Best time of year!

I love being outside in the snow with the dogs. Here are a few of my favorite photos.


This one, because you can barely see Maggie. She' trying hard to keep up with Happy.


Maggie running.


Happy is very good in not stepping on her. Often he has to jump over her, and she's always under foot.


Watching me cleaning up after them. If given a chance, Maggie is a poop eater. Gross!


This is the corner of our property, where the wild bunnies come in, even though I'm always boarding up the holes under the fence. I don't like for the pups being there. Denny showed a lot of interest the other day, and I had to shoo him away. Maggie has eyes for Happy only.



It's beautiful to watch him run full stride.


And another cute Maggie photo. All these photos are from some weeks ago.

***
And not to forget Denny: He's chewing away on a large piece of ice.

He's also molting heavily. His hind legs, and the underside of his belly are already free of thick fur. Happy looks the same, but it's less visible with him. Denny does not like to be brushed (surprise), and does not like to be plucked. Each hair of his, must stay with him, so he eats a lot of them. Of course I still brush him, even though he does not like it, but it's not fun. I don't think vacuuming him directly is an option, since he's already against the silent brush. Now that I know he's got an inch of thick fur on him, I don't think he's as fat as he looks.
***

Handspun Friday plus Game Hat

I've used SAG fiber club fiber from November, and December 2010 to spin yarn for a hat.



November Club was 4oz of BFL, called "Leaves under foot". I navajo plied it, and got 129yds of worsted weight yarn. December Club was Merino fiber, called Northern Lights. Another navajo plied yarn with 160yds.

I've got the hat pattern from Virginia Tullock. It's called Game Hat, and I've been wanting to knit it since last year. I finally got the yarn right, even though the pattern gives instructions for multiple gauges, I wanted to use worsted weight yarn, and it's hard for me to spin thicker.



It was fun to knit, but it turned out too big at first, and the top looked a little funny after the final decreases. Nothing to do, but to rip back and shorten it, and fiddle some with the decreases. It worked out in the end. It fits perfectly now, covers my ears, and forehead well, just the way I like/need it. I "outsourced" the pompom, didn't have the patience to do it myself. It's perfect! Tightly wound, and weighs a ton. It lolls around on top, like the head of a drunk.

I've dedicated this month spinning time to SAG fiber (Spinning Awesome Good), except for my Hades yarn on the left. You can see what I've spun, in the following pictures, minus the two above, which I've already used. I had to push myself to get this much done, but it was a lot of fun. Isn't the yarn pretty sitting on my desk? I think I'll leave it there for a while longer to look at.



***
Once again, I wish you all a wonderful weekend!

***

Catch me if you can!

I'm so happy I caught this on camera. The first time around, I just enjoyed watching them, before I realized I could get my camera. Can you hear Denny yodeling in the background, when he heard Maggie's yapping? Happy enjoyed this very much, as you can see.



***

Herbivore!

My first finished shawl this year was Herbivore! It's more like a scarf, but a nice one. I've had this purchased pattern for quite some time. I even cast on for it twice before, but never liked the yarn I used for it.


It's finally done! I like it very much, especially the softness of the yarn. I was not so sure about how the colorway would work out, after the first 15 rows or so, I thought, I would over dye it for sure, but the more I knit, the better I liked it.


It had probably something to do with the name of the yarn, " After the storm", what fitting name!



Well, I love it!
This is another design of Stephen West, although an older one. Here are the specifics:

pattern: Herbivore by Stephen West
yarn: Wandering Cat Yarns Top Cat (merino/cashmere/nylon blend). I used 83g of the skein, or 361 yds. I would wear underwear made from this yarn, it's so soft, and nice next to skin.
needles: 4mm
start-finish: Jan. 2-6, 2011
mods: the only thing I did differently was to make the garter edge wider, just to make sure it will never curl

This shawl counts as # 1 in 11shawls in 2011. I've picked up my pair of socks again, and finished the first sock, cast on the second. Maybe I will finish the pair this month, but it's agony, I wish they were done already.

***

Happy's Hard Life!

What do you mean, it's not safe here anymore?


See for yourself. The M-Devil has conquered the Sofa hopping (a month ago):















Enough said!

***

Handspun Friday - Hades

I was lucky to get this fiber from somebody's destash. It's From Southern Cross Fiber club fiber May 2010 - Hades - 80 % Polwarth 20% Tencel. I was not a member of the club then. I hope David is doing another two color combo in the future.


I had planned to spin it very thin, and navajo ply each of them for a specific project. While I was spinning along, it occurred to me, that I might not get enough yardage , since each bump was only 2 oz. I asked for some more in the SCF rav group, and I got lucky again. Once the second bag arrived, I changed my mind and 2plied the whole thing.


I love these colors. I've always wanted to use them together in one project. It turned out a nice lace weight yarn, a total of 1172yds.



What I especially love about these yarns is, that they are not total solid colored. There are variations within.



The brown colored skein is 563yds, and the red skein is 609yds. I would have had more yardage overall, if Denny hadn't eaten some from both colors.
I can`t tell you how soft this yarn is, and shiny, thanks to the Tencel. I`m looking forward to knit with it.

***



I`m going to leave you with this Denny shot, and another story of his. The other day, I watched him licking the door of the crate where Maggie was inside. She was on the crate mat, on top of a baby blanket, chewing a bone. It`s always interesting to watch Denny, so I looked on for what came next.
He licked and licked, until he got his teeth on the baby blanket, which was just inside the crate door, not sticking out at all. As soon as he got a grip on it, he started pulling it, Maggie still chewing away on her bone, and finally he yanked three times, and the baby blanket was outside the crate. Maggie still chewing on her bone, Denny running away with his trophy, tail high, victoriously! In my wildest dreams I would never have guessed that this was possible. He always does things like that.

***

Wish you all a wonderful weekend!

***

Two out of Three

I finally went and bought some special cleaner for our stainless steel appliances, and used it!
Later, when it was time to get dinner for the pups, I made an interesting observation.
Happy acted weird, didn't go into the kitchen, went into the dining room, and from their he stretched his neck to sniff the air in the kitchen, and he started barking, and backing up, not setting a foot in it. Guess who didn't even stop to sniff the air, but went for his food bowl? Right!
When it was Maggie's turn to eat, she went into the kitchen with her tail tucked in, but ran out again. She was clearly confused, ran to her bowl, sniffed the air, and ran out of the kitchen again. In the end she rather wolfed down her dinner, with tail between her legs, then not eat at all. I had to give Happy his dinner in the dining room.

This morning though, he went in again, still cautious though. Makes me wonder what's in that cleaning spray! Can't be good.

***
The pups where lucky some time ago, and got some cookies! They are so spoiled, and not just by me!

He was salivating, and very eager to get one. But not before he had his paws on the floor again.

Didn't take him long to crunch it up, and inhale it.

Happy gently took his cookie, and went into the hall with it. He sniffed it, and licked it, and turned it over several times, which gave me time to take a picture.

I gave them Maggies cookie too, because at the time she had major tummy problems, and this would not have helped.
***
I'm on a spinning marathon right now, just something which is going on in SAG ravelry group. It's fun, but my hands are crying foul already. I managed to finish my crochet shawl last night, and am on my way to block it. It's soaking right now. I hope it will block out nicely, because I LOVE how it feels, and want to wrap it around my shoulders asap.
***
PS I wanted to thank all of you who leave comments. I'm trying to catch up on answering my emails, but I don't seem to make any headway.
***

Surrounded

What kind of crappy weather is that? Yesterday we had -15C, freaking cold, and today it's +3C and drizzling! I sure hope it will change to snowing soon. Argh! Anyway, here's my last finished project from last year.
The Surrounded blanket by The Rainey Sisters.









pattern: Surrounded by Rainey Sisters
yarn: Rowan Rowanspun Aran, color # SH 972, got it from 2 peoples destash (have lots left over)
needle: 5.5mm
size: 40" x 37" It turned out just a small blanket, because I ran out of steam, and called it quits.
start-finish: April 25 - December 21, 2010

I love this design. The stitch pattern is not hard to memorize, but the best feature here is the built in I-cord, surrounding the blanket. Very cool idea. I like the green color, and the colorful specks. This yarn reminds me a little bit of Brooklyn Tweeds Shelter.

***

Handspun Friday - Happy

This photo was the inspiration for the following dyed fiber:



I'm not quite happy with the greens in it, but as a dyed fiber without knowing the photo it is lovely.


This is Falkland fiber, dyed by Shelby of Spinning Awesome Good. It was part of her Fiber Club.



I decided to play with it, and made these skeins. They are all either navajo plied (natural undyed merino, gray Gotland, black merino, and one skein of the club fiber), the rest are three plied yarns.



I was going to use them right away, but of course, something else came up.


The undyed merino is wonderfully soft. One full bobbin of singles gave me less yardage than dyed fiber. Gray Gotland fiber looks wonderful but is the scratchiest of them all, and hairy.



I was going to do some mittens with this yarn, but now I'm not sure. It's no rush either.
***
I've also got my forth, and last Year of the Lace Club 2010 installment.



I know that I will not knit it. It's different for sure, and the yarn is soft and lovely. I'm thinking of maybe selling my kits from this year, because I will not knit any of them. There are three rectangular stoles, and one triangular shawl.
This was the first kit:

I overdyed the yarn and liked it much better.

This was the second kit:

Not "my" colors either.
The third kit:

Lovely red lace yarn.

If anyone is interested drop me a line. Thanks.

***
Have a wonderful weekend!
***

Another Maggie Video

I think it's hilarious, how hard this little mouse turd is trying to catch up with Happy.



When outside she has only eyes for him, and she goes where he goes. Once she lost him, and ran around the pool, until she found him again. So cute.
***
And as for knitting news. I'm back at my whining stage with these socks.

I've become quite comfortable knitting with two colors, but these socks use 4 colors, but mostly 3 at a time. It's going not too bad considering, but I had to take a break and finally cast on for something I've wanted to do since some time last year.


It's a crochet shawl. It needs blocking for sure, but I think it's very beautiful. The pattern in the book is for a square shawl, but I'm doing it as a triangular shawl. More about it later, but so far I am having a good time with it. Took me a while to figure it out, but I did it.

***

Tired boys are good boys! They had a nasty fight this morning though, but so far no blood. It sounded quite terrible. Always giving me a scare.
***