The Little Weasel

Miss Tilly was named after one of my favorite old neighbors from years past.  I always seem to end up with a good neighbor almost everywhere I've ever lived :-).  

As most puppies do, Tilly dug some holes in our gardens and Tim started calling her The Garden Weasel after one of those "as seen on tv" ads.  The Garden Weasel soon became Weaslie and then Tim's dad called her Weaser.  She picked up Short Round and Tilly Bobby from a couple of favorite movies.  The Little Shriner came from the guys who drove the tiny cars around in circles at the circus.  Tilly would run in circles trying to figure out what direction Iris was heading.  Dammit Weaslie because...corgis ;-).  

We got to sit outside under the still standing Christmas card tree yesterday and enjoy a dog picnic and one last afternoon nap.  There are worse ways to spend an afternoon.

Miss Tillly

September 2006 - March 29, 2021

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Chicken Sisters

Our chickens came from Mt. Healthy Hatcheries and I'm sure they were all hatched in a huge incubator and surely separated by colors, but somehow these two Brahma "sisters" seem to know they are at very least the same breed and spend most of their time together.

The Bald Eagle (left) is a Dark Brahma and Goldilocks (right) is a Buff Brahma.  I wouldn't mind them all loose in the yard, but they are terribly destructive to my garden areas and the Easter egg hunting (looking for where they've hidden to lay their eggs) is...frustrating.  

I'll stop here before I start complaining about springtime :-o.

The New, New, New, New, New, New Plan

We definitely need a score keeper!  That's okay.  It's only knitting.  Important to me knitting, but...just knitting :-).  

I decided that the Renny sweater deserved a big official and fun finish under the Burled Arch without me rushing to get it done or setting the detailed after-knitting finishing touches aside until after this year's race.  I've entered this year as a WIP (work in progress) Iknitarod entry.

The Iditarod is not following a normal route either. The 2021 race will be an "out and back" loop they are calling the Gold Loop in an effort to keep the more remote checkpoints safer from COVID exposure.  By turning around at Iditarod (the old town) the race is "only" going to be 852 miles rather than the usual around 1000.  Whether that affects the times remains to be seen.

I think the amount of work I have left on the Renny sweater should carry me to about that halfway point.  Once I'm headed back, I have something fun planned for the second half of my race.  I'll post more about that later.

If you remember last year's ravatar, you'll notice the similarity to this year...with a couple of changes.  Hank and Comby, no longer with us, are now the bright star.  Possum has taken Comby's place, but also now stands close to Salt...as she would.  I changed the sweater I'm wearing to the FINISHED Renny sweater and the light gray scarf and dark gray mittens are representative of her light and dark gray wool that was dyed to make all the colors.

I was also asked to design the Iknitarod's group Ravatar this year and I am pretty happy with how it turned out. It's a little busy, but hopefully the design reflects the unusual course route and the musher's red jacket is a nod to one of my pretty much everyone's favorite musher, Aliy Zirkle, who has announced that this will be her last race.  

I had originally planned to use this as my personal Ravatar this year, maybe changing out the dogs to match Kate, Salt and Weaslie, but once I decided to continue on with last year's project I wanted to use last year's graphic as well.  I enjoy making these little "cartoons".

Mushing on!

For Anyone Who May Still Be Keeping Score At Home

Mini Moose was looking quite knitworthy the other day!

I have not given up on the 2020 Iknitarod!  This sweater should have been finished...honestly...years ago.  At very least months ago.  It will be finished before I allow myself to start on my 2021 Iknitarod project, which should start this Saturday.  Which will start this Saturday.   

I'm happy to be getting back in the knitting groove at least a little.  You know the groove where I knit a bunch of inches and then have to rip back a bunch of inches and reknit them and hope I don't have to re-rip them back out and re-re-knit them...  

Me and Stella...keeping it real on the lane ;-).

The February Photo Diary

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The January Photo Diary

This poor neglected blog...  As I prepared to post my February Diary, I realized I'd never posted January :-(.  

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I re-watched this (what it's there for :-) and while I'm disappointed that I don't do a better job keeping the blog current anymore, I'm really proud of my Instagram account.  So many fun photographs and great memories.