A plea to animal lovers

I wanted to bring your attention to a fund raising effort underway by my good friend Martina and her family. On August 4, Martina was driving with her family in rural Arizona when they saw the driver ahead of them hit a puppy and drive away. The dog had broken its hind legs and was left for dead on the side of the road. The owners of the dog and the police who passed by were both content to leave the dog to die (a process that would have taken 5 days, according to the vet), but Martina and her family could not stand by while the poor little guy was suffering. They instead decided to take the puppy with them to their vet, several hours away, where it received free emergency care from a compassionate vet.


Unfortunately, the injuries to his legs and pelvis were so extensive that he needed an expensive surgery. At this point, Martina and her family were committed to saving this dog, named him Wishbone, and thought of him as the newest addition to their family. They are currently doing everything they can to raise money to pay for his $4,000 surgery. A car wash has been scheduled for this weekend, and Martina's mom is holding one of her famous bingo's at her house.


Wishbone is a very strong, healthy, and sweet 6 month old, and is doing very well post-surgery. He's even back on his feet a bit and can't wait to run around with Martina's twin boys.


If you would like to contribute to Wishbone's medical expenses, they have set up a dedicated bank account and paypal account for donations. The paypal account is associated with the following email: [mddawley@gmail.com] Even small contributions will be greatly appreciated. They have raised $1,000 already in the first week, and I'm confident that with their enthusiasm and dedication, they will reach their goal!

A few odds and ends

Oi! It's been a busy couple weeks, and it's only getting busier. I wanted to share a few things that have been in the blog queue for a bit.

A new bag made of fine wale corduroy and Simplicity 2750

Grilled flatbread with za'atar. Mmmm...

Continuing on a theme: grilled pizza with tomato, balsamic, pesto and fresh mozzarella.

Plaid please!

I'm obsessed with plaid, which is no wonder considering how prevalent it has been in the past couple seasons. But I swear my love of plaid goes back farther than that. I'm still thinking of making a modern version of the cute little pinafore dress my mom wore as a kid in this photo. I haven't come up with the perfect pattern yet--if you have any ideas, let me know! I also love the idea of mixing bias and non-bias cut plaid to create different effects. Here's some inspiration:

Pintucks plaid bodice (so great!)
Felt Up design's school marm skirt
gretchenlohse's plaid dress (lovely vintage pattern)

Ok not plaid, but similar idea:
Pintucks 80's dress

Deutsche Shalom

The lovely Lisa (glitterhippo on ravelry) has translated Shalom into German! I tell you, knitters are some of the coolest people you'll meet. It's so kind of Lisa and the other translators to volunteer their time and talent so that the Shalom pattern is available to more people. Many thanks to Lisa! You can find her translation here, and on my sidebar.

Shalom now in Polish

Thanks to Kate (Truscaveczka on ravelry) the Shalom cardigan pattern has now been translated into Polish! It can be found here, or through the link on my sidebar. I'm still so flattered and surprised at the popularity of this pattern. For those of you who are thinking of knitting one, be sure to spend some time browsing the many great modifications made by the talented knitters on ravelry.

Summer grilling

I'm staying at a new place for a while, where there's a really nice, easy-to-use gas grill. It has inspired me to make a couple grilled meals in as many days.

Kebabs for me and LQ
[note: you must pronounce Kebabs like Jemaine in 'Flight of the Conchords']

A really really yummy fattoush salad with grilled veggies and pita. I changed it up a bit by adding a generous helping of za'atar spice mixture (my newest obsession from Israel), and I left out the cheese and olives this time. It was great! Oh, and I should note that this second dish was my first attempt at grilling by myself! Success.

And I'm back!

I'm back from Israel, and have a knitting surprise to share! It wasn't all-work-no-knitting, after all, despite my blog silence. I had enough free time to whip up a lovely version of Heidi Kirrmaier's Buttercup sweater. I followed her modifications for the second version with longer sleeves and ribbing bands. I also knit it in a smaller gauge with Frog Tree Alpaca Fingering weight wool. I'm extremely pleased with how the sweater fits, and the clarity of the instructions.

Here's the ravelry link to the sweater, for you knitters out there.