Two deer

Yesterday began with this--

and ended with this--

In between I blocked some socks, and thought about the yarn I'd used, of which I bought extra balls in a range of colors.

As you can tell from the label, it's called North Pole, and it's from Universal Yarn, imported from Turkey. Fiber content is 72% Superwash wool, 24% nylon, and 4% metallic thread; each ball is 437 yards, enough for two pair. I bought it at The Yarn Outlet in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, for a bit under $15, and when I checked a few weeks ago, they had a small amount still in stock.

(A slight digression:  I first went to The Yarn Outlet about six months ago and was underwhelmed, which is why I didn't write about it (btw, this happens a lot...my general policy is not to cover commercial establishments that underwhelm me). However, if you happen to be in Providence or close to I-95 in Pawtucket, it can be a useful place to shop. Needles are discounted about 20%, and they carry bamboo as well as metal circs and straights. As with any outlet store, too, the merchandise is catch-as-catch-can, so it could be worthwhile to make several visits over a long time. They've got this funky North Pole yarn for $2 less than at Webs and $3 less than if you order it from the distributor (Universal Yarns), and they do carry small lots of good yarn like Manos and Cascade 220. But the selection overall leans towards acrylic, which is IMHO a turn-off.)

What I enjoyed about knitting North Pole:  its self-Fair Isle pattern is amazing, the yarn has a beautiful hand and elasticity, and it's light but warm and sparkly! (Socks knit from this are perfect holiday gifts!) As those of you who have read my article, "Stitch and Seed" in the current issue of Knitscene Magazine know, I love to knit socks in the summer, because the ick factors of heat and humidity make it hard to deal with large pieces of woolen stuffs, as with sweaters.

Now that Memorial Day has come and gone, and summer has unofficially begun (so the tv weathermen say), my knitting will be mostly small-scale items. After dropping younger son (who graciously took time out from his fun-filled college-reunion weekend to grace our house for 24 hours) at the Kingston Amtrak station yesterday,

H and I headed towards one of our favorite restaurants, Matunuck Oyster Bar, on a lovely tidal creek in East Matunuck RI, where I worked on a hiking sock while we waited for our entrees.  (He had the fried oyster plate; I had linguine with clam sauce. We drank a vidal blanc from Greenvale Vineyards in Portsmouth.)

If the dear boy looks peeved, it's because he doesn't quite understand the allure of always knitting, my friends. But you do, I know.

View from our table on the deck at the Matunuck Oyster Bar. If you sit out there, bring bug spray.

The dog ate my...knitting needle

Agreed: this dog child, a.k.a. Lola, is the image of canine cuteness. Utterly belying, of course, her willful nature, which can sometimes be less enchanting than her appearance.

Today we returned from lunch at the Matunuck Oyster Bar, one of our all-time favorite restaurants as much for the view (illustrated above), as for the food (highly recommended: New England clam chowder, the fried oyster plate) http://www.rhodyoysters.com/ . It was then I discovered the following havoc wreaked by a certain Portuguese Water Dog whose name shall not be explicitly mentioned for the nonce: a plastic bag containing a loaf of recently-baked bread had been removed from the kitchen counter, thrown on the floor, ripped apart on a rug, and its contents removed and carried about the livingroom, where crumbs were liberally distributed on two sofas and another rug.

Adding insult to injury, said canine had also snacked on a wooden knitting needle, size number six, that I'd left in a pile of unfinished sweater in the livingroom. She ingested about half of it. Thus I am again reminded (since this isn't the first time it's happened, and for some interesting reason, Lola favors number sixes--are they meat flavored?) that there are advantages to plastic and metal needles. (Check out the snowdrops at the end of the broken needle in the photo! Can spring be far behind?)

The lesson in all of this, I think, is that we should take our dogster with us, whenever possible. She doesn't mind waiting in the car, and she really hates to be left home alone. Q.E.D.