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.
