Uncle!

Okay Winter of 2010-2011, you win! I've had enough. I'm crying UNCLE! We are once again in the middle of a huge snowstorm. Early this morning it was heavy snow, then it turned to heavy ice pellets, now it's back to snow. Enough already, I'm sick and tired of this!

Knitting and Sewing

There hasn't been much knitting progress here though I've very much been wanting to knit. My RA has flared this winter and despite new meds my fingers are swollen and so painful   I can only knit for a short while.



This is a pair of socks I was hoping to complete for my mother's birthday, February 1st. I obviously didn't make it. The pattern is Dublin Bay Socks. I first saw these socks knit up on my blogger friend Bridget's site. The pattern is easy to memorize and the perfect take-along project. The yarn is ... is ... I thought for sure I still had the ball band but now I can't find it. I do remember the colorway is Denim. I'm a little worried about running out of yarn but otherwise have enjoyed this project. If only my fingers would co-operate a little more often.

A friend asked me to make her a Kindle cover. I wasn't sure what colors she would like so I made up two. I'm worried about sending them to her because she is an excellent seamstress who is without a sewing machine at the moment and I don't want her to see my sloppy work. I'm teaching myself to sew and haven't gotten the details down yet, the finer points which make something beautifully handmade rather than sloppily homemade. At least I'm trying.

A New Hobby

I know, I know, I so don't need another hobby, but I have one. I've been stalking the AeroGarden website for over a year now wondering if I would like one and if so, should I order the biggest they make or the smallest. This past Thanksgiving weekend they offered a deal I couldn't refuse, buy the largest AeroGarden and get the smallest one free. Now I actually have 4 AeroGardens and I love them! I have two growing lettuce, one with herbs and the extra large size currently has about 2 dozen green tomatoes slowly ripening in my basement.

I'm waiting for the sheriff to come and inquire as to my high electricity usage.

I realize I'm not saving money growing a few of my vegetables and herbs this way. In addition to the extra electricity I also need to buy water for the plants because neither well water nor softened water is  recommended. Here I have softened well water! Still, it's loads of fun and there's nothing like picking your own salad greens for supper in the middle of a Minnesota winter. The tomatoes and mature lettuce are water hogs though. I always thought other people were silly to buy water...


Dogs

I've been keeping myself very busy with agility trials in January. I do this on purpose as I'm not at all a lover of winter and staying busy every weekend makes January pass much faster. It also exhausts me - not as young as I used to be or would still like to be.

We've had some nice runs. TinkerBelle and I are finally running as a good team. Feels great to be out there on the course with her. Fancy and I are struggling a bit in the Open classes. Fancy started her agility career on January 2nd and breezed through the novice classes so I'm not too surprised Open has been a bit troublesome. It's a huge jump in difficulty from Novice to Open and although I know Fancy is trained well through the Open classes, the stress of being at real trials as opposed to home practice and lessons is hard on a young dog. Fancy has 2 legs on her OA and one on her OAJ. I'm confident we'll be advancing soon. Rumor was also entered in trials but went into season so had to sit out the month of February. I hope to have some good progress to report on Rumor in March.

I've been keeping a secret....

And her she is. This is Sassy, my Toy Manchester Terrier. Sassy is two years old. She's been with me since puppyhood. It hasn't been all smooth sailing even though I'm totally smitten with her. Sassy came down with Leggs-Perth disease at 7 months and had major surgery to keep her pain free and much rehab work to make her as sound as possible. She also suffers from seasonal alopeica, thus her bare nakedness in the photo. Sassy started her agility career in February. She is excelling in the jumpers classes, not so much in the standard class where the chute (or closed tunnel) scares her and suddenly this week, the teeter has her scared also. Still, I'm not complaining. Sassy is a total blast to work with and I'm sure we'll get this all figured out soon enough.

Not to worry though - the Pembrokes - they're still my kind of dog.

'Tis The Season

I started getting ready for the Holiday Season on Thanksgiving weekend. Decorations up, online shopping completed, some knitting and sewing projects completed and others started, but then I fell behind. Finally mailed my packages last week with fingers crossed they will arrive by Christmas. I'm doing Christmas cards while I wait for pictures to be uploaded to blogger.

(Dear Santa, Could you please bring me a faster internet connection for Christmas?
"Only if you move to a better neighborhood Mary where such things actually exist."
Okay Santa, I figured there was no harm in asking.)

Knitting and Sewing

I've finished knitting several small projects and still have one more hat to complete before Christmas.

Here's a scarf knit in Misty Alpaca Chunky. I think I've made at least half a dozen of these over the years. It's quick knit and the yarn, 100% baby alpaca, is so soft and luxurious. I finished this on Thanksgiving and stuff it in a plastic bag! Good thing I got it out today to take a picture of it as it needs a good washing and blocking now.  And there's ends to sew in also.

I made another reversible hat of one of my brothers. It's much more attractive on than it looks here.

When completed, it looks like a closed tube.

But once shaped, it becomes a reversible hat. This is knit in Elann's Sock It To Me yarn on size 3 needles. Miles and miles of mindless stockinette knitting. I did a lot of this over a three day agility trial and yes, I still need to wash the dog hair out of this hat and block it.

One last hat, this one done in Cascade Cloud Nine with a pattern from The Rainey Sisters. Yet another hat I need to wash and block yet.

My quilting skills are improving bit by bit. I finished this table runner and am very proud of it. My blocks fit together almost perfectly and my quilting stitches are very nice. Still struggling with the binding though. This was made from a kit by Connecting Threads in fabric "Wrap It Up".

I received a Kindle as a Christmas present (yes I open my presents early!) so made a cover for the Kindle. This pattern is loosely based on The Bookeeper pattern I found in the Moda Bake Shop. I loved it and was proud of the job I did - right up until the binding. Still struggling. Oh well, practice makes perfect right?

Birds

We've had so much snow this year feeding the birds has become somewhat of a chore these days what with having to wade through all the deep snow. It's a lot of fun though to watch the birds from inside a warm house.

The pheasants are back.

And of course the turkeys.

I buy cheap, mostly corn based, bird seed for the pheasants and turkeys because they eat me out of house and home. However, cheaper seed attracts the house sparrows who then compete with and kill the bluebirds in the spring for housing. It's a dilemma for sure.

Dogs

I had a successful year with my dogs.

Ch Kantishna Make Believe
Fancy finished her championship in 4 weekends in May making up my 26th champion. She's already entered in agility trials in January and starting to work on her heeling and retrieving. She is a fun, fun girl.

Ch Busy B's Dakota's Bright Sunshine UD RE AX AXJ VC
Dak completed his OAJ, AX and AXJ. Dak should finish up his MX and MXJ in early 2011 and we'll see where we go after that.

Ch Kantishna Star Kissed CDX RE AX AXJ AXP AJP VC
Dot finished her OAP, AXP and AJP this year. She will soon be 10 years old so is retired - I think, might go back and do some Rally with her as she hates being left out of all the activities. In addition to her own accomplishments, Dot has produced several wonderful working dogs. Thank you Dot!

Ch Kantishna Jump For Joy PT AX AXJ VC
My wonderful JJ. With a lot of hard work and I'm sure every jumping exercise ever known to the world of agility, JJ managed to keep the bars up long enough to finish his Excellent titles. I'm pretty sure he's retired now from agility. However, JJ's back taking herding lessons and doing very well with his obedience training.

Kantishna Keep'n A Secret MX MXJ
Whisper finished her MX and MXJ this year. She's very consistent in agility but not very fast. I've yet to decide what goals to set for Whisper next year. Perhaps some obedience...

Kantishna Keep'n In Motion CD RN
Shy little Bunny held it together long enough to capture her CD. This is a huge accomplishment for Bunny. I will continue to torture :) her in 2011 with more obedience training and trials

Ch Busy B's Dakota's Moon Dust CD PT MX MXJ VC
There was a new CD title for Dusty in 2010 and definitely more obedience planned for Dusty in 2011. Dusty produced two litters of puppies this year and we have high hopes for successful conformation and performance Pembrokes for these puppies. One already has her TD!

Ch Busy B's St. Patricks Day Parade CD RN
Shamrock also finished her CD title this year and should be starting on her open title in early 2011.

Kantishna Believe In Me OA OAJ
I sure do believe in you Tinkerbelle! After a rough start where Belle and I had to work through some injury issues, team work and training issues, I think we're back on track for a successful 2011. In addition to agility, Belle is also doing lots of obedience training.

Whew, I think that's everyone!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

We Need To Talk

It's time for a confession. I am a breeder. Yes, one of those horrible, politically incorrect breeders of purebred dogs. I've owned and bred Pembroke Welsh Corgis since 1980. Thirty years. I've finished 25 AKC champions, many of them group placing dogs and 3 breeder/owner/handler group winners and almost all of them with more than one performance (obedience, tracking, herding or agility) title. I'm not bragging, I'm just saying. 

In this day and age, it's extremely unpopular to be a "breeder" of purebred dogs. Yep, I know all about those dogs in shelters. I am as sad for them as you are. I hate to see any dog suffer. I don't care if it's a purebred dog or a mutt. I don't even care if it is a new designer dog which, let's face it folks, are sweet, lovable mutts. But those dogs in shelters are not my dogs!

I follow up with all my puppies. My dogs all live in my house. I clean up my yard constantly. I buy the very best dog food available. Each of my dogs are individually trained and worked with daily. In contrast, my neighbor breeds "quality pets" in her unheated quanstet hut. What is a "quality pet"? It's any little furry, fluffy dog which can be bred to another little furry, fluffy dog. Health cleareances? None. Temperament testing? Nope.Early puppy training? You've got to be kidding.

My neighbor once asked me how I kept my puppies alive in the winter. Excuse me? I honestly did not understand what she was asking me. Me, I have heating pads and heat lamps, my puppies are kept in my bedroom until old enough to move into the dinning room/kitchen area. My neighbor, on the other hand, hangs a 40 watt light bulb over her winter litters out in the unheated quanstet hut. And yes, she has muliple winter litters. So sad. Again, I'm just saying.

This is what my "breeder of quality pets" neighbor dumped along my driveway last week. I didn't take a very good picture of it so I'll tell you, it is a winter's worth of pee and poop soaked sawdust scooped out from under the wire cages her dogs have for living quarters in the unheated quanstet hut.

Why am I blogging about this? Because I want you to think about the difference in "breeders" and think before you purchase your next dog, purebred, designer dog or shelter rescue. Because you could very well be "rescuing" a dog from my neighbor, which will only keep her breeding more (cough, cough) quality pets.

So let's move on to more enjoyable topics.

Dogs

We've had some nice success in agility trials lately. Dot finished up her Excellent Preferred titles and the next day picked up her first double Q. Yeah Dot. Dak also completed his Excellent titles and the very next day his first double Q, go Dak! Whisper and Dusty have also been doing nicely. Whisper has gained so much confidence and speed lately it's difficult to remember she's the same dog who spent 5 days in the ICU at the U of MN Vet Clinic where we twice talked about letting her go.

Tinkerbelle, my 16 pound wonder, my little "corgette", made her novice agility appearance for one day and aced both her Standard and Jumpers With Weaves (JWW) runs. Belle is so much fun to train and run. You should be able to view her JWW run here.

And my JJ? Well, after taking forever to get his Open Jumpers title, he whizzed through his Excellent Jumpers title but now is taking a little longer than forever to get through his Excellent Standard title.

It's a good thing I love you JJ!

Food

I've been so in love with quinoa lately. Here's my rendition of quinoa with sauteed peppers and onions along with some grated lemon peel, lemon juice and parmigiano reggiano cheese. Yum!

Birds

I love my cardinals. Love how they always show up in pairs either very early in the morning or far into dusk in the evening.

So Happy With This

Knitting and Sewing

I finished my little hat. I'm not as happy with it as I was with the first hat I knit from this pattern. I think my choice of yarn was at fault. The Risata yarn is too stretchy for this pattern, thus the lace layer does not fit as well over the stockinette layer as it should. Still, I'll wear it. It is warm and the colors match my down jacket - a neccesity in Minnesota (the down jacket that is, not the matching hat). Still, I'm  disappointed in the results.

Finally had time to get back to quilting today. I have been waiting on batting ordered online to finish the green and pink quilt. The batting arrived a few weeks ago but between agility seminars and trials, finally had a free Saturday today.

As mentioned in a previous post, I'm quilting this in sections. After completing one section today, I'm so psyched about this method. It was much easier to quilt a small piece compared to trying to quilt an entire twin sized quilt on my little machine. Quilting one third of it at a time was not difficult at all and was actually fun! Above is the first completed section. I still have two more sections to go. I'll join them all together once they are all quilted. It will create a bit more bulk but these are not show quilts, they are just my playing around with my hobbies.

Here is the back of the quilt. I think it shows the quilting a bit more. Nothing fancy, I'm still a beginner, but so happy I found this method of quilting in sections. Someday, when I piece together an intricate, beautiful quilt top, I'll send it out to be professionally quilted. Meanwhile, I am very happy with pieceing together my simple quilts.

I have two more sections to sandwich, pin and quilt. I'd like to think I'll get them done tomorrow but tomorrow I need to accomplish so much of my spring work, washing windows, putting on window screens, moving all the agility equipment outside, putting up the bird houses, feeders and fountains, I'll be very lucky to get even an hour for sewing or knitting.

Dogs

I've ignored the dogs in my  last few posts.

We've been doing many agility trials and even an agility seminar or two. It's been fun and a great way to ignore the long, snowy winter. The two pictures below are not the greatest quality but are of my little girl Tinkerbelle. Perhaps you remember her from my last litter? Tinkerbelle is 16 pounds of hard driving, "I can't go fast enough" agility dog . She is the love of my life - please don't tell the other dogs - and very much in love with life herself!

Above she is slamming through the weaves.

And here she is about to slam the teeter. Belle is so much fun. Tinkerbelle seems to understand she's not just running for herself but also for her old friend Fame, another "I just can't run fast enough" agility dog. It's a lot of weight for sixteen pound Belle to carry yet she does it so well.  For you Minnesotans, yep, that's the big Gopher "M" in the background. These classes were held at the livestock arena on the St. Paul campus of the U of MN. The classes are over for the season now. We look forward to next fall when they start up again.

I have devoted much time to agility in the past two years yet do not want to give up on obedience training. I read an article recently in Front And Finish about training a dog for 5 minutes a day for a year and being able to get a Utility Dog title. Hum...I don't know, that is a big goal if you ask me. Still, a very intriguing goal. So I'm going to try it. No, not necessarily getting a Utility Dog title, but I'm going to try training Dusty for 5 minutes a day for a year and see where we end up. So far, I've stuck to my goal for a whopping 3 days! I'll try to keep my blog updated on my progress.

It was way past time to get rid of the flannel Christmas themed dog throws I had over the dogs' beds. Today I splurged at Wally World and bought new dog throws to put over their raised bed. Doesn't Dusty look regal on his new royal blue blanket? He is the the king!

And please excuse the X-rated picture of Shamrock. She not only knows how to relax, she deserves it!

He Did It!

Yep, my JJ gave me the only birthday present I wanted this year and managed to get the third leg (i.e., the third qualifying score) of his Open Jumpers title on my birthday! Now he can finally move on to the Excellent class. Thank you JJ, you silly, "Venice Beach Boy Blonde" dog.



(Don't you love my pink "dogs"?)

I have video of JJ's successful run but I'm not going to post it. It's not my best work. I tried twice to take him off course. I don't usually have a problem remembering courses. I think I was a bit nervous this time. Instead, I'm posting snapshots taken from that video. These pictures might not be the best quality, but I do love my Flip camera. It's perfect for events like this.



Here we are, both jumping for joy at the end of his run. I'm also about to reach down and quickly grab JJ before he runs out of the ring without his leash on, thereby disqualifying his run. Why am I prepared to do this? Because JJ, that little social butterfly, has already disqualified more than one successful run by doing this. JJ is so sure those spectators outside the ring are totally enamored with him and will give him more pets and lots more treats than I do.

Some of my other dogs had a bit of success also. Dusty, JJ's sire, completed his MX (Master Agility) title and also picked up the ninth of ten passing scores needed for his MXJ (Master Agility Jumper) title. I moved Dot down to the "preferred" classes which means she can jump one height lower than her measured height. Dot loved going back to the easier Novice Preferred classes and managed to qualify in four of four runs. Good for you Dot!

A Lovely Gift

Knitting

I received the loveliest gift from Bridget.



Aren't they sweet? These are five stitch markers made to resemble Fame. Each marker is in a different position, sitting, begging, laying down, playing, standing. They have Fame's white face marking and her half white collar. Since I always carry some knitting project in my purse, I'll always have these markers with me to remember Fame. So thoughtful of Bridget. Thank you so much!

These stitch markers were made by WeeOnes Creations.



So what am I knitting these days? I've set aside my Cameo sweater. I have completed the body, still need to do the button and neck band and the sleeves. I'll finish the sweater, I'm not unhappy with it at all, just bored and needed a change. I started the Bath Time Blossoms, a project I've always wanted to knit. I'm enjoying this very much. It's fast knitting and enough variety to keep me interested. I'm using Brown Sheep Cotton Fine and really like this yarn. It's just the size and texture of yarn I enjoy working with and knits up easily. I am currently using two different shades of lavender and white for this project, which I plan to give as a gift. I see me ordering more Cotton Fine in the future in my favorite colors.

I've also decided to teach myself a little about quilting. No, I do not have plans to become a master quilter or anything, I simply want to learn enough to make a few small quilts of my own. I took a class but it didn't go very well. I did not learn much and left with the feeling I was imposing on the teacher. My choice of first project may also may have been partly to blame as turned out to be almost all fusible applique and didn't give me much chance to learn about cutting and piecing. So I've been scouring the web and library books for knowledge. I taught myself to knit and I don't remember that being too difficult, but teaching myself to quilt seems very challenging. Maybe I've gotten too old to learn! No pictures to show yet but I promise to share my failures along with my successes. Hopefully there will be some successes.

Dogs

Nothing new on the dog front. We have agility trials this coming weekend - outdoors, with forecast of rain and chilly temps. Doesn't that sound like fun? It's my birthday this weekend and I'm thinking JJ could give me the gift of passing his final Open Jumpers course and moving on to the Excellent Jumpers class. Are you listening JJ? No, he's sound asleep, snoring in his dog bed.

Family and Summer Fun

Two posts in the same month, that's a pretty good record for me. It's summer time in the North, a very busy time for Minnesotans.

Knitting

I haven't spent the time knitting that I would like to. I've made a bit of progress on my Cameo sweater. I only need to knit 12 rows of the ribbing, the small, capped sleeves and the button and neck band. "Just" those few things and I'm done! This is a very nice knit, perhaps a little boring. I'm going to finish it though, I swear I am, before I start several other interesting projects calling me.



Family

My sister, who lives in Kentucky, came home for a visit in July. We had such a nice time together. Not only did we walk the entire Mall Of America one day, we then crossed the street to walk all of IKEA. That's a lot of walking. I think I'm still recovering. The weekend my sister returned home, she won the Ladies Race at Kentucky Lake. Here is a picture of my sister and her beautiful boat. She's the one in the back, steering. Well, I think it is called steering, I'm not much of sailor. I do know she's the only race participant who recruits an all lady crew for the Ladies Race so it's great they won this year!



We had several nice family gathering while my sister was home. My mom made popovers one night. Aren't they the prettiest? I love popovers.




Dogs

The dogs and I have been having a blast this summer. We've suffered the ups and downs of agility. Here is Dot who has definitely been on the up.



Dot finished her OA, OAJ, AX and AXJ titles this year despite a forced 6 weeks off any training or participating in March and April for foot surgery. At 8.5 years old, it goes without saying I'm pretty proud of her. I'm not sure what's up next for Dot. You can be certain she's not ready to settle on being a couch potato. Dot's still looking for fun and I hope to provide it for her.

Meanwhile, JJ, the love of my life, the happiest dog in the whole wide world, is showing me the down side of agility.



JJ has more fun and is faster in agility than any of my other dogs. Still, JJ can't keep the jump bars up. Both Dot and Whisper have come and gone through Novice, Open, Excellent A and in to Excellent B and yet there is my JJ, still hanging out in the Open Jumpers Class. It isn't that he doesn't love agility, it isn't that he doesn't have tons of potential, it's just that JJ says, "Bars? I don't care about no stinking bars, I just want to run fast and have fun and those bars are in my way". Very.Big.Sigh.

I swear, if JJ could speak English his first two words would be "Dudes, hey"! Still, what a handsome, happy dog. His registered name includes "Jump For Joy" and I sure got the Joy part of it right...even if I did miss the Jump part!

By the way, these agility photos were taken by and purchased from Great Dane Photos. I have no affiliation, other than think they take the greatest action shots and I have spent far too much money there.

Hope you are having a great summer!

Busy Summer

Fame survived her bamboo knitting needle, knitting pattern and yarn eating experience just fine. Can't say the same for my mother's bed socks. They were so saturated with dog saliva and slobber I tossed the entire project into the garbage. I did order more yarn and the pattern (again) and plan to start over. I was enjoying knitting those socks, I just don't have the ambition to start it over so soon.

Knitting

Meanwhile, I started the Cameo sweater from Custom Knits.



This is Rowan Cashsoft DK in a creamy white. (Yes, I know, I've been in a "white" mood lately.) Love the yarn, enjoying the pattern. However, my right index finger has still not healed. Perhaps you remember my complaining about it this past winter. I injured my index finger many years ago and then last summer re-injured the very same spot when a knife slipped while I was cutting up lemons and limes. I use my right index finger to push the yarn along and am constantly irritating this finger all the time I am knitting.

I need to take a break from knitting. I'm not too happy about it but it needs to be done. This finger has got to heal! I plan to keep the Cameo sweater in my purse and knit while I have free moments, but I've decided to go back (way back) to weaving on my rigid heddle loom.



I used to be a decent weaver. Though I haven't done it in years I'm sure I can learn again. Above is a picture of one of eight placements I wove way back in 1975. They've held up nicely. These are made of 100% linen. It's time to pick up this hobby again and give my sore finger a rest.

Having said that, I need to find a large block of time to re-learn how to warp my loom and that's a problem. My busy summers do not lend themselves to big blocks of unused time. I'll update my blog with pictures as I start the process of warping, whenever that may be.

Dogs

The dogs and I have been doing lots of agility trials lately. We've had some very successful weekends and some less than such weekends. Still, we've always had fun.



I've been feeling guilty about ignoring obedience this spring so beginning in June, have made a conscious effort to do more obedience training especially with Dusty, Shamrock and Bunny. My goal is obedience trials starting in August. We'll see how it goes. I'm in the office much of the rest of June and those two hours of commuting time each day mean a negative two hours a day for dog training. Oh well, it's good to have a job.

Fame is having more health problems. Fame started limping on her left shoulder when she was on so much prednisone for her hemolytic anemia. Although off the pred, Fame still limped intermittently through the winter and spring. The limping is constant now. I was able to get Fame in to see Dr. Julia at Twin City Animal Rehab where she was diagnosed with MSI, Medial Shoulder Instability. Big Bummer! The pred saved her life but the muscle wasting side effect has caused another serious problem.

Fame was measured for and will be fitted with shoulder braces next week. I'll take pictures of her in her "hobbles" once they arrived. It will be four full months of shoulder braces for Fame along with tons of crate rest and stretching exercises, walking only, no running and absolutely no agility, ball chasing or playing with her housemates! Fingers crossed she'll be able to do obedience and agility after all this sacrifice.

Meanwhile, I'm relaxing tonight in preparation for a very busy upcoming work week. Here's a little relaxation I created. It's one part vodka, two parts Pom Juice, a splash of OJ and 2-3 ice cubes. Excellent if I do say so myself.



Now I must go. It is thundering out and this sends Dusty into a total state of panic. Time to go rescue my little friend from his terror.

Amelia Is Finished

Knitting

I finished Amelia. Here is a picture before blocking. It looks much better after blocking but the picture I took after blocking makes the color look a very dull gray. Definitely not this sweater!



I thought this was a great pattern, easy to follow, no mistakes, fun to knit. I've been wanting to try this type of sweater construction and Amelia was a very nice pattern to do it with. The sweater fits almost perfectly. The sleeves are a little wide but this is my mistake. I knit the second size up for the body and meant to knit the smaller size for the sleeves but I forgot. Still, it's not a big deal. I love the sweater and am sure I'll wear it often.

I'm not as crazy about the yarn, Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. I found the yarn not at all forgiving of being reknit. There's lots of mistakes in this sweater and normally I would have corrected these. I actually enjoy the process of dropping stitches and using knitting and crochet needles to pick all the stitches back up correctly. It's like magic to me! However, after doing it a few times with this yarn, I realized the yarn didn't hold up to being reknit and it looked much better to just leave the mistakes in. I'll try to get a better picture in the daylight tomorrow. Overall, I'm very happy with the project.

I've known all winter I wanted to knit a baby blanket for my nephew's new son, due in early May. Early May, it seemed so far away. Now it's just a few weeks away. And to make matters worse, I'm in the midst of the most awful rheumatoid arthritis flare. I think I've mentioned before on this blog I have RA. I've gone almost two years with barely a hint of symptoms. Just 10-11 days ago I ran 3 dogs at two days of agility trials. Now, I'm almost bed/couch ridden. I'll get better, we'll have to tweak medicines and amounts, but sooner or later, this too will pass. I do hope it's sooner.

Meanwhile, I had to completely change my plans for the baby blanket. My stiff, aching fingers and wrists are not up to the lovely, lacy, heirloom of a baby blanket I had planned. However, I found this tumbling block pattern in Vogue Knitting On The Go Baby Blankets Two and immediately realized it's the perfect pattern for sore hands. This construction will only require me to knit the full blanket size for one 16 row pattern repeat. Too nice! Besides, I think it's an attractive pattern, not to mention very easy. Here's the right side of the pattern:



I think the wrong side looks just as nice, a good feature in a baby blanket as babies are known for kicking their blankies about.



I'm knitting this on size 5 Addis using Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Baby in a bright turquoise color.

Dogs

Let's see, JJ completed his Open Standard agility title. Whisper finished her Novice Standard and Novice Jumpers with Weaves. Dusty's making fast progress towards his MX and MXJ and sweet, shy little Bunny has two legs towards the three she needs to complete her Rally Novice title. Bunny even won first place for one the legs. She and Dak are entered in Rally and Obedience trials respectively this coming weekend and I'm hoping to be well enough to show them.

I couldn't manage a walk to the mailbox this past Saturday but did manage it on Easter Sunday. There I found the results from Dusty and JJ's DM tests. JJ is a carrier - that's good, it means he cannot get the disease himself, though he could pass it on, and Dusty, Dusty is CLEAR! Hurray! So far there's turning out to be few Pembrokes testing Clear of DM. It's great news for Dusty himself and for all his offspring. I'm still waiting for the results of several of the girls I tested.

Despite his good news, Dusty was neutered today. He's six, going on seven years old and starting to have some minor prostrate problems. I figure best to "nip" (if you'll excuse the pun) these prostrate problems early. Dusty also has a sore shoulder and is on strict crate/leash rest for four weeks (absolutely no agility, bummer!) so it seemed like the perfect time to do the deed. Luckily, I had Dusty collected and frozen almost four years ago and we were able to collect and freeze 5 more samples today before his surgery. Dusty's swan song I guess :-)



Dusty's feeling a bit under the weather tonight, but he'll be good as new in a few days.

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!