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!

Piece o' Pi

I finished the first of 4 Pi Topper caps that I will knit with Fixation and then dye, because the nubby texture just cries for color.

I used size 3 needles, but I will try 4s for the next cap, as this one is very dense - not a bad thing, but a smidge more drape and size will be a better thing.

I'll probably do one cap in seed stitch, and perhaps use another 6-row pattern for the third and fourth. Using a 6-row pattern makes this hat super easy, as the increases occur after 3, 6, 12, and 24 rounds.

Percy progresses again

I'm back to the Percy shawl, and so happy. I was a little rusty after the relatively large gauge chemo hats, but now the lace knitting is moving along smoothly. I refer to the chart less, find counting less annoying, and can see the lace pattern as I begin the third repeat of chart B.

This picture makes ol' Percy look huge, but it's not. Contorting the shawl along my arm, it looks like it's still quite a bit smaller than my wingspan. I'm 5'11", so I have quite a wingspan, but I think even blocked this would still be a smallish shawl.

Cobweb weight yarn: not for an impatient knitter.

According to my scale, I had knit through exactly half the ball after repeat 3; the second repeat of chart B took almost exactly 5 grams. It should take slightly more to knit repeat 3, as the shawl is ever expanding. I hope to finish repeat 3, do a final pattern repeat through row 27, then begin the 35 row chart C edging.

I will definitely measure at row 27 of repeat 3, though, just in case!


I was in Rochester over the weekend for a Sandman event, and visited a couple local yarn stores. Kristen's Knits was great. Tons of Noro, lots of skeins in most colorways, but I fell in love with a single: soft greys and greens and blues, like a misty spring day near a lake - not the usual electric purples, pinks, blues and reds I usually go for. I bought it to knit Dianna, a leafy entrelac shawl I found on Ravelry. The Noro ball is slightly less than the 500 m required, but the other Noros just didn't call to me the way Color No. S150 Lot A did.

I also found four balls of white Fixation on sale. Hurray! Hand-dyed cotton chemo caps! I also bought a bandless ball of lovely red bamboo. This makes it two weekends in a row that I have broken my yarn diet, but the Fixation was a great find - I would have bought it anywhere. Being on vacation makes the other two alright - no dieting on a road trip!

Long time no blog

Was it the post-Olympics let down? Maybe... or maybe just nothin' fun enough to blog about!

I did finish the Merino Lace socks. They are nice and long and lacy, and I love the color.

I've knit two chemo caps, with very acrylic yarn. I'm not a yarn snob for general wear, but I'm not really happy with these hats. They are cute, but I just don't think they will be comfy caps for bald heads. It's tempting to stow the acrylic - for scarves perhaps - and just buy a ha' dozen balls of Esprit and knit Pi caps for the cancer patients, so I know the hats will be 100% wearable.

While I consider breaking my yarn diet for a good cause, I will knit up the extra ball of deep purple cotton left over from my first chemo cap, for my former boss. I didn't snap a picture of that hat, which is fine because it was huge. He wore it anyway, almost every day during his chemo - he just turned up the ribbing and a good inch or two of hat. Thank goodness it was a reversible pattern! He looked very Jacques Cousteau, actually.

Sandman is modeling my new hats, as I am hoping his hairy preteen head equals one bald adult head. I told him I wouldn't show his face, but I couldn't resist including his baby blues.

Because I missed it, I have picked up my Percy shawl again and added a couple rows tonight. It's so very lovely. I truly have no idea how big it will be. The cobweb lace looks like nothing, but I know it's going to block into something spectacular.

Finally, I dropped off Abigail at her forever home tonight. A nice couple met her at the Meet & Greet last Saturday and fell in love. I think she will keep her name, because she totally looks like an Abigail and the new family liked it because it wasn't a typical dog name. She will have roommates to play with and there were already toys and new kennel waiting for her. Good luck, goofy girl!

We have entered into a nopuppy zone - new pups arrive Friday, but I will not be bringing any home for a while. My boys need some lovin', although Harley looks plenty happy.

Clyde goes home, Abigail arrives

We had double foster pups for a few hours, as we added sweet Abigail to the family last night, and Clyde went to his forever home this afternoon.

We took Clyde to the Meet & Greet for another round of shots, and ran into his Momma, Lindy, and brothers Moose and George. It was amazing to see the clan back together, and the variations between the pups. Clyde was the only pup with upright ears. He was also the only one who had figured out potty training. Yay, Clyde!

Abigail is a pretty girl, but pretty sick with an upper respitory thing. I've never wiped a pup's nose before! She's on antibiotics, but has been coughing and snorking and just sick. Dr. Melissa prescribed Robitussin DM, which I was able to borrow from my neighbor. After just one dose, Abbie is sleeping peacefully on my lap. Poor girl - hopefully now she can rest better!

In Knitting Olympic news, I am almost done with Merino Lace sock 1 - just the toe to go. I will be able to cast on sock 2, but I will not get two pairs of socks knit during the Olympics. I did knit four socks, yes, but unraveling and reknitting Sleepy Hollow sock 1 means only 3 to show off!

Since my beloved alpaca hat and gloves have lost themselves, I will be casting on Aussie wool gloves as soon as Merino Lace 2 is done - so no taking it easy just because the Olympics are done!