Pigs and Chickens

I found these fabulous, folding shopping bags at my favorite Target alternative, Ichiban Kan. My friend, (Jen who remains blogless), showed me her fabu bags, and I just had to get some for myself. The problem was that by the time I made it to Ichiban Kan, only one boring floral print was left. So, I stalked the store every week, sometimes even twice a week, until the bags were back. Last week, I hit the motherlode and I bought 9 bags. For $2 each, they are a steal! And the best part is that they fold up into nothing and I can fit them into my purse. My boring floral bag has been so handy!

My favorite prints, by far, are the ones featuring Mr. Pig and his sidekick, Ms. Chicken. Or is it Ms. Chicken and her sidekick Mr. Pig? Regardless, the idea of barnyard animals baking and serving tea makes me very, very happy.


I brought a friend new to the Japanese dollar store scene with me and she also bought a ton of bags. She says that the French on these bags is kind of funky, but I wouldn't expect anything less. My favorite project bag, also from this place, has an awesome poem on it that reads, "Lunch time will make everyone happy." Indeed, lunch time does make everyone happy!

Because I am a knitter, I could not pass up the sheep bag. Sorry, folks, I took the last one! It was the display, but I lurved it and had to have it.

I'm finally getting around to photographing some of my finished objects from the Christmas knitting frenzy of 2008. This is a hat I made for the boy, a bigger version of a hat I made for Baby RoRo.


The boy, however unlike a baby, has lots of feedback on this hat. He has been begging for a grown up version of the Aviator Hat since last May because he wanted it to fit underneath his snowboarding helmet. Well, it turns out that his snowboarding helmet fits too snugly to accomodate anything other than his giant nugget, so he mostly wears this hat out and about and underneath his bicycling helmet. His complaint, however, is that he does not like the flaps flopping around when he is off of his bike. The traditional solution to this, a long cord at the end of each flap, was deemed "dumb looking." At this point, though, my job was done. I know that the customer is always right, but this customer can sew, so I told him he can attach some buttons to the earflaps and sew a couple of buttonholes into the top of his hat. So, if he does the modifications and likes it, perhaps we'll write a joint pattern.

Mingus has decided that, despite the weather, he's all done with his winter coat. I have been gathering large amounts of fur from this dog on a daily basis. I thought that these pictures made Mingus look like he's floating on a cloud. Except, as you can see, he's actually lying on the floor.


He likes to lay in his fur after I brush it off. I always let him have this moment of silence before I toss it in the dumpster. I used to spin the stuff, but I have a huge fiber stash that needs to be spun up first. In the spirit of recycling, I also tossed a bunch of fur in out backyard since someone told me that birds like to use it for nesting material. Well, his fur just stayed out there in the backyard, and then it rained, so I ended up having to pick up soggy fur. I guess our local birds do not want their nests to smell like dog, especially wet dog.