blogdogblog

Itsy-bitsy-teeny-etc.

Thank you so much for the lovely birthday greetings; it made my week all the more delightful to hear from so many of my favorite bloggers. I decided on Tuesday that I'd like to go back to blogging every day because you are all so wonderful! Yet here I am, an entire week later, hustling up an entry. Onward! To the itsy-bitsy-teeny-etc. content! Let's Go!

So! Did you realize that, unlike knitting needle sizes, the higher/bigger the stamped number is on the crochet hook, the tinier the hook is? A US 8 steel hook is 1.5 mm, but don't take my word for it; use this handy conversion chart, and oh ! btw! take a look at the crocheted wire flowers while you're there. Now, back to the 1.5 mm hooks. . .

Dearly beloved longtime readers of the blogdogblog know that when I quit writing in the third person, we are usuallly in the grip of a powerful obsession. It's the Amigurumi thing, and apparently, I'm not alone in my appreciation of knitted and crocheted anthropomorphic bunnies and such.

What makes them so weirdly appealing? I grabbed a hook and some crochet cotton and after stabbing myself repeatedly while trying to single-crochet in the round, consulted awesome Austin knitter and crocheter CyndiLou, got some less pointy pointers, and made this boy and his dog.

Okay! What an excellent way to practice crochet! (Hey Lace Knitters, take note of the magic ring start for crochet.) Single crochet worked in rounds at a very tight gauge is extremely sturdy; I think the possibilities for using it for textile structures and functional objects are much greater than with knitting. There's something about feeling the thread curving into shape under your fingers while you merrily hook around that lends itself more to ideas of architecture and sculpture than sweaters. Yeah! That's what I think! And I can understand why someone might find it difficult to stop once ideas began to take shape under the crochet hook.

Tapestry crochet, with its multiple threads and colors, extends this idea in a fine-art direction. Well and good. But I don't see how you could not like an amigurumi-dude.

Naturally, perhaps, I may be a bit behind in catching this wave . . . there's already an Amigurumi-along to enjoy. Japanese crafters seem to have advanced skills in cuteness. Clover.jp has free pig, bear, fish, mice, frog, and mushroom patterns, and there is a free bunny pattern here and a free puppy pattern there.

Visit the Amigurumi Flickr gallery at Gourmet Amigurumi even if you're not the least bit interested in anything crocheted; the work there could make a curmudgeon grin. Don't you love Flickr? Other people's photo albums are like other people's blogs—how marvelously human we are when we reach out with our long blogging, picture-snapping hands! I adore the stuff. And the humans, too. Which reminds me of that other amazing online space where I lose all sense of myself: We Feel Fine. I've been looking at it for months and it still gives me shivers :-)

If I resumed blogging on a daily basis, we wouldn't have to wade through these long and hyperactive posts, would we. . . we'll give it further thought while we are soothing our sore fingers around chilly tumblers of lavender lemonade.

Hey! You know who isn't very amused by single-crochet cuties? The Gang of Fur, glowering with accusing eyes over the dinner bowls.

Laters!

XLIX

Sunday was my birthday; like Greta, this year I turned XLIX, which I expected to feel quite shocking. (I realize I can't quite write the Arabic numbers as, even though its happened, I'm still a little shocked to have arrived here.) However, as a birthday, it was perfectly buoyant with a few swells. I'm the type who believes that every birthday is a brand new year and a fresh shiny start and absolutely an opportunity to try something different. So I did something I had never done for diverse reasons...fear, tubbiness, arthritis, various phobias including Jaws and bunnies. But I was stern with myself and thus enjoyed my Very First Kayak Experience!

I was afraid that parts of me would hang over the sides in an infamous way, or that I would be stuck inside, or capsize, or get hurt, or be claustrophobic, or exhausted, creating the circumstances to drift out to sea to be fatally nibbled by sharks, or picked up by a freighter crewed by non-English speakers going in the opposite direction of my dear little doggies. Oh, and that jellyfish would jump into my personal craft. But none of that happened. Surprise! We are sea-worthy! At least in a lake!

Having a bit of time for celebratory reflection while watching ospreys and clouds go by, I did exactly that, quietly, so as not to alarm the egrets or herons. So much to be grateful about! But tonight I'll thank Terri and her Big Fella for their outdoor inspiration and my beautiful sister for her unflagging confidence in my ability to leap without looking and my excellent son for insisting I could *so* do it (and also helping me out of the kayak on the first day or I'd probably be sitting there still, anticipating jumping jellyfish). Sweet!

Kayaking. It's not just for grannies anymore (kidding! I'm kidding!). I can do it! I am saving my money for four of these.

Obligatory Knitting Content
Meh. Some socks.

Ex gratia Crochet Content
Yeah! I hope to show you tomorrow. Amigurumi!

The Usual Content
So! This is XLIX! Well all right! Next year, rock-climbing. At the vile day-job today, I daydreamed of still waters. Two out of four dachshunds approved.

Cheers!

Astounded

As is so often the case in our blog entries, we are astounded by Other People's Creativity. Not for us those blogs or books that denigrate a certain level of art or arts and crafts. We choose to never acknowledge criticism and believe there is nothing that cannot be rendered finer with a little needlework. It's all good to us, because creativity in all its forms is CREATIVE, and we are, as we said, astounded! Frequently! and joyfully!

If you would like to be astounded by Other People's Creativity, behold the following Crochet Swan Centres. What glorious mind conceived this? We (me and my dogs) bow three times in their direction. Truly divergent. And it gives us all sorts of ideas. Yesssssss.

And from Novica, in a whole 'nother direction: Neide Ambrosio's crocheted soda-pop-top purses and belts. Brilliant.

We'd like to say more on the topic of creativity; we're vaguely troubled by bloggish decrees about what should and should not be knitted/crocheted/tatted/what-have-you. But we are tired because we've been writing proposals all summer. So we'll just fill up this part of this entry with Other People's Deep Thoughts and assure you we are wishing you all kinds of happiness.

Creativity is not the finding of a thing,
but the making something out of it after it is found. --James Russell Lowell

and

Once you can accept the universe as matter
expanding into nothing that is something, wearing
stripes with plaid comes easy. -- Albert Einstein

and

Jazz is not dead, it just smells funny. -- Frank Zappa

Is there crochet for knitters? We (me and my dogs, remember?) dunno. But we're going to see at CrochetMe!

Meanwhile, Mikey demonstrates how fast summer is flying by. Merry Thursday! Sieze the knitting. Or crocheting.

PSA Day (Still No Knitting Content)

From the CDC: Tips for Preventing Heat-Related Illness

From Harvard School of Medicine: More Calcium in Collards than Milk

From Mikey: 143 Knitting Days until You-Know-What.

Thursday. Check on the elderly (no telling what Grandma's Not Just getting up to now).

Hey! News Flashes! (Instead of the Other Kind!)

Thrilling

Mr. Jamieson takes on "a couple of new people" and £100,000 investment.

Can it betoken the return of some admired discontinued colors? Hurrah!
Euro-knitters, click your needles!

Three New Episodes

What goes on in dogs' minds? Is Cousin Bear pretending he is a Yeti, or is he simply camera-shy?

Happy Tuesday! It's Dog Whisperer Week on National Geographic!