Of cabbages and kings

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."

Because I don't have anything really organized to say, I thought Lewis Carroll might usher in this post, rather than I. You can read the whole poem here. Not the cheeriest thing, I'll grant, but a great bit of nonsense, nonetheless.

Last night I spent some long overdue knitting and chatting time with Lara. We waited out the brunt of a fantastic rainstorm at Barnes and Noble just before a terrible poetry slam started up. Terrible because of the turnout, not due to any lack of trying on the emcee's part.

Here is a shot of the Pagoda hat in situ.


For a less silly pic, click here.

Stats:
Pattern .. Morehouse Merino's Pagoda Hat
Yarn .. Lambs Pride in black, Tess's Merino/Mohair in a brilliant carmine
Notes .. This was my first stranded project, and it turned out pretty well. I need to work on carrying yarn up the back of my work. The "seam" of my hat has all kinds of wonky awkward jogs and peeking MC and whatnot. But the floats are very consistent and the hat actually fits! This is a big ole success in my book.

And now for something completely different... If you need a good Christmas present for an older science buff child-friend (say 10ish), I would strongly recommend Triops. These lil guys are WAY more interesting than Sea Monkeys, in my book. I bought some for Sweet Baboo (I am slowly working him up the evolutionary chain towards a dog... Should take about 15 more years). And so far we like them a lot. Our first batch hatched 5 Triops and within 10 days, here is Fat Charlie (at about 3/8" or 1 cm he is our biggest).



The tank is made of magnifying plastic, so he looks a little bigger than he is. But essentially Triops are a type of Brine Shrimp (like Sea Monkeys) and are a true living fossil (approx. 220 million years old, give or take an eon). They look like little horseshoe crabs, and live for about two and half months. And they are crazy water acrobats. That, plus the three eyes, how can you not be entertained for many minutes at a time? For more info on Triops, click here. To order some for your budding marine biologist, click here (I got the DLX kit and it was worth it for the neat terrarium, perhaps for a turtle next).

Lastly, I would like to leave you with some sheepish zen... This is a very contemplative Jacob Sheep at the Montgomery County Fair.


For even more zen, click here.

He's saying 'ohmmm' in his own way. Today's Goal: Practice Random Acts of Relaxation and Meditation!