Farewell Petunia.

A rare picture of Petunia outside. Later she would refuse to pick up the ball on the ground because it was touching the ground.

Today part of me died along with my ever faithful Petunia. She went swiftly-- a quick seizure, and she was gone. I am still processing it. So much of my life was wrapped into the 40 lbs (yes, she had dropped the weight) of one neurosis after another.

Originally from Florida, she was meant to be a show dog, but because she didn't "thrive," she was taken to the vet who explained to her breeder that this puppy had to be on the only puppy in the house. We were happy to take and dote on her. She didn't like to go for walks, unless it was at the mall. Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barn, Pier One, as well as boutique stores and a few restaurants that I won't name welcomed her with open arms. Five years ago on the first night of Hanukkah, I was sitting with her at The LA Farmers Market (we were getting her Santa pics done) and a minion, converted her to Judaism. I doubt they were converting every dog they saw, that was just her hold she had on people. Everyone from tourists to paramedics abandoning their patients to local gang members we encounter at Pink's Hot Dog Stand wanted to take pictures with her.

One time someone asked me why almost all my pics of her were on a bed. The answer was because that was her favorite place. She never had a wanderlust. She was my little crazy canine Howard Hughes. She only liked to be outside if she could sunbathe or get attention from people. If it wasn't at least 90 degrees out, she would go outside for the bathroom, and immediately run in like the dog catcher was coming for her.

She was allergic to grass and 27 other items including cats. She snored incessantly, and she NEVER woke up in the single digits. People always commented that she didn't understand that she was a dog. She did always seem baffled and a little offended when other dogs wanted to sniff her. I tried for awhile to make her more dog-oriented, but I grew tired of being in a pack of dogs in the dog park just to look back seeing her sitting on the people bench with the other owners.

Her favorite thing in the world was to play with tennis balls- and only tennis balls. She could catch as good as any dog with a snout-- except she would only play inside-- for hours and hours. My fingers would pickle throwing some mangy ball. And if a ball went out of her reach she would growl and bark until I got the ball for her even if meant dislocating my shoulder, because whatever ball she picked up for the day, she insisted on sticking with it.

Tonight for the first time I can ever remember, we don't have the A/C on. We always kept the house at 62 degrees because that's the temperature she seemed happiest at. I miss having my teeth chattering while she pants because I tried to move the temp up to 63 degrees, just to have her stop as soon as I would turn it back down.

I miss her and everyone of her little idiosyncrasies... I love you, my sweet Petunia.

Hat Attack 2

I am such a follower sometimes. The knitters at my bar knitting were in the original Hat Attack, and though they were all killed off in the first round, they not only wanted to join HA2, but wanted me to also.

For those that don't know, Hat Attack is just like Sock Wars, but I think with more smack talk. My target is a LYS owner in Florida. My assassin is in San Francisco. I am basically dead knitter walking.

The "LV Assassins Guild" decided to have a knitting party the day the pattern was released (yesterday). As the back window will show, we were knitting for A LONG TIME. Not to go into gory exact times, but we watched Practical Magic, The Simpsons Movie, The Family Guy Movie, and Best In Show.


Emily, Jessica, Stefanie knitting start and end. Stefanie started with her hat from HA1 on for luck or inspiration or because it's great to wear a wool hat in 90 degree Vegas weather.


cupcakes baked by Stefanie

Because my assassin is a mere state away, my death is imminent; however, my tenacity would not allow me to go down without a killing:

Traveling rib= pain in my ass. I hate ribbing, so a completely ribbed hat, UG. However, if you want to make a ribbed hat, the pattern is free Ravelry download via Hat Attack search.

I want to say NEVER AGAIN, but I probably will be stupid enough to torture myself again for HA3.

Knitting Emergency

We got free tickets through House Seats to Showtime Boxing out at State Line (I know I know, PRIMM) at Buffalo Bills. WHN loves boxing, and I can veg and knit, so I don't mind so much going. I do get quite a few odd, look at the sociopath looks while a knit and watch the pummeling.



I love knitting measuring things. I can never have enough measuring tapes or rulers, and this was so true Friday night because I didn't have a thing to measure with!! I search through my bag a million times as if my thoughts would create one. I'm near a point at a change in the pattern, so I am getting desperate. I look for something I could use that I knew the measurement of, and WHN suggests a dollar bill.

I ask WHN if he knows how long one is? He says 6". I ask how does he know? He replies, "What's 6" and makes a woman happy? A 100 hundred dollar bill" As much as I would like to rely on a old chauvinistic joke, I think I should confirm this source. I search through my phone list with the criteria 1) knitter so would understand and probably near knitting so near tape measure 2) even if thought was a pain in the ass, would still measure a buck for me 3) my time zone. Dani fit all these criteria! She came through too, and I could fold up the bill for smaller measurements. She totally saved my cookies! Now if she could just teach WHN a better dirty joke.


I think I am going to measure everything that I keep in my purse and label the measurements and stick on the objects.

We had 7 matches. Some quicker than others.


One was a female match for a belt. Melissa Hernandez vs Ella Nunez. Melissa enters the ring to Michael Jackson and dances for a few minutes which I think random, but her opponent is not amused.




Don't hit me!

Thanks Dani, you saved my night. Not knitting at boxing, would have done in my head.