the knitting has commenced

Well, as any knitter can attest, now is the time to knit. The weather is beginning to bring that crisp breeze, leaves are beginning to turn, and I have even broken out a couple of hats to wear on those early morning and late night walks with the dogs.

Speaking of dogs, I have been working fervently to complete a couple of projects I began sometime in the spring last year: a couple of very cute dog sweaters for Stella. Also since the time I began these projects, I've added a new family member, Blanche. She's much more delicate than Stella, in frame only I assure you, but when she became part of the clan, she had no winter attire, which is what I'm going to use as a scapegoat for not finishing Stella's two sweaters because I had to make one for Blanche with the winter just on our heels at the time. However, I digress.

This is Blanche's sweater for this winter. It's a great design called the Darling Darby Sweater. I am very happy with the overall look of the sweater, but I beleive I got it just a wee to small for her: she has a very bazaar skill of getting one arm out of the armhole and up through the neck opening, which she has already achieved with this sweater. I plan to make another soon, and will use measurements for a sweater that was made earlier this year for her, but because she and Stella have been on diets and lost several pound each, it is too big and now belongs to Stella. Although it is too big for her, the length from the neck down to the leg openings is perfect, which seems to be the problem with the sweater I just made. I'll be sure to share the final outcome, once I have made the new sweater, and I'm thinking pink for the color. I bet she'd be quite cute in a nice fushia, yes?

I've got a very big project list accumulating for the holidays, but I believe I am going to be successful in getting everything completed, especially since I've already completed several things. Time will tell...

time to knit

Fall is upon us, and with it comes cooler weather. The change in seasons isn't too noticeable yet, but I have slowly started to increase my knitting. Maybe it's the load of knitting I promised to have completed by December 1, 2009: a promise I made to  Bill while planning our Christmas vacation.

It's the same every year. After doing the mad dash to finish that last project around 2:00 AM, Christmas Day, I take a breather for the day and then begin planning out all of the projects for next year. Of course, after doing all of that knitting for others, I decide to take time out and knit myself either a hat or a scarf, then madness ensues: I decide to start about five or six different projects, which end up half finished until about this time of year; I then decide they need to be completed before moving on to Christmas knitting, and then say about the middle of October, I am good and worn out with no Christmas knitting completed. I then knit with great frenzy to crank out about three months of solid knitting, and wind up cutting about half of the projects I intended to have done by Christmas. It's a sickness I know, but I'm sure there are many other knitters who can empathize.

Well true to form, I have just finished the dog sweater, which I posted back in March. At the time it was going to be for Blanche, but since she has been on a weight management plan prescribed by the vet, the original measurements were too large. I had the choice of frogging it, but I was more than half way through the project when I picked it up to finish it, and as luck would have it, the sweater fit Stella beautifully. Even though the color is a bit too girly for Stella, and yes Stella is a female, I'm sure she'll enjoy the warmth it will provide once the cold Kansas winter sets in.

where the stars at night, are big and bright

Okay, so I'm not deep in the heart of Texas, but does the northeastern panhandle count? I've been working at a small critical access hospital since April, and this month I made a marathon visit. I've been here since last Sunday, and will be traveling to Amarillo, Friday, morning to head home. That's a total of 12 days away, and I'm getting a little homesick. Wanna see why???

I've not really been taking advantage of the time knitwise. Although I do have about 30% of a Koolhaas hat knit. I started it on the plane trip from Kansas City, and really haven't worked too much on it while in Perryton, TX. I've been doing much more reading. I'm re-reading the Harry Potter books. I'm a little over half way through Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire. My plan is to get through the first six books before the new movie comes out on July 15. I believe I'll make it. Who knows, maybe I'll get all seven finished before the movie.

After that, I believe I'll be ready to pick up a more regular knitting schedule. I recently finished my first Clapotis scarf, a Christmas gift for my grandmother. I need to block it, photograph it, and post pictures, but not sure when that'll be. I made it with Venezia from Cascade Yarn Co., and I liked it so much that I purchased another colorway to make a second one for my mom (a Christmas gift as well).

Other than that and work, there's not much to report. What else is new eh?

Hope everyone is keeping out of the summer heat. 'til next time...

Lots going on

It's been a while since my last post...what's new eh? Anyhow, there is an update on the pizza larceny going on at my house: the criminal, Blanche, came down with a moderate case of pancreatitis. I don't know for sure if the pizza was the culprit because the day before she started showing symptoms, she snatched something from the sidewalk before I could see what it was; retrieving said snatched item was not going to happen either because she had swallowed it by the time I could say spit it out. Whatever the last straw was, she had a rough couple of days with it. I took her to the vet right away, and she spent about five days with me shooting meds down her throat, and she is still on a boiled chicken and rice diet which she really doesn't seem to mind: not too surprising since she's proven that she'll eat just about anything. She's now back to her perky little self and all seems well now.

In addition to that, Bill had spine surgery last week. Lumbar laminectomies on all five lumbar vertebrae, along with one lumbar intervertebral discectomy. He's now home and recovering well, but I haven't had much time to knit. Tomorrow I plan to head to knit night and work on finishing up my current project: Clapotis, for my grandmother. I'm on the decreases and it's coming along nicely. I can't wait to finish and block it with my new blocking wires I bought a few weeks ago. This will be my first official Christmas gift that I will have completed. I have yarn to knit two more, which I plan to have finished by the end of summer. Then I'll be ready to bring out the wool and start on hats.

Well gotta head off and check on my patient...it's medication time :)

does this look like the face of a thief?

Okay, before I get started on my diatribe I must fess up: I contributed to the delinquency of a canine. Now here goes... This is Blanche. Blanche has been a bad girl.

I was lazy Sunday night and ordered pizza and wings for our supper. I must have made a mistake when selecting the crust for my cheese pizza because when it arrived, it was whole wheat crust. Now if I'm going to eat junk, I usually go whole hog, so the wheat crust wasn't doing much for me. I ordered the wings for Bill and wasn't really in the mood to eat any of them, so I ate a few slices of the pizza, but there was over half of it left over. Since I didn't care for it, I left it in the box and put it in a paper shopping bag by the trash.

Now fast forward to the day after. I had to run an errand and since it wasn't going to take more than 30 minutes, I decide to leave Blanche and Stella out of their crates. They looked so peaceful sleeping on their little blankets. Well, they didn't stay peaceful for long.

When I returned from my errand, I noticed that the pizza box had been removed from the shopping bag; it was in the middle of the kitchen floor. Well when I lifted the lid, I wasn't too surprised to find there was no pizza in it. Now normally I would find that Stella is the culprit, but when I looked on the couch, she had a quasi guilty look but no evidence of having been to the pizza buffet. When I look across the living room, I find Blanche wrapped in a blanket surrounded by mounds of whole wheat pizza crust and crumbs, sans cheese topping. I felt of her tummy and it was "loaded" to maximum capacity. She had to have been miserable. I began picking up the uneaten bits of crust and took them to the trash, but when I came back to the living room, she was crossing from the other side of the living room with more crust. She had actually buried/hid some for a snack later.

After taking away her cache, I took them for a walk where she promptly began the process of ridding herself of over half of a large cheese pizza with whole wheat crust. Needless to say, the pups went to bed that night without any supper.

No rest for the wicked

Well it's been a very busy weekend. Bill and I had his niece, her husband, and two children for a visit from Tennessee. We picked them up at the Kansas City Airport on Thursday, and will be taking them back to go home tomorrow.

It's been a great visit, and Bill and I have learned we do not have a child proof home from having a 19 month old test it. However, we do have four very patient, understanding pets that got along well with the wee little tot.

I had hoped to have my Modular Tomten Jacket completed for Conner so that he could wear it while he was here, but I didn't purchase enough yarn, and while I was able to order enough to finish, it didn't come in, so it's still on my needles. Even if the yarn had made it in, I haven't had much time to do any knitting this weekend, so it's likely I wouldn't have finished it if I had received the yarn. The good news though is that I only have a portion of the hood to finish, along with the sleeves. It's all in garter stitch, so once I receive the yarn, it should only be a matter of a couple nights work; then I can get it off in the mail and he'll have it to wear for a portion of the spring, and all of next fall/winter.

Here are a couple photos of my progress.

This has been a fun project; I will definitely be making more for Christmas and birthdays.

Well gotta head off to bed. I have one last day tomorrow to spend with them before they head home, then it's back to work for me. I have many projects to get finished up.

I've always relied on the kindness of strangers

DSC_0023, originally uploaded by jwhassjr.

Everyone, this is Blance, sister of Stella. I adoped her from the Greater Kansas City Humane Society back in August 2008. She is a great joy, and I have decided to make her yet another Darling Darby Sweater posted on Ravelry.

I have made this in three previous versions, all of which have not quite fit her just right. I have combed through several forums and everyone who has made this for their dogs have nothing but praise to offer for it's custom fit. I however can't tout such praises. I recently posted my woes on a group forum and got a timely reply from the sweater's designer giving me some recommendations. I took those recommendations and studied the three sweaters and see what she is talking about and believe this incarnation is going to be the one to post as a finished project on Ravelry once it's done.

I've decided to make it in knit two, purl two ribbing for the neck and chest, with rope cables along the back. The color is a very bright coral, which I believe will provide a nice contrast for her black and tan markings and cute little nub of a tail.

Here's what I have completed so far.

I am fairly familiar with this pattern from the other sweaters, so I should be able to finish in the next couple of days. Once I do, be prepared for the cutest, most fashionable dog in Leavenworth--with the exception of Blanche's sister, Stella, who sports a nice fair isle hand knit sweater that is befitting any hound dog this side of the mason dixon line.