Looking Forward

I'm definitely looking forward to wearing the Oregon Autumn Cardigan...maybe before Autumn? I'm almost to where I divide for the back neck.

The front neck decreases are finished, so now I just keep working and measuring. When the sleeve steek stitches reach 8" I do the divide on the next row. I'm almost there.

Yesterday we had a party to celebrate the end of the choir year and beginning of summer vacation. I made my Spotted Angel dish so I would have a vegetarian entree.

We had a great time. It was good to get out.

We've been working on the backyard, which is a nice space, but difficult to grow lawn in. You can see the problem with the sprinkler system.

We managed to get in a few walks, with some off-leash time.

I thought Sandy was done growing, but he's up to 27 lbs. now, up a bit from last week. He's visibly taller than Dusty now. Marie said he would be big.

We have been adjusting the dogs diet a bit, trying to figure out what Dusty might be allergic to, because he frequently licks the base of his tail, and the vet suggested food allergy might be the problem. We have him off chicken, wheat and dairy, and he seems better, but we added a new food that doesn't have any of those items in it. The only thing new is bison, so maybe he's allergic to that, because he started licking again. Sandy will have to eat up the bison, while Dusty goes back to the last combination we were giving him. Feeding them separately is a challenge.

We watched a lot of news during the week. History is being made. I found out from Spoutible about the verdict in the election-interference trial. Spoutible is like Twitter with a few tweaks and extra protection from trolls, bots and inauthentic accounts. I left Twitter over a year ago after using Spoutible for a while and liking it. Spoutible has this thing called a "Word Cloud." Words appear in the cloud sized and located according to how often they show up in posts, which are referred to as "spouts." I made a screen shot on Thursday.

We also checked in to TV coverage when we read that the jury was done deliberating. CNN called it the "hush money" trial, although that isn't accurate. The charge really boiled down to election interference. Paying people to keep quiet about something isn't illegal in New York, but cooking the books is (altering business records) and doing it to influence voters is also illegal. When one illegal act is used to commit the other, it bumps the charge up to a felony. A person doing business in New York would have known this was illegal.

The defendant can appeal, of course. We'll be watching as history continues to be made.

The first draft of my new book went off to my editors this past week. I included two pages of links to patterns, one for knitting and one for sewing, with photos of the finished items and references to where they appear in the book.

We're still cleaning up after our spear-phishing attack. (I found out that's what it's called, not just ordinary phishing.) My permanent checks came, so I'm good there. I received a letter from Social Security that my June direct deposit will happen on time to the new account. Other than having had to wait with my phone on speaker for nearly an hour, the person who helped me (and also helped Charlie, while we had him on the line) was very efficient and knew what he was doing.

Barking dogs alerted me to the presence of a trespasser damaging my landscaping Sunday morning. He could ignore the dogs, but spotted me as I took this photo.

You can't see the antlers, but he had a nice rack, so I knew he was a boy. He had a friend nearby, though, and trotted off to join her when I came out to get a better photo.

I think they were young. They weren't very big.

I have a lot of difficulty responding to comments to my blog posts because of technical issues beyond my control (my lack of understanding of how things work). Message me on Facebook, Ravelry or Spoutible if you need information.

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for "Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart". Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of any of our books, including Emil, Mariah or Classic Tales Retold, please leave an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Still working on the Oregon Autumn Cardigan.

What's on my loom: Still in its corner under the windows, not warped, but dusted, at least.

What's on my sewing machine: Put away for now.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: In On the Wing, we learn from the dolls how to tell butterflies from moths.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to After Death by Dean Koontz. I"m about halfway through. Interesting story. Also still reading Elfen Königin by Holly Black, translated from English. Didn't get very far with it this week.

What's in my wine glass: Rosso's 7 Sicilians Terre Siciliane 2022.

What's my tip of the week: Here's my recipe for Spotted Angel.

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with a few changes. 

Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook is available from the BookBabyBookshop and other booksellers worldwide. Poems included are Valentine's Day, Keeping Pets, Back to School, Victor the Vulture, The Week Before Christmas, Insomnia and Veronika's Vocabulary Verses.

The stories in Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Little Green Greatcoat, The Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.

Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook and Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are also still available from booksellers. The link for Book Baby is here. The three stories in Emil are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

The three stories in Mariah are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less. 

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.

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