Suck it, Ya'll!

Stephanie V. and Owen announced that they're tying the knot in June at their annual Memorial Day crawdad boil. Good food, lots of beer and good company — what better way to announce wedding plans than to throw a party?

I got there a bit late but the crawfish boil was endless. I helped clear off the the table for the next round. I must have sat at that table three times.




I ate most the of spicy boiled garlic, the corn with spray-on butter wasn't bad either. The only thing better than this is Steph's New Orleans dirty rice n' beans. They tons of desert inside as well.



Dan sat us down for a crawdad tutorial: pinch, twist, bite and suck... in that order.

Mat is a quick study, but he was picky. We were reminded that the edibles ones have curled tails and the straight ones might be deadly. The saying should go "The curl won't make you hurl."


Kids are always curious. This little girl peeled dinner for here sister and parents. What a good kid!


The set slowly on a beautiful weekend.

Knit PH at Prospect Perk, May 12 '09

We had an intimate crowd at Perk. Archie dropped by for a bit, I hadn't seen him in a while. He was getting his allergy shots just around the corner. For me the the first round of spring pollen was murder, or least it looked that way — nose nose bleeds and all. Eliza brought in the last quilt to sew for Afghans for Afghans.



Luise and Marci jumped right into the sewing. I learned a new stitch that night — the "invisible stitch" (aka ladder stitch) which reminds me, I have to bring my glasses more often. The invisible stitch similar to the mattress stitch but worked from the wrong side of the quilt.
It takes less time, the seams are less bulky, and it allows you to sew unmatched sides together.



This quilt is simply beautiful. Although it may never hang in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it reminds me of the work of Josef Albers. Quote Albers "Easy to know that diamonds are precious, good to learn that rubies have depth, but more to see that pebbles are miraculous." The colors in each square are like facets in a gem. It's made from left-over wool yarn, but mostly it's made with genuine care and sincerity. We're going to keep the quilt making as part of our Knit PH group.

Chew Chew Trained

This is Franky Meatballs Sternfeld, my friend Mikey's dog. Franky is a 3-year old pit-bulldog mutt who's slowly growing out of puppyhood. He's actually a well behaved dog, but unfortunately Franky chews everything — gloves, towels, loose string, carpet, shirt buttons... everything.



In the canine world chewing is essential to keeping a dogs mouth clean, just as flossing is to we humans. So I made Franky a bone shaped toy in hopes that he'd leave Mike's things be.



When Mike showed it to Franky, he jumped around trying to take it from Mike's hand. Mike made him sit first. He carefully took it in his mouth, and then a ran away with it. Mike says it's been his favorite toy ever since.



This "Dog-a-bone" is much like the one I made for Eric and Lynn's pup, Charlie. This one is much bigger — 15" long, 4" wide at the center.











No toy is really dog proof, but it's been about a month so far and the only damage is a little 1/2" hole and dog slobber.