Home Stretch

As we near the end of the month, many of the Ravelry Malabrigo March knit along-ers are done with their projects. If you've been KAL'ing, but haven't announced yourself in the Ravelry group, please pop in. (That link won't work for non-Ravelry members.) Monday is the last day to join! Even if you don't want to knit along, go peek at all the beautiful colors of Malabrigo Worsted.

I made one Amanda Hat out of Saphire Green and one out of the Natural colorway. The Natural colorway is very versatile, but you know I love that greeny greeny soooo much more.

Here they are, before & after the green hat got a wet blocking. In the top photo (before), the green hat is smaller and pointy at the top. In the bottom photo (after), all the stitches have relaxed and claimed their ground:
All I did was soak it for a bit in warm, soapy water, rinse, and then blot it in a clean towel:
Sorry I can't give you a modeling shot. My resident photographer has been in Texas most of the month, helping his brother Johnny get through chemo.

I know David misses his Libby, so over the weekend I took a few shots of her, in her favorite chair, basking in the Sunday sunbeam. She really misses you too, honey.

Libby's best friend

My little dog turned eight this summer, and for most of her life, she's enjoyed a midday walk with Alycia.

We get it all in Chicago -- rain, sleet, snow, blazing heat, and wilting humidity -- and yet none of it has made a difference in Alycia's commitment to showing up day after day to walk around the neighborhood with her little buddy.

On the occasional weekday when one of us is home and we cancel the walk, I feel a little guilty, because Libby still looks out the window for her best friend.

When I woke up this morning it was -4F/-20C, but I know Alycia will still be coming over. As a wee showing of our appreciation for her dedication, we gave her this warm wool and silk hat. I confess I wanted to keep it for myself, but I'll be sitting on my arse today in a warm office while Alycia is making her rounds. Brrrr.


Pattern: Fake Isle on Magknits

Materials: Approx. 60 yards/50 meters of Noro Silk Garden in colorway #205, equal amount of Lamb's Pride in M-05 Onyx black, and a few feet of Lamb's Pride in fuschia (no ball band) for the contrasting cast on.

Modifications: used US#5 for ribbing, US#6 for body, and broke Noro as needed to control the colors.

Eye Candy Friday

Happy Friday, people!

Here's a little more eye candy for you. I'm all about the pink lately.

My glorious pink peony from yesterday's post is already dropping petals. That didn't take long, did it? I'm glad I got the picture before it was gone.

Today we're packing up the car for a quick trip to St. Louis. Lib gets nervous when she sees luggage, but she's going to like seeing her BFF Carson Lee. We're going to whoop and cheer on Saturday morning when one of D's nieces graduates from dental school. How cool is that! And she's job hunting in Chicago. Even cooler!

Enjoy the spring weather, y'all. See you next week.

Light a fire

We're back from a weekend in the Upper Peninsula. The snow was gone and the seedlings were up, but it was still cold.
Cold enough that we needed to keep the fireplace stoked, and cold enough to snow on Saturday night.
There was also another kind of fire.
The guys spent most of the weekend working with the blow torch, soldering a bunch of leaks in the water pipes, which formed when the electric service failed last winter and the water pipes froze and then burst. The electricity was off for about 2 months, so there was a lot of damage.
While the guys worked on the plumbing, the girls did a spring cleaning on the yard, the gravel driveway, and the dusty house.
Next trip, we'll have time to walk through the woods, instead of just driving by it, on the way to and from the house.

Yes, but will the dog like it?

Libby isn't loving the smell of her new Farmstead Natural Dog Shampoo bar, which is probably a good thing.

Remember when we vacationed in the southwest last January? When we were in Santa Fe I got to indulge in some time at the Japanese-style spa Ten Thousand Waves, where I found this handcrafted, locally-made muscle salve containing arnica, St. John's wort, olive oil, beeswax, and lavender:

It's got some other ingredients, but those are the high notes.

I started using this wonderful concoction on my sore shoulder every night before dozing off, and my aches and pains were really improving. One night, though, I left it on top of the nightstand instead of putting into the little drawer, and the next day, while we were at work, Lib found it and consumed the entire jar. I think I had this little treasure for less than 2 weeks, and it was all gone:


I ordered some more from the woman who makes it, but the package from Jae Bird got waylaid and it took about a month to arrive in Chicago. Such a drag. And then I forgot again, left it out on the nightstand, and the new jar almost met the same fate:

Since there's no such thing as a muscle salve for my memory, it's probably for the best that I search out skin care products made from edible, organic ingredients. I've been doing that since I learned skin ingests whatever goes on it, including shampoo, soap, lotion, and cosmetics.

When I did the spring cleanse this year, the Ayurvedic physician had me use a bottle of Spectrum Naturals cold-pressed corn oil for the daily self-abhyanga (a massage that stimulates the lymph system). It seemed a little weird to be finding my massage oil in the cooking oil and spices aisle at the grocery store, but it made sense, so I did it.

Any way, the Jae Bird salve joins some hand poured soap, pots of rich hand cream, and a bottle of massage oil that have been lapped up by my favorite canine. At this point, I kind of know what she likes, and think of her when I'm shopping for moisturizer.

I showed Lib her new "treat" this morning, and she didn't try to lick it, so we're good.

Last Day of Ketel Cam

The girls had one last play session in the snow:

And then we all had to say good bye to Ketel. She'll be spending the weekend with other family members and then going home after Presidents' Day (Monday). So here's just a couple more photos for her vacationing mom & dad.

I think there were moments when Lib was a little jealous of our affection for Ketel, but all in all, she enjoyed having all the play time. Ketel was a perfect houseguest, and she's welcome back any time! Isn't she just the cutest little girl?
Bye. We'll miss you, honey.

Eye Candy Friday

A better picture of Ketel:

I was in a hurry yesterday and didn't mention that Ketel is D's cousin's dog, and that she's staying with us while the cousin and his wife are skiing in Vail. They've called us every day to check on their baby! Not to worry guys, she and Lib are still having a ball.

It wasn't easy capturing her in a moment of rest. Even when I told her she had to stay on her bed, she kept flopping around, trying to entice me or Lib into a game. Lib, being the sedate 7 year old, prefers lounging most of the time, but there's been a lot of this going on: Lib's going to be all ti ti by the end of Ketel's visit.

Hey, is it just me, or does Ketel resemble Gerhart Schmidbauer (pictured on the upper right in this link)?

House Guest

My crafting time has been crimped since Tuesday by the arrival of a house guest. Meet Ketel:

Click for bigger
She's a 9-month-old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon (also known as a French wire-haired Korthals Pointing Griffon or Griffon d'arrêt à poil dur Korthals), and will be staying with us until Saturday.

She's about Libby's size, but has a lot more energy to spare. People, I'm up to my eyeballs in puppy power! Even the dogwalker asked if the girls could just play in the yard instead of walking around the neighborhood. We're on Day 2, however, so I'm hoping that some of that excited energy is cooling off.

I intend to get some action shots of our happy house guest, which shouldn't be too hard. Unless she's moving too much!

WIP Report -- Simple Trekking Socks

I had a three-day weekend, but never sat down to graft the red lace scarf. Instead, I ran long overdue errands, put some books on ebay, washed sweaters and hats, and played with Lib in the snow.

I have to be in a more patient mood to sit and graft 170 stitches.

It's too bad I have to go to work because today would be the perfect day to spend on the couch with a time-consuming project. We got an overnight snow fall and we're supposed to get a lot more. Maybe a foot. D shoveled the sidewalk before he left and it's already hard to see the concrete.

I've got some mindless knitting in progress for the commute. A pretty new shade of Trekking XXL in muted purples and blues.

There's no place like home

I would not have enjoyed our vacation if we'd left Lib in the hands of a kennel. Just the thought of being in close quarters with all those stressed out, lonely dogs gives even me the willies.

So when we travel and can't take Lib, our dogwalker and her own pack of canines stay over with Lib.



Our dogwalker had this photo of Lib and her dogs, Ernie and Luna, waiting for us when when got back from Texas. Wasn't that a nice touch? It reminds me of those photos from summer camp. You know, those photos of you and a bunch of kids that you've just spent the whole summer bonding with but your parents have only met them once.

I don't think Lib missed us a bit.

Happy Thanksgiving

Belated Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I was too busy to post before we hit the road on Wednesday afternoon.

Our first stop was Indianapolis, where we rendezvoused with my sister from Florida, her husband, and her 3 kids (maybe you remember her artistic kids). They were staying with her husband's family, and D & I were graciously invited to come over for a family dinner. I haven't seen that part of the family since my sister got married 15 years ago. Time flies. The evening was short and sweet, and it was too dark and rushed to get any photos.

After staying overnight at pet-friendly La Quinta, we returned to the highway and drove to D's sister's for Thanksgiving Day. His family came in from parts of Indiana, Illinois, and Vermont. This little cutie pie is his niece's daughter.


Libby got to meet the newest member of the extended family, Charlie. Charlie is a rescue dog and until this holiday was never around such a big crowd. He was a little nervous at first, but warmed up quickly. Here's Lib and Charlie, helping the guys carve the last bits of turkey for sandwiches.



Back in Chicago, I spent the weekend doing a major de-cluttering of my craft room, the kitchen, and the storage closets. So, no crafting pics today. Just a big sigh of relief after a very busy, very satisfying 4-day weekend.

Sweet Libby

We've had some unusually cold temperatures this fall, and they've caused the trees to shed their leaves early. Over the weekend we got the rakes out and picked up masses of bright gold leaves from the lawns and the sidewalks.

Before we swept away all that yellow, I took a few pictures of Libby and her dearest love. I do this almost every year, and can see the passage of time in those photos. She turned 7 over the summer, and her muzzle gets greyer every year.
She had fun investigating all the smells and greeting the passersby.

She often walks along with pedestrians, wagging her tail.

With some people, though, as soon as they are passed her, she lets out a big bark and scares them half to death.

I wish I knew what the heck she was thinking. What does she know about them that I don't know?

Later that night, she had a severe brain seizure and we rushed her to the emergency room.

She's never had a seizure before, so at first I didn't know what was happening, but it looked pretty painful and lasted several minutes. However, by the time we saw the veterinarian, she was almost back to normal, and very aware that she was at the dreaded vet's office.

We think, but can't be sure, that the seizure was caused by the neurologic damage she experienced over the summer when she had Lyme Disease. She's going to her regular vet tomorrow (sorry, honey) for more testing. We've got our fingers crossed that this seizure was an isolated event. I'm still in disbelief.