I have finished the body of the SnowDrop and have (barely) started on the edging. It has been put aside for a bit as I need to finish up a pair of socks for my nevvie and I also need to make a couple of pair of socks for me before winter.
Not much going on here. I'll try to get a new pic of the shawl sometime soon, but no promises.
Katie is doing pretty well. She is 12 years, almost 3 months. She is an OLD lady now but she is still my beautiful St. Bernard and a wonderful girl.
The other day when I had her out on the patio to get some cool fresh air she somehow managed to scoot and wriggle her way off of the patio across the narrow back yard and into the high weeds on the hill side. Luckily D has not had time to bushhog this summer so the weeds are really high and thick so they stopped her from going on down the hill.
She did manage to get both of her back feet into dog poop. That was fun trying to get it off of her feet. I finally took a quart size baggy and put water in it and slipped her foot in, held the top closed and massaged the water around her foot. They came clean, thank goodness.
Now I make sure to close the gateway with the bench whenever she is out on the patio. I never dreamed she would work her way off of it since she can't get up by herself anymore. I really thought she was safe. What I know!!
I had gone out on the deck to throw some dog hair out (if I had put it in the trash can it would just have floated back out where I have a ceiling fan on for her along with the AC. When I went out I could hear her woofing but I could not find her. I started to panic and began calling to her. Then I noticed the weeds moving each time she would woof. I hurried back into the house to get my boots on (they have a good grip sole on them which I need outside on the hillside to get Katie up without sliding down the hill myself) and go out and rescue her.
I got her up without any trouble and we made it up to the patio even though I did not have her sling/blanket with me. She was worn out so she lay down on the patio and I pulled the bench across the gateway opening.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Sunday, June 26, 2011
SnowDrop update
I have gotten back to row 61 so I am only 4 rows from where I was when I frogged it last evening. It really seems to be going faster now that I went down two needles sizes. I also am much more pleased with the look of it.
These are really crap pictures. It is raining outside so I had to attempt this inside. Maybe it will be pretty tomorrow or later today and I can get a pic outside.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
The Tracy Shawl....
Well that was really smart. I posted this post with just a title. Guess it saves on the typing.
Went to Columbus today with DH for a meeting. Afterwards he took me to Knitters Mercantile so I could get some yarn for the Tracy Shawl. I got Jojoland Melody Superwash in colorway MS20. Evidently they do not put word colors on their yarn. It is 100% wool and feels very nice. The colors are a mix of burgundies and blues. I am hoping it turns out ok. I really like the colors so it should be fine to me.
I'll take some pics when I start the shawl which won't be for a while yet as I am working on the SnowDrop Shawl. I am on row 63 and I think I am going to have to frog it and start again. I am using lace weight yarn and Stephanie said to use a size 4mm needle which I am doing, but it is just turning out to open looking. So I think I will frog and go down a couple of sizes. I know it sounds like a lot of work is going to be torn out but you start with just one stitch so it isn't as bad as all that. Besides, I will probably never be happy with it as it is so if I am going to put all that work in I had better be sure I like the look.
I had my Omelet Shawl with me and the ladies in the store really loved it. One was very impressed and asked if it was hard to knit. Really it isn't, it is just that the pattern is so involved that you can't really memorize it. Or at least I couldn't.
Katie and I are sitting outside. It is cool enough that she can stand it, probably in the high to mid 60's. She gets to stay outside so little now that summer is here. Whenever it is cool enough I like to bring her out. She does love the outdoors....when it is cool. LOL I would love it more if the bugs would quit eating my ankles.
Went to Columbus today with DH for a meeting. Afterwards he took me to Knitters Mercantile so I could get some yarn for the Tracy Shawl. I got Jojoland Melody Superwash in colorway MS20. Evidently they do not put word colors on their yarn. It is 100% wool and feels very nice. The colors are a mix of burgundies and blues. I am hoping it turns out ok. I really like the colors so it should be fine to me.
I'll take some pics when I start the shawl which won't be for a while yet as I am working on the SnowDrop Shawl. I am on row 63 and I think I am going to have to frog it and start again. I am using lace weight yarn and Stephanie said to use a size 4mm needle which I am doing, but it is just turning out to open looking. So I think I will frog and go down a couple of sizes. I know it sounds like a lot of work is going to be torn out but you start with just one stitch so it isn't as bad as all that. Besides, I will probably never be happy with it as it is so if I am going to put all that work in I had better be sure I like the look.
I had my Omelet Shawl with me and the ladies in the store really loved it. One was very impressed and asked if it was hard to knit. Really it isn't, it is just that the pattern is so involved that you can't really memorize it. Or at least I couldn't.
Katie and I are sitting outside. It is cool enough that she can stand it, probably in the high to mid 60's. She gets to stay outside so little now that summer is here. Whenever it is cool enough I like to bring her out. She does love the outdoors....when it is cool. LOL I would love it more if the bugs would quit eating my ankles.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Trying again.....
This one is of course before it was blocked. Doesn't look like much of anything, does it? It is really rather ugly looking. But wait....
Now look at it. Blocking lace is such an eye opener. Makes all the difference in the world.I was not able to upload these from flickr, I had to just do them from my computer. I will keep trying though.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
The Shawl from H*ll
I joined a KAL in Socknitters Forum to knit the Omelet Shawl from Summer Knitty. It is a beautiful pattern and pretty straightforward to knit. Not too difficult if you just watch what you are doing and put in frequent lifelines. I did pretty good on the lifelines for a time, then got to thinking that I knew what I was doing and didn't need to put them in as frequently. WRONG!!! I had to rip back about 19 rows to fix a major mistake. I had dropped a stitch when tinking back a double centered decrease. There is just no way that I can pick up dropped stitches in lace. Maybe when I have knit lace for a few hundred years I can do it, but right now I cannot. So frogging took place.
After I frogged I could not find where I was in the pattern. I had written down that I had lifelined in row 9 of Chart B, but that just did not work with my stitch count. Instead of simply reading my stitches I kept counting them and trying to make them come out. After about 2 days of frustration I decided to read the stitches and found that I had actually lifelined on row 19 not row 9. So I finally got back to it.
Ok, that was fixed and I was off and running again, putting in lifelines like a good little girl. Again I got cocky and would do about 15 rows before a lifeline. Again tinking back I lost a stitch but this time I only had to tink back about 2 rows instead of ripping.
At this point lifelines were going in about every 5 rows and sometimes even sooner. It seemed I was spending almost as much time doing lifelines as I was knitting. That was ok because I did not want any more major reversals.
Finally got the thing all knit and bound off and was ready to block it. I hate blocking so I waited a day or so but finally decided that it was time to just go for it. So I soaked it for a bit in some Eucalan and then wrapped it to press out excess water and blocked it.
The shawl is supposed to have all these little points around the bottom. Guess what? I had bound off so tightly that mine did not. Ok, no prob. I like it just as well with a straight botton. After blocking it out and being happy with the way it looked I left it alone to dry. I went back to check it and found that I had broken the thread in one place on the bind off. Dang!! I waited until it was totally dry and unpinned it and tried to fix it without taking the BO stitches out. Didn't work. So I had to go back to the last stitch bound off and undo it. Luckily the thread broke about 16 inches from the last stitch so it was not the large of a deal to undo it. I got to where I need to add the yarn in and start my bind off again and found that I was knitting the bind off even tighter this time so I had to tink it back again and came up with a modified crotchet binding off stitch that seems to have worked just fine. I also was able (hopefully) to find all the little lost stitches that popped when the thread broke and fix them so that it looks fine. You can see where the fix was made but it is not a big "in your face" fix so I will take it.
Here it is unblocked http://flic.kr/p/9VLBdZ and here it is blocked http://flic.kr/p/9VPsCo
This will have to do for now.
Soon as I can get pictures to load I will put them on here. Not sure if my connection is too slow or what but it says they are uploading but then nothing shows.
After I frogged I could not find where I was in the pattern. I had written down that I had lifelined in row 9 of Chart B, but that just did not work with my stitch count. Instead of simply reading my stitches I kept counting them and trying to make them come out. After about 2 days of frustration I decided to read the stitches and found that I had actually lifelined on row 19 not row 9. So I finally got back to it.
Ok, that was fixed and I was off and running again, putting in lifelines like a good little girl. Again I got cocky and would do about 15 rows before a lifeline. Again tinking back I lost a stitch but this time I only had to tink back about 2 rows instead of ripping.
At this point lifelines were going in about every 5 rows and sometimes even sooner. It seemed I was spending almost as much time doing lifelines as I was knitting. That was ok because I did not want any more major reversals.
Finally got the thing all knit and bound off and was ready to block it. I hate blocking so I waited a day or so but finally decided that it was time to just go for it. So I soaked it for a bit in some Eucalan and then wrapped it to press out excess water and blocked it.
The shawl is supposed to have all these little points around the bottom. Guess what? I had bound off so tightly that mine did not. Ok, no prob. I like it just as well with a straight botton. After blocking it out and being happy with the way it looked I left it alone to dry. I went back to check it and found that I had broken the thread in one place on the bind off. Dang!! I waited until it was totally dry and unpinned it and tried to fix it without taking the BO stitches out. Didn't work. So I had to go back to the last stitch bound off and undo it. Luckily the thread broke about 16 inches from the last stitch so it was not the large of a deal to undo it. I got to where I need to add the yarn in and start my bind off again and found that I was knitting the bind off even tighter this time so I had to tink it back again and came up with a modified crotchet binding off stitch that seems to have worked just fine. I also was able (hopefully) to find all the little lost stitches that popped when the thread broke and fix them so that it looks fine. You can see where the fix was made but it is not a big "in your face" fix so I will take it.
Here it is unblocked http://flic.kr/p/9VLBdZ and here it is blocked http://flic.kr/p/9VPsCo
This will have to do for now.
Soon as I can get pictures to load I will put them on here. Not sure if my connection is too slow or what but it says they are uploading but then nothing shows.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Another weekend came and went
Friday was D's birthday and then of course Sunday was Father's Day. The kids took us out to dinner for his bday and then we had a cookout here at the house for Father's Day.
When everyone started coming in Katie wanted up in the main part of the house with us. I wasn't sure she could climb up her ramp now but decided to give it a try. She came up fine with a little help from me. When she got into the kitchen she came on into the dining room and lay down between D's and my chairs just like she used to when she could come up the steps by herself. She was happy as a clam when she got in there.
I got D a cover for his Holland grill for father's day. Or at least I thought I had gotten him a cover. When he opened the bag up it was actually a bag to carry like a small portable grill in. I guess I will have to try again Thursday when the bakery opens. I tried, honest I did. There was no one at the bakery who could tell me anything about the covers and they were all in bags so how was I to know? No problem, I'll just exchange it.
Katie went for her weekly laser today. It really does seem to help her. She almost always needs my help to get up on her feet but once she does she can walk on her own. I have to help her when she goes to potty because her legs just won't hold her up long enough to do the job. I will help her as long as needed. That is what we do.
Until later.
When everyone started coming in Katie wanted up in the main part of the house with us. I wasn't sure she could climb up her ramp now but decided to give it a try. She came up fine with a little help from me. When she got into the kitchen she came on into the dining room and lay down between D's and my chairs just like she used to when she could come up the steps by herself. She was happy as a clam when she got in there.
I got D a cover for his Holland grill for father's day. Or at least I thought I had gotten him a cover. When he opened the bag up it was actually a bag to carry like a small portable grill in. I guess I will have to try again Thursday when the bakery opens. I tried, honest I did. There was no one at the bakery who could tell me anything about the covers and they were all in bags so how was I to know? No problem, I'll just exchange it.
Katie went for her weekly laser today. It really does seem to help her. She almost always needs my help to get up on her feet but once she does she can walk on her own. I have to help her when she goes to potty because her legs just won't hold her up long enough to do the job. I will help her as long as needed. That is what we do.
Until later.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
The Birthday Girl
Monday was Katie's 12th birthday. I am so blessed to still have her. In human years for a large breed dog she is now 90 years old. That is quite an accomplishment. Way to go, Katie.
Her health is still good. Her biggest problem is mobility. She has quite a bit of trouble getting to her feet. I have to almost always help her up, but once she is up on her feet and gets her balance she is still able to walk unaided.
I had ordered special doggie cake mix and a bone shaped pan to make her a birthday cake. I ordered it a week and a half before her birthday but it did not come in time. It actually shipped out Monday. Anyway, I made her a brownie cake in a bone shaped tin that I have. The brownie recipe is a doggie brownie. It uses carob instead of chocolate and the sweetener is only 3 T of honey. It REALLY tastes good!!! I had been wanting some chocolate so I ate a bite when I was serving it to the girls. It was good. LOL
The storm that we had pass through yesterday really upset Kate. She would not settle down. She just kept chirping (she has a paralyzed larynix and she very seldom barks anymore, it just comes out sounding like a loud bird chirp) and wanting up then not knowing where to go so she would lay down again. I was going nuts not being able to make her feel better.
The storms are over and she is doing ok today.
Supposed to be another scorcher here today, in the upper 90's. Guess Kate and I will stay in the house today. She has already been out the morning to go potty and we won't be going back out again until it cools down this evening. Luckily she has always been able to hold her potty for long periods of time. There is no way she could go out when it is so hot.
Her health is still good. Her biggest problem is mobility. She has quite a bit of trouble getting to her feet. I have to almost always help her up, but once she is up on her feet and gets her balance she is still able to walk unaided.
I had ordered special doggie cake mix and a bone shaped pan to make her a birthday cake. I ordered it a week and a half before her birthday but it did not come in time. It actually shipped out Monday. Anyway, I made her a brownie cake in a bone shaped tin that I have. The brownie recipe is a doggie brownie. It uses carob instead of chocolate and the sweetener is only 3 T of honey. It REALLY tastes good!!! I had been wanting some chocolate so I ate a bite when I was serving it to the girls. It was good. LOL
The storm that we had pass through yesterday really upset Kate. She would not settle down. She just kept chirping (she has a paralyzed larynix and she very seldom barks anymore, it just comes out sounding like a loud bird chirp) and wanting up then not knowing where to go so she would lay down again. I was going nuts not being able to make her feel better.
The storms are over and she is doing ok today.
Supposed to be another scorcher here today, in the upper 90's. Guess Kate and I will stay in the house today. She has already been out the morning to go potty and we won't be going back out again until it cools down this evening. Luckily she has always been able to hold her potty for long periods of time. There is no way she could go out when it is so hot.
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