Three Green Ribbons

I don't have much to say today but I'm trying to pay more attention to my blog. Feeding it daily is beyond my capability. However, I think I ought to be able to stick to a weekly schedule...I think I've said this before though.


Knitting

I'm working on small projects I'd like to gift at Christmas. Above is a reversible hat I'm knitting without a pattern. I'm trying to model it after the small, tight wool hats I noticed my brothers and nephews wearing last year. I suspect they cost a small fortune and thought I could easily make them myself. I'm pleased with my first attempt. Other than the yarn that is. I picked two balls of sock yarn from my stash to make the prototype before I invest in good wool sport yarn. This sock yarn was inexpensive and is 75% superwash wool and 25% nylon. The nylon gives it a nice stretch and longer wear which is perfect for socks, but a bit too much stretch and "scratchiness" for a hat.

I have a ball of Misti Alpaca Chunky waiting to become a scarf. I know I'm repeating myself but this yarn is so soft, it's one of my favorite all time yarns. And knitting a scarf on size 13 needles is a breeze!

I sorted out Christmas themed material for the two table runners I want to make but that's as far as it went. Maybe I'll get back to it this afternoon yet, but I need to clean my patio, get rid of the outdoor potted plants and vegetables, train a few dogs, clip a few toenails (canine ones that is!) and put away the folded laundry.

Dogs

This morning I drove to Hugo for an obedience trial with Shamrock and Dusty. They each qualified! Shamrock received a decent score but she's capable of much better. She was so distracted during her on leash heeling. I think she thought she was back in the show ring and she should strut her stuff out in front of me for her clamoring fans to appreciate. Thankfully, she settled down for her off leash heeling which was quite good.

Dusty worked above what I think I've trained him at. I was very pleased! If it hadn't been for his one no sit he would have scored way over what I was expecting. I haven't put the time into Dusty's obedience training that I should but after today, I'm motivated to do so.

Bunny picked up her first leg (that's a qualifying score towards an obedience title for my non-doggie friends - I think I still have a few) towards her CD (companion dog) title back in August. So I made all three of them sit for a picture with their little green ribbons. You can tell how thrilled they were to pose. From left to right it's Dusty, Bunny and Shamrock. I'll try to get ears on Dusty and Bunny next time. Good grief but they were lacking a sense of humor for this picture.

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!

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.

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!

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.