Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Yarn study, and asking for advise!


click on picture to enjoy it fully
If you are waiting to see a finished object, you'll have to wait, oh say, maybe a couple of weeks? I think I'm mad. As soon as I've decided to knit up to the tenth row of my Noro blanket (scroll down a bit) and pack it up and put it away (until next fall), I was wondering, how long it will actually take me to finish it. I've started it April a year ago. I did not touch it throughout the summer, and only sporadically throughout fall and this winter. Did I really want to wait till fall to get it out again?
At this rate it seemed endless to me. I did some simple math. If I did five squares a day, it would take me 20 days to finish the blanket, that is the planned 20 rows, plus a border. Twenty days??? It's not even THAT warm in the next 20 days, so that would be doable, right? I looked around, nothing else exciting going on right now. Of course, there's the even longer project (Magic mosaic blanket), and the Milanese Lace scarf, which I think I just cast on to get me going again on the lace socks. I'm not even sure I'll finish it!
It seemed to me, that I could do it, and so I started knitting feverishly mitered squares. I did 10 squares today! Ha, if I could keep that up, I would be done in 10 days! Unbelievable! The blanket could be done for my one year blog anniversary! Woo Hoo! O.K. maybe not, because these ten squares were killing me. But it's a possibility, right?! I'm going to give it a try, and hope that my mind will not change the course of my knitting over the next ...... days. I really would love to finish the blanket. Anyway,
what has that got to do with these yarn pictures? Nothing, really. I just think they look pretty. The orange yarn is not self dyed, it's Regia sock yarn.

Now, here's where I need some advise from pet(especially dog-) owners.

See Biko here? She's limping. Nobody knows why. She was a the Vet's twice. She had her blood work done, everything is fine. She had 6 x-rays done, perfect skeleton, perfect joints, no arthritis whatsoever, nothing wrong there. If we touch and squeeze her paw, and leg, up to her shoulder, it does not seem to bother her. Both our Vet's could not tell us why she's limping (right front leg), sometimes she's yelping when getting up the stairs or on the sofa. She tries to put NO weight on this leg, as well. She comes limping out of her bed in the morning, only when playing outside is she O.K., but as soon as we go inside she's limping again. Now I know she's just not feeling it, because she's excited about playing. She hardly limped at the Vet's office, because she was excited there too.
What do you think? What else could it be?

10 comments:

Tracy Purtscher said...

Hey Woman!! Just checking in on you. :-)

Hmmmm about the limping...your vet didn't say anything about nerve degeneration???? How old is your baby?? It seems like the same thing Titan had. Limping around the house but readily played when outside. He too could be "distracted" from it. And after getting up from a nap it seemed worse. Occassionaly he would let out little yelps when jumping, climbing stairs, and just getting up after be down for a while. The vet told me that there wasn't anything that would "fix" it but there are meds that are suppose to make them feel better (feel less?) the meds didn't agree with Titan, he had worse side affects. Titan was about the same size as your babies, he was a Husky/Lab mix. The vet said the nerve thing was fairly common in his kind and size of dog and usually begins with "old age" which for dogs that size can be as young as 8-10 years!! Titan was with us for 14. I'd say the nerve thing started about 3 years before it was too much for him to endure it is a progressive thing. The vet also said, that actually there is little pain involved. Yes, of course there is some cuz of the yelps, but the thing that makes them limp so often is that they kind of lose sensation or it goes numb, or feels like thier leg has fallen asleep, so they don't know where their legs is. (thus a missed or "wrong" step could hurt) Imagine putting a sock or a bootie on his foot....you'd get a similar reaction as far as the limping goes....it's probably why they can "forget" about limping and play normally...at this stage it's not pain, it's jusst weird for them.

Anonymous said...

Oh, poor Biko. Sam and Kish are sending slurpy kisses.

I'm assuming that you and the vet have checked for something wrong with the paw: something stuck in it, a bee sting/bug bite, torn nail, etc.

I had a collie when I was a kid that would fake a limp in order to get attention. Could that be it?

Pooch said...

I'm so sorry to hear about your poor puppy---all dogs are puppies to me! The first thing I wondered about is if it might be related to his nails or the nail beds.

Our vet has referred us to specialists for Max's ailments. If there is a university with a vet school within driving range, that's a good avenue to explore.

I hope he's soon better. I know how difficult it is to see a pet in pain.

:)

Sue J. said...

Not being a vet, I can only hazard a guess about Biko. Could it be arthritis? Or hip displaysia? Or is something in the carpeting bothering her paw? When outside playing, there is no sign of the limp, but inside it starts again. Maybe it's to get attention? Sometimes Wolfie will pull a similar trick when he wants us to play and get away from our computers or whatever we are doing. After all, these babies of ours are smart creatures. Good luck. I will be thinking good thoughts for Biko.

Anonymous said...

Biko: hum, I was thinking maybe soft tissue like a torn muscle but she shouldn't be able to play outside without a problem. Have you tried searching for a physical therapist that works with dogs? That is a small but growing section of PTs. They might be able to figure it out.

Sorry, not much help here.

Kris B said...

I've seen my Rohan limp when he has something stuck between his toes. We have a neighbor that has the yard from hell ;). It is full of sand burrs/thorns. Even though I try to avoid the yard, the thorns seem to reach Rohan's feet. When he starts to limp it's the first thing I look for. I have to spread his paws out to see or feel between them. Not his favorite thing for me to do, but he endures it.

I hope you are able to find out what is causing the limp soon.

Cecie said...

hey, n konkreten rat hab ich nich, aber - halt mich nich für bekloppt - hast du schon mal kontakt zu ner tierkommunikatorin versucht? ich meine nicht den esoterischen kram, sondern jemanden, der sich in das tier einfühlt. ich mach das mit meinen auch grad. wenns dich interessiert, ist im katzengeflüster-blog auch der link. falls du es doch doof findest, nix für ungut, ja? ;o)

hakucho said...

Pretty yarn and hope you can get that blanket done...you know you can do it ;)

Good luck with Biko's problems...poor baby :(

happy knitting :)

Dave said...

You might consider nerve pinching... My aunts dog had similar problems and it was nerve issues. All the best!

eyeleen said...

I hope your Biko gets better. I've got a limping doggie, too, but she's got arthritis and a subluxating patella, her knee pops in and out.

I love the colors of the yarn, very bright and summery.