A Trip To The Zoo

The Memphis Zoo recently re-opened opened their butterfly exhibit. They hadn't had it up in several years, and I'd never been through it. Since I'd taken a vacation day today, we decided to go see it. I must say that I was severely disappointed. It wasn't so much that they had so few butterflies in it. It's still early in the year, after all. What disappointed me was that most of the butterflies had so much damage to their wings that I wondered how they were still alive.

These are the best pictures I could come up with.


From a photography standpoint, I actually got some better pictures, but those butterflies had too much wing damage to make them any good.

This baby monkey was a big hit, though.

And this little lamb walked right up to me and let me pet it.

Cody and the cockatoo had great fun playing with each other.

Caspian horses, because I like them

The lioness was right up next to the bars. From the boo boo on her ear, I think she and the lion got into a bit of a spat.

I don't know what this cute little antelope is. It's the first time I'd ever seen him.

This photo is not cropped or altered in any way. The Komodo dragon really was that close.

And of course, I had to swing by Hank Of Yarn. It's kind of a play on words, because the owner's name is Henrietta, and she goes by the nickname of Hank. Knitters will get it.


Anyway, I couldn't resist. I got the new Yarn Harlot book, and finally got myself a ball winder. I did indulge myself, since it's so seldom that I get to go to an actual brick and mortar yarn store, that I bought three (well four) hanks of sock yarn. On the left we see some Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock. They are only 50 g balls, so I had to get two. The name of this colorway is, I kid you not, Buck's Bar. How could I resist?

In the middle resides a skein of Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Sugar Maple colorway. I picked it up, told the clerk, "That's bright enough to blind you.....I love it!", and so I bought it.

Lorna's Laces and Cherry Tree Hill are some of the really posh sock yarns I've heard about, but have never tried for myself. I figured I had to try them at least once in my life before going back to my Knit Picks Essential.

Finally, on the far right is LaLa's Knits in a colorway titled "Tale Of Desperaux". Supporting local artisans is always a good excuse to buy something.

The walkman was great company. I listened to the first 8 chapters of Anne Of Green Gables. Then I discovered that somehow chapter 9 had not gotten downloaded. No great tragedy. I just listened to an Agatha Christe Inspector Poirot mystery. When I got home, I downloaded the missing chapter and listened to it while working on my sister's shawl.

The shawl is coming along, but it's slow going. I keep having to tink back because I forgot a YO or left out a knit stitch or something. I got so frustrated at one point that I pulled the needle out and was going to rip the whole thing out. Fortunately, I'd put in a lifeline and so my ripping stopped there. I picked my stitches back up and am soldiering bravely on. It's knit a row, tink two rows, correct a mistake, knit three rows, tink four...etc. I really wish the pattern would have stitch counts at the end of each round. That way I'd know at the end of the round if I'd made a mistake or not and could correct it then and there, instead of discovering it 500 stitches later.

Whew. My sister had better love me forever for this!