Sunday, July 09, 2006

Mojo Learns to Purl

This is Mojo's first experience with Mom's knitting. He's perplexed. He's not at all sure what's going on.

It's been awhile since I knitted. In an effort to deal with a generalized burnout in the genealogy department, I've decided to take a summer break and return to two other hobbies that have been neglected in recent years - my knitting and my dollhouses. Yesterday was spent relocating pieces of a gift shop dollhouse that had been relegated to the garage during "the move". The dogs are always ready to help on any project that requires rooting around in the garage. I had way more help that any one person deserves.

The dollhouse project got an unexpected burst of motivation from an item I picked up in a Smithville antique shop last weekend. I've had a collection of miniature reproductions of certain of the "crown jewels" of England for many years now, a Christmas gift from Mother once upon a time. I've not ever had a good idea what to do with them, but when I saw this, I knew that the time had come.

As soon as my order of faux marble pedestals arrives, I will install crowns and jeweled scepters and the throne room will be the newest addition to the resident dollhouses. I already have two other projects in motion. It's fun to return to the world of miniatures.

It's also been fun returning to the world of knitting. I have multiple "in progress" projects tucked around the house and I'm hoping my motivation will last long enough to get a couple of them finished at long last. Mojo hopes that my motivation dies quickly.

He can't figure out how to avoid the dangling yarn. It tickles his ears. He shifts position and manages to wrap it around his paw. Mother has to put everything down and detangle him. He settles down and she starts again and it tickles his ear. Round and round and round we go. Eventually he will learn to lie under the knitting itself and enjoy the soft cover while he naps, but for now it's an aggravation and his little puppy patience is wearing thin.

But for my part, it's a rediscovered tranquility. Xana napping between my leg and the chair arm. Mojo in my lap. Coco snuggled against my foot. The steady motion of yarn and needles. An old movie playing on Turner Classic Movies. Peace.

Until the yarn tickles his ear.

LSW

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