It’s a 4 Dog Blog Day

My Darling Doggies have been under some upset over the last couple of days.  Their home has been invaded by a red-headed stranger.  Well…not really a stranger, but one that gets them all excited and they all turn into barky-von-schnauzers.  Even the yorkie. Our youngest son will be boarding at Mom & Dad Hilton for a spell.  I don’t have pictures of them acting like devil dervishes because I’m right in the mix trying to calm them down. I do have a picture of them being held hostage on the couch. The boys are all spread out and Kassi refused to be on the end of the couch and that far away from her Mama so she got on her perch. You can see the love-fest is mutual.

  

They are normally such calm dogs until somebody or something comes into their territory.  Most people don’t get to see things like this:

Tyger  & Murphy using Dad as their bed.  You wouldn’t even see Dad if it weren’t for his foot.

Murphy being a sweet baby doll resting on the couch or he and Scotty showing brother love (before the smack down later – they love to wrestle)

  

Miss Kassi is just sweet as sugar.  She doesn’t bark at our boarder at the Mom & Dad Hilton too much and she just bats those eyelashes at him and he calls her sweetheart. She works it with all of us. The tongue is just a tad longer than the lashes.

Truthfully, no alcohol was used to catch these poses, though these two surely look as though they have been partying with the Big Dogs.

 

Murphy is a good crasher…. you wouldn’t believe from these pictures that he is a ball of activity most of the time. Plays hard and crashes hard. Tyger is no slacker either.

  

Honestly, when the house is quiet after a 4 Dog Day of Sentry Duty for a NPM (Non-Pack Member) in the midst, they will all just crash.

Hopefully soon, they will get used to this red-headed stranger and admit him to the pack.  Don’t get me wrong…they LOVE him…they just have to remember they love him every time he walks into the room. They have to learn that the NPM was Mama’s PM LONG before they were. It’s a process.

Now before you nod off too, check out what Mr. Postman brought me today. The coveted discontinued Endless Summer Connemara that I snagged off EBAY. And ….after I showed this on my knitting group, my sweet Knit Sistah Linda Q told me she had 9 1/2 skeins of this yarn in teal that she is going to give to me as my “post surgery, empty next filing up” gift.  SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

There will be much petting time of this yarn because I have several WIP’s (as you know from my previous confession on this bog). I have  all of the patterns on my wonderful e-reader that Zach (formerly known as the NPM on this blog) gave me for Christmas. I have the projects bagged together and have been switching back and forth between them and progress is being made, surprisingly. So..who’s going home on American Idol? My bottom 3 picks are actually sitting in the stools right now. I don’t happen to think Paul is as talented as most others do. There he goes back to one note us next week. OY!

 Going to “knit on it”!

Definition of Spring–Startitus

So, Mary Kay on my Lone Star State Knitters Group sent a “WIP Wednesday” post to our group.  It got me to wondering about spring and how it effects knitters.  Well, maybe not all knitters…but at least some of us. I’m usually more content working on one major project and one small carry around project. I finish and go on to the next project because one of the quirks I have is “completion complex”.  I like to get into things and get them done and move on to the next thing. But, I’ve discovered in recent years that every spring – Startitus happens.  I sometimes buy lots of yarn and for some reason can’t wait to get it on the needles and so off I go.  My history is that not all of these projects actually come to completion and some get put on the back burner in favor of others and then eventually graduates to “in time out”. If time out lasts too long, I decide I’m so over it and it goes to the frog pond.

I think this spring will set a precedence.  I  like all that is on my needles and I want all of them finished. Three of these things are for ME!  (Those are the normal things that get frogged).  I don’t knit for myself real often…so to have 3 things on the needles for myself is a record.

So, first is the cape that I started for my Darling Daughter Cristi. I have a little more done on it than when you last saw it. I had to put it on hold for a bit when the Husbank had his little medical emergency and then I crashed my knee. (I see the surgeon on Tuesday to find out the results of the MRI). So now fast forward to Spring. This is of heavier yarn in Cotton Fleece.  It has gotten a little warm outside and this yarn is harder to work with in the warmer days.  I can only work with it for so long at a time or the 20% wool that is in it starts to bother me for some reason. This is a new thing. <sigh> It’s too warm for her to wear it now anyway so I will continue to pick it up off and on and will definitely have it done for her birthday which is when it will start getting cool enough for her to wear it. (Happy Birthday if  you are reading this, Cristi.)As always click on the picture for a larger view.

Next on the needles is the Vernal Equinox shawl.  I started this because I had ordered some gold yarn and searched for a pattern for the new yarn. Then, being the patient person I am, found some gold yarn in my stash passed to me by my knit sistah, Nikki and started the shawl.  I have enjoyed this so far. It’s soft and I like the yarn. Free yarn is always fun, right?

Meanwhile, the above said Nikki is an enabler.  She’s almost as bad as Alice who is a pattern enabler. Nikki is a yarn ho and will recruit her sistahs into her stable. She sent me a link to this yarn and me being just a bit of a yarn ho (is that like being just a bit pregnant??) grabbed up the last 4 skeins Webs had left.

This Berroco Comfort Sock is very soft and very nice yarn as I’m sure anyone who knits socks knows.  I don’t knit socks if I can help it so I decided to design a vest for this yarn. I used my Sweater Wizard software to help with the math and I’m pleased with what is happening so far. I’m sort of a “design as I go” type of Gal. I’m calling this Vicki Vest because it’s for me and the designs I’ve picked are V’s. This is the back. It will be a v-neck cardigan vest.

I love Endless Summer Connemara yarn. Elann discontinued this yarn a while ago and even though I have asked very nicely, they aren’t going to bring it back.  I did the Victorian Lace and  Beloved shawl with that yarn. I have a small stash of it left and just purchased a lot of 7 that I found on EBAY. I haunt EBAY for it every once in a while. I bought some Super Cable Aran from Elann to see if would be a little like Connemara…but it’s not at all.  It’s really coarse yarn.  I’m hoping it will soften after washing, It is 100% cotton so maybe there is hope.  It’s a little like knitting with jute at the moment.  I decided to do the Victorian Lace Poncho with it when I bought it.  I bought this green color and some pink. The Aran Super Cable is on top.  The bottom green and lavendar yarn is Sonata. Then in the second picture some more Sonata.  I did mention I have a bit of a springitus retail thereapy problem, right? And yes…I’m having a bit of a green thing. All these greens are different. Really…they are.

So, today I started the Victorian Lace Poncho because you know…there’s a lot of naked needles in this house.

I haven’t been bored while laid up with this knee. I know I will finish Cristi’s cape. I’m hoping to show finished products of all of the things I’ve started for me.  I like all of them and also the yarn for them…with the exception of the Super Cable…but I think I will plan on it softening up with washing. If you have experience with this yarn, please comment.

Off to knit!

Beloved

This title could apply to many things, but in this case it’s a shawl I just finished knitting.  I wore it yesterday to lunch with friends (first time I got to drive my truck my myself - woo-hoo!! But, I had to ice  my leg all the way home – wee-wee-wee -whine ) The Husbank took pics before I went to lunch yesterday and somehow these pics have mysteriously disappeared from my external plug in drive.  I downloaded them to the external hooked up to Miss Mini the netbook and when I plugged said external into the laptop…they weren’t there.  There weren’t on Miss Mini, they weren’t in the trash, they weren’t anywhere.  I don’t know for the life of me what happened because I had before and since downloaded pics to the external with the netbook and the files were always there when plugged into any computer.  And…I wasn’t taking any leg drugs yesterday that would impair my otherwise sharp mind.Maybe the jury is still out on that one?

So, more pics were taken this morning. I knitted this in Endless Summer Connemara that has been discontinue by Elann…Boo HISSS on them! Love that yarn which is, of course, the kiss of death to the line usually. The pattern is here: http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/beloved-shawl

 

There was a little “design element” placement necessary after finishing the shawl.  Husbank noticed a “flaw” in the back and he’s not usually prepared for flaws in my knitting. It was where I had tied on yarn and this cotton will tend to fray and for some reason it left a very ugly stretched stitched that looked like it was twisted or something.  So, I untied the  yarn and realized it was not going to work without some unraveling of stitches. So…tied it back and I made some little crocheted “flowers” to cover the offendiing flaw.  I guess it could also be an apostrophe or a sperm…but we won’t go there.