A cappella Zoo

Yesterday's New York Times had an article about light bulbs. Confused about new energy laws, some people are stockpiling incandescents. Which made me think of the cover on the current issue of A cappella Zoo. It's odd and weird and wonderful: a man in bed, screwing on a silver-bottomed bulb/head. The issue is full of good stuff inside too. And I'll have a poem in the next issue! Thanks, A cappella Zoo!

Fierce Little Dragon

One of the first crochet patterns I wrote was for a dragon - my 'fierce but friendly really dragon'. I love dragons, and it's hard to find nice toys of them, so that was a real incentive to make one myself. Lots of people liked it and asked for the pattern, so eventually I wrote up my notes and put them on Craftster and Livejournal. The notes were quite rough, and though many people had no problem following them, some asked if I could write the pattern up properly. And, finally, I got round to it!

I had to make a dragon to check the pattern, and while I was doing that I tweaked a few bits - I used to crochet a lot more loosely, and I found some parts came up too small - and I used different stitches on the wings to make them much stiffer.

I won't post the pattern here as it's seven pages long, but it is available as a free download from Ravelry: Fierce Little Dragon free pattern

Edited to add: this pattern has now been translated into Spanish by Ana, over at her blog.

Edited to add 2: this pattern has now kindly been translated into French by FilACroche on Ravelry. You can download it here

Greenfield Village

Yesterday I accompanied Tommy and his classmates on a trip to Greenfield Village. We'd been there on a cold December night a few years ago, which was neat, and I'd been there as a girl, but it was nice to be back on a warm day in May.

The Round House:


Cotswold Cottage:


Robert Frost's House:

Charleston

Photography by Paolo Ventura


Spring is here, but it was slow to come. I was particularly glad to get a sneak peek of sunshine and blossoms in Charleston, and now I find myself visiting Charleston Daily Photo with some regularity. I love that city. I picked up this year's guide to the Spoleto Festival while I was there, and was surprised and delighted to find an announcement for an exhibit of work by Italian miniaturist and photographer Paolo Ventura. It runs May 26 - July 15 at the College of Charleston. I have Ventura's beautiful, haunting book, Winter Stories, and this exhibit will feature the miniatures he photographed for that. I was so excited to learn about this, but then so disappointed not to be there at the right time for it!