Did I Say "Spring?"

Opening note: If you follow this blog through Blogger, please see note at the bottom of the page, "Where's My Blog."

Well, spring didn't last long, did it? Pretty much the whole week has been cold and overcast, and "Overcast" is coincidentally the name of the color I'm using for my second dish mat. This is the pattern I used, but I'm holding the yarn double, using larger needles and will continue increasing until 78 stitches are on the needle before starting the decreases. I almost chose "Yellow." Next time I will, but wouldn't it have been nice if the color name had been "Sunshine?"

We had some rain, too, for a couple of days. We need it, but Tuesday was the last day we were able to take walks.

I did manage to get more done on my whole-cloth quilt. It may be hard to tell from the photo, but I moved the hoop several times during the week, which means I got four hoop-length sections of cross-hatching done each time. I'm almost down to the corner, but there are still a few sections of cross-hatching to do across the full length of the quilt.

It was actually last week that I finished my Rewilding Shawl, but I couldn't show it, because it was a birthday gift for DDIL1, whose birthday was yesterday. Here it is (was), blocking.

I named it the "Covid-19 Rewilding Shawl," because I started knitting on it the beginning of the pandemic. I didn't care for the tassels, so I left them off. Here it is, all blocked.

I used this yarn in the color "KWA." It has stellina in it. It's hard to see in a photo, but here's a closeup. The sparkle shows up much better in person.

You may remember my Kivät kit I ordered during the Yarn Crawl.

I needed something entertaining to work on while we're camping this week, so I'm ready to CO the project. Here's the lovely yarn, all caked up. (I'm taking an assortment of needles, because I may have to make some adjustments if I don't get gauge.)

Here's an update on the Brioche Shawl Feathers shawl project: I ordered another 200g, 100 of each color, and it's on its way. Now I have to decide (since I have so much yarn) if I want to do another pattern repeat. Or two. Here's how it looks now.

I would have to wing it, but that's appropriate for a shawl with a feather motif, right?

Tuesday I received this lovely Mothers' Day card. (It was mailed on May 3rd and arrived the 18th. The hummingbird could have flown here alone in less time!) It was nice to have an extra Mothers' Day, though, so the delay didn't matter. I'm just glad he didn't send flowers or something else actually alive.

Rocky saw the animal ophthalmologist on Wednesday. The ulcer in his left eye has completely healed, which is good––and unexpected––but he has more blisters in that eye, so she's having us increase the number of times a day that eye is treated with sodium chloride drops to six, whenever possible. We are with him pretty much all day every day, so that's what we're doing.

A small group of choir members met again Wednesday evening, masked and distanced. This week the Zoom arrangement worked properly, so those members who were participating from home could benefit. I think the plan is to record the eight of us together (masked and distanced) and record the others individually, then put the whole thing together. We are going to perform Rutter's "For the Beauty of the Earth," which I've done several times before, but not since we left Utah. Sunday I got to go to church in person because I was one of the lay readers. I got to read Romans 8: 22-27 in German for Pentecost and sang with the regular singers, all of us masked and distanced.

The stories are scheduled through June 18th. I'm trying to think of something interesting to do to celebrate three years of continuous weekly stories. I'm thinking of posting a link to stories that have run before on Facebook on Thursdays, as well as Tuesdays as I have been doing. I would start over again at the beginning again with the Thursday stories. They are always available, but I haven't posted the links as a rerun in a long time. The ones that appear on Tuesdays are only a year behind the new ones. I have figured out how to schedule a post, so maybe it won't be so difficult.

We are leaving to go camping today, and I should be able to report with some photos in next week's blog.

Where's my blog: The entity that notifies people when a blog they follow posts will discontinue notifications in July. This has motivated me to link my blog to Bloglovin', as I did some time ago with The Doll's Storybook. If you are following my blog and want to continue following after July, I recommend you go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: By the time you read this, my Kivät sweater, I hope, but also the "Going to the Mat" dish mat for mindless knitting.

What's on my sewing machine: Nothing right now, but I picked up some little girl socks to make Pippa a bathing suit. If it works out, I'll make one for Daphne's Rebekah, too. They are size S to fit shoe size 5 1/2 - 8 1/2, and I'm assuming those are children's sizes. They look about right. My directions for the larger Happy Kidz are here, but I will have to decrease the measurements to 80% for Pippa and Rebekah.

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. A lot more progress this week, but with the camping trip I may not get back to it until after my next blog post.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: "When Dolls Sleep." Pippa is frightened by a nightmare.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: No progress on The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer. It was a busy week. We don't have a long drive, so I doubt we'll listen to a whole novel together while driving.

What's in my wine glass: Crystal Range 2017 Zinfandel. One I love!

What's my tip of the week: I had to clean and dust on Friday, which triggered my allergies early Saturday morning. I woke up with a runny nose and eye, and needing to sneeze frequently. On went the mask, which I wore all day (with my plastic bracket underneath) except when I needed to eat or drink. I slept with it on that night. It really does make a difference.

Where's my book: Mariah: Stories from the Doll's Storybook is available from Amazon worldwide. Also available from BookBaby, Barnes & Noble and other booksellers. Royalties go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment. The three stories in the book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with few changes. The stories (and links to them) are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

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Tour de Fleece, Tour de Poodle….

The spinning for Tour de Fleece has been coming along. I’m well into the second bobbin of the lovely Waimea Rooster merino/Tencel fiber from AlohaBlu.

I also finished making the steeks for my “So-not-my-palette” cardigan. Here it is before I cut the steeks.

This shot shows how I trimmed the loose ends of yarn, rather than weaving them in, one of the advantages of steeks.

I picked up the sleeve stitches and started knitting the first sleeve, but I discovered a mistake in how I picked up the stitches, so off to the frog pond. With a new puppy in the house, the heat and the early sunrise, I haven’t been getting enough sleep, and the light wasn’t very good when I was picking them up, not to mention the distractions at Common Threads, where I was doing it. I got off by one vertical row of stitches on the last few inches of the front. Oh, well. I get to have the fun all over again! At least this time I know I’m doing it right.

Common Threads met on Thursday at Lynda’s. Margareth was working on this great shawl, the Homestead Shawl from Interweave Knits’ Gifts 2015 edition.

Janet was working on her Washington Park Shawl. She has started the border, which has some challenges, but I should be able to show off her finished shawl before too long.

Other people were working on socks, baby knitting and needlepoint.

Meanwhile in Puppy Land, Dusty continues to grow. Yesterday, at 12 weeks, he tipped the scales at 8.0 lbs. This shot shows Dusty on July 13th (left) and July 23rd (right), so you can see how much he has grown in that time. (Check out the height of the play yard fence.)

You can also see that his facial hair has grown (presumably all of his hair, but the facial hair really shows up). His “raccoon eyes” have become less pronounced. He goes for his first grooming (other than by the breeder) on Wednesday. It will be interesting to see what he looks like when I pick him up.

How has his nibs, The Dustball Dude managed this phenomenal growth? Of course, by eating, but also by sleeping a lot:

He also has been muscle-building by playing a lot with brother Rocky, whereby big brother just needs to stay still or move his head a bit. Sometimes he can even continue to nap:

Dusty has also had a couple of walks with the family:

And some water play. On Sunday, we threw a toy in that doesn't float. He hesitated, poked it with a paw a couple of times, and then went after it with his mouth. True to poodle form, the bubbles came out his nose as he retrieved it. Go, Dusty!

We finally figured out how to get Dusty to eat enough in the evening so he could get through the night.

The Little Dude had his puppy boosters on Tuesday, which means he’s less likely to get Parvo now. We are still being cautious, though, and cleaning the pups’ feet as well as our own with disinfectants after we have been out on the street, until he has his final puppy booster on August 16.

Because we have a trip coming up, and Dusty won’t have full immunity until 10 days after his next puppy shots, we decided to try to train him to use paper, which we can put down in the bathtub of our trailer, so his feet never have to touch the ground at rest stops (always a danger area, because dogs from all over use the area). We will only have Rocky’s feet to clean, and our shoes to slip off at the door to the trailer.

We have trained Dusty to go on demand, so it was easy to get him to go on paper once he was used to going on the ground outdoors. We just put him on the paper and said, "Make potty." (Now if we can just get him not to go anywhere else...but that will come.) He’s sleeping well at night, now that we have figured out that he just needed a big dinner in the evening.

We expect to be leaving on our trip east a week from today, but that’s flexible. I'm planning on delivering the "Seeing Stars" quilt to our daughter and SIL, and take some quilting books to DDIL1, but shhhhh! It's supposed to be a surprise. Dolly will go along, too, so Daphne can meet Daphne Jr.'s counterpart.

What's on my needles: The “So-not-my-palette Cardigan” steeks done. Still hand-quilting my Delectable Pathways quilt.

What's on my Featherweight: I used my machine for the steeks finished, and now my machine is put away again.

What's on my wheel: Still the Waimea Rooster Merino/Tencel from AlohaBlu, continuing to spin for the Tour de Fleece, making good progress on the second bobbin.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished Thornwood House by Anna Romer, one of the best books I have ever listened to. It had everything: Adventure, suspense, mystery and romance coupled with interesting, very human characters, some Australian history, with beautiful language and a feast of the senses, with sights, sounds, smells and other sensations. Find out more here or here. I feel as if I had just visited Australia without the need of a plane ticket. Now listening to The Sin Eater’s Daughter by Melinda Salisbury, also from Audible. Still reading Remember This by Shae Buggs on the Kindle app on my iPad. 

What's in my wine glass: Lindemann’s Cawarra Shiraz-Cabernet 2014. Always a nice choice.

What's my tip of the week: Do you have hummingbird feeders? You don’t need to buy expensive feed for them. Boil water and mix it with sugar. Allow to cool at least until lukewarm. A ratio of 1 sugar to 4 water works. Use regular table sugar only (sucrose) from cane or beets. Never use honey or artificial sweeteners. Hummingbirds don’t need the vitamins nor especially the red dye in most commercial hummingbird feed.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals were harmed during the production of this blog post.