Fiber and Pups...With a Twist

The spinning for Tour de Fleece is done. I finished the second bobbin of the lovely Waimea Rooster merino/Tencel fiber from AlohaBlu. Here are the two bobbins, within 1 gm of each other in weight.

Then I got out my expensive lazy kate.

My wheel has a lazy kate built in, but I like to place the bobbins at least a few feet away from my wheel while plying, so the twist has a chance to even out a bit before the singles get plied.

Here’s what my yarn looked like before washing.

I got 20 WPI (wraps per inch, so fairly fine yarn, in the fingering range). I had 880 yds before washing. 

Dusty had his first haircut with our regular groomer. The breeder groomed the pups regularly while she had them, so they would be used to grooming. Here’s what he looked like before:

He looked much better after

Here’s a photo of Dusty and Rocky after their day at the spa.

It didn’t take them long to get dirty again.

I didn’t make it to Vintage Stitchers this week, but I dropped in on Joanie, along with Dusty and Rocky, so she could meet the new pup. She had just returned from a trip to Idaho, and brought me a souvenir.

Ha-ha, very funny! However, it’s a nice guidebook. It has a skull and crossbones beside each mushroom that’s toxic to humans, but doesn’t specify which ones are toxic to dogs. However, if I can identify the offending mushroom, I can Google it to find out if it’s toxic to dogs.

What's on my needles: The “So-not-my-palette Cardigan” working on the first sleeve, very little progress this week. Delectable Pathways quilt put aside for now.

What's on my Featherweight: No sewing until I get home again.

What's on my wheel: Just finished the Waimea Rooster Merino/Tencel from AlohaBlu, but plan to spin something new when I get back.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished The Sin Eater’s Daughter by Melinda Salisbury, also from Audible. Now reading The Heiress of Winterwood by Sarah Ladd. Interesting story, but the narrator leaves something to be desired. I think she would be better reading children’s literature. It’s a Regency novel, and it also bothered me at first that she has an American accent, especially since they mention the war with the American colonies. I got used to her reading as the story went on, though, so it’s OK. (It’s Christian lit, if that influences you. It didn’t bother me.) Still reading Remember This by Shae Buggs on the Kindle app on my iPad, making some progress, now that things have calmed down a bit on the puppy front. 

What's in my wine glass: Amberhill Secret Blend, a red, 2014. It’s my second-favorite wine.

What's my tip of the week: If you’re training your puppy to do his business in the backyard, take him out every time he wakes up, finishes eating, has been playing vigorously for 10 minutes or so, or just for some exercise. Tell him what you want him to do (we use “make potty,” and then ask, “more potty?” if we think he might have some more serious business), then praise him if he does it. Don’t take him back in the house right away, unless it’s because he gets to eat, and he’s hungry. If they enjoy being outdoors, dogs will learn to put off doing their business to get to stay out longer.

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.

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.

Groundhogs, Wheels and Bowls

Last Monday the American Girl Knitters Ravelry group started its February knit along (KAL).

We were given a discount on any pattern by Una Hendry (from lots of choices) and had to finish one item from any of the patterns, post in the KAL thread and link to the KAL from our Ravelry page for the project.

I wanted to use leftovers and found Stroll sock yarn among my scraps in “White,” “Flagstone Heather” and “Rabbit Heather.” These last two are tweed. They were left over from three pairs of socks. It’s the middle of winter here, so I couldn’t see a sun dress or baby doll PJs, so I picked this one of the three ski sets. 

I made the ski pants from the “Rabbit Heather” first, because there seemed to be more of it, and I wanted to make them all one color. Dolly is holding her foot up so you can see the stirrup that goes under the foot.

After finishing the body of the ski sweater and as I was making the first sleeve, I realized I might run out of the “Flagstone Heather.” I decided to stop the first sleeve at that point and knit the second sleeve using the other end of the yarn. I got through the second pattern row at the shoulder before I ran out. I could have substituted one of the other colors without too much difficulty by altering the pattern slightly, but I had a skein of Essential sock yarn in “Ash,” which is pretty close to the “Flagstone Heather,” although not tweed. I substituted this for “Flagstone Heather” in the last two pattern rows on the sleeves. Some of it disappears into the seam at the shoulder anyway, so it wasn’t noticeable.

I used the leftover “Rabbit Heather” as the main color for the hat and used the Essential “Ash” along with the Stroll “White” for the contrast colors. Also not noticeable.

Part of the fun is the staging. As I did with the January KAL project, I used the chair and ottoman I made last month and the iPad for a roaring fire.

I added some “popcorn,” crushed styrofoam peanuts (an idea I found on Pinterest) and a cup of cocoa, with “marshmallows,” (also styrofoam peanuts, a couple of pieces that turned out the right shape). The perfect setting for après-ski.

I still have some things I need to make for Dolly before I put her aside to finish my hand-quilting and other projects.

The Spin Along started Friday and is still going on. I started out with this lovely fiber from Christina “Aloha Blu.”

We started Friday at noon. I chose to start with the two ounces of Targhee “Saturated Spring.” As of Sunday evening, after the bowl game, I had this much done with still about 45 minutes worth of spinning left to finish the 2 oz. bump of fiber.

If you’re reading this Monday morning, I am still spinning away. I plan on Navajo-plying, also called “chain plying,” because it’s similar to making a crochet chain. The loops are much bigger, and you make them as you spin in the opposite direction from the direction you spun the “singles,” which is what you call the individual ply.

Here in the high mountains, the sun shone brightly on Groundhog Day. I know that’s supposed to mean six more weeks of winter, but I wonder if it means ONLY six more weeks. That would turn out to be a short winter for us. To keep warm (even in the house it’s cold) the pups wear their sweaters and soak up the sun when they can.

Rocky’s sweater is made from left over Swish in “Lava Heather” with some “Squirrel Heather” and “Dove Heather” for contrast. Sunny’s is also made from “Lava Heather” and “Dove Heather,” but with “Dusk” as the other contrast color.

Even after a couple of warmer days (high 30s) we still have about three feet of snow on our roof.

Common Threads was cancelled because we had a blizzard, which creates a parking problem, but some of us managed to visit Joanie on Friday. Quilters: Vintage Stitchers meets again this coming Thursday, so there’s some hope for some quilting eye candy next week.

What's on my needles:  Still the “Time for Tea” party dress for Dolly. The Trickle Socks, waiting.

What's on my Featherweight: Still doll socks, tights and undies. Will start on Regency outfit for Dolly soon.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished Ashley Bell by Dean Koontz, his latest novel, which came out in December. I really enjoyed it and think it’s his best so far. Then listened to Her own Devices by Shelley Adina. I’m looking forward to the next book in the series. I never thought Steampunk would appeal to me, but it does. Now listening to From a High Tower by Mercedes Lackey. Good so far. Still reading A View to Die For by Richard Houston.

What's in my wine glass: Crane Lake Malbec, one of our favorites.

What's my tip of the week: If you know who won the Superbowl, don’t tell anyone the result unless they indicate that they already know. They may have recorded the game.