Rigorous play

Friday afternoon knitting on my lunch break at the mall behind the capitol. It was a beautiful day, yet not many people were sitting out on all the benches and picnic tables. The rest of the weekend was beautiful! I and the rest of the family spent the entire weekend outside. Everything is much greener this morning that it was just the few short days since this picture was taken. I think we may have made it through the winter in Michigan!


My Pinwheel Sweater from Elann.com is done. Although it says 'one size fits all'... come on, we know better. As I was knitting it I did double check the width of the back before I started the sleeves and it was fine. I even added my regular inch+ for the sleeves. What I did fail to consider was the front. If I had to do it all over again - I would have continued knitting in the round several more inches. I sort of like it, but it almost resembles a shrug. Also the yarn that is recommended for the pattern it too light for my taste. I like a little more heft. I may knit another one and revamp towards my taste. Meanwhile I do love the crocheted edging!

Zoe loves her toys! That being said that once she starts playing with them, and with very little effort on her part - they only last moments. So while I was at the store, I looked for a sturdier toy. This looked like it would work. Read the label.

As I was putting away the groceries, the children gave it to Zoe. A few minutes later I hear, "Mom, Zoe has the rope off." No big deal. I didn't expect the rope to be sturdy. Then it was followed quickly that she had just removed the tiny cloth label on the toy. Again, it wasn't a necessity to the toy. And in less than 15 minutes from the time we gave it to her - you see the final photo. I wanted to return all the pieces immediately back to the store - just so they could see the time stamp of the receipt and what condition the toy was now in. I thought it was funny. Ram-niss stated that they would care less and just give me back my money. What fun is that??? Meanwhile, I rescued the squeakers from the toy. I may try to felt a few items with the squeakers inside and see if these would last longer than the sturdy toy. Maybe I could knit with chain metal. :-)

Quick Zoe story: The other day my SIL stopped over for a few minutes. Both the dogs were sniffing her over pretty good. I thought it was her sheep they were smelling. SIL said no, it was probably the mink she was working with. After I shooed Zoe away, she went upstairs. She returned a few minutes later with an old mink stole of Great Grandma-niss that was in T's room. (T keeps it in her dress-up box.) I thought Zoe had a good sense of smell, and it looks like she is pretty smart too. Now if someone could give me the magic words used to make her walk better. We are working on it, but 70 lbs. of momentum is hard to reign in. (We are getting better though.)