Happy Birthday, Rocky!

The Which Came First Shawl is inching along. 

I managed to get a few more rows done. I've been working more on the Whole-cloth quilt, but the progress doesn't show much.

I finished the dish-drying mat. Here it is in its appointed workspace.

Here it is in action.

When not in use, it stores nicely on the oven handle.

It took 9 ounces of Peaches 'n Cream yarn held double with US 10 1/2 needles. I have plenty left to make some dish clothes.

Besides knitting and quilting, I finished a couple more sets of letters. These will go to voters in Georgia to encourage them to vote. It's a nonpartisan effort. We aren't asking them to vote for any candidate, just to vote. I guess you could say that this is my workspace.

A friend from church has volunteered to write letters, too, but she doesn't have a printer. I'm printing the letters for her and will teach her how to fill them out and address the letters.

I recorded my part for the next virtual choir "performance." Members of choirs from several other churches are participating, so it should work out better than last time.

The tomatoes are finally producing. They are very tiny (Emil is only 19" tall), but very tasty. Each tomato has as much flavor in its little body as a big tomato has but much more concentrated. Mmmmm! Too bad Emil can't taste them!

Elsie is a little bigger than Emil, but she wouldn't have a problem eating a tomato. She is my honorary granddaughter, because she only has one living grandmother, and her mother is the identical twin of my daughter-in-law, so she's genetically a half-sister of two of my grandsons. She will get a doll from me when she's ready, and she has been wearing sweaters I made for her two older cousins.

Today our Rocky turns sweet sixteen, which is very old in dog years. Here he was at nine weeks, 4 1/2 lbs. in 2004. (Notice the blue nail polish.)

We've had many adventures together, and we will miss him when he's gone, which I'm hoping won't be too soon.

Here he is now. He getting grey. He isn't as frisky as he used to be. He's on two medications, but he still runs and plays and seems to enjoy life, and he gets onto the couch by himself.

Happy birthday, Rocky!

What's on my needles: Still the Which Came First Shawl. A few more rows done.

What's on my sewing machine: Waiting for the next assignment.

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. More progress this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: A Hair-raising Adventure, Part Two. The boys get their new wigs.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still Mrs. Tim of the Regiment by D. E. Stevenson and also listening to music while I write letters.

What's in my wine glass: Ana Diogo-Draper Tempranillo from Amador County. Excellent.

What's my tip of the week: I have trouble opening and closing the zippers on food packages, because I can't pinch with my thumbs as tightly as I could before I had my surgeries. To open these pesky packages, I often resort to using my hemostat to hold on. For closing, I've discovered that if I lay the package down flat on the counter, I can press it closed with the bowl of a spoon or some other utensil, holding down one end with my hand and starting at the same end, using the utensil to press it closed. Senior-proof packaging!

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.