My Knitted Bunny Phase

DapperBunny2Once upon a time, and it really had nothing to do with Easter, I got into knitting rabbits.  They just kept multiplying and multiplying.  It was a lot of fun.  It brought lots of smiles to quite a few folks, including me.  I call this guy, perched in his chair, my Dapper Bunny.  He contrasts with Sweet Bunny (who has a stash of knitted carrots tucked into her handbag). Sweet Bunny wears felted slippers.  She was designed by Patricia Ann Ford as part of her “Colleen’s Rabbits” series.  Dapper Bunny had a designer too, but he’s lost a lot of IQ points since he was knitted and he’s forgotten who cooked him up.

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Then there’s Bohus Bunny and Bow-Legged Bunny.  Bow-Legged Bunny remembers that he was an old Sandra Magazine pattern, but other than that his origins (like Bohus’s) are cloaked in the fog of the antiquities.   Pastel Bunny can’t remember her origins either.  Big Eared Little Bunny Bunny knows that she was designed by Debbie Bliss as her Ballerina Bunny.  She prefers not to dwell on that. And no, she does not own a tutu.

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My “I Knit For Folk Art” Sweater

tableI am a middle child.  The sister between two brothers.  My older brother is a master folk art craftsman.  For several years, in between carpentry projects, he has worked to add fish to this table he built.  Rainbow trout, bluegill, perch…and a few others I’m not enough of a fisherperson to positively identify.  Four on top and one on each side.  He decided he was ready to part with his creation and gave me this table for the Long Lake cottage.  I wanted to make something for him in return.  At my urging that he should select a sweater he’d like to wear, we settled on a fisherman knit cabled sweater. Very fitting because he is also an avid fisherman.

It’s a WIP (“work in progress”) for now.  The weather will be warm before it’s an FO (“finished object”).  There’s been a lot of frogging  so far (“rip it, rip it”).  But I am pleased with this fun, challenging project.  I’m using a free Paton’s pattern published under a name so clumsy it doesn’t attract much attention:  “Dad’s Cardigan.”  In a way, the clumsy name is refreshing.  Anymore, knitting patterns carry some truly odd names  that tell little about what it is.  “Dad’s Cardigan” suits me better than “George” or “Humanity” or “Intolerable Cruelty.”  Unfortunately  Paton didn’t proofread this pattern as well as one would hope, but the experienced will figure out the errors before too much damage is done.  I’m posting corrections on my Ravelry project page as I knit along, starting from the simple (that it’s unlikely there are patterns for two different size smalls), to the more troublesome (three of the abbreviations within the cable panels are incorrect).  See Noreen1009  on Rav.

I plan for this being an awesome warm sweater.  But I think my fiddling with sticks and string is no match for this beauty of a table.  Thank you big brother!

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Poor Donald Jr.

Poor-donaldThis, from another  1917 knitting booklet.  The leggings  look like bandages.  The shoes seem to be dress shoes, not fit for play. Same for the shorts.  His sweater is the  only comfortable piece of clothing poor Donald Jr. was allowed to wear that day.  And what of the expression on his face?   Bored?  When the photo shoot was over did he rip that sweater off and head on to a life of privilege.  Or something else?

How about this Cover girl?

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She looks more pleased with her outfit than young Donald.  Both sweaters make ample use of the mainstay of knitting–garter stitch.  Plain old knitting.  The first stitch every knitter learns, maybe with a rhyme like this one to help her remember how to do it: “In through the front door, around the the back, open the window, and off jumps Jack.”

Sno*Drift Rally

racecarIt was a dark cold night.  It was a dark cold very cold night.  It was a dark very cold noisy night.  It was a very dark very cold very noisy night in January in Montmorency County.  Must be crazy people were once again driving cars over snowy slick roads at high speeds while spectators watched them  slide fast around corners packed ten people deep.  There were no published accounts of collisions with deer this year.   No drivers were seriously hurt.  Many cars were scathed, as in the opposite of unscathed.  It was Sno*Drift (and that’s no asterisk it’s a snowflake). It’s the only winter rally in the national Rally America Championship series.  The race is held on a Friday and Saturday in late January.  It takes place completely on Montmorency County backroads.  The last leg of the race, when Steve took these photos in 2009, is run in the dark.  Yipes.  The County has hosted the rally for 44 consecutive years. The event draws drivers with international reputations and backers, but also wannabes who come with a passion for the sport and a shoestring budget. If racing is your thing, this is a “do not miss” unusual “Pure Michigan” event.

Yes, that’s on ice and snow, on back roads, dodging deer, in January,  partly in the dark.

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