recently about Wish Lists and wondering if it would actually be possible to make my Wish List on Amazon private....let people fend for themselves. And then I checked my email just now and found some spam comments. And what post were they on? This one from about a year ago. Apparently my feelings haven't changed a lot.

So perhaps I should, to both satisfy my delight with surprises and yet still help people out, make a general wish list:

I love sweaters, sweatshirts and fleecey tops. Think jewel tones, particularly red. Sweatshirts can be funny...as long as they really are funny and not just obnoxious.

I like pretty glass. Either a lovely wine glass...a pretty paperweight...a glass animal.

I love earrings...preferably funky, dangly, ones. They can make noise, they can be made from origami...any and all earrings. I even like simple elegant studs, though I already have some lovely cream pearls.

I also like necklaces. And bracelets that aren't solid dangles. (I've never found them comfortable to wear.)

I'm not so big on kitchenware, though cute kitchenware is a possibility. (For an example, I've seen measuring cups designed to look like matruska dolls.)

I like perfume...something green or citrus-y. There's a website called something like I Hate Perfume and the perfume designer there creates incredible sounding scents...Newly Fallen Snow, In the Library, Russian Caravan...

I love crazy or pretty or very soft socks...though I also love knitting socks.

I like art...a pretty print. Wouldn't have to be framed...I like choosing the frame and mats. And we really don't have anyplace to hang stuff. So perhaps that's not a good idea.

And really...the older I get, the happier I am to find out that a donation has been made in my name to some worthy cause...the Baltimore Humane Society, for example.

So? What do you want for the holidays?

Cats Lost and Found and Lost

A few weeks ago Sophie, one of the cats my daughter and her sweetie own (well, she's really Andrew's but I think of them as sharing their cats) got out of the house and disappeared. They could hear her calling but couldn't find her. And then, after a day or so, they didn't hear her anymore. Then they were hit by a snowstorm and had to leave town for a few days. And when they came back...still no Sophie.

But Tuesday morning I got an ecstatic email from Rachel! Sophie had been found, in a garage down the street. She was skinny and had some ticks and a bite on her tail but after a quick trip to the vet and a rabies booster she was declared healthy. She's eating like a horse, apparently, and obviously happy to be home.

But in sadder news...on October 31st we took Gizmo for a final visit to the vet.


He almost made it to 18 years old, my sweet boy. But he had basically stopped eating and then drinking...we couldn't see him suffer anymore.


Sweet dreams, little grey guy.

It Takes All Kinds

So, I spent last Friday up at the Black Sheep (what better way to remember our fallen heroes and those who serve to protect us). It was an interesting day. But there was one funny exchange – though perhaps only funny to people who work (or hang out) in yarn shops.

I was in the back room, winding a horribly tangled skein of yarn by hand (the ball winder was acting up and Tracy was just going to snip all the pieces but I wanted to save the yarn). I heard the door open and then a woman say (in the tone of voice one might use if looking at a basket of kittens), “Oh look! A knitting club!”

And then the following conversation took place:

“We were just next door? In the consignment shop? Are there other consignment shops along here? Are these [obviously indicating some of the shop samples that adorn the walls of the shop] for sale?”

“No, these aren’t for sale…” says Tracy.

“What kind of shop is this??”

“This is a yarn shop. We do sell the yarn to make these items and we have classes….”

“Are they free?”

“No, we charge for the classes…”

“Are there other consignment shops along here?”

Tracy allowed as how she wasn’t familiar with consignment shops.

And they turned to Renee and said, “You look like you shop at consignment shops! Do you know where any are?!”

How rude. But funny. We also had an interesting woman stop in and got her to sit and chat with us for a while. She works in Forensics for the Baltimore City Police. Very interesting.