Stitch by Stitch and Drop by Drop

Pippa's Fair Isle sweater is coming along. I will probably finish it today. Here's the front.

This is the back, although it could also be the front, if Pippa decided to wear it as a cardigan.

I put holes in the button band as well as the buttonhole band. This works as a guide for where to place the buttons. I still need to trim the excess steek fabric from the inside and finish the facings.

Here's the graph for the sleeves. It's superimposed on the body graph, but it's easy to figure out how the pattern goes through the blue and green sections.

I had to cancel my order for my new Roxanne's Thimble from the first place we ordered from They didn't actually have my size in stock. However, a new order was placed with Colonial Needle Company, and it arrived on Saturday. Apparently the middle sizes are pretty hard to find, probably because more people need those sizes. Perfect fit, and I am using it now to work on my whole-cloth quilt.

We were supposed to take Rocky back to the animal ophthalmologist on Thursday, but she was called out of town on a family emergency. We had just run out of Rocky's medication drops. He gets these two, one drop in his left eye four times a day, at least 5 minutes apart. Then he gets artificial tears in both eyes, one drop morning and night. I tried to get it from our vet, but they don't carry it. However, the small bottle is available for humans by prescription (which he wrote for us) and the other is an over-the-counter medication, which we were able to find at the pharmacy.

The pups went to the groomer this week, and they look tidy again.

My supply of books on hand is shrinking. I've been selling then one or two at a time.

A couple of weeks ago, someone bought two books and sent me a check for $100. She said to give the excess to St. Jude, so I had an opportunity to use my fundraising page. I hand to get some help from someone at the organization to be able to provide a receipt for tax purposes, but now I know how to do it, so it will be easy when I need to do it again. I'm going to check with the publisher to see if my royalties can just go straight into the fundraising page, so I don't have to explain the extra income to Uncle Sam. (If you want, you can donate directly to St. Jude through my fundraising page. Hint, hint!) The money is coming in about like Rocky's medications: drop by drop. My contact at St. Jude, however, says that every little bit helps, and the need is great.

We thought we were going to be able to make an appointment to get vaccinated a week from today, but the expected supply of vaccine turned out to be fiction, so we're now expecting it to be after February 8th.

We managed to find time to walk. Our usual route is smaller than it used to be, but the pups are grateful.

What's on my needles: Still Pippa's Fair Isle sweater, but soon to CO for the Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery KAL.

What's on my sewing machine: Sitting idle for now.

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

What's in The Doll's Storybook: A Story About a Boy. Emil goes to Mariah for help writing a story. Billy plans to provide the illustrations using photography.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished Elsewhere by Dean Koontz. Now listening to The Thief of Lanwyn Manor by Sarah E. Ladd from Chirp. This website works a little differently from Audible. You don't have any membership dues, no credits to collect or use, and the audiobooks are really cheap...if they have what you want as a special deal. The app works in a way similar to the Audible app. It's a good compliment to Audible if you listen to a lot of audiobooks.

What's in my wine glass: Château Agnel Minervois 2017. Unusual.

What's my tip of the week: Face mask brackets, similar to these, can be very useful if you have to wear a mask for a long period. It keeps the fabric from going into your nose when you inhale. I've found that if you can get used to wearing glasses, hearing aids or a bra, you can get used to wearing a mask, especially if you do a few things to make them more comfortable. We will be wearing masks for a while, I believe.

Where's my book: Mariah: Stories from the Doll's Storybook is available from Amazon worldwide. Also available from BookBaby and other booksellers. Royalties go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment.

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.