Leapin' Leopard!

While DD was cleaning out her room and her basket-ful of stuffed animals (I swear those things must multiply in there), we came across this:



What is this funky thing?! When she was very small, before she began to appreciate the limits to her mom's talents, she asked that I make her a stuffed animal for Xmas. Well, how could I let her down? I found a simple pattern in a kids' sewing book at the library, went to JoAnn's for fabric and paint, to Safeway for kidney beans, and voila.

Pretty simple, although my lack of drawing ability shows in the face. But what's this?!



Either Leopard Guy has attained new biological functions, or a kidney been is making good its escape.

DD, being home from school for the summer, and between camps, made this banana bread the other day:



MMmmmm. It's very nice having an almost-12-yo.

As to the sock, I was distracted by Skein Lane's going-out-of-business sale over the weekend, and although Sock the First is nearly finished, I have to cast it off and try it on for another pic, since otherwise it'll have to go to the frog pond.

I also frogged my Mom's first piece of knitting -- too bad I couldn't get a pic of that, it's the most - ahem - interesting piece of knitting I've ever seen. The end row is about 3 times, maybe 4 times, the width of the first row, and it is chock-a-block with unintentional short rows and holes, even a couple stitches at the end of one row just hanging out there on their own, gasping for purchase. She's starting over, and I instructed her to slip the first stitch, hoping to get her to pay more attention to that first stitch and hopefully not unintentionally increase every time she turns.

We'll see what develops on Saturday.