Hey look! mounds of wool!
Natural lawnmowers!
From the Presidential Pet Museum:
Tired of election stuff? Here’s one more president-related thing… with sheep!
There were sheep that grazed on the White House lawn during Wilson’s administration. To cut groundskeeping costs during World War I, President Woodrow Wilson (1913-21) brought a flock of sheep to trim the White House grounds. Included in the flock was Old Ike, a tobacco-chewing ram.
Funny, eh? I wonder where the clipped wool ended up. I also wonder if, in addition to the calls for a vegetable garden on the White House lawn, we could get the Obama administration to bring back the sheep.
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Posted in From Shannon's other sites, Knitting | No Comments »
Blurry, ’cause I’m knitting so fast. Well, I cast on for NaKniSweMo and promptly became a crazy social recluse. Swatching on Halloween (here, kids, just take some candy from the bowl, Shannon’s counting), staying up an extra hour (thanks, daylight savings!), avoiding family and friends over the weekend… but if I can pull off this sweater before the 15th, it gives me hope that my Super Ultra Crazy Plan might work.
What’s the SUCP? Doing NaKniSweMo AND NaKniWriMo. I blame Kim Werker. And Amy O’Neill Houck. And Michelle Wiener. All fiberistas. All doing NaNo, too. Come ON! I founded NaKniSweMo so I wouldn’t fail miserably at NaNo each year!
That said, if you’re doing NaNo, feel free to friend me there. And check in on the NaKniSweMo progress thread to let us know how you’re doing with yours.
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You saw it earlier here. Here’s the pattern page on Ravelry, and you can purchase it in my Ravelry store here.
(See thread in the discussion group here).
If you’re not on Ravelry — and for heaven’s sake, why not? — email me (admin @ this domain) and I will send you a PayPal invoice. The price is $5 but if you’d like to donate extra — as we’re selling the pattern to benefit a local no-kill animal shelter — let me know how much, or purchase more than one copy! Thanks so much.
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(photo by Kristi on Flickr here; chart by Laura of Picture Perfect Knits book fame)
The intarsia pattern is available for free on Laura’s knitblog here.
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…an early wish so you can click over to The Black Apple here and print out some of these for your friends!
Cute overload!
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Oprah declares the Kindle her most favoritest thing ever. That’s, like, so August, Oprah.
(I kid, I kid! As long as she doesn’t start publishing knitting books and competing against me, I’m all in favor of her promoting my favorite gadget).
Although, Oprah, if you want to do Oprah Knits! you just call me, ‘k?
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…on my upcoming Lakewood Library appearance: Add Some Fiber to Your Life with Shannon Okey!
(is it just me, or does that sound like a commercial Wilford Brimley would be in?)
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Yes, this post is about knitting.
I have been working on this new pattern for a lotus-shaped bag. When the first sample was knit up, inside out, I realized it looked like some horrifying giant squid or other denizen of the deep (or Cthulhu, for that matter). A normal person thinks this, then moves on. Me, I grab one of Tamas’ toy monkeys and…
(And yes, we have toy monkeys around the house. Come on, he draws El Gorgo! What do you expect?)
The real pattern is not H.P. Lovecraftian in the least, I fear. Though I suppose you could do just about anything with it if you wanted.
Thanks to everyone for the congratulations on Yarn Forward — it’s exciting stuff!
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I’m going to get one of these when I move to the middle of the Maine forest someday. (Hat tip to Kim for pointing this out)
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If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook or wherever, you may remember last week’s announcement about big news on the way…
And then I immediately had to declare I was not pregnant or getting married, because apparently those are the only big news worthy of such excitement, judging from the number of people texting and messaging me immediately afterward.
No, it’s better, because it involves yarn:
Yes, you read that right. I am taking on the editor position at Yarn Forward magazine, which now comes out ten times a year. Ten! (I just shuddered a little to think of it). I am currently getting up to speed on the flat plans for the issues-in-progress and preparing for the first issue that’s all me, editing-wise. (Gulp!)
Yarn Forward is UK-based but already available at some shops here in the US, and by subscription, too. We’re working on US distribution deals now, too.
Want to do patterns or articles for the magazine? Well, you know who to contact…
Join the Yarn Forward group on Ravelry here.
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