I'm Back

After some deliberation, I decided to start blogging again. I had considered just tossing the blog away. I was simply too busy this summer to keep up and once I was out of the habit, it was tempting to not pick up the habit again.

Knitting

I can't remember where I left off. I've completed two Mr. Greenjeans, one for my sister and one for me. Here's the one I made for myself.



It's nice. The button hole is too big. I need to stitch it up a bit. For some reason, this sweater doesn't fit as well as the one I made for my sister. Isn't that the way things go! I swear I made it exactly the same. Oh well. I've worn it a few times and will wear it even more once I fix up the button hole. This is knit from Dream in Color Classy, colorway Beach Fog.

I completed the Drop Stitch Tank from Fitted Knits.



Not too interesting of a picture is it? It was an equally uninteresting knit. No shaping, no challenge. I completed this simply because I'm a person who hates to leave a project undone. Surprisingly, it's cute on and I wear it often. I think I made a poor choice in substituting yarn. My tank is made from yarn in my stash, Lana Grossa Point. It's too heavy of a yarn for a summer tank so I wear this sweater over a silk long underwear shirt. I bought the yarn for the color and I still love the color. I have enough left over for something...perhaps a small shrug.

This weekend I completed my first Hemlock Ring. I say first because it's such a fun and easy knit and the results are so spectacular, I'm already planning on making a few more. My family thinks I'm an expert knitter after seeing this!



I made this one using Cascade Ecological Wool. I've seen several on Ravelry made in cotton and I definitely want to try that. I'd also like to knit this as a doily but will most likely leave that project for the summer time. According to Ravelry I'm only about the 3000th knitter to make a Hemlock Ring. Nothing like being original!

I have a Teddy Bear in progress for a Christmas gift.



I'm a little further along than this picture shows. My bear needs to be completed by December 20th so I need to dedicate more time to Teddy. Then, I have some golf club covers planned before Christmas. After Christmas? I don't know. I'm looking around for something different and original. Suggestions are welcome.

Dogs

The dogs and I had a great summer. Lots of agility, a little bit of obedience and almost no conformation shows. Yes! Dusty went from Novice A agility in March to completing his Excellent titles in September. Quite an accomplishment. Now we are working towards his MACH title and progressing much more slowly. I think now we are paying our dues :-) Dot and JJ finished up their Novice agility titles and Dot even has a leg on her Open Jumpers title. Dot is so happy I gave up obedience with her to concentrate on agility. Speaking of obedience, Dak completed his Utility title. Way to go Dak. There's always such a feeling of true accomplishment when you get that UD title. It's hard.

Unfortunately, I was only able to bask in Dak's obedience success for 36 hours before getting some very bad news on Fame. I'm sure you remember my Fame? She was the only surviving puppy from a litter born 8/25/07. Fame was diagnosed with hemolytic anemia three weeks ago. She was one sick puppy. Her HCT (red blood cell count) was 12, which is very, very low. Her gums were gray and she had a heart murmur caused by the anemia. Thanks to Dr. Julia at Twin City Animal Rehab Clinic and to the doctors and technicians at Inver Grove Heights Animal Clinic for saving Fame's life.

Fame had a blood transfusion and was living on Golden Retriever blood for several days. Now I'm happy to report her HCT is up to 38 which is low normal and she's behaving like 100% Pembroke. Fame is on high doses of prednisone and will very slowly, over many months, be weaned off the drugs. Hopefully she can go into remission and be drug free, or at least be maintained on a low dosage of steroids. Some dogs make a complete recovery and never have another incident in their life time, others never go into remission. Most fall somewhere in between. So I'm definitely praying for the best outcome for Fame.

Summer Time

Let's see, if I can still remember how blogger works, I can update my long lax blog.

Percy



Percy has pretty much recovered. He still has episodes of phantom pain and will start to attack his tail all the while growling and hissing in such a non-Percy personality I can barely recognize him. These episodes have slowly started to recede but I can't wait until they are gone forever. As my vet told me and I have slowly learned, tails are funny things with cats. As much as I love my Percy, I don't love the almost vicious Percy who appears during his tail attacks.

I'm not sure why Percy his sticking his tongue out at me in the above picture, then again, after all he has been through, guess I can't blame him.



It was difficult for Percy to eat while wearing the E-collar. I finally settled on the large pasta serving bowl from a set of pasta bowls I have. The individual bowls were not quite large enough but the serving bowl worked fairly well. He still spilled cat kibble all over the counter while eating in his E-collar. Glad that phase is over with.

Knitting



I made good progress on my second Mr. Greenjeans before the heat set in and I couldn't bear to knit with wool. I'll finish it soon enough. I've already learned this is fast knit. I'm knitting it in Dream In Color Classy, colorway Beach Fog.



Meanwhile, I started the Drop Stitch Lace Tank using Lana Grossa Point from my stash. Humm...not quite sure what I think so far. This yarn is very similar to Rowan Calmer and like Calmer, I find it difficult to hold gauge with this yarn and it has a tendency to want to split. Most of all, I think it will be a heavy piece for a sleeveless summer tank. We'll see...perhaps I'll frog it all soon and start something else.



I did finish my diamond lace scarf knit in Karabella Terrain. I think it turned out quite nice - other than I finished it in mid June and it was a birthday present for my sister's birthday in May. Ah, those best laid plans!

Dogs

I've been very busy with the dogs. Dusty finished his Open Standard and Open Jumper with Weaves agility titles. JJ has started showing in Novice Agility with some success and Dak managed to pick up one "leg" (passing score) on his Utility title. We're heading to Duluth this weekend in hopes of Dak completing his Utility title. He needs two more passing scores to complete the title.



I had to laugh over the puppy girls playing "The Princess And The Pea" on the stack of dog beds I made a few weeks ago while I was cleaning the floors. Above is Tinkerbelle and below is Rumor, hopping off in order to hide from that nasty flash on the camera.



Birds

Not too much new in the bird arena. Four of the five bluebird eggs hatched successfully and the 4 birds fledged without event. I think they must have been all males as I have a slew of male bluebirds around here suddenly.





My turkey made daily visits for several weeks but now is not to be seen. I was hoping she would continue to return each day and bring her summer chicks with her once they hatched. However, she has not made an appearance for about 10 days now. I hope she is too busy with her new chicks or has simply moved on, but I'm afraid she made have become coyote or fox bait. I miss her.

Hope you had a great July 4th!

Poor Percy

You know it's been a bad day when you sit down to eat supper while Jay Leno is doing his monologue. Definitely been that kind of day here.



My dear Percy is in trouble. Tomorrow he will have at least a part of his tail amputated. It all started so innocently. As you may know, Percy is an indoor/outdoor cat most of the year. He is a fantastic mouser and rabbit-ter. He is also a birder beyond compare and thus spends a few months each spring and early summer confined to the house so the birds have at least a chance to nest and fledge. Percy gets frustrated being in the house all the time and has invented a fun game of hopping from chair to chair under the dining table all the while teasing and taunting the dogs. Percy loves the game, the dogs love the game, it all seemed like so much fun to me.

This morning one of the dogs, and I have no idea who, managed to nip Percy's tail while playing the musical chairs game. I dropped Percy off at the vet where they sedated him and stitched up his tail. When I picked him up later this afternoon they warned me he might lose his tail. I thought that was too silly. He's the healthiest cat I know. It was just a little nip. However, after being home a few hours, Percy was in serious pain. He would circle and bite and rip at his tail. He ripped the stitches out. I had to take him into the vet on this evening and spent an hour or so there. We were able to give him pain meds and a bit of sedation. I have meds to give him again at 3:30 a.m. (hey, who needs sleep). Tomorrow I will bring him back to the vet and most likely he will have at least the tip of his tail amputated. Hopefully not more but the vet thinks probably more. We had a chance of saving his tail before he ripped it apart.

Birds



Before Percy's accident I thought I would start my blog off with this picture. Isn't she fantastic? I caught the turkey feeding in my front yard this morning. I was almost ready to get a picture of her stretching her neck and eating right out of bird feeder when the dogs also spotted her and starting barking up a storm. Naturally, the turkey left when the barking started, but she wasn't in any big hurry to leave so hopefully she'll be back. My sister in KY just laughed when I sent her this picture. She said the wild turkeys in KY are much fatter than this skinny hen. My sister said you can actually eat the wild turkeys in KY. Ha-rumph! The MN winters must be tougher on our turkeys.

In other bird news, I have a pair of blue birds nesting with 5 white eggs. The Bluebird Mad tells me white eggs are somewhat rare but not unheard of and it is not an indication anything will be wrong with the baby birds.

The Indigo Buntings are still here. I thought they had left but I see them at my feeders almost every day. A few days ago I had 3 pair of Red Breasted Grosbeaks at the feeder all at the same time. They are such beautiful birds. The Orioles are back too, along with the Eastern Phoebes, Chipping Sparrows and Wrens.

Oh, I forgot to mention about a week ago I saw my first American Redstart. He was flitting around my crab apple tree. What a pretty little bird!




Now my crab apple tree looks like this. Very pretty, but also very good camouflage for birds. I predict I'll be seeing fewer and fewer new birds now that the leaves are out.

Dogs



A few days ago the puppies came in looking like this. This is Fancy. Tinkerbelle and Rumor looked much worse but I was only able to catch a picture of Fancy. Believe it or not, they smelled even worse than they looked. I don't know what they found to roll in but ... yuk!

I spent my Memorial Day weekend at 3 days of agility trials. We had a blast. Dusty managed to pick up his OA (Open standard) title and 2 legs toward his OAJ (Open Jumpers) title. Dusty is so good, he even makes me look good!

The agility trails were blessed with good weather and we managed to escape the tornadoes. My manager, who lives in Western WI, was not so fortunate. They lost their barn and roof of their house. Luckily, they are all fine as are their horses and cattle.

Knitting

I do still knit, just no recent pictures to show. I'm working still on my lacy scarf and my Mr. Greejeans II.



Send good thoughts to Percy tomorrow. I could not care less what length or look of tail he ends up with, but I definitely want the "pain free" part of all of this. I think it's going to be a long night here.

Is it spring yet?

Gosh, seems like we Minnesotans have waited a long time for spring, and we're still waiting. I hope it comes soon. Actually, I'd be quite happy to skip spring at this point and go right to summer.

Birds

I haven't been posting much about my birds this spring. I think it's been so cold and gray most of the time I just can't get excited about it. But I am excited about this - Indigo Buntings!



Can you spot the Bunting on the thistle feeder here? I noticed a small, gray bird sitting in my large feeder a few weeks ago and thought to myself, that's a female Indigo Bunting. But I figured I must be wrong. I haven't seen Indigo Buntings here for about 10 years. Then, last week I spotted two males sitting in my large feeder helping themselves to the food. Two at once! I tried to get a picture but they flew off as soon as I moved towards the window. I did manage to capture a few, blurry, though the window pictures of one at my thistle feeder. The buntings were around for about 4 days, now they seem to have moved on. I wish they would spend the summer but at least I saw them while they were here.

I have bluebirds again but they haven't started nesting. According to the Bluebird Man, it's just too cool yet. I've heard some bluebirds further north are starving to death this year due to the cool weather and lack of food. Mine seem to be doing great in the food category. All this wet weather makes for plenty of worms for the bluebirds. Still, they have started building a nest on the few warm days but abandon efforts as soon as it turns cold and rainy again. This isn't a very good picture but it is proof of my bluebirds.



I spotted my first bluebird this year on April 14th. That's about 3 weeks later than normal. The first Orioles appeared on Monday, May 12th, about a week to 10 days later than expected.

Knitting



I don't think I have published a picture of my Mr. Greenjeans completed with a button and all. My sister Rita wore it to my nephew's college graduation and my mom tells me Rita was the best dressed of the group. I know moms tend to say these things but I must say, it does fit my sister very well and the color is perfect for her.



So, I decided to start my own, my second, Mr. Greenjeans. I turned a few skeins into center pull balls tonight. The way this spring has been going, if I hurry I might still get to wear my own Mr. Greenjeans before summer comes.

Meanwhile, I'm knitting on my lacy scarf. Here it is as a blob of lace.



And here it is stretched out a bit so you can see the pattern.



I think it will be quite nice once I block it out, but it's so boring. I usually manage one pattern repeat before I'm too bored to continue. I definitely need another project in addition to this scarf. I've used up one skein of the Karabella Terrain. I have three. I will definitely use a second skein to complete the scarf. I don't think I can manage knitting up three skeins. Maybe, but it seems too boring at this point. I think the scarf will be plenty long enough using two skeins.



This weekend I knitted several swatches for a project I bought back in . . . 2002? 2001? I can't remember as this project has been marinating on my back shelf for a long time. It's a stranded knitting project, not only stranded but done in cotton (eek, all my errors will show as cotton isn't as forgiving as wool) and it's not done in the round so I will be stranding on the backside (purl stitch). I can't imagine what I was thinking when I bought this. Yikes! Yet I'm sick and tired of looking at this project and am determined to get it started this summer.

I've made several swatches, more than shown here. I've swatched with different needle sizes, different stranding techniques, you name it, I think I've tried it. I want this project to turn out as nice a possible so I'm taking my time at the beginning. My biggest fear is that I don't have enough yarn for the body of the sweater. Now that will be a big bummer! I don't think I have much hope of finding the same yarn in the same dye lot should I run out. One of the perils of retiring a project for so many years!

I'm usually much more monogamous with my knitting projects but looks like I'll have three going at once for a while here.

Dogs

No new puppy pictures. JJ and Bunny go to NADAC trials this weekend so perhaps something new to show next week.

Resistance Is Futile

Knit News

I had 3 days of obedience trials in the Twin Cities this past weekend and on the way home today I stopped by Knitter's Palette to pick up a nice button for my Mr. Greenjeans sweater. I did come home with a lovely button, but look what else I brought home. I swear, resistance is futile. The last thing I needed was more yarn!



I purchased 3 skeins of Dream In Color Classy to make a second Mr. Greenjeans for myself. My first Mr. Greenjeans turned out quite nice and it was a very fun knit with an excellent pattern. I had only two problems with the first sweater.

First, life took over and I simply ran out of knitting time. This should be a relatively quick knit, I just didn't have that much time to give to it. Second, I had to knit the button band three times because of my own errors. The first time I tried the button band I was spending the night in the hospital keeping an eye on a family member (who is fine now). I knew there was something wrong with what I was doing but I kept on knitting out of nervous energy or something. I hadn't picked up enough stitchs which caused the sweater to pull up badly in the front. So I ripped that button band out.

For the second attempt at the button band, I was so sure I had counted correctly but I ended up with one side starting with a purl two and the opposite ending with a knit two. Clearly, this was not good. Finally, on the third attempt I got smart and used two long dpns to pick up the stitches for either side of the button band and then used the correct size needles to pick up and knit the actual stitches. I am so happy with the result that I am going to make another Mr. Greenjeans for myself.



Here's my first Mr Greenjeans drying after a wash in cool water. Once blocked, it fit me perfectly and was not too small as I had feared. Still, I had promised it to my sister so it is now hers and I'll make another for myself.

The white yarn above is Cascade Ecological Wool from which I plan to knit a Hemlock Ring lap blanket.

I started a diamond lace scarf using Karabella Terrain. It is coming along nicely, if not slowly. I completed this much of it at the dog shows this weekend. I had to rip back a few times. I'm thinking knitting lace at dog obedience trials is not such a good mix.




Dog News

As I mentioned above, I spent the weekend at dog obedience trials. Dot finished her CDX in three shows with very respectable scores and a first and second placing in her classes. Dak tried Utility and unfortunately, did not manage to pass this weekend but I am very happy with his performance and progress. It will be June before I show him again which gives us more time to practice and perfect. He's a very willing dog with a very happy and up attitude and I have no doubt of his success.

Below is a picture of Emma, formerly known as Fussy, from my last litter. I don't know, I might have to demand her back. I'm not sure she has enough toys or dog beds and dog friends to play with.

Mr. Greenjeans

I have all but completed my Mr. Greenjeans. Unfortunately, it's a bit too small for me. I love the sweater, I just might have to knit another in my size. However, it fits my sister nicely. Here she is modeling it.



I need to sew up a few loose strands, find a nice button, wash and block it and the sweater is ready to go to my sister Rita. A very fun and easy knit done in Dream In Color Classy, colorway Blue Lagoon, size 7 and 8 needles. As I said above, I just might have to knit this again in my own size.

I knit the button band 3 times and I'm still not satisfied with it but it will do. I can't bear to knit it again I think. I have to thank Pam at Knitters Palette, my LYS. I called her long distance and she gave me the excellent advice which finally helped me knit the button band as close to correct as it is going to be.

I haven't decided what I want to knit next. This is odd as I usually have my next project all lined up. I have the yarn and patterns for several lovely scarfs and I will start on at least one of these. However, I do love to knit sweaters. Here's a few of the projects peaking my interest - mostly sweaters but perhaps a toy.



Meanwhile, the dogs have been doing great. Dusty completed his Novice Agility Standard and Jumpers titles and already has a leg up on his Open Standard title. Dusty is such a willing and loyal little dog. I'm so proud of him. He's not the dog I would have ever predicted to be good at agility but he certainly is.

Today Dot and Dak were entered in Open A and Utility A Obedience classes respectively for the first time. Dottie won her Open class with zero points deducted for the heeling exercises - a remarkable accomplishment. She is truly a little heeling machine. Dak also did very well, just missing one of the scent articles because of his speed and missing his go-out spot because of sure greenness. Congrats kids, you are great dogs.



Fame went to her first conformation show - that's the part where you run around in circles and show off your hairstyle says Fame - and managed a 2nd of 4 in her class. That's fine with me. I've never doubted Fame's potential is definitely in the performance arenas and neither I nor Fame could be happier about that. Fame was beside herself with glee the last two weeks as her older brother Moby was here. My goodness, would the two of them play as above for hours.

Meanwhile, the little puppy girls are growing on and are very pleasing.



Here is Fancy with her mother Shamrock. Fancy loves to stick by and imitate everything her mom does.



This is little Rumor, a very pretty sable girl, so attentive and so watchful. Can't wait to to start serious performance training with Rumor.



And we couldn't forget my precious Tinkerbell.

Knitting, cooking and puppies of course

The blogs I enjoy the most are the blogs updated regularly. Unfortunately, that's not what I seem to be able to do. It is always my intention, just not my reality. I hope the regular bloggers I enjoy reading will keep it up. Meanwhile, I will work at not feeling guilty for my own irratic blogging.

Knitting



I am making good progress on my Mr Greenjeans. This picture is not very flattering. I can't seem to get a photo which shows off the lovely colors of this Dream In Color yarn. I've made more progess on the cable and rib pattern than shown here. It's a fun project.

I also blocked my Clapotis and re-hung it on the back of Dottie's chair.



Before Christmas I bought this yarn at my LYS to make the Fiber Arts Paws To Remember scarf. I decided to start this scarf in addition to Mr. Greenjeans. I am hoping it will turn out nice enough to send to a friend. The only problem is...this scarf requires size 7 needles and I am currently using my only size 7 needles on the Mr. Greenjeans. Oh oh, I sense a need to visit a yarn store!

Vegan Day



I am not vegan, heck, I am not even vegetarian. However, I do enjoy cooking and experimenting with new cuisines. A few weeks ago we held a Hot Dish Lunch at the office. One of my work mates brought a recipe based on this. I don't think this dish qualifies as a Minnesota Hot Dish, still, so delicous! I made it today and it was very good. I stayed with the basic recipe since it was the first time I've made this. Next time, I'll taste and add salt and a bit of sugar as needed. The worst mistake I made today was roasting the sweet potatos before the rice was ready. I love roasted sweet potatos and ended up snacking too much while waiting for the rice. I had to roast a few more potatoes to round out the dish.

Since I was into a vegan experience today, I made chocolate cupcakes filled with peanut butter cream from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. OMG! These are so good. I will definitely be making more cupcakes from this fun little book. I think I make excellent 'regular' coconut cupcakes so I'm anxious to try coconut and lime cupcakes from the book.

Dogs And Puppies



This picture is already a week old. I'll have to work at getting some new shots. The puppies are doing great though I can't say the same for the beating my kitchen floor is taking. The girls are having visitors for the next few weekends. That will be a lot of fun for the puppies and I'm anxious to show them off.

Fame, always my Wild Child. Fame had agility lessons today. Agility is definitely her sport but she needs to learn to listen and "chill" a bit. Fame tagged along to obedience class on Friday also where she was a big hit. I thought my friend Heidi was going to steal her away from me.

My Life For The Near Future

It's a girl fight!



We need to get out of here!



Oh my, our human mom says it's above freezing and we can be outside for a few minutes.



We do not like this at all, please take us back inside!



Ah, this is better.



We think we'll stay here until spring.



Our human mom says, "Please God, could you hurry up spring? What did I do before they invented these?"



Meanwhile, she tries to take comfort in the progress of her Mr. Greenjeans.



And remembering, this is what it is all about - a Pembroke who can not only excell in the show ring but also in performance events! Yes indeed, when you are washing your kitchen floor for the 5th time in a day, the picture above is definitely what keeps you going.

Finished my Clapotis

I completed my Clapotis since the last time I blogged. I finished it the last day of January. It still needs a good blocking but the only space I have to block such a large item is currently filled with the puppy whelping box (alias, large size Kiddy Pool). I think it will look much better once it is blocked but that project is going to have to wait another week.



Meanwhile, blocked or unblocked, Dot approves of the new adnornment to her chair.



I started a new project, the Mr. Greenjeans pattern from Knitty. I'm using one of my favorite yarns, Dream In Color Smooshy. The colorway is Blue Lagoon and so far, this knit is going quickly and I'm enjoying it very much. I hope to complete the sweater in time to wear it yet this season. The way this winter has been going, it should not be a problem at all!



The puppies are doing great. Don't they look cute here? You should have seen them a few hours earlier as they pooped and peed their way through my kitchen. Maybe someday it will warm up enough they can actually go outside. I have to go into the office tomorrow and can't imagine the mess I will come home to! I've raised Pembrokes for 28 years and only worked from home the last 3 years, yet, I've somehow forgotten how I did this while I was commuting. In all seriousness, these girls are as cute as they can be and I'm so happy they have all made it to this age and are healthy and strong.



And the best news of all, Fame thinks the new puppies are the best! She loves them and plays with them very appropriately. I'm so happy to know this as Fame was basically a singleton and it's great to see she has such good dog manners.



Good night!