I hate having to leave Genevieve home alone, because we always have to
put her in her crate because she might get into everything- or torture
and taunt Buster into full psychosis. So, we tried something new. We
knew she was able to pull the gate down, so that wasn't an option. We
tried something new, creating a huge barrier system using heavy
household items, and she pulled the gate down anyway. She is one smart
escape artist!
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
sepia at the zoo
I really liked the visual repetition of the leaf-less tree and this
thing's "horns" at the National Zoo, in Washington, D.C.
thing's "horns" at the National Zoo, in Washington, D.C.
good news
After our third tail-related trip to the vet for Buster, we received
good word from the vet. All his time "coned" and all the time we spent
giving him drugs, spraying his tail with numbing spray, etc. has paid
off. Buster will not have to have part of his tail amputated, as we had
feared. Hooray for pembrokes with tails!
We finally bathed him and Genevieve tonight. They were long overdue.
good word from the vet. All his time "coned" and all the time we spent
giving him drugs, spraying his tail with numbing spray, etc. has paid
off. Buster will not have to have part of his tail amputated, as we had
feared. Hooray for pembrokes with tails!
We finally bathed him and Genevieve tonight. They were long overdue.
Happy, though "coned" Buster
Poor Buster. He's a bit of a misfit, with an injured tail, and a third
eyelid "cherry eye" problem that we've learned to live with. But
doesn't he look as happy as can be given his circumstances? Plus, on
Wednesday night, after work, we were given the go-ahead to try taking
off his cone, so he can resume regular dog-like behaviors. We've had to
hold his food and water bowls up to his mouth so he could eat, and he
has become reckless with his cone, just ramming into us, wherever we
are.
eyelid "cherry eye" problem that we've learned to live with. But
doesn't he look as happy as can be given his circumstances? Plus, on
Wednesday night, after work, we were given the go-ahead to try taking
off his cone, so he can resume regular dog-like behaviors. We've had to
hold his food and water bowls up to his mouth so he could eat, and he
has become reckless with his cone, just ramming into us, wherever we
are.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Here is a short movie about my dogs
Check it out here, I couldn't quite send it straight to my blog, so you will have to click on the link to watch the show.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
here she comes!
Geneweasel loved running free, and being a dog at the cabin. She would
sit and look at me, and I would crouch down to the ground and she would
barrel her way at me, as fast as her little legs carried her. She
smiled the whole way.
sit and look at me, and I would crouch down to the ground and she would
barrel her way at me, as fast as her little legs carried her. She
smiled the whole way.
The made wrong souffle
It sort of turned out though. I forgot to beat the egg whites before
adding them, and we didn't have a mixer, but we still ate souffle,
honeyed breakfast souffle at our friends' cabin.
adding them, and we didn't have a mixer, but we still ate souffle,
honeyed breakfast souffle at our friends' cabin.
The first lampshade, too small
We had to upgrade from the 24 inch size to the 300 inch, I mean, 30
inch size.
inch size.
Speaking of tails...buster has a boo-boo
We believe Buster chased his tail too much. We had to bring him to the
vet. They shaved the tip of his tail, gave us lots of drugs to give
him, and sent us home with an Elizabethan collar/party hat/lampshade,
whatever you want to call it. It was not big enough, and Buster spent
all night after the vet chasing and sometimes reaching his tail. The
next morning I had to go to my work meeting late, as I had to make an
urgent trip to a more local vet to get a bigger E-collar. The size I
came home with was "the one the Great Danes wear" said the vet tech.
Little medium corgi Buster in the Great Dane E-collar, poor boy. We are
hoping and praying hard for happy tail news, and quick healing. Buster
is more than ready to get that awful collar off.
vet. They shaved the tip of his tail, gave us lots of drugs to give
him, and sent us home with an Elizabethan collar/party hat/lampshade,
whatever you want to call it. It was not big enough, and Buster spent
all night after the vet chasing and sometimes reaching his tail. The
next morning I had to go to my work meeting late, as I had to make an
urgent trip to a more local vet to get a bigger E-collar. The size I
came home with was "the one the Great Danes wear" said the vet tech.
Little medium corgi Buster in the Great Dane E-collar, poor boy. We are
hoping and praying hard for happy tail news, and quick healing. Buster
is more than ready to get that awful collar off.
dogs as portraits
I got a new camera, so naturally I took an inordinate amount of new dog
pics. Here is one of my favorites. It captures the intelligent side of
Buster.
pics. Here is one of my favorites. It captures the intelligent side of
Buster.
I have been up to trouble...
Does this yarn look vaguely familiar to you? Kelle referenced this by
saving "I know what you un-did last night..." Yes, it is true- I
frogged a complete sweater, post seaming, post several wearings. The
yarn to the left of the cardigan front is the rest of the former
sweater.
Why? you ask- Because I could, and because I believe I can knit it
better, to fit me. Notice those drastic waist decreases, and improved
armhole shaping, extended length, etc. I even took the liberty to
change the garter stitch like pattern, and knit the Cascade 220 blue
yarn in stockinette stitch, and alternated with the Noro Kujaku done in
2 rows of garter. I wanted the Noro yarn to show through more, and now
it does. In fact, I really like the way it looks so far.
I bought the best knitting design book, possibly ever, called
"Designing Knitwear." It was just what I needed. It offers all sorts of
mathy ways to make your sweater fit, just like I wanted it to do. Of
course the true test will be the seaming.
So far I have knit nearly both cardigan fronts. Next will be the back,
then the sleeves.
In the total frogging I spent 2 days unseaming the sweater (I had
twisted the alternate yarn together to carry it up the striping sides),
and a day unwinding the yarn, and winding it into hanks, then I
carefully washed and dried it, weighted with plastic hangers to get the
kinks out. I had to wait 2 days for it to dry, then wound it in balls.
Then, I carefully measured 2 favorite sweaters, one was from Express,
the other from J Crew, to find ideal sweater measurements.
I liked the original design I had knit, which utilized the extra inches
of knit fabric to fold down and to the inside to form a long hem and a
jacket-like look and feel to the cardigan. So I planned this extra
material into the pattern. I mostly winged it with the shapings, using
k2tog, and ssk decreases 2 sts in from the edges till the waist
shaping. At that point I did the decreases carefully spaced into the
rows, to achieve a waist-like decrease. Then, I increased knitting into
the front and back of the stitch 2 sts in from the end of the right
side rows until I reached the bust size.
At that point I did the armhole decreases on the right sides, on every
right side row, and did shaping for the neckline. I completed the front
piece by a three tier binding off to create shoulder shaping.
How is this different from the original pattern? Jane Ellison is the
designer who created the Gloria sweater in the Noro book. Her design
had too deep of armholes for me, and the shoulder shaping hit me at the
wrong places, after my shoulders. On the model in the book the sweater
looks shapely and fitted, on me it did not. I changed the st pattern
that was all garter stitch, added waist shaping, lengthened the
sweater, added additional shoulder shaping, and decreased the armhole
depth. I am also planning to add the bottom garter sittch "hem" later,
after seaming the sweater so it can be one continuous piece with colors
that transition smoothly. I will change the sleeves too, so they don't
hang down so much, and make them shapely, like they were on this
sweater the last time I knit it. That's all. Not too different, eh?
saving "I know what you un-did last night..." Yes, it is true- I
frogged a complete sweater, post seaming, post several wearings. The
yarn to the left of the cardigan front is the rest of the former
sweater.
Why? you ask- Because I could, and because I believe I can knit it
better, to fit me. Notice those drastic waist decreases, and improved
armhole shaping, extended length, etc. I even took the liberty to
change the garter stitch like pattern, and knit the Cascade 220 blue
yarn in stockinette stitch, and alternated with the Noro Kujaku done in
2 rows of garter. I wanted the Noro yarn to show through more, and now
it does. In fact, I really like the way it looks so far.
I bought the best knitting design book, possibly ever, called
"Designing Knitwear." It was just what I needed. It offers all sorts of
mathy ways to make your sweater fit, just like I wanted it to do. Of
course the true test will be the seaming.
So far I have knit nearly both cardigan fronts. Next will be the back,
then the sleeves.
In the total frogging I spent 2 days unseaming the sweater (I had
twisted the alternate yarn together to carry it up the striping sides),
and a day unwinding the yarn, and winding it into hanks, then I
carefully washed and dried it, weighted with plastic hangers to get the
kinks out. I had to wait 2 days for it to dry, then wound it in balls.
Then, I carefully measured 2 favorite sweaters, one was from Express,
the other from J Crew, to find ideal sweater measurements.
I liked the original design I had knit, which utilized the extra inches
of knit fabric to fold down and to the inside to form a long hem and a
jacket-like look and feel to the cardigan. So I planned this extra
material into the pattern. I mostly winged it with the shapings, using
k2tog, and ssk decreases 2 sts in from the edges till the waist
shaping. At that point I did the decreases carefully spaced into the
rows, to achieve a waist-like decrease. Then, I increased knitting into
the front and back of the stitch 2 sts in from the end of the right
side rows until I reached the bust size.
At that point I did the armhole decreases on the right sides, on every
right side row, and did shaping for the neckline. I completed the front
piece by a three tier binding off to create shoulder shaping.
How is this different from the original pattern? Jane Ellison is the
designer who created the Gloria sweater in the Noro book. Her design
had too deep of armholes for me, and the shoulder shaping hit me at the
wrong places, after my shoulders. On the model in the book the sweater
looks shapely and fitted, on me it did not. I changed the st pattern
that was all garter stitch, added waist shaping, lengthened the
sweater, added additional shoulder shaping, and decreased the armhole
depth. I am also planning to add the bottom garter sittch "hem" later,
after seaming the sweater so it can be one continuous piece with colors
that transition smoothly. I will change the sleeves too, so they don't
hang down so much, and make them shapely, like they were on this
sweater the last time I knit it. That's all. Not too different, eh?
Friday, August 04, 2006
bunnies and weekends
It's Friday!
I tried to sleep in a bit, till 7:30 would have been fine, or 8 even better, but the dogs would not settle down! They were barking, and barking, excited to help DH leave for work. I was only able to set up one appt. today- due to summer scheduling. So, I thought, I will sleep in a bit, and then do paperwork.
This weekend we will be in WI for the annual DH's parents' weekend- Troy was up late last night baking a surprise for them while I knit on a commissioned project. The project is called a bunny blanket buddy, and uses Lion Brand Velvetspun. The yarn is really soft but does not have any stretch to it, making it a bit tiring on the hands to knit. I began this a few weeks ago, and in the course of last night, DH had an hour and 22 min. long haircut at the Scot Lewis training salon, while I knit in the waiting section. I didn't know what had happened back there with the haircut- had they messed up really bad and had to fix it? Did my husband disappear? After I had doubled the size of the knitted part DH was returned to me, with nice producty "up" hair.
Back to the morning- I packed my bag for the weekend already, so that's set. Now our dogs are quiet and calm, and relaxed, now that mommy is awake. I suppose I should do my work now.
I tried to sleep in a bit, till 7:30 would have been fine, or 8 even better, but the dogs would not settle down! They were barking, and barking, excited to help DH leave for work. I was only able to set up one appt. today- due to summer scheduling. So, I thought, I will sleep in a bit, and then do paperwork.
This weekend we will be in WI for the annual DH's parents' weekend- Troy was up late last night baking a surprise for them while I knit on a commissioned project. The project is called a bunny blanket buddy, and uses Lion Brand Velvetspun. The yarn is really soft but does not have any stretch to it, making it a bit tiring on the hands to knit. I began this a few weeks ago, and in the course of last night, DH had an hour and 22 min. long haircut at the Scot Lewis training salon, while I knit in the waiting section. I didn't know what had happened back there with the haircut- had they messed up really bad and had to fix it? Did my husband disappear? After I had doubled the size of the knitted part DH was returned to me, with nice producty "up" hair.
Back to the morning- I packed my bag for the weekend already, so that's set. Now our dogs are quiet and calm, and relaxed, now that mommy is awake. I suppose I should do my work now.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Tank's first day out...
Today at SnB I shed my Michael Kors argyle sweater vest to put on my freshly knit tank top. It fits really well! I was quite excited that it fit well plus there were no errors in the pattern.
I have to give a few shout outs to SNB'ers. Ok, click on that link in the last sentence for the Urban Dictionary webpage. We gave my brother-in-law slang flashcards since my brother had some and he liked them so much, but this is an actual online urban dictionary. I suppose your could make your own at home!
Thanks Lisa for returning my mint plant in such abundant health! I will have to loan it to you more often!
Thanks to Connie for sharing her home-made pumpkin empanadas for our multicultural Dia de Los Muertes celebration.
Thanks to my favorite knitting wizardess, Kelle, for the kind apprenticeship and tutelage this afternoon. It is because of your great knitting wisdom that I was able to thoughtfully select the cast on for my next big project.
Which is where I will end today- I started some type of cable cast-on for my project- nope, didn't like it. Then, I started the long-tail cast-on, too boring, but alas, the crochet cast-on was just right, so goldilocks drank all the porridge. Is that how that story goes? I think I am mixing up the three little pigs with the three little bears, or something like that.
I have to give a few shout outs to SNB'ers. Ok, click on that link in the last sentence for the Urban Dictionary webpage. We gave my brother-in-law slang flashcards since my brother had some and he liked them so much, but this is an actual online urban dictionary. I suppose your could make your own at home!
Thanks Lisa for returning my mint plant in such abundant health! I will have to loan it to you more often!
Thanks to Connie for sharing her home-made pumpkin empanadas for our multicultural Dia de Los Muertes celebration.
Thanks to my favorite knitting wizardess, Kelle, for the kind apprenticeship and tutelage this afternoon. It is because of your great knitting wisdom that I was able to thoughtfully select the cast on for my next big project.
Which is where I will end today- I started some type of cable cast-on for my project- nope, didn't like it. Then, I started the long-tail cast-on, too boring, but alas, the crochet cast-on was just right, so goldilocks drank all the porridge. Is that how that story goes? I think I am mixing up the three little pigs with the three little bears, or something like that.
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