Fiber Friday

This Friday I don't have finished handspun yarn to show, but some lovely new fiber stash I'll be working on in the future. The top four are Kettle Dyed Shetland Humbug by Shunklies. I LOVE this stuff! I'm nuts about it. The second four are Kettle Dyed Jacobs Humbug. I'm working on Jacob Humbug right now and it's so interesting how the colors turn out. It's easy to spin, even though I find myself picking out guard hair throughout. Jacob fiber is a bit on the rough side. I don't want it anywhere near my neck, but I think it will be nice enough for socks.
The last two fibers are Sweetgeorgia's Fiber Club April and May. I'm looking forward to spinning that up as well. June Fiber is already on its way. Oh, and by the way. I've not renewed my Sock Clubs ( I never want to knit the patterns anyway), but/because I got into HelloYarn Fiber Club!!! Yeah! Thanks to somebody who did not renew there was an open spot for meeeeee!



I'm also going to show you my WIP's. Here's the never ending twisted stitch sock(s). Twisting stitches all the time sure is slow going. The pattern was written for knee highs, but I didn't have enough yarn in my stash for knee highs, so I decided I really wanted to knit this pair, but only for socks. I'm further along than this picture. I finished the big motif you can see here, and the little bell underneath. There should be three or four bells, but for socks it's only got place for one bell. Good enough for me.



Knitting, crocheting or sewing some shopping bags is an ongoing thing right now. Since they started to charge for plastic bags in stores, I've used these bags. We used to use the plastic grocery bags for dog poop removal, but we bought a bunch of biodegradable ones for that now. It's fun to have so many different and colorful reusable bags to go shopping with. I hope I have enough of this yarn left to finish the bag. It's Noro Sakura, left over from my Sakura shawl. I really would not know what else to do with this yarn. Here you see it bottom up.



Believe it or not, here's my Oatmeal Garter Yoke Cardi, as far as I've gotten. I'm mighty proud of myself for starting it, and getting so far, because I had to make modifications to the pattern. I need a larger size as given. I did some mods at the underarm (will explain more in a later post). I had to do some bust shaping, which I had to figure out for myself. I haven't found a link to exactly what I was looking for, but I got some ideas here. You can actually SEE the bust shaping, don't you? :o) I'm using Patons Classic Wool Merino in Oatmeal. It's a nice enough yarn. I'm looking forward to this being finished and fingers crossed, it will fit too! I'm working on this instead of a new blanket for the time being. It should be ready for fall weather, well at least that's my goal. I do get sore shoulders working on this, or maybe I'll get used to it and it will go faster. Maybe.



Meanwhile I'm waiting for Bea's English version of her new sock pattern. I've chosen the yarn, needles are ready, but I don't have to be idle until she's done, as you can see.



***

Biko is fine according to the Vet. The bloodwork is fine, and she's in excellent shape. We all agreed, that the seizure was a one time event. She's enjoying her car rides, they can never be long enough.



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Lace Doily Crochet Bag

I don't like Mondays, especially this one. DH is leaving again, which also brings the baking streak to an end, which is good for all of us. Besides cooking and baking and ironing, I still found time to knit, but crochet even more. There's a line up for FO's to be shown, but my latest FO is jumping the line, just because I'm so happy about it!



I saw this bag Birgit made from some cotton yarn. I remembered having some of this yarn in my stash, but a different colorway. I was going to make a shawl with it, but the idea of a bag was more tempting. I've got the yarn from Melanie. She's got more colorways to choose from now than back when I ordered my yarn. Still I like this one a lot, it reminds me of faded Jeans.



While looking for something in the closet, I found those bamboo handles I bought at a going out of business sale back when. I think I had a fabric bag in mind for those.

I like how single crochet looks as a fabric the best and it's more stable as well. I'm regretting that I used dc for the base, it's way more stretchy. Also I had the bright idea to make a bobble round after the base was finished and before the main body started, should have ripped it out again, but it's too late now. Since there was no pattern to follow it's a wonder it turned out the way it did. I had some trouble with the lining (at the bottom). I sewed it on by hand, which I love to do. Sewing by hand is the second most relaxing thing to do, besides knitting socks.
I inserted a stiff base, for which I made a fabric pouch where I inserted it. I can take it out if I want to, the bag would be a lot more floppy, but at the moment I'm O.K. with how it looks.



Sewing on the handles turned out just right. I had to redo the flap which goes over the bamboo a couple of times, the first time it was not wide enough.

Before lining and putting on the handles it was screaming for embellishments. At first I thought crocheting flowers, but I'm really not THAT kind of girl. I find them cute, yes, nice too, but I would not like to walk around with a bag like that.
I was thinking of some patchwork, playing with fabric, which was more like something I would do. In the end I was excited to be able to combine my love of knitting lace with crochet, and some sewing.

The doily pattern can be found in the book " Knitted Lace" by Sonja Esbensen and Anna Rasmussen. It's design "Kaya" on page 45. I also love it when I get to make things out of books I own!
I've used Royal Classic Crochet Thread size 10 with 1.5mm needles!!! That was the first time I used needles so thin. The beginning was a big PIA! After a few tries I grabbed a crochet hook and cast on this way. It's only 6 stitches in the beginning! Anyway I did it, although I lost track of where the round began, when I did the final three crochet rounds, I just couldn't see it. Now, that it's on the bag it's very obvious, but oh well.



What else can I say about my bag? As soon as it was done, I was itching to start another one. I still have some of this yarn left. I might get to it soon, but for now, I'm working on the second sock of a twisted stitch pair (slow going), and I don't know if I've mentioned it here, I've cast on for a cardi for myself. It's the garter yoke cardi, which I made for Hannah already. It's slow going too. But that's for another post.
Besides that, I'm waiting for another pattern of Bea's to test knit her new socks. I've already picked out the yarn I'm going to use.

Handspun Friday - Wensleydale

I spun this yarn back in the middle of April. It's nothing mind blowing, except I like the curly locks of Wensleydale. I dyed this fiber myself. After finishing the yarn I overdyed it with black.



I had these hanging there for a while, before I got to spinning it. That's probably why one day Biko chewed one of the strands when she felt sick. She's always looking for fiber, mostly grass and leaves, when she feels sick, but that day she had to go look for something inside. I heard a funny noise coming from the living room and saw her standing there, chewing it. :o) To make it easier for her, I let her outside into the backyard.



The color before overdyeing was briliant, later it turned a little dull, but that's what I was going for.


The two skeins look a like, but I've spun one a little thicker than the other, got too impatient with it.

fiber: 8oz Wensleydale
yarn: 1.skein: 199yds - 16WPI, 2.skein: 152yds - 14WPI
plying method: navajo plied

Don't know yet what to do with it, off in the handspun bin it goes.

***

Don't think it's going on like this forever!


My husband's leaving on Monday, and after that there will be no more cake!!!
I made this cherries cake this morning and had a slice all by myself. Will share with the rest of the family later. Claudia, I'm back to using my big mugs for tea. I think the nice china will have to wait for company!
I used the same dough as for the apricot cake (did remember to double the recipe), but instead of almond extract I put some vanilla and brandy extract in it. I left the pits in the cherries to safe the juices.

Hope you are all having a nice weekend!

***

There's a lot of baking going on ....

While uploading some pictures I realized, that I've been baking a lot lately. Enough to make a blog post out of it too!
Every year, when the time comes for apricots to appear in stores, I'm always baking an apricot cake like this:


I bake this once or twice a year, so it's very special. It's been so long since the last time, and I lost my favorite recipe (or can't find it, it's on a loose leaf), so I looked into my old school cookbook for the dough instructions. It's very easy but somehow I did not catch the problem in time. When the dough was done it covered only half the baking sheet, so I had to start over right away (have to remember to double the recipe next time). Anyway, it turned out as wonderful as I'd remembered it. I like how the sweet dough goes well with the sour taste of the apricots (even though I sprinkled some sugar on top of the halfs), it's just the right combination of sour and sweet. Yummy!

Edited to include recipe:
Dough for one baking sheet (if you want to make only a 9" x 13" pan use half the recipe):
160g unsalted butter
240g sugar
4 eggs
rind of one lemon (optional)
1 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
300g all purpose flour
2 teaspoon (flat not heaped) baking powder
6 tablespoons milk

Enough apricot halves to cover the baking sheet (wash and take out the pits)

Preheat oven 200 Celsius.
Combine butter, sugar, eggs, and beat until soft and fluffy. Add lemon rind and almond extract. Add baking powder to flour, add both to butter mixture (a little four, a little milk until all is in the bowl). Spread on baking sheet.
Arrange washed, halfed aprictos with the outside down (press lightly into the dough). Sprinkle some sugar on apricots.
Bake for 20-25 minutes (you can open and check after 15 minutes).
Cut when cooled and dust with iceing sugar before serving.

***


Then, not long after that I discovered that our apples seemed to go bad all at once. My son suggested to bake an Apple Strudel, which I haven't done in ages. The reason is the flour. I can't find the right one for the dough. In Austria there were two kinds of flour, the rougher one, which would be like All Purpose around here, and the fine flour, probably like Cake & Pastry flour, but not quite.

In the upper part of the photo you see the Cake & Pastry flour Apple Strudel, which let itself strech not too bad (compared to what came next). I think it's O.K. but not optimal. I made another dough with the All Purpose flour next, which was close to a disaster. After both doughs rested for half an hour in the fridge, dough 1 let itself be worked. Dough 2 would not be stretched even a little bit. I don't know how I did it to get it on the sheet anyway. In the end both tasted the same, pretty good. And also, why did the one turn brown and not the other? They were treated the same. But as I said, both tasted fingerlicking good. A repeat was requested already. I still have some apples left ...

Edited to include recipe:
dough:
250g (cake & pastry flour) bread flour was suggested by Glen the professional and others, so I will give it a try
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons oil
~ 3/16 liter lukewarm water
a few drops of white vinegar

filling:
100g unsalted butter
60g bread crumbs (not the italien kind)
100g sugar mixed with a little cinnemon
3 tablespoons raisins
1kg peeled and sliced apples

Preheat oven 250 Celsius.
Dough:
Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Mix well. At some point put it out on the counter and knead it very well, slam it against the counter until you have a very smooth surface on the dough. Put some muscle into it, it's important to get it as smooth as possible. It should not stick to your fingers (add a little flour until it stops sticking). When you are satisfied with the dough put it on a plate, brush it with some extra oil, put cellophane over it and let it rest at least half an hour in the fridge (or over night).
While it rests, prepare filling:
Brown butter and bread crumbs (you may want to add an extra table spoon of sugar to this). Let cool. Prepare the apples.
Put some fresh dish towels on the counter, sprinkle with flour. Get the dough and use a rolling bin to gently roll it out a little. Now start stretching the dough into all directions very gently, so it will not break. It should be so thin that you can see through it. The edges will remain a little thicker.
When it's not possible to stretch it any further without ripping holes in it stop. Cut off the thick edge. Brush melted butter on the dough, sprinkle roasted bread crumbs all over, put apples, mixed with raisins and sugar on 1/2 or 2/3 of the dough.
Start rolling the Strudel from the side with the apple filling on it, thucking in the sides. Put it gently on a baking sheet (with baking paper or any other non stick solution on it). Brush with melted butter, stick a fork several times in (along the top) to let air out.
Bake about 30-40 minutes.

This is just one variation of Apple Strudel, there are many.

***





And today I read Claudia's blog post about how to brew good tea, which was a very good read, and she added a Almond Scones recipe, which I had to give a try right away.



I did not have whipped cream at home, which is a good thing, since I LOVE whipped cream and would have eaten too much of it. I did have strawberry/rhubarb jam, and it's soooo good on warm scones.

Well, there goes my low carb diet. Oh well, it's not going on like that forever, but it's nice to treat the family (and myself) to goodies like that once in a while.

***
Biko is doing fine. We'll have tests done next week, but I'm hoping that this was a one time event.
Thank you all, for your concern and your comments with lots of great information and experiences.

***

A Seizure???

Well, which would have been a nice weekend, turned out not so great. Biko had a seizure last night! It was shortly before midnight, right as I was drifting off, when it happened. If you need to get to the light switch fast, you sure won't find it. At first I didn't know what was going on. She wanted to get up but stumbled around, until I held her, and stroked her. She was unfocused and tense. Has anybody experience with seizures? Where did that come from???
After the seizure was over, she relaxed, drank some water, got up, shook and stretched. Then she was annoyed by all the fuss we were making, and wanted to go back to bed. It was scary!!!
I'm going to call the Vet first thing in the morning, so I can understand what's going on. I hope he can enlighten me.

Today we had a lovely walk, and she had great appetite, in fact she was not satisfied with what she got, and stood at her bowl, until I gave her some more. She's not food oriented, so she really only eats when she's hungry.

***

I know it looks really trivial, but I'm still going to show you my potholders. There's more in cheque to be shown, so I have to get on with it. Since she's snoozing right under my desk by my feet, seemingly O.K. now, I can focus on something else.

As I said before I was inspired ne driven to do some potholder crocheting by some lovely examples like here or here or here just to name a few.



At least a couple of years ago, there was a craft shop closing it's doors in a mall, when I happened upon it on their very last day of business. I bought a lot of different things, like this cotton yarn I've used for my potholders. Of course I could not choose my colores, just get what was there. Still, I was happy to find these in my stash. Very useful for this purpose.



I crochet the fronts first, there are still some shapes I would have liked to try out too, but I was afraid I would run out of yarn, since I wanted to do it doubled with backsides. To make this a set I planned on crocheting them all together with red yarn. I like the contrast of the red on dark blue.



1. potholder: Circle of Friends : this is a lovely motif, either in one color or several
2. potholder: Old Fashioned potholder : I did it wrong, but stuck to my mistake and I still liked the result

3. potholder: motif # 125 from the book "Beyond The Square, Crochet Motifs" by Edie Eckman: this was a head scratcher, because you get 5 rounds written as well in a chart, and it says "if you made these rounds you'll understand how to make it larger". Each of these 5 rounds was different, there was no pattern for me to see, but I winged it for a few rounds.

4. potholder: just a simple round crochet, no pattern


My favorites are the "Circle of Friends" and the round potholder. There are so many more out there, but that's O.K. for now. I've already moved on to my next crochet project (a bag). Yes, that's right, I'm totally crochet crazy right now.



Before it was time to pick up my husband from the airport, I had a lovely time on the balcony. I multitasked too. Some crochet, drying my hair, supervising my son mowing the lawn, having tea and apricot cake, which I made in the morning. And also make sure to give Biko a way out, since she always wants to flee when there's a lawn mower in action.

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Handspun Friday - Cabled Yarn 2

I haven't been spinning a lot lately, just a little bit. It's not because of lack of wonderful fiber to play with, it just was too messy around my spinning wheel. Now that it's all cleaned up again, I'm sure I'll be spinning more often. Today's yarn I made back in April. After the first try of cabled spinning turned out so well, I had to give it another try. I love it!


Notice the colors of the bag on the magazine reflect the colors in my fiber!

For some reason I had a lot of FatCatKnits Falkland left over and could make a navajo plied mini skein. I think it would have been pretty on its own, but I really DO love how the cabled yarn turned out.

***
fiber: 4oz Corriedale by Sweetgeorgias March 2009 Fiber Club
4oz Falkland by FatCatKnits (purchased about 2 years ago)
yardage: 328yds cabled yarn (both colorways were navajo plied first, and than cabled together)
WPI: 15

***


Biko is not all that happy these days. Most of the day she's lying around like this, even though she has more comfortable places to be. She doesn't want to play in the backyard. The only times she perks up is, when we tell her to go for a car ride or for a walk. She isn't all that hungry either, but she was never a food oriented dog. She does eat eventually, but it's not the same if she can't "yell" at somebody to stay away from her food bowl, before she's actually starts eating ....

***

To leave you with something crafty, here's a sneak peek of my first potholder. I'm sure you have read about the potholder swap down south of the border. I let myself get so inspired by the beautiful pieces, that I went stash diving and came up with a few colors of cotton DK thread to make a few. It's so much fun! More about them later when all are done.



Have a wonderful weekend!

***

Perfect Weather for Hiking

Yesterday was a beautiful day, sunny but windy and rather on the cool side (14C). I felt chilly all morning until I put knitted socks on. After Lunch I decided to pack up Biko and my son and we went to Mary Lake for a little hike. We've been there once, last fall, without the dogs, since Sam couldn't walk that far, and Biko had to keep him company. This time around she was deliriously happy to join us.



The trail to the lake goes right through some privat grounds, an old farm, where we found pieces of old rusty fences still standing. Pretty, isn't it?



Part of the trail was a little swamp like, but since it was very windy it kept the mosquitoes at bay. We had to watch our steps, or we would have been knee deep in mud.


Here's a rare picture of me in FRONT of the camera. It was at the beginning of the walk, and Biko was still hyper excited. On the way back she was walking in a straight line, not looking left or right, pretty tired out. We should do this more often.

***

Sam Socks

I think it's fitting to post this last post about Sam on what would have been his 7th birthday today.
We brought him home yesterday. It was quite a surprise how professional all this was handled. We did not choose the urn. It came in a dark blue box, and with a Sympathy note, as well as a Certificate of Cremation. Needless to say, I was sad, am sad, but Biko is doing her best to distract me.



I finished the pair of socks I started while sitting with Sam on his last two days.



pattern: Hopper Socks by Priscilla Meredith of Knitbuddies
yarn: Trekking XXL # 107
needles: 2 mm DP
start-finish: May 20-28



I've always liked this stitch pattern and was delighted to find this sock pattern. I'm surprised they fit so well. Usually I knit my socks with 64 stitches on the leg, and 60 stitches for the foot. This pattern starts out with 72 stitches, but decreases down to 56 stitches at the ankle. I tried to knit the heel given in the pattern, but it did not fit as well as I'd liked, so I ripped it out and made my tried and true old German square heel. I could have made the heel flap longer, but did not want to rip it out again. It's O.K. but I had only 3 stitches either side to decrease for the gusset. I worked the sole on 30 stitches, and the instep on 29 stitches. It worked out quite well.
I like the Trekking colorway very much, it reminds me of strawberries with their leaves attached, or water melon, either are yummy.

***

My Babette is done!

So, a couple of weeks ago I finished my Babette blanket. Crocheting the squares was great fun and went fast. I started with the biggest first down to the small ones.
I did not block the squares but steam ironed them on the wrong side. The finished squares had a few days to get over the harsh steam handling, before I mustered the courage to assemble the whole thing.
I knew if I had to sew them together, it would never be done. And I also knew, that sewing with Noro Kureyon was out of the question, the yarn would break every couple of stitches.

I've crochet toegether squares on the backside before, using slip stitch. That of course left a million ends to weave in. I did not want to do that here, even though I worked in the ends as I went. It would have been only the ends created by crocheting the squares together. Still, I didn't want to do even those, that's why I choose to crochet them together with single crochet. In the end I had four ends to weave in, those ends I just missed during the procedure.

My Babette was hard to capture with my camera, as you can see here. The side in the shade looks right, the sunny side looks washed out, and that's just not what it looks like. Even though, I'm a little dissapointed how the colores turned out.

I love the orange squaers popping out. I'm not a fan of the border either. I made 5 rounds, two rounds just didn't look right to me. The border is a little wavey, but I can live with that. A surprise was, that after washing the blanket (with beating heart) in the washing machine (on handwash, cold only) it came out a tiny bit felted, which I thought was fine, it holds the blanket together, but also softer. I did not get that with my other Noro Kureyon blanket, it did not soften up like this one. Now, that's a good thing!


While I was assembling the blanket there was a big thunderstorm, and Sam was afraid of the thunder. He thought section 10 was the savest place in the house. He didn't even mess it up that much.

pattern: Babette by Kathy Merrick (ravelry link) from Interweave Crochet, Spring 2006 magazine or find it at Interweave online store

yarn: Noro Kureyon in color # 92-10x, # 185-4x, # 188-8x; 2 balls for crocheting the squares together (lost color #) and 4 balls for border - 28 balls Noro Kureyon altogether.

hook: H 5mm

size: after washing (handwash in machine): 56" x 58" : it softened somewhat with the wash and it felted a little, not much, and I like it, it holds the blanket together.

start-finish: April 17 - May 12

fazit: I would make this blanket again. It was great fun!


I like this shot of the blanket best, because the colors are the most accurate (and because Sam's on it too).

***

Delores took the time to make this youtube tribute to Sam. If you'd like to watch it click here. That was such a kind and sweet thing to do. Thank you, Delores!

***

Remembering Sam

Thank you so much, everyone, for your kind words in comments and e-mails. I didn’t think it would help, but it does. Tears welled up, and didn’t stop flowing, while reading them. I’ve never lost anyone so dear to my heart before, for which I’m grateful.

We had dogs before, and I cried over their loss. I loved them, as I do love Biko, but Sam was different. I had a special bond with him. From the first time I saw him.

He was one of two boys in a litter of four pups. We did not have first pick, but during our visits at the breeders, I knew I wanted him. I was relieved when the breeder told me, I’ve got my wish. I don’t know how, and why, but we formed a special bond right from the beginning.

I have to go back even further. My son worked on a horse farm on weekends and on school breaks. We both took riding lessons their. They had three dogs, and David loved them so much, that we decided to get our own dog. It took us six month to find a breed we wanted. The farm dogs had names starting with the letter “B” (Bella, Bailey and Bandit), so David picked “Biko”. She was very much his dog from the beginning (I was and am just her servant). I wanted a dog of my own and we fell in love with these beautiful White Shepherds. I had dreams of a dog on my side called “Sam”, it was not a White Shepherd, I think it was a mix of Golden Retriever and Labrador in my dreams. Anyway, six month later we welcomed Samson into our lives.

One day we brought Sam along to the horse farm for a picnic, I let him run around free; he was not quite three month old. He never ventured far from me, but once he was under a table somewhere (I could still see him) and I was going to the car. I called out, “Sam, come!”, and people laughed and said to me, that with this age, they don’t listen to that. Well he proved them wrong, because sure enough he turned and came bustling over as quickly as he could. I was very proud of him.

He was always sensitive to loud noises, and exited talking. He was like a barometer for your mood and level of excitement. You sure couldn’t get too excited around him. He was afraid of thunderstorms, and fire works, and bubble gum exploding in your face (I did that once with him by my side, after his reaction I never chewed bubble gum again.)
One of our Vets once said, “He’s got all the personality, none of the legs.” He really was a gentle character.

I have sweet and funny memories of him, and hundreds of pictures. Over the last two days I looked through all of them. Remembering they cheered me up and made me laugh, then cry.

One thing of many, I loved about him was, when he saw me getting ready to go out, he always wanted to know if he could come too, or what was going on. Since as great as he was, he could not speak, he tried to get eye contact, even if it meant to dance around me for me to notice. Once I got it, I looked at him, he had his eyes on mine, his head slightly tilted, and I told him either yes, he could come too, or no he had to stay home. The first brought forth a yapping dervish, the later a good doggy, who walked to his bed in the kitchen, where he stayed napping until my return.

The first time we went to the Vet with him he said, this little guy will be in trouble because of his outward pointing paws. It looked cute, but it would be painful for him in the future. Sam had to endure seven surgeries during his life. It started with neutering, which was not as simple as it should have been, since only one testicle was descended and they had to look for the other one. Next were his two elbows, followed by both his knees, one even twice, since about two weeks after the surgery something happened to the knee again. And as if that wasn’t enough, he almost lost a toe during playing outside. All this pressed into the seven years of his life. Poor Sam didn't quite make it to his 7th birthday on May 30th.

He had severe arthritis in his elbows and knees. We managed with medication for a while. Last Friday we went to see the Vet, and he thought it was time for Sam, but I was not ready. Sam was still running around, playing outside with his ball, playing tuck-of-war with me, chasing chipmunks (as if he ever had a chance), but he was moving on his own!
Only a few days after the visit to the Vet, Sam was enjoying the warmer weather and sunshine out in the backyard, playing his own little game with me, were he comes up to me, barks and looks back at his Jollyball at the other side of the pool. He would bark at me as long as it takes to get me going, in a mock race to get to the ball first. Of course I let him win all the time. He used to do that several times, but on that day, once was enough for him.

That evening when it was time to go outside to pee, he had much trouble getting up on his feet, and he was wobbly and very stiff. We helped him with the steps, and thought he just overdid it during the day.
To give him rest, my son carried him up and down the stairs as often as Sam needed to go outside to pee. The next morning, it was apparent that he had not improved at all, if anything it was worse. He could barely stand while peeing. That’s when I knew it was time to let him go. I was going to call the Vet the next morning. That day and during the night we sat with him, giving him as much water as he wanted, carrying him outside to pee (he weight 100lbs). I was still hoping that he would be his normal self again in the morning, so I could hold off on the call. We did not sleep much; he never changed places, which both dogs normally do during the night.

In the morning when David was picking him up, Sam yelped for the first time in pain. He only peed once that morning. I called the Vet’s office early, to get him to call back as soon as he could. I was not able to talk to him on the phone once he did, I cried too much. My son made the arrangements.
We sat with him until it was time to go. With a blanket we managed to carry him to the car. He was actually very happy to go for a car ride. He was alert, loving the treats we gave him, but also calm, not as hyper excited as usual.

At the Vets they had prepared a room for us. Seeing their sympathy in the staff’s faces, made me cry real hard, they even hugged me. I had no recollection of that, later my son told me they did (that’s weird, huh?).
I wanted to be with Sam to his last breath. The Vet explained to us what he would do, and what would happen. While he was preparing for what he needed, kneeling beside Sam, my Son on the other side to assist him, I was in front of Sam. He caught my eyes, held eye contact for so long, and he was calm (usually he was yapping bloody murder while being there). I think he knew what was coming, and he was alright with it.

Sam was more than just a pet to me; he was my friend, my companion, a family member. I miss him terrible. I keep having moments where I think, we’ve got to pick up Sam from the Vet’s. Or walking through the house, I think there’s something missing, something out of balance, until it hits me – Sam’s missing. Than I had a moment, where I realized I will never touch him again, never scratch his bum, cut his nails, feed him, and hear his yapping, smell his doggy breath. I will never be able to look into his eyes anymore, and the tears won’t stop flowing.

Sam, my sweet boy, you were my “once in a lifetime” dog, I will never forget you!

And Biko? She always was an independent dog, but I noticed her following me around more. But there is a good thing, if you can believe it. We can do more now with only Biko left, since we don't have to worry about Sam being stuck at home alone. She's enjoying more car rides, more walks, longer walks.

Thank you all for your sympathy! I promise there will be knitting content on this blog again soon! I started knitting socks while sitting with Sam during his last two days. I will finishe them, even though right now, I don't want to look at them.

I wish you all a wonderful weekend.

PS There will be one more trip to the Vet’s to pick up Sam for the last time, when we will bring home his ashes.

PPS Our Vet sent us flowers. How very thoughful!

***

Sam's gone ...

Rest in peace my dear sweet boy! My heart aches for you.



Samson, May 30, 2002 - May 21, 2009

***

Sunday Morning Shawls

It's very easy to get used to not blogging. It's not that I don't have anything to show, but sometimes I just don't feel like it. I'm sure everybody has times like that.

The last few days were very chilly around here. The furnace has been turned off for quite some time now, and guess what? I would never have thought it possibel, but I DID wear some of my shawls! Especially in the mornings, but the last two days, I wore them throughout the day. I would have loved to slip into a knit jacket, but I haven't knit one yet. It's mid May already, and no cardi in site. Do you think this year will go by withought me knitting a jacket for myself? I'm not sure myself. I sure would like to have one right now. (By the way, I've been thinking of starting my Christmas knitting soon, haven't you?)

Anyway, until then, shawls will have to do.

Back in March I've knit these three Sunday morning shawls within 2 weeks. I was a little obsessed with this technique of using up sock yarn leftovers, combined with black lace weight yarn. I thought I could go on forever, knitting only these shawls, but after the third, I needed a break.



free pattern: Sunday Morning Shawl by Martina Kastanek (find it on ravelry)
yarn: sock yarn left overs
needle: 3.75mm
size: as large as you like, the first one (orange/red) was 30" x 65" after blocking, but it was not stretched heavily
start-finish: March 1 - 15




The original shawl has a ruffle edge, like my third shawl. I thought I don't like ruffles, so I did a picot edge on the first one, and a loopy crochet edge on the second one. By the third, I liked the ruffles too. I've still got lots of sock yarn leftovers, and continuously adding to it, so there might be more of these in the future. They are easy and mindless knitting.



It would be intersting how a shawl like these would look like with white lace, maybe for a summerly look?



****


I was about to tell you about my upcoming trip to Austria, but I had to cancel it. Sam's not too well, and I can't leave him alone. The Vet said I should say goodbye to him rather sooner then later, but I can't, not yet ( haveing to make a decision like that is brutal). As long as he's playful, alert, has a healthy appetite and can walk outside to pee on his own, I can't let him go. We increased his pain medication, and now we enjoy every day together to the fullest. He's always by my side, no matter what I do around the house. In fact, I'm going to go outside with him right now, to enjoy the late afternoon sunshine. His red Jollyball is waiting....

Just a quick one....

I'll be back to regular blogging next week. Just can't let this week go by without some pictures.

What are you up to, Biko?


Who? Me? - Nothin'


Nothing goes without the red ball, right Sam?


click pics for big



I wish you all a wonderful weekend!

Handspun Friday - Panda

fiber source: sweetgeorgia
fiber: Panda: 60% merino 30% bamboo 10% nylon, 1.7oz (50g)
yardage: ~202yds
plying: navajo plied
WPI: did not measure, but its' fingering weight yarn

Too bad I couldn't get more of this fiber. It was lovely to spin with and the color is beautiful. No clue what to do with it, so in the bin it goes.

***

As of April 29th, I've crochet all squares for the Babette blanket. I've started to assemble them. Crocheting those 126 squares was fun and not boring. I worked in the ends as I finished them. Assembling them is the hard part.