the finial filch

Once upon a time, there was a professor and his writer/fiber artist/teacher wife. They believed in urban renewal, walking to work and living in old houses. They lived in Kentucky, a half mile from the husband's university. Every morning the writer walks her husband to work, accompanied by their dogs, Harry and Sally. (OK, I give up, the third person thing is annoying.) Since moving to this lovely downtown area, we've dealt with all sorts of nonsense. Loose dogs, a crack house across the street (yup, that's a whole different story) and college student partying late at night. The finial filch is right up there with the crack house for most frustrating award. What's the finial filch? Observe, below, our white wooden fence. We inherited this fence when we moved it. It had two kinds of finials on it. Someone takes great pleasure in knocking off the finials. Sometimes, they leave the finial for us to replace. Lately, the filch has been stealing the finials, too. Note: Our street is not this steep, I was just having an artsy photography moment.
We've lost two finials in the last week. We think we lost the second one last night, after Shabbat dinner, when I was reading on the couch and the professor was madly trying to finish his grades. Yes, it was dark. Yes, the Sabbath had started. No, the final grades for the term were not in yet--and graduation is Saturday night. So, the dogs started barking wildly. I was tired, I did not rush up to see what they were barking at. A few minutes later, one of us got up and saw--a big round finial, right in front of the front door, had been stolen. This AM, my poor tired professor is not resting, but rather putting up new finials. Luckily, he bought a bunch at the hardware store and painted them white for this very sort of occasion. Is it an aggrieved student? A neighbor who doesn't like hyper barking at squirrels? Someone who likes vandalizing while the Sabbath candles are lit and visible through the dining room window? Or just a drunk vandal? We'll probably never know. Husband glues down the new finials as he puts them in, and today he sank two nails each into each finial. They'll have to try harder next time.

OK, try not to get too fixated on the finials. That's what I keep telling myself. It is upsetting but not nearly as bad as having our backyard destroyed. Grass is coming in nicely, by the way. You'll notice a photo of my feet in my new jaywalker socks. These were knit with Lion Brand Magic Stripes, which is slightly thicker sock yarn but the colors were perfect for me. It was cool and damp once this week, so I wore my new socks. Ahh. A positive feeling of accomplishment. To continue my sheep theme... I was rewarded for my restraint at Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. When I came home, a local shepherd called and told me that even though I'd missed his shearing, he saved me two fleeces. They are lovely. There is a
clean white Romney wool fleece--his sheep are a crossbred Romney or finer wool, which you might remember from my peacoat, here. Then, there is another fine fleece--crimpy, very soft, and 6-7 lbs. Yes, it is a wee bit, uhh, poopy, but I don't mind that. That's what washing is for! It will be lovely, I'm sure. This photo is to encourage the timid amongst you to try out raw fleeces. They are from live sheep. Live sheep can smell stinky, but the wool is still beautiful. I'm always amazed by the knitters who recoil at a little bit of manure. Where do you think that aran wool came from?!! --this is, of course, from a woman who likes barnyard odeur. I recently came across an old letter from a college friend mentioning my enthusiasm for dairy farms, so you know at least where this comes from...


Last but not least, the first of my patterns from Knit Picks has now reverted to my ownership. They had ownership of it for a year, which is now up. Check out my sweater design for
Empirical Division on my website, if you were just waiting for it to become a pdf downloadable pattern. It's live!