The palette is starting to grow on me. (The Palette yarn has been growing on me ever since I first encountered it.) The arrow points to the armhole steek stitches, so you can see I have at least a couple of inches of steek stitches done. The front opening steek is to the left in the photo.
In the meantime, I've also started the "Everyday Play" dress for the Modern Girl Lauren doll for the silent auction at the Habitat for Humanity's annual Overall Ball.
Speaking of Dusty, we're starting to get ready for him. I picked up a new toothbrush for Rocky, because his old one was wearing out. It's a human baby toothbrush for up to two years, and we use it with peanut flavored doggy toothpaste, which can be swallowed. Yum! Rocky uses a blue toothbrush. Sunny's was pink. I tried to find a baby toothbrush in a color other than pink for Dusty, but the best I could do with this:
It's pink, blue and yellow, but I don't think Dusty will mind. It's a Winnie-the-Pooh toothbrush, and it has a picture of Piglet on it. We plan on starting with plain water in the beginning. Dusty won't really need his baby teeth cleaned; it's just so he gets used to having his teeth brushed as part of his routine. (Only the outside edges of a dog's teeth need cleaning, so we hold the muzzle closed, stick the toothbrush between the lips, and brush. No tongue to get in the way. I learned this from the vet.) I've found that it's a struggle to brush a dog's teeth once a week, as recommended, but if it's done at bedtime every night, it becomes part of their routine. In this case, more is better, right?
Common Threads met at Karan's on Thursday. Joanie brought her bat, which you've already seen, and this hedgehog.
She has taught Ana, her caregiver, to knit. Ana was already an accomplished crocheter, so she took to it right away. This is going to be a poncho for her mother.
Margareth has been making sweaters for her new grandson. Here's another one finished.
Remember this shawl Karan made?
She located the pattern for me. It's Color Affection by Veera Välimäki.
I spent a couple of hours with Joanie on Friday afternoon. I started the dress for Lauren, while Joanie worked on an afghan square with bobbles. While I was showing her how to make the bobbles, we discovered that she had missed a line in the instructions saying to start with row 2 of the pattern, so she and I went to the frog pond. (When all else fails, read the directions.)
Saturday I went with people from Therapy Animals of Utah to Camp Hobé, a camp for kids whose lives are impacted by cancer. It gives them a little time as normal kids. It's located in Tooele, Utah, about an hour's drive west of Salt Lake City. I went "unleashed," my participation intended to honor Sunny, our registered therapy dog. I was there to drive, to help and to take photos. My favorite photo was this one of a child's reaction to being kissed by a dog, in this case, Joanna's cockapoo Smokey.
A visit to Camp Hobé was the only time Sunny had "professional" interaction with children, and she always enjoyed it. I was a little sad to be there without her, but it made me happy to be able to do something in her honor. Our DIL2 made a donation to Camp Hobé in Sunny's memory. If you're looking for a worthwhile charity to support, click on the link above. Also, you can "Like" their Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/CampHobe/
What's on my needles: Still hand-quilting the “Delectable Pathways” quilt. Progress on the “So-not-my-palette Cardigan,” Lauren's "Everyday Play" dress and overalls for Lauren.
What's on my Featherweight: Started on doll clothes for Lauren.
What's on my wheel: Still the Waimea Rooster Merino/Tencel from AlohaBlu, now working on the big “cheese wheel” 8oz braid of roving.
What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished listening to Terry Brooks’ The Sword of Shannara. Then I listened to Diet Cults by Matt Fitzgerald. Very interesting. Then listened to The Selection by Kiera Cass. Now I'm on What Angels Fear by C. S. Harris. All of these were from Audible. Still reading Remember This by Shae Buggs on the Kindle app on my iPad.
What's in my wine glass: Nathanson Creek Merlot.
What's my tip of the week: When you're hand-quilting, if you have trouble making a knot you can pop through to the inside when you've finished with the thread and need to rethread your needle, put the needle through the batting after the last stitch and work it past the last few stitches, first on one side and then on the other. After about an inch, cut your thread and use the tip of your quilting needle to reach through the batting and swish the cut end of the thread back down into the batting.
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.
