New pups: Bear and Boomer

Jack and Daniel joined the household April 18. They are sweet little Kentucky Brown dogs, fluffy and tumbly, scratchy and bitey, and smart to boot!

Of course I'm not calling them Jack and Daniel. Daniel just wasn't a Dan, or a Danny. He is Boomer, and has been since day one. I did call Jack by his given name for a couple days, but the only way I could tell the two pups apart was that Jack looked like a little bear. In my head, he was Jack the Bear. After a couple days, he was just Bear.

Boomer and Bear know their names, or they at least know when I pitch my voice just so they should come scampering over. They eat like crazed hamsters, throwing the food all over and always trying to eat out of the same bowl.

They are the quietest pups I have ever had. They never cry - not at night, not when they hear me get up in the morning, not when they are bored. They bark occasionally if startled.

All in all, they are excellent pups.

Percy progress

I've been working on my Percy shawl on and off, and put some good hours into it in the past week. A third repeat of Chart B took just another 5 grams - but the ball of yarn is (finally) noticeably smaller.

I'm on row 4 of my fourth Chart B repeat. Can I do another full repeat, plus 0-27, plus Chart C? I think so. I may do some Ravelry research to see where others started the edging chart...

A little this, a little that

I've been knitting this and that. Several washcloths, some mitered, one lacy. I knit a wonderful licorice ombre cloth with a skull design for the Sandman, who asked for something for the downstairs bathroom. I used Pisgah Peaches & Cream for the first time, and really liked it. At $1.47/ball at W-Mart, it's much softer than the stuff I get at Michael's or JoAnne's.

I used a stashed ball of Knit Picks Main Line for a wonderful teal blue bib for a baby shower at the office. I started a hat, but didn't think it would be that

useful for a boy born in May. Quacking Up! is super cute, and the pattern designer, Elaine Fitzpatrick, has a bunch of fun bib/cloth designs. There is a great monkey that I will have to do next. I may have worked through my beige (monkey-colored) cotton, but I think I have a ball of orange! Orange monkey would be good. Maybe yellow?

A couple more chemo caps are off the needles. Robin's Egg was simple but very pretty, even in acrylic. I tired a new hat pattern for my third ball of Fixation - Wavy Cable Lace. It's very pretty, and a very comfy hat. I have one more ball of white Fixation, which I'm planning to use for a Mobius cap.

If I can get it knit this week, I will dye all four Fixation hats this weekend. I know where my old fabric dyes are - I just hope they are still good after fifteen years!