Mossy Cottage Knits

In the Jungle, the Mighty Jungle...

A word of advice to those in search of a mate: Physical attraction and a compatible personality? Pshaw. Highly overrated. Look, instead, for someone who likes is as obsessed with gardening as you are with knitting. A case in point: My dahlia bed. Two weekends ago, it was a weed-infested, grass-choked, quasi-Amazonian jungle. At night, if you stood near it and were quiet, you could hear the hoots of monkeys, the screeching of exotic birds, and the rustle of rapidly growing vines. By the end of this weekend, however, it looked like this, weed-free, blanketed in a thick layer of fertile mulch, and ready for the dahlia tubers which are wintering over in the garage:

And, lah, I didn’t have to lift nary a manicured finger. What did I have to do in return? Buy TMK a $2.00 latte. Score!

(Note, however, the suspiciously weedy greenery under the rose bush. TMK said, emphatically and with arms akimbo, she draws the line at weeding near attack-roses with sharp thorns and, besides, that was all my measly $2.00 was going to get me.)

And I suppose this story wouldn’t be complete without mentioning that, after this, she did my taxes. She rocks.

Now, lest you think I'm just a natural-born “taker,” remember this?

Also as of this weekend, thanks to TMK’s and my combined efforts (see, I'm only 95% a taker), it now looks like this:

No question, the room has “issues,” not the least of which is a wall so badly bowed out—and back in again—that the chair-railing had to be screwed in; a drapery rod with an “open/close” mechanism that quit working the instant we hung the drapes; and a gigantor night table that could be half the size and which needs a drawer, but we are still smugly pleased with the results. As is, as you can see, the dilettanteish Ivy.

And as is Frankie, now that she has discovered that the rug gives her enough purchase that she can jump on the bed by herself. Occasionally, however, she does miss and we are treated to the site of two huge ears, a puzzled and slightly startled face and two scrabbling paws disappearing below the edge of the bed. Those are the moments we live for.

Knitting Knews

What is the perfect antidote to a stranded-knitting sweater that is as fussy to tink as it is to knit up?

A Cloud Hat, of course! The simplest of the simple. The inane knitting to beat all inane knitting.

This weekend, after a thoroughly enjoyable stash-wallow—which, to an observer, would have looked much like a pig in a pig wallow, only cleaner—I combined some bright lemon-yellow Plymouth Encore with some carrot-orange mohair and, in 3.5 hours—or, in TV time, one watching of "Harry Potter: The Goblet of Fire" and of a coupla home-renovation shows—I churned out this, modeled by Ivy, whom we were able to lure away from her satin sheets and her bon-bons with the promise of her first modeling gig:

This hat looks very much like the surface of the sun during extreme sunspot activity. In fact, this weekend, everywhere I went with my knitting bag, cell phones and internet connections shorted out, car alarms went off, and automatic garage doors opened up. I have had a lot of explaining to do.

An Introduction

I am thrilled to note that we have had a lot of new readers recently, especially since we posted the pictures of the Mongolian children receiving their knitted items. Which means, however, that some of you may be puzzled by the recent comments by some strange dude calling himself “Cuzzin Tom.” Now, you old timers know who Der Cuzz is, but for you newbies, here’s the 411:

Cuzzin Tom really is my cuzzin. In fact, here we are together during TMK's and my trip to Arizona last year:

He is a Buddhist monk associated with the Kunzang Palyul Chöling monastery in Maryland, and is a devoted follower of Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo.

Last year he had the opportunity to spend some time in Mongolia, working with the Mongolians as they rediscover their Buddhist roots after many years of Russian Communist rule.

During that time, he started his blog, Dreaming of Danzan Ravjaa.

Most importantly, however, he was the mastermind behind the Dulaan Project. The idea of getting knitters from all over the world to knit items for destitute and orphaned Mongolian children was 100% his brainchild.

Not to mention that, despite being a monk, he is a silly, silly boy who leaves wonderfully sarcastic, irrevent and thoroughly enjoyable comments on the blog.

Oh, and speaking of Dulaan, stay tuned for some exciting and fun news about the project!

Posted by Ryan at March 13, 2006 11:44 AM