Pause

Hi friends,
I’ll be away from the blog for a while. I don’t want to leave you hanging and wondering. It’s not that I don’t want to blog anymore, I DO. There’s just stuff going on, which needs my attention, and an upcoming trip (actually there's two) and so much more. I’m not sure about the time frame myself, but I’ll be back. Until then, happy knitting, happy crafting, enjoy life, see you soon!
Monika

I'll leave you with Happy's trip to petsmart on September 4th:

This was his third trip to the shop. The first time he went with David alone. I was told it was a success. The second time I went there with him, alone. It was - "fun". We were strolling through the aisle, when suddenly a big (tiny) 1o week old Labrador puppy emerged. Happy was 13 weeks old that day. This little pup was a real man eater (not), and Happy peed himself in fear. After the pup growled at Happy (very cute 10 week old growling), Happy thought it was best to blend in and disappear on a stuffed toy shelf. I was embarrassed for him, but he didn't care.
After I cleaned up his mess, and the coast was clear to move on, we did.
Next aisle over we found us head to head with a blue Thai-Ridgeback, fully grown female. Scary looking to me, but Happy knew exactly what to do, and approached her, like a good puppy would. She just stood there, regally, ignoring him totally.

Well, next time was the charm. Once again we strolled down the aisles (looking for scarry puppies) something tasty:

(God, he looks like a Chihuahua in this picture)

when we came upon his favorite treat, or rather the empty space where it should have been ...



he got cranky (kids always want the things they can't have; nothing else would do)



Dear God why is there so much to choose from???

***

Well, Happy is much older, braver, and wiser now. He's 17 weeks now after all. We've visited petsmart several times since, and he's enjoying it more and more.

Rain?

Last time it rained here was September 5th.


What's that? Rain?



I know I said I had to go, but ...



.... do I REALLY have to?



All right, all right, if you insist!

Looks like we are going to have rain today - maybe.

***

Handspun Friday - sw Merino

Just one thing before we get to the fiber: If you work with a hungry puppy, training him with kibble, make sure the first word he learns is "gentle" or else get a steel glove. Just saying.



At the beginning of August Marianne surprised me with this superwash merino fiber in a very unusual colorway. I was not sure how to spin it until I opened the braid. It screamed to be navajo plied with long color repeats. So that's what I did. Why make it complicated, when it's telling you what to do. Just a couple of weeks later I spun this up in a hurry. It was such a pleasure to spin merino, since I've been spinning much rougher fiber lately.




I was going to knit with it right away, but as always other things got in the way. It's been close to a month now, since I've spun something. I hope I'll be back to spinning soon. I miss it. It's relaxing, and I just like to make yarn, thinking about what it could be some day.



This yarn is a little bit of a challenge for me, because it's so colorful. I think it would be perfect for a baby item, but I've filled my quota for this year.

fiber: sw merino, 4oz from Fluff-n-Stuff
yarn: ~ 392yds navajo plied

See what I've to look forward to? That's stuff from Fluff-n-Stuff, and the funny looking batt was another freebie!



I really can't wait to get back to spinning!

Now I go put some band-aids on my hand.

***

Baby Alicia's Overall

I should apologize to Baby Alicia. My intentions were loving and pure, but the making of this overall got on my nerves. I blame the pattern. There was something fishy about it. I made the size for 3 month. It looks pretty small to me, but it's been a long time since I had a Baby in my arms. If all else fails, it will probably fit a doll or a Teddy Bear. There should have been a cardigan, as well as a pair of booties, but wouldn't you know it, as soon as the overall was done, it hopped right into the mailing box. It would not wait a minute longer to go on it's journey to Europe. Who am I to hold it back another couple of days? Farewell unloved overall, I hope you are good for something!

The yarn was gorgeous to work with though. It's sweetgeorgia yarns handpainted socks, in the colorway "afterglow". Just right for some baby knits, don't you think?

How can two such small pieces have so many ends to weave in? To my surprise the sewing was not the worst thing, even though I always dread it. It has a zen-like effect on me. During sewing I start thinking, and I wasn't done thinking when I was done sewing.

pattern: "The perfect ensemble" from the book "Chic Knits for Stylish Babies" by Patricia Wagner
yarn: sweetgeorgia yarns handpainted sock, 100% merino, colorway "Afterglow", 1 skein 112g/ 420yds, a little left over
needle: mostly 3mm, and 2.5mm for garter ridges around the edges
size: 3 month
start-finish: September 08 - 15 (I think in this case speed counts, because babies grow fast)




I should have knit a baby blanket. It would have made me happy, and it would have been useful longer for Baby Alicia as well. Next time ...

I don't think my cousin Romy or any of her family members are reading here, so I can show it to you right away. If I'm wrong, well Hellooo! :o)

***

Happy - 4 month old

Happy is 4 month old today and weighs 17kg, despite that he's allergic to (probably) rice, and we are having a hard time getting this issue under control. It looks like he's inherited this from his mom.


He's learned to step UP on this thing, and wait for the release O.K. I don't use it anymore, so I was glad that I remembered having it in the first place. Happy loves to stand there. He even does it on his own, without being asked.



Last Saturday we had our first training lesson with dog trainer Ginny. It was not easy to find someone, with which we are comfortable with, or who would even return our calls/e-mails! On Sunday we went to the Canine Sniffer Instinct seminar Ginny was holding. It was very intersting as well.
With Happy we decided to try clicker/treat training, which works very well, since he loves his food!


Monkey see, monkey do!


I like this picture because of the shadow.

The one place Biko can be sure he does not follow her is the pool:



Well, enough with the doggies already. Next time there will be somthing fibery, I promise!

***

Modified Sakura Shawl

Some time in July somebody wanted to knit my Sakura Cherry Blossom shawl, but she could not get further then the 34 rows I wrote out. She asked me rather rude for help, apologized later, so I sat down and cast on for the shawl to see how I could help her (it has been rather a long time since I worked on this myself). I wrote out another 30 rows after that, and was wishing for her to see how to proceed from there. I've never heard from her again. I think it's too easy now with the Internet pounding out an e-mail if there's a problem, instead of sitting down and trying to figure it out for oneself. I admit I've done it too, but learned from this experience to really only use this way of getting help if all else fails. Don't get me wrong, I'd like to help if I can.



At first I thought what a waste of my time. I had just grabbed some yarn in my stash, which I was not too fond of. I ripped it out again, but was thinking why not give it another try, but a little different.



I changed the edge increases so I could pick up stitches easier later on. Next after a few pillar stitch patterns followed by garter stitch rows, I increased the garter stitch rows from the initial 3 ridges by two ridges after each pillar segment. I lost patience and interest after I reached 11 ridges (I know short attention span). It was just a whim after all. What I really was after was the edging! I always wanted to knit a sideways edging, but so far never got to it. I liked this edge design from the moment I first saw it. It comes in different sizes. Mine I picked out of "A Gathering of Lace". It takes a while to knit, but I was so happy with every stitch I made.

The truth about this project whether it would be a success or not would reveal itself after blocking. And you really have to block this shawl, because of the pillar stitch pattern it leans heavily to the right. The border opened up nicely!



I'm especially proud of the tip, with some few extra short rows I got around it in a round way:



What the heck, I did a crochet bind off on the top edge too, just so.


The yarn was some sale yarn from elann. It's Australian merino wonderful soft, but made a little scratchy by the lame thread. I WAS thinking of spinning something like that some day, but not anymore. Anyway, sometimes I like shiny.



pattern: my own
yarn: King Australian Merino & Lame, 4.5 balls, each 50g/175yds, 91% sw merino 9% lame, color# 81
needle: 4mm
size after blocking: 34" x 56"
start-finish: July 14 - 22

***

Happy - 15 weeks old

Happy's 15 weeks old today, and weighs 16.55kg/36.4lbs (I made him sit on the bathroom scale so I'm not sure it's totally right). As you can see he's naked. His collar is still wet from yesterdays bubble bath.


I took these two photos with the zoom from my shady spot under the umbrella. It's too hot to get down and dirty. Happy likes his shady spot too. Only Biko pretends to want to play fetch, but after I threw the ball, she just watched it disapear in the bushes.



***

just playing ...

Yesterday, when I woke up, there was total silence outside. Usually shortly before dawn breaks, birds start singing. Was this the first sign of Fall approaching? Today though, it was like a madhouse. Squirrls made so much noise, it sounded like upheaval in the monkey house, Crows, Cardinals were all protesting about something very loudly. Happy and I had a nice sleep in. It's a holiday, so it's allowed. Speaking of monkey, Happy is quite the little monkey himself.
Playing fetch with Biko got severely interupted by him.

He's stalking her bringing the ball back:


then takes it away from her and runs. She looks a little flabbergasted.



She's still not realized that he's not playing by her rules, like Sam did. Usually she would drop the ball a few meters before me, to be picked up by Sam, who would bring me the ball. She obviously wanted Happy to do that as well, but he always grabs it and runs off with it, leaving her to go after him to get it back.



It's great fun for him, and you can almost hear him giggling. At the end of the chase he just flops down on his back, and let her have it until the next round.



On crafting news: I'm working on a secret project, just something I can't show here yet (because SHE is reading my blog); I spin a little. My Cousin Romy had a baby girl, so I've got to knit something for her as well. I found a pattern last night, have to dig out some yarn. It's NOT going to be a baby blanket (gasp), even though I would love to knit one, but it would take too long. The single socks are still waiting for their partners, but they are on the back burner, as is my cardigan. So, I better hop to it!

Have a nice Labor Day!

***

Hannah's Hooded Scarf

Today Hannah's going back to Halifax for another school year there. I've just finished her socks, and the hooded scarf in time, so she can take it with her.



I really like this design. I was surprised to find, that you can even get used to working with crappy yarn. But I can't get used to knitting with 7mm needles, that was very unpleasant. My fingers, hands and wrists hurt, and I had to push each stitch off the needle on to the other. No wonder it took so long. Looking at the finished thing, it was a sweaters worth of knitting, at least in Hannah size. Not a fast, and last minute knit.



If I really had to, I would knit this again, but only with the softest yarn. I like anything "hoodie".

The stitch pattern is called "Fisherman's rib" where you slip every second stitch, every row. So even with the thick yarn, progress was slow. Anyway, I did it. I did not get to wash it though, but with acrylic yarn it would not matter, only there are some"Happy coodies" on it. (he chewed on the yarn several times, ran away with a ball still attached to the knitting a couple of times, from the living room to the kitchen) At least I picked out the white hairs, not just his, but Biko's also.

Happy tried to help me, by eating/shredding the instructions, because I was complaining so much. Thanks, Honey!



pattern: from Rebecca Design Team, # 35, Modell # 11
yarn: Mary Maxim's Titan (Hannah selected that yarn for her hooded pullover last year, but we got the original yarn from Angelika instead; that's why I had this yarn at hand, so glad it's out of my stash now), color # 521, 10 balls, (1 ball is ~ 80 yds)
needle: 7mm addi click circ
start-finish: Aug. 27 - Sept. 02

After knitting this scarf, I was craving to knit with thin needles, and to have to finish the second sock of this pair, was just right to keep me sane.



yarn: Mary Maxim's Gemstones, 2 balls (I think) it's color # 23 (Garnet?)
needles: 2.25mm
cast on 60 stitches, reduced to 56 for the foot

Now I'm supposed to knit 3 pairs of fingerless mittens, but I think I need a break from knitting, and spin instead. Yeah, that's what I'll do.

***

Happy - 14 weeks old - 33.7lbs

Who are you, and why are you wearing my colors???


... until we meet again ...


***