a borrowed friend.

When I was in Portland, my sister and I were taking a short jog through a park and noticed a pack of goats clearing an area. A sign was advertising a "goats for rent" business. So Portland. Well here where I live, it's not so much a hip eco-friendly thing to do, but a country way of life. Tyler's friend has a goat at his house just to keep his grass short, and Penelope needed some more grass to eat so he brought her over to our house.

She's pretty tiny and cute, and pretty afraid of Gigi. They both have a high level of caution around each other, but I can sense some respect there. Gigi likes to nibble on grass occasionally, and I think she was curious why this animal was so focused on eating the grass that she started to eat some too.

It may be eco-friendly, but in the end, Penelope's got a different path than a goat in Portland. I can't get too attached because unlike those western goats, Penny doesn't have any room and board for the winter. I'll just say that.

actually modeling.

Saturday while Tyler was at a football game, I started and finished a little sweater for gigi. It's a shame that I haven't made one before. She does pretty well with wearing clothes. Because of her itchy skin, she has already scratched at it a few times, but I expected that.

I had to get her up from a long nap to model, and she sat there and then did down dog like 5 times to stretch. She has perfect form.

This was a super fast knit (using this pattern), and I like the interest of a cable up the back, maybe I would add a couple more or make it a bigger cable next time.

ravelry post.

fall football.

So after 3 straight weeks of weekend road trips to Maryland, New York and Virginia, Tyler and I were looking forward to a quiet weekend, relaxing at home. Then Friday we went bowling with some friends and it comes up that someone is trying to sell some NFL tickets, and they are Tyler's favorite team. He gave me a look, and I caved. We have some family in DC that we love to visit, and we could bring the dog with us, so it worked out well.

I've never been to an NFL game, and we both felt a bit out of our element, considering everyone wears team gear, and I'm wearing a striped shirt and Tyler is in plaid. But the weather was beautiful, so warm that I got a bit of a sunburn on my nose. They had ben's chili bowl, so that made me giddy with happiness. The redskins were terrible as usual, but it was a fun day.

This weekend is officially our only roadtrip-free weekend until after Thanksgiving. I have spent so much time in the car! But it's nice that we can just do whatever on a whim when an opportunity comes up.

I feel bad I've been a bit absent. I've been trying to have quality over quantity, and I think I'm failing on both ends. It's a little different this fall, because I don't have any shows this year, and I decided to take a bit of a break from selling. It's been terrific to have no stressful deadlines hanging over my head. I have been knitting a lot, starting on my Christmas gifts. I love being able to enjoy the season. I'll be better!

she likes it, I promise.

I recently finished a couple herringbone cowls. This pattern is wildly popular, and I have been wanting to make it for a while. Shanna and I decided to make them together, we got the yarn together over the summer and had grand plans of knitting in a cabin together sipping tea while the leaves fall.

When those plans didn't work out, I started mine in September while I was in Portland, and then Shanna was so swamped with work she knew she wouldn't get to hers. I am more than happy to have a knitting project to do, so we decided to do a trade and I knit hers up this week.

This pattern is really simple and easy, once you get past casting on 220 stitches. I made a couple mistakes on mine, but once I got to the second one I knit it up totally mistake free (a little proud of that).

As modeled by Gigi, these cowls are huge, and really cozy. I don't know how I got so lucky to get a dog I can put crazy things on, and I just say "stay" and she will be motionless for 15 minutes while I take a hundred pictures. Although I had to adjust it at one point because she was about to tip over (first picture). I love her.

ravelry details for ecru and gray.