Ahh, Activity!!

 

This is Rosie, if you look very closely you can see that 1/4 of one eye is blue. It's like someone took a slice out of the brown and inserted a slice of blue. She's very sweet and we are still getting to know each other.

Like a lot of other people I'm having trouble with Blogger so I won't be able to put the text with the pictures for some reason

 

Wait. I have a little success. We will see how it goes. Okay, that orange crescent up there is my shawl. I used up some sock yarn in the two shades of brighter orange but mostly what will be seen when it's worn is the more caramel colors. Tangerine is THE color this year so I'm stylin'!

 

This is a present for a young girl in my family. She has taken up sock knitting and I made this for her because a sock project will fit in it and it simply hang from her wrist if she so decides. I like it so much I'm going to make one for myself one of these days. Yes, I lined it so stuff like knitting needles don't fall out. I put my cell phone there so you can get an idea of size.

 

And this is a pair of socks for a birthday gift for someone I know. In order to get my gift knitting down to a dull roar I knit these so now I can everyone just one sock for a gift and it will go with what they already have. And if they wear one out they don't have to throw the pair away.

Now this is the same kind of sock for a gift for someone except that I knit each part of the sock in a different yarn. The cuff is one yarn, the leg another, heel flap yet another, even the small yellow part is separate in sock construction. That is the magic part, the heel turn. Then comes the gusset decreases, change colors again for the foot, and finally the toe. It was fun to do and make the sock go surprisingly fast.

So the only project I have left on the needles is a beaded scarf. I'm not sure when I'll pick that back up but it will be soon. And as for socks, I am going to tackle learning the magic loop. Two socks knit on one very long needle. I can knit socks with double pointed needles in sets of four or five. I can knit socks two at the same time, one inside the other. I can knit socks on two circular needles (Darryl's preferred method). So now I want to try the magic loop.

Wish me luck.

It's A Girl!

We adopted a new dog yesterday. We had no intention on adopting any more critters for a very long time. I went to the pet store to get some parrot food and passed by the animals for adoption. I do this all the time and don't bring any home. I like to play with the puppies knowing I don't have to house break them later. Anyway, there was a little dachshund there that looked like Vinnie so I went to get a few pets in. But I found this little girl was handicapped. (I see the light bulbs go on over your heads.) She had had a back injury of some kind (I see the bulb growing brighter). I talked to the guy who was fostering her. She had some kind of back injury and became totally unable to walk. The owners took her a vet and after an exam they were either unable or unwilling to deal with her injury so they signed her over the vet. That's where she has been for six months. She has undergone extensive physical therapy. She went from not being able to walk at all to being able to sort of walk. It's painful to watch. She sort of flops from side to side but is moving her legs. From there she went to her foster home to make sure she was socialized enough for a new home. I went back to my car and sat there and cried for a few minutes but went home without her.

I got home and told D the whole story and said that I know that we don't need any more dogs and was rather proud of myself that I didn't adopt her on the spot. He said, "Why didn't you?" I said, "What?" He realizes we are uniquely qualified for caring for this handicapped dog and seems to think there's always room for one more if they need us badly enough. I explained her adoption fee was $150 and I wasn't willing to pay that. He suggested I sent an email and see  what happens. So I did. I told all about Ringo and how he no longer needs his wheel chair and it would fit the new dog (Rosie). I told about Tess and how we figured out she was deaf. I told about Sarah and how we dealt with her cleft pallet. I told about Dusty who became deaf and blind. I had picture of Ringo in and out of his wheel chair. I had pictures of ramps we have in the house. I explained how our dogs don't jump on the furniture we lift them up. And I told them we would adopt Rosie and take special care of her if they waived the $150 adoption fee.

They did.

So now we have another 8 year old dog. We had to pay $20 for shots but she's neutered, micro chipped and up to date on all her shots. We brought her home and adjusted the wheel chair to fit her, put her in it, put her on the floor and she wouldn't move. I headed to the cabinet with the dog treats to bribe her and she took off like a rocket! We laughed so hard! I have no idea how she knew there were dog treats in there but she never doubted it! When I took her out of it in the evening and put her outside she wouldn't move again. She's figured out she can get around faster and quicker in the wheel chair.

She's sharing a crate with Ringo at night. And she's just now starting to get a little vocal. She is about the size of Ringo. She is a dapple like Vinnie. She has short hair and one quarter of one eye is blue. It's common for dapples to have blue eyes but this one looks like someone cut 1/4 of the brown eye out and stuck a blue one in. Her ears are a little small. She is heavily muscled in the front and has two muscles, one on either side of her body that are oddly well developed. So she's a little out of proportion. We think it's because she's been dragging the last part of her body around. I think this will change.

The wheel chair is set so she can use her legs. And she is using them. So we hope it will work as well for her as it did for Ringo. She can use the legs and develop muscle without inflaming the spine by that flopping from side to side. She is a speed demon in that thing!

I'm sorry I don't have any good pictures of her yet. You can be sure I'll be taking two or three soon. Watch for doggie updates.

I actually have some knitting photos to post but I'll save them for later in the week.

 This is a yarn bowl. You put your ball of yarn in it and it has a slot or some type of opening to control the emerging yarn. It keeps the yarn from rolling around while you are knitting. Originally my idea was to put the bowl on the floor. I have this big dog who is fairly careless about what she is running into when she is romping around the house. I really, really love this bowl and hope to keep it for a long time. This means I need to put it so that Charlotte doesn't stomp on it accidentally or sit on it. Yes, sit on it. Charlotte backs up to the sofa and plops her butt down. Her front feet are still on the floor. She is actually sitting on just her butt on the couch. She plops her behind down next to me then turns and looks at me as if to say, "So, how is your day going?" Seriously. In any case she takes up a lot of space when she does that so I put my yarn bowl next to me on whichever side has the least room. Yes, I tell Charlotte to get off the couch. But that happens after she sits on it. I don't want my bowl broken so I guard it carefully. So it might not be quite as useful as it might be but I just love it and use it all the time.

 This is a birthday present. I'm not a very good lace knitter but I thought I'd give it a shot. It's supposed to be a small reticule. There are some problems with the lace pattern on the bottom but I ripped it out so much I'm ruining the yarn and I have a limited amount so I left it. Hopefully it will remind the little girl that will get it eventually that no matter how long you knit there will be times you just don't get it. No one is a perfect knitter. I still have the handles to knit and then I will line it with some fun fabric I have. When it's done I think it will be just the right size for a sock project. The color is a bit more salmon than the picture shows. It's a lovely color and it's way late as is one of my sisters' birthday gifts. But I'll get it done soon. It's just about all I have been working on.

 I've been spinning this whole bunch of fiber I've had for a long time. I haven't hit the spinning wheel this week. It's been very busy. But so far I have 482 yards of pretty bulky yarn. I think I'm about 1/3 through this fiber so I have a ways to go. I've been thinking I should take a break and spin another fiber but then I might not finish this. And when I'm done spinning this I'll have a goodly amount of yarn to make something with. I think I should just start another fiber on my drop spindle for a change of pace. When I have my birthday knitting under control I'll get on that.

Rain, sun, wind. We have it all in the same week these days. I really can't remember a windier year except the first year we move here 22 years ago. I understand why my mother loved this valley so much. It really is beautiful. I'm pretty lucky to live here.