New patio furniture!

Today was an exciting day. We had Tara from Bark Buster over again. We needed a reminder lesson, because Denny is so stubborn, and is making Happy all anxious with his yapping, and biting. We didn't do all the exercises we should have, sometimes it's just not possible, and our daily routine was disrupted as well, and you notice when something's up when one or two pups start gnawing the base board of the stairs.
The other day Denny yapped for an hour before settling down, and by that time, we all were ready to tear our hair out, Happy was howling in frustration.

We stood for about 15 minutes when Tara got here, after we let Denny out of the crate. He wanted to jump up on her, and greet her and be petted etc. get as much attention as possible, while Happy was getting unhappy and was running up and down the stairs. We couldn't even talk because Denny was so loud. Anyway, patience is what we need, and less attention is what Denny needs. He's very pushy, and before you realize it, you do what he wants you to do.

We called her to help us with walking him. He's still pulling like crazy and getting stronger. Happy walks wonderfully, since the first day Tara came and helped us with him. It's a pleasure to walk him now.

We didn't get out of the driveway for a long time with Denny though. Every time he passed us, we would change direction. Of course that was nothing new to us, but what we didn't realize, while doing this, it was attention training for Denny. At the end of a long hour, he was trotting behind us, lovely as a lamb, while chewing on a pine cone, like it was some chewing tobacco. He was really pooped once we were done.

He's very destructive too, so he's not getting any freedom in the house. Either he'll be in the crate, or on the leash with me or my son. They both can run as much as they like, every time we go out in the backyard, and we have to work on our walks, so that we get further then the end of the driveway.
I actually made it to the mailbox with him, which is down the road.

The other exciting thing was the delivery of our new patio furniture!



We went to look at patio furniture last week. It's all the same style everywhere. I liked the chairs with the green stripes, but they were last years models, and they could scare up only two intact chairs, from all the different stores. At first he didn't really want to sell them, but I insisted I liked them the most. We did want four chairs though, so we got the other two, not the exact style, but I didn't care, as long as I got my green ones. The other two are beige! There were no other colors this year, how boring!
I loved the umbrella as soon as I saw it. What a lovely warm green it is!



We didn't have a BBQ for the last five years at least. This year we decided that we'd like to have one, and it will come in handy, when we don't have a kitchen during August/September renovations in the house. We don't know how to grill really, so we bought some samples in the store and threw them on the grill. I like it because there are no pans to wash, and it's fast and smells good.
Happy got a whiff of it, and licked his chops in anticipation! He did get a mushroom, and some chicken later, after we were done. He played with the mushroom for a while, before he ate it. I don't think it's his favorite food. :o)



The pups patio furniture is not unlike ours, and both use it as much as possible.



It was also a good mail day. I've got my raffle prizes! It's some Wollmeise yarn in the colorway "Taube". It's lovely. And a project bag from the yarn floozies. I'm thrilled with my prizes! :o)


O.K. off I go, sitting on my new deck, enjoying a lovely evening, and after that a walk in our driveway! ;o)

***

swimming lesson 1

Yesterday was the day our pups learned how to swim in our pool. Not that it was their idea, but it was necessary. Both are excellent swimmers, but they don't know it yet.

We are still battling skunk stink (I've gotten quite used to it). Not as much as before, but every time they get wet, they stink. They get wet a lot these days. Yesterday was lovey, sunny and warm, and it was time for another deskunk treatment, which involves a bubble bath at the end. It was clear that we would not stay dry ourselves, because the pups don't like bubble bath, even though they play with water all the time. Give Happy the turned on hose and he can entertain himself as long as we let him. He drags it as far as it goes, and takes the end biting it, and spraying it in all directions. He loves it when we point the spray high, and he runs through the water falling down.

Denny is not so much for this game, but rather likes to stand in the wading pool and dig until it's empty.



We did not take any pictures yesterday, because it was too wet, and everything went so fast.



Usually they have a lot of fun and are wet to the bone when they are done. Photos are older ones, but it's alwyas the same. They end up being wet and tired. They use this pillow bed to rub themselves dry. And after all the excitement they sleep like angels.



At one point they are both VERY relaxed.





Oh yes, I wanted to tell you about swimming lesson. We were told to nudge them in and help them find the way to the stairs. Hmmm.
It's easy to nudge them in ONCE. They wont go near you from then on, when you stand near the pool, they aint no dummies!

Happy showed more panic when swimming, and tried to climb out at the edge. My son had to jump in the pool to guide him to the stairs. We were only able to get Happy in one more time, a tiny bit less panicked, but he would not jump in on his own. We tried to coax him with this favorite toys, and he was whining, and went as far as the second step, but that was it.

Denny swam relaxed, but also to the edge, instead of to the stairs, where I was calling him. I wasn't the one nudging him in, so we thought he would swim to me, which he did at first, but took a hard turn to the left before he was in reach. He also went in a second time, but after that he was soooooooooo mad at us. I had to use a handful of treats to get him to come near me again.

Well, so far so good. They are never out in the backyard by themselves anyway, but it would be nice, if they would enjoy jumping in and swimming on their own, like Biko did! She was always hard to get out again! Sam hated water and didn't want to swim at all.

Anyway, swimming lesson 2 will be held another time. So as not to leave you totally without knitting, look what pretty sock I'm working on right now! Had to rip back to the heel flap once, I made it too short, even though I thought I'd measured it right.



It's a free pattern by Cookie A. called Cubist socks. The yarn is Wandering Cat Yarns, Alley Cat, colorway "Purple People Eater" (I love this name). It's hard to see, but it has many shades of purple, and I like that very much.

***

A Sunday in June!

Sorry I missed handspun Friday, but blame it on Bell Canada. Our phone didn't work for almost a week. They told us they would come on Thursday between 12-6PM, but never showed up. I was really mad, because we had many errands to run, and couldn't, so we had to add those errands to Friday's things to do. Anyway, phone's working again, and here we are, Sunday afternoon.

It's been overcast all day, with rain showers on and off. It's very humid, and everything is sticky. Between rain showers the pups had some fun on the deck. We put up the dog bed we bought some time ago, which they really like. It's for outside use and can get wet. Of course they have to fight over it, before they can get both comfortable on it.



I even have some knitting to show! Back in May I've knit this pair of cotton socks. I started a different pattern, and soon realized I would never finish them that way. I didn't want to rip the cuff out, so I just did my own thing. I realized also that I dislike knitting with cotton yarn. I hated every single stitch of these socks, but I needed at least one pair of cotton socks to wear with my walking shoes, old and new.



Well, I better get the pups out before the next rain shower. At least it's good for our lawn, and new shrubs, and trees.

Before and After - outside

Well, what a day this was yesterday. In the morning I've planted some Hydrangea, and Canna Rosemond Cole plants out front. It was beyond humid, or I was just sweating a lot. Midday brought us the Earthquake, which found me sitting at the kitchen table. At first I thought Happy was in the dog bed underneath it, scratching himself. Sometimes when they do this, whatever they lean against, shakes with them. The kitchen table was vibrating, then I heard the doors rattle, and after my son could feel and hear that too, I said in bewilderment - Earthquake? Turns out it was true. It didn't last long, and I've experienced such a one before, but it's still scary!
Late afternoon, as you already know, we got skunked. Happy took the worst hit, and he still stinks today, which doesn't seem to bother him at all. The dogs took a long time last night, to finally settle down.
Oh, and if that was not enough, our phone stopped working too.

I did get to take photos yesterday morning, of our improved back yard, and out front. It was morning light. I'm glad I took them yesterday, because it's raining buckets right now. So here it goes:



Some photos are not from the same angle, but show the same spot. I like our new front door. The windows are simple, and functional, and we didn't want to waste more money on them with expensive extras. We had to remove some dead trees, and overgrown shrubs, but we planted more than we cut away. Still, it will take a while (years) to get them big enough for privacy. I'm especially pleased that we could find some Elderberry shrubs, can't wait for them to produce some blooms, which will become a delicious dessert, syrup for juice, and if we'll leave some to grow berries, we'll have some jelly too! But this too will take a while.

Another feature I totall love is the gate I wanted them to put on top of the stairs. It's meant for keeping the dogs on the deck, when I don't have time to supervise them in the backyard. Unfortunately this only works, when it's actually closed. After I took the pictures, I realized I forgot to take one of the gate, so I said, "come on guys, lets go outside", and off they went, down the stairs into the backyard. I had forgotten to close it after we went down there in the morning (we went back inside through the garage, since I had to dry them off in the laundry room). So I had to get the leashes, and pray, that they would let me catch them. Since they didn't get to go out back for almost 3 weeks during the renovations, they are ecstatic every time they get a chance now. I did catch them rather fast, since they splashed around in the wading pool.



The old stairs used to go down in one straight line, but that always brought the whole thing into a swing. I like the little landing I let them built in, and it worked out right with the basement window as well.
My favorite spot however is out the door through the garage. The stairs go up right to the side of the house. The old ones were so narrow, I was afraid of tripping every time we used them. And on top there's no more grass to mow, but wonderful interlocking stones, the same ones we used around the pool. I think we'll put up a bench/table thingy some day, for now I'm just enjoying the beautiful, even space.

The deck itself is double the width as it was before. At first I thought, we built a freaking pier out there, but we've gotten used to it really fast. It's nice we don't have to use an umbrella when we are down in the garden, since the deck provides enough shade. We'll get some patio furniture for up top eventually, with an umbrella. For now we've only got a brand new BBQ on top, and my little stand, where I dry the laundry.
Once we get rid of the skunks, we REALLY can enjoy it!

***

We still have to get a new shed, right beside the pool pump, and there are the odd paint jobs too, but all in all, I like it a lot.

***
It's cleared up now, I think the rain is over. I've got to put the garbage out. See you tomorrow with Handspun Friday!

***

Skunked!

Well, baby skunks, two of them are still around, and this time on our side of the fence. I didn't think they are still there, since the trap with mom was gone, and I didn't see the babies all day.

This evening, I wanted to let the dogs out for one last run around, when they discovered the skunks, and this time Happy was not so smart after all. He barked at them, and Denny right beside him. My son went to grab them and got sprayed too. Those suckers stink!

We bathed them outside, and now they are awaiting more potent stuff to de-skunk them. They are in their crates without a blanket. They are not amused.

My son's gone to fetch some things. We'll need new collars too. I lost some old towels, and David's T-shirt and pants. So the fun is not over for us yet. The pups don't like to be bathed, and Happy gave us a lot of trouble, slipped out of his collar, and we had to catch him again. Next round of baths will be in my bath tub. Oh joy!

My son's furious, and in a bad mood.

And we thought today was a good day until this happened.

***

Happy's turn!

Yesterday it rained on and off all day. Late afternoon the sun peeked through, and WHAM it was humid, it felt like somebody hit me with a wet towel! In between rains the pups enjoyed a good run in the backyard, leaving Denny limping. We could not find anything wrong with his paw, but he acted like he wanted to chew his paw right off his foot. Well, we canceled today's appointment with the BarkBuster Lady and postpone it for next week.

My son said, Denny acted like a child, which didn't want to go to school, and had a belly ache, which miraculous disappeared. Of course I'm glad Denny's fine, and we don't have to go to the Vet's with him (will do that on Friday, just for a weight in, so he can get his flea medications).

Getting back to Happy. Early this morning, I took him outside to pee, but he started to woof. He rarely barks or woofs, he mostly howls when Denny's yapping at him, so I was curious what made him do it. I could not see a thing in the direction he was woofing at, so I walked a few steps over to get a better look, and wouldn't you know it, there was the trap our neighbor has put up, because apparently the skunk family just moved over from our place to theirs, which is surprising, since he's got his backyard all torn up, while getting a pool installed. I wouldn't have thought there was a single spot to hide a skunk family.

Looks like today he caught momma skunk, because her babies are crawling all over the trap, and circling it. We saw them yesterday along the fence line. Even as small as they are, they pointed their little butts at us, for coming too close. Wanna see? Not the best shot, because my son was trembling with fear of being sprayed (just kidding).


O.K. back to Happy. He did not pee, nor poop, and ran back to the front door, smart move, I think. Little known fact about Happy: He's a real bad catcher! Today I threw a small piece of cheese at him, and he closed his eyes and let it fall to the floor. I'm trying to get him to catch things, using treats all the time, but we are not very successful so far. I also think he doesn't want to catch something in his mouth before he knows what it is. Biko did that too, just let it fall in front of her, to have a good sniff and see if it's worth eating. She was a good catcher though.

Anyway, he's a cutie and suffers greatly under the reigns of Denny, and if he's not been tormented, he goes and pokes the bear, cheeze!



What are YOU looking at?



I really don't think this can be very comfortable, and yet, he likes to squeeze into this chair.




***

Daenerys shawl

This shawl has been finished since last week. I forgot that it was blocking in the upstairs "Office" room, the only place right now, where I can block on the floor, with nobody running around.
Lola is modeling it, thank you very much. She followed me around into the kitchen:



out on our new deck:




because it was so nice out, we stayed longer and watched the pups playing:


well, I watched them anyway (the pups watched the neighbors having dinner outside, how rude they are staring like that) . Then back inside, in my office room, or what's left of it:


specifics:
pattern: Daenerys by Valerie Johnson (I've got it from her as a gift - thank you)
yarn: Wandering Cat Yarns - Alley Cat sock, merino/nylon, 1 skein = 400yds. I had maybe 2 yds left over. colorway: LE Georges Dragon (how fitting). I love this colorway and would have loved to knit socks with it as well.
needle: 3.75mm
size after blocking: 24" x 27" - it's a small one, but perfect for wearing it as a scarf around the neck
start-finish: June 11-15
modifications: no mods, except that I made it smaller due to less yardage.

***

On the reno front: We are having a break from it until the middle of August, when the floor and kitchen guys will (hopefully) show up and start ripping our house apart. Until then we can continue to clear out the house, but at a slower pace, and enjoy the first part of the summer, albeit in an almost empty house. We have to get our walk out basement ready for us to live in for a couple of month until they are done doing the upstairs thing. I guess this will be the hardest part of it all.

I've already picked out the tiles for the kitchen floor, the hall, powder room and laundry room, they all get the same tiles. The rest of the house will be wood floors, and we'll go see what's available some time this week. I am having a hard time finding tiles for the back splash, still looking for the perfect ones. Whey do people use so much beige in their homes??? I'm not afraid of colors, and beige got to be the ONE color I can't stand. Anyway, we'll keep looking, and you'll get to see the end product some day too. :o)

It was kind of fun picking the wood, the style of the kitchen cabinets, the handles, the finish , the faucet and what not. Didn't think there were so many decisions to be made! Good thing I know what I want.
The kitchen guy told us, that it would take a long time finding the tiles I wanted, since they are not in style right now. We went to look last Thursday for the first time, and bingo! I found what I wanted at the first location, at the first try. When we called him, he couldn't believe it, he was prepared to drive around for and with us to find the right ones! Hehe, glad we didn't have to.

For now we have to water our backyard, since there are new trees, new bushes, and rolled out lawn, as well as sown over bare spots, and the two of us water for an hour in the mornings and in the evenings to keep everything from getting brown. (while doing this I'm singing "I'm a sprinkler, I'm a sprinkler" in my head) After the pool is opened tomorrow, I'm hoping to get some really nice photos to show you all! Very exciting!

***

Handspun Friday - Mixed Blessings Fiber Club 2nd installment

I was going to show you a different finished handspun yarn today, but I realized the photos of it are on my laptop, and that is in repair right now. So my son hooked up the desktop again, and I've now some new photos here too.
Anyway, this is as the title says, FatCatKnits Mixed Blessings Fiber Club, Spring/Summer 2nd installment. It's superwash Merino fiber.


This yarn was made from this fiber:



I like the lighter finished yarn better. I'm still having a hard time spinning sw merino, or merino evenly. It's a little thick/thin. The lighter skein is 176yds, and the darker is 177yds. It's 2-ply. Together it's from 10oz of fiber. Don't know yet what I'll make with it. These two skeins took forever to dry. Maybe also because it was so humid around here, didn't help either.

The singles were really strong, because while I was plying the darker colorway, Denny bumped into me and the lazy kate, while being chased by Happy. He grabbed a strand and ran with it. I could get it out of his mouth without it breaking off. It was a little wet though. He did grab a predarfted roll of this fiber as well, when I was spinning it, but after I got it back from him, I used every torn, and wet bit of it.
What he learned from this? That it's not a good idea to grab fiber at any time, because there's going to be a monster after him, foaming at the mouth, screaming like a banshee, and blowing smoke too (yes, that's me). Nothing makes me go crazy like that, than stealing fiber or yarn!

***
The landscape guys are DONE! Now I'm waiting for the pool guys to open the pool before I'll take picture to show you the before and after.

I'm really annoyed by all this moving my things around. I can't find a thing! I'm looking for my newest sock book and can't find it. I must have shipped it off to storage with the last box, can't think were it should be otherwise. Darn it!
I've finished up the Daernerys shawl, it's blocking and drying right now. I've been feeling like knitting socks, so I cast on for some. Didn't work out, ripped back, and cast on for another pair. Same thing, didn't make it far past the cuff. So then I changed pattern again and now I'm knitting socks, but not the ones I wanted to knit. So annoying!

***
And since you liked the last sleeping picture of the pups, here are some more:


While I love them when they are sleeping, they do make me laugh too. Yesterday they chased each other through the house, while I was in the kitchen, when I heard a train coming - Denny ( imagine the sound of an oncoming steam train) -barreling around the corner from the hall. He ran behind my chair and hid, looking in the direction of the hall for Happy to come after him, who took his sweet time. It's hard to describe but it was so human, how they played.

Denny also figured out how to open the plastic container where we keep the dog food. It's got a snap closure, and now that I've turned the container around, he just drags it out, turns it around so he can get to the closure and open it. What that means for him is, that now he's got to be in the crate whenever I can't watch him for sure. Just penning him in the kitchen just doesn't do it anymore. Happy just stands by and watches. He's not so obsessed with food anymore (was was like that when he was younger). That brings me to something else food related. How do you know you've got a puppy on your hands? As long as they like bananas, they are young greedy pups who will eat anything. At least that's what all our dogs did. Happy turns up his nose when I offer him a banana, and Denny swallows it in one gulp. I'm also thinking twice next time I want to share raw Kohlrabi with them! They love it, but the gas they produce after eating it is deadly!



close up of this:



Well off we go into a hot and humid weekend! Have a great one!

***

A contest - not mine - want to know more?

Valerie sent me this lovely pattern of hers, called Daenerys shawl, at the exact moment when I was looking for something easy to knit!
Turns out, I found the most perfect yarn for it in my stash (which is mostly in storage, but I got lucky and found this single skein of Wandering Cat Yarns still out). Your didn't really think I could part with ALL my yarn at once? Have to let go in stages. :o)



Valerie and her mom Rhonda are having an anniversary contest, for their Wandering Cat Yarns shop turns one year old! There's plenty of time (until June 19th) and many ways to get a chance of winning this lovely shawl, and some yarn! Read about it here.

Since this shawl is supposed to look like dragon scales, I could not resist, and use this yarn, even though it's only 400yds, and you'll need ~ 600yds for the original version, but the name of the colorway is - Georges dragon!!! How could I not use it? It's going to be a shawlette, but that's fine. I'll expect to finish it in the next couple of days.

And for those who just can't be without a picture of the pups, here's one of my favorites (and there are many):



I love them when they are sleeping!

***

Denny's favorite toy

All our dogs had their special, favorite toys. Biko loved her tennis balls, fresh, and hard, and she loved to fetch them. Sam loved his big, red, Jolly ball, and Happy is gaga over his Frisbee.
Denny found this old tennis ball, cut by the lawn mower some time last year. It's nasty, and gross, and he loves it!



I took a new one, and made a cut, and wanted to replace the old one, but he just doesn't like it. He tried, he de-fuzzed it, but it's not the same.



He's turning 4 month old on Tuesday. The photos were taken May 30, so he's grown a little since then.



He's focused on another dog barking, a few houses down the road.

Hehe - look at those ears. Some days we think they will stand up for sure, on other days, they don't seem to have the strength to stand up at all.



Plus another lesson learned: Don't feed your pup water melon! He loves it, of course, but he's like a faucet you can't turn off afterwards.

***

Happy says, it's his turn next time.

***

Handspun Friday - Violet Blue meets Mixed Blessings Purple colorway

The windows are DONE! It took them three full days to complete everything. The last day was quite trying for all of us. It was just two guys (instead of the 5 in the beginning) who did the finishing works on all windows and doors. The only thing I'm not thrilled about is the clean up. They didn't do a good job with that. There's nails, little pieces of glass, plastic, and cigarette butts in the front yard.
We've decided to take it easy for the rest of the week, before we continue with our preparations for the floor guys.

I've transfered my photos from my desktop to the laptop, so I can still show you handspun yarn I've finished, as well as doggy pictures, and some finished knits. The desktop computer will be put away until I've got my new place in my new room hopefully soon.

I'm getting used to the laptop, but would still like to have a mouse instead of this pad. Anyway, here's my handspun yarn for this week:

It's made from FatCatKnits superwash merino, two strands of "Violet Blue", and one strand Mixed Blessings purple colorway (Polwarth). It's a 3-ply yarn, about worsted weight.



Since I don't have my Ashford Traditional at hand (it has the jumbo flyer on), I had to ply this yarn in two skeins. There's only a total of ~ 163yds. It's also a little over plied.



I've used "Violet Blues" colorway last Handspun Friday, but played with the colors and made a 2-ply yarn, and it looked very different from this one.



It's not my favorite yarn I've ever made, but it's O.K.



The boys say Hi!

The pups are a little crazy right now. There's still no way we can use the back yard. Even though the guys clean up at the end of the day, there's still so much stuff around where the pups could hurt themselves, so it's walks, and lots of running around in the house for now.

At least they didn't have to spend yesterday in their crates. They manage to tire themselves out quite nicely.
At one time Denny was holding on to a Frisbee, while Happy was dragging him through the hall. Denny was on his back, and didn't mind at all, but didn't let go either.

Later the same evil pup took the opportunity to drink MY tea! I thought, locked in the living room with lots of toys around, he would be good for a few minutes, until I came back with Happy from his pee break. He could even watch us through the window. I forgot that there was a mug with my tea on the coffee table. As I came back, Denny had his front paws on the table slurping away happily. He got about half of it, didn't spill a drop. Black tea with milk, who knew he would like that?
It's his own fault for being stuck in the crate so much, since I can't trust him at all. O.K. he's still not even 4 month old.

Today I wanted to get some time to predraft some fiber. I didn't want them to be stuck in the crate again, so I gave them a cardboard lid to shred. They had quite a lot of fun, and it took me only 2 minutes to pick the mess up after. I didn't take a picture, but you all know how shredded cardboard looks like, right?

***
Oh that darn laptop. I always hit a key which does things I don't want it to do. So I had to write this post twice! Argh! Anyway, have a nice weekend you all!

***

renovations ...

You'll have just to bear with me here. I have not touched any crafty equipment, or fiber in a few days now, well I moved a lot around, and out of the way, but that does not count. I was and am too exhausted to even think about it! I know, I didn't think that would be possible either.

Friday brought this little bin (standing beside a big bin) in our driveway. It's still pretty huge (it's 20 something, I forgot what measurement they use, and the big one is 40 something), and at first I thought we'd never going to fill it. The big bin is from our landscape guys, and it's been replaced once already. So much crap in our back yard!

Anyway, my son and I cleared our house of old furniture, and stuff from the basement, which we thought we'd keep for later, for some day, when we would need this and that again. Things, which were too good to be thrown away.

For the last couple of month we packed things and brought them to Goodwill, and we put them out to the curb, where people took everything we offered. But this was going too slow. On Monday, yesterday, we had to have cleared most of the house, to have room for the window guys to get their work done (as quickly as possible), and also in preparation for the floor guys.

We worked from morning till late at night. All that schlepping was very exhausting. At one point I thought we'd never get everything into the bin, and we didn't. Sunday it rained only in the morning, and we had the most lovely day after that. We took little breaks whenever we carried a heavy piece to the bin, sitting in the bin on furniture, getting sleepy in the sun. It must have been a sight for those Sunday walkers, us sitting there and laughing hysterically, about nothing, just because. I thought I'd never been more comfortable then right there!

Monday morning, when they picked up the bin, I was still finding bulky things we should have gotten out of the house.
Does not matter at all. We just sneak some stuff into the big bin. Anyway, I don't think I want to do all this ever again. I don't think I'll keep stuff around for whenever in the future, and be more careful what I'll bring into my house in the first place. But also, things DO get old or broken, and should be disposed off right away. O.K. lesson learned.



I was so sore on Monday! The night before I had cramps through my legs up to my butt, and my heels hurt, even after I've put them up. Well, I AM a couch potato more or less, and this was hard work!

On Friday, when the landscape guys finished their work for the week, they put up the trap for Skunk momma. First night, as I told you they got a Raccoon in the trap, let it go, and they were still hoping to catch the skunk. No such luck though. Second morning I looked at the same Raccoon again, lying in the trap on his back, scratching his belly, I kid you not!

He must have thought, "mmmm free dinner, and no more hunting for more food tonight, until the humans come and let me go again". Well, feeding a Raccoon was not the plan, so they took away the trap. You can see it in the back of the next photo, but at this point it was empty.

Well, you are looking out from my office room, into the back yard through a big hole in the wall!
Yesterday was a wonderful day, sunny, but cool, with lots of wind! I was in the house, and my hair was blowing in the wind, like I was driving in a top down car, at high speed!
The window guys came, stormed through the house, breaking out every window they could find, and one balcony door, which made the before mentioned hole in my room.



They worked fast! They replaced all the windows in one day, plus this sliding door, which will lead out to the not yet existing deck. The landscape guys are working on it though.

Today, on Tuesday, the window guys came and replaced two more sliding doors, the front door, and two other doors, leading to the garage, and from there to the back yard.

This makes it two days, not bad, but they still have to come back tomorrow, to do some finishing up, but we've got NEW doors, and new keys, and I'm loving it!

The whole house is dusty though. I had to go through it with the big fat vacuum cleaner they left here, mega strength, what fun! Then I had to wash the floors. It's still not totally dust free, but since they'll bring in some more dirt tomorrow, I'll have to clean again anyway.

So, what did the pups do through all of this, you ask???


Happy behind me, dreaming of a game of Frisbee I presume.

Well, the same thing they do right now - sleeping, but they spent most of the time in their crates.



Denny is sleeping under the table right now. The light is fading. I don't understand how they can be sleepy again. Will they be able to do our evening walk? Well, of course, they are dogs! But I'm not so sure about me. :o)

Expect more reno updates!

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Blues Bag on Monday

I'm writing this post on Sunday morning, because I don't think I'll have Internet access the next couple of days. It's raining right now, cold rain. Out back there's a raccoon in a trap (I think skunk momma is over the hills with her babies by now). I hope the guys will check up on the trap soon.
Yesterday, Saturday was a horrible day, full of dragging, packing, schlepping old furniture out to the bin etc. It was hot, dusty, sweaty work. More of it later today, but just wet, and muddy.

The pups are getting annoyed of being in their crate so much. The backyard is still a no go for at least a week I think. We'll walk them more, but it's just more stress right now.



Last Friday I've got this wonderful bag from Mia. We did a trade. Some of my handspun yarn for her gorgeous Blues Bag. It's very sturdy, and I have to smile every time I look at it. She's got more of them, in different colors in her Etsy shop. I feel very lucky that she agreed to do a trade.



Look at the lovely details!



I think the pups are planning mutiny! Doesn't look good for me!




Did I mention the washing machine broke down on Friday? So there will be the deck guys working out back, the window guys in the house, and at some point there will be a service guy who hopefully will revive the washing machine. Sigh.
Not just the pups are stressed about all this disruption of their daily routine.

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Handspun Friday - Violet Blue

So, work in the backyard is in full swing. Those guys are fast, and did a great job so far.
We can't go out there for a while though, with the dogs, because of the broken glass everywhere. I did get a lot of spinning done this week, which is fabulous!

Usually I don't buy merino fiber anymore, but this colorway looked interesting. It's superwash merino in the colorway "Violet Blue" from FatCatKnits.



I tried to spin thicker, and only got 161yds, 2ply out of 3.4oz (I weight the finished skein before it goes into the bath).

To my utter surprise I was able to knit BOTH socks with the handspun skein I made (I thought I had to spin for the second sock). Since the thought of spinning the same thing twice was not appealing to me, I started the second sock with the left over yarn and thought, Id' just knit until I run out of the red colorway (since that skein had less yards in the first place, and I did use more of the red cw in the first sock).



I had planned to knit the seconds sock with the colors reversed. I know, you can see that at once! I did the heel and the toes in the purple colorway, and that's what saved me to spin the same thing again.
I got to the last row of red colorway, before the toe decreases started, when I ran out of the red cw. Isn't that cool??? I might have done the happy dance!



So here it is, the pair! First sock with red heel and toes, and second sock with the purple cw. They are a little thicker than my usual sock yarn, but that's O.K.

On a different note, next FatCatKnits Fiber Club has arrived!


I find these colorways quite challenging. It's also sw merino, and I don't like spinning merino. I always get thick/thin parts, and that's not intentional! Also it's so soft, it starts to pill even when knitting with it, so it's only good for scarves, cowls. Of course you can knit anything from it, but it will not have a long life, if used heavily. Oh well, I like a challenge! Lets see what I'll do with that one.
But that was not what I meant with "different note". Have you seen Yarny Inspiration yet? It's such a lovely idea, and I love colors, and find great inspiration there!
O.K. I've got to go. Today is the start of a very long, and busy weekend for us!

Have a nice weekend!

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