Dust bunnies rule!

Here is Big City Girl in her dust mop sweater, not looking overly thrilled about things, but it wasn't because of the sweater. On Saturday she spent 5 hours cleaning up and clearing out her room, and on Sunday morning she got up at the crack of dawn (10 a.m.) to finish the job before getting an early-afternoon train back to the big city where there would be, no doubt, much more fun things to do.

The sweater looks much better with her shell necklace than with her cleaning clothes, and she told me that someone at work had actually asked her if the shells were real.

So today I've been dealing with the aftermath--taking bags of old clothes to the donation drop box, and making arrangements to deliver stuffed animals to a local church that re-gifts them to kids in need. I'm exhausted from the whole process and, although I didn't realize it right away, I'm feeling a little sad. I guess as long as her stuff was here, she hadn't officially left home. Now it's pretty clear that she's gone, and it's just me and Mr. Gadget and the dust bunnies. Life moves on.

So now that the big clean-up project is behind me, and there aren't any more of my body parts that need scrutinizing, I'm free to work on my knitting and sewing projects.

Here is a picture of some carrots--my favorite kind of "home-grown" produce because they require only a sewing machine and no digging in the dirt. They are displayed on the finished back of my Noro shawl-collared jacket. I'm not crazy about the colored flecks in this yarn, but I do like working with the Noro and I like the way the stripes are coming out....where they sort of blend into each other. I think it looks a little bit like an Indian weaving, and it should look nice with black pants or jeans. If it fits well and I like the way it turns out, I'll eventually make another one in a different yarn.

So Henry and Clarence, the kitties across the street, have been frolicking out on the lawn. They are happy because their owners are back from vacation. Through the miracle of modern communication, and with a little help from their cat sitter, H & C were able to send a text message to their owners to let them know that by weeks' end they were doing just fine, but were more than ready to be "outta here." Bring on the catnip.....