Eye Candy Friday 5.11.07

Jessie found that she likes asparagus. In this picture she is laying down and licking the stumps where I cut some stalks. The bed is messy with old stalks laying around. I was late mulching the bed. I'll have to weed soon.

Jessie has been trained to lay down by following a treat past her nose down to the floor. Until last week this was the only way to get her to lay down. Just last weekend, my daughter taught Jessie to lay down by just pointing to the floor. She used an asparagus as a treat.

Something Else

We have built a kennel for our dear dog Jessie. She needs a place to stay while I'm at work. My husband is now traveling more and is away for several days at a time. This project went together fairly simply. The kennel itself was a kit from Home Depot. The hardest part was gathering the materials. The stones alone required two trips from the hardware store. Its a good thing that my husband finished the trailer kit last summer. We have used it alot for hauling things such as building supplies and even stage scenery for my daughters plays. For our kennel, you can see my husband and daughter did most of the base assembly. They were working on the stones and pavers while I carted over them all over from the driveway. My shoulders hurt the next day. Jessie is quite comfortable in the pen. My first two days at work I was worried since we didn't get a chance to try it out before Jessie needed to stay inside. She did fine! This week it rained a bit while I was at work and with her umbrella and the dog house Jessie stayed quite dry and comfy. Its two weeks now and I'm not as worried as I was at first.
By the Way:
I have been knitting. I am working on my shadow knit vest. I'm almost done with the front left panel.

Eye Candy Friday 4.13.07

Isn’t she cute? Well, sometimes! I was trying to photograph the Lace Top directions picture for this Blog and Jessie couldn’t resist being the center of attention.

I must say, being black, she is very hard to photograph. I rarely get a photo with good detail. She usually ends up being a black blob. This one was made using a flash, which sometimes washes out the rest of the picture detail.

It’s Friday the thirteenth. Should I be worried because my black dog crossed my path? (Or sat on my work?)

I wanted to show an idea for a future project . . . . I like it, but might not look very good in it because of arm flab. My daughter really likes this sweater also. I first saw the finished sweater as a completed sample when our knitting guild had the “Yarn Tasting” in the Fiber Loft. (I wrote about that in the last blog entry.) The pattern is in the Nashua Handknits North American Designer Collection No. 4. Pattern book.

It is planned to knit using Nashua Natural Focus Cotton yarn but I might consider using some of the Bamboo yarn that I sampled. We’ll see when I get there. . .

Birthday News

My dear daughter was a bit disappointed with this year’s birthday. It seems the fact that her presents were not a surprise and being on a Monday her friends forgot it was her birthday. We had purchased all her presents together. That’s me, Mom being too practical and not thinking as a kid might. I wanted to make sure we got what she wanted and that the clothes fit. I think she was still hoping I would find her something special. Well, to be honest I had hoped too, but I just couldn’t find the time. I hope I can make it up to her. This weekend she is having a birthday party with her friends and maybe I’ll be able to find something special to slip in the stack of presents that her friends bring.

There were some other details, which detracted from my daughter’s birthday. Our sweet dog Jessie was scheduled to be spayed. Jessie came home from the surgery totally drugged out. When she finally came too Jessie was whimpering. Even I was upset so, I can understand why my daughter was crying. Thankfully, Jessie is reviving abit. She doesn’t whine any more but the medicine really knocks her out. She can’t seem to wake up in time to pee outside. The last two days I’ve been making sure that she has a towel under her butt in case she leaks. I hope Jessie is better in time for my daughter’s sleepover this Friday.

Even though my daughter knew I was running behind on the lunch bag I think she was disappointed that I hadn’t finished it on her birthday. She helped me to pick out the wool and knew I was shooting targeting her birthday as a finishing point. Shopping, shoveling snow and taking care of Jessie were taking longer than we thought. I finished all the tying in of yarn ends and the edges this morning. Take a look at the before felting view. It’s huge! As soon as my daughter comes home from school I’ll shrink it in the washing machine

Jessie is a sneak

I get up from the sofa and look who is sneaking my knitting. I sometimes think she is a playful cat instead of a dog. She just loves balls of yarn. The other thing she likes is the chase game when you RUN to catch Jessie and the knitting project before it completely comes off the needles. There is one nice thing about her though. She doesn’t chew to destroy things. She has never torn any yarn or toy, she just mouths them.

If you can see she has the beginnings of the Lunch Bag. I am still working on the bag’s bottom. I thought I had the gauge down, but after casting on and knitting about 12 rows I realized that I was 2 inches too big. I find figuring gauges for really big needles such as US # 15’s tough. If you are off by a stitch or two it can add up to several inches, as was the case here.

Eye Candy Friday

My daughter and I went for a walk this morning with our dog. It was a fluffy, sticky snow that fell during the night. This is the kind of snow that is fun to go and play in. My daughter is planning to go out and play with the neighbors just as I'm writing this.

Here is a shot of Jessie from this morning searching for something in the snow.