Coastal Knitting

sounds good right about now. We woke up to a malfunctioning furnace, which filled the house and the immediate village with acrid smoke.  As a result, the heat is off, the windows are open, and I’m thinking a nice, warm coastal location might be just the ticket.  And then we get a call from a shop opening up in beautiful Beaufort, SC.

I then went onto the Internet to find out a little about Beaufort, and no wonder these folks are looking for fiber supplies – even the trees are furry!  Do a search on Beaufort images – wow.  Elegant mansions, Spanish moss dripping from the trees, boats anchored nearby . . . and now a yarn store in the midst of all this.  Heaven on earth!

Should you be so lucky as to be in Beauford, SC soon, stop in to see Judy Algar at Coastal Knitting.  You’ll find her at 812 Port Republic.  Good luck, Judy!

Goodbye, Woody

That’s Woody, a wild and crazy dog.  Woody lost a hip when he was just a year old in a miscalculated leap over a fence.  The lack of a hip never slowed him down.  A week or so after his surgery, he and Spirit (seen from the back, above) ran off and subsequently got lost for two days.  (It was obedience school night – they ran away every week before obedience training!)  When we found them, Woody had worn off the pads on his foot from dragging his leg for so long.  We brought him home and he slept non-stop for a week.  At the end of the week I heard a crash in the kitchen and ran out to find Woody had lept onto the kitchen table, knocking the bowl of fruit on the floor.  After that, you had to look hard to realize he had a hint of a limp.

Woody loved everyone – and loved nothing more than being loved, save car rides.  If you began to pet him, a paw would see to it that you continued to pet him.  He didn’t need much real exercise, as his entire body would wiggle with delight over almost anything and everything.

That’s me and Woody a few years ago.  Day before yesterday, Knitterguy stopped in for a visit and snapped a new photo of me and Woody.  (Knitterguy, if you are reading this, would you please send me a copy of that picture?)

That night Woody had the first of what we think were a series of strokes.  In a day, a vibrant creature I was sure would outlive me was gone.  This morning we said our goodbyes.

We love you, Woody.

Hats off

to our new/old neighbor, Eva.  Her work will be detailed more in the coming months.  Her talent knows no bounds.  For starters, she has made a bevy of beautiful hat pins – one of which is featured on our October project.  I will be photographing the rest of the pins tomorrow, but here is one of these lovelies:

And it doesn’t end there.  Eva is a most accomplished painter/designer, and is applying her talents in a collaboration with Tom.  Those efforts are not yet ready to present to you, but they will be soon – certainly in time for the holidays.