Silliness

It's not just me that loves the snow!



I apologize for the crummy cell phone photo, but that's what I had on me at the time.

Right now we have about 3"-4" of snow here in NW Ohio. If you know me, you know I would love to have what the East Coast has been pummelled with this winter. So would Bruno and Coco! They sure don't act like they will be 10 years old in a couple of months.

Remember, winter and snow are temporary. Find the fun and silliness that come with them!

What's New?

So, besides the New Year, what's new?

I have a few FO's I can show you!

Since 2011 started, I have completed the following projects already... Okay, I admit the first one is cheating, since I started this pair of mittens in mid-December. They were intended to be part of Mayhem's Christmas gifts.



Next up, a hat for Bill. I used the leftovers of Berocco Ultra Alpaca that I had from Dad's hat. It's soft and warm, and knit up quickly.



Sticking with the winter accessories, this next hat will be gifted to a friend next month. My pal Chris, whom I've known since junior high, currently lives in L.A., but remains loyal to Ohio State. He'll be back in Ohio in February, and requested a hat in (blech, phooey, gag!) OSU colors.



I've dubbed it the "Ugly-ass hat," and decided I'm a very good friend!

The kids and I think that Bruno is having an identity crisis, or has aspirations of being a sheep dog. He's taken to carrying around this:



and sleeping with it, too!



We're in the middle of a January deep-freeze, but had happy mail yesterday. Our new swim suits for the cruise arrived! Hooray for Lands' End Overstocks!
:-)

Secret Knitting and Sacrifices

A certain middle-schooler that lives at my house every other week is obsessed with purple. Her coat is purple. Her backpack is purple. Most of her clothes are purple. Are you seeing a trend here? So last week, when it was Dad Week, what did her dad get her? A white hat and white gloves. Ugh! This is a young one who, like her momma, has a love for the fluffy white stuff that falls from the sky. She plays in it, even when there's only a dusting on the ground. You know what that means; dirty gloves/mittens!



How do you keep white gloves clean on ground like that??? (And see Bruno? he's spotted a squirrel up on the lines above him! mmmmm squirrel!)

Being the type of mom that I am, and knowing that wool mittens are the best winter weather gear for playing in the snow, I've cast on a pair of, yep, you guessed it, purple woolen mittens. Even though my darling Mayhem is a cookie-cutter image of me, and we share the love of snow, we do not share the love for purple. More than once I have threatened to friends that I am going to stab my eyes out with my dpn's before finishing these mittens, and I fear I may not finish them in time for our Christmas celebration on the morning of December 24th... not because I can't, but because the purple is killing me!

Darling Mayhem knows nothing about these mittens at all. I have been working on them at night, or when she is at her dad's, or in the car while waiting to pick her and her brother up from school. I just reached the point of needing to put the thumb stitches on hold for mitten number one, so the hard part is done; keeping track of the gussett increases. I feel safe showing you a photo, because Mayhem would have commented here by now if she were a reader of this blog. (She is not one to keep quiet, trust me!)

Pardon the crummy cell phone photo, please. As you can see, I was in the car, but not driving, I promise.



I am using this pattern - Alex's Mittens (on Ravelry) which is a roomy pattern and well written. I knit it before, for Bill's younger son for Christmas a couple years ago.

So far this December we have had only a dusting of snow (.7 inches) which made the dogs ecstatic (me too!), but we are expecting 5" tomorrow afternoon and into Monday morning. *happy dance* That will be good knitting time for me for finishing up mitten one and getting number two knocked out of the way. Then it's on to another gift project. A dear friend of mine who lives in Los Angeles has requested a hat in OSU colors. GAH! More stabbing out of the eyes.
Sheesh. The sacrifices I make! ;-) GO BLUE!

They don't grow up...

Meet Bruno. He's nine years ol...I mean young. Yeah. Nine years young. Slower than he used to be, but not out of the game yet, by any any means. Factor into the equation the fact that we weighs 112 lbs. and, well, lots of games are played by his rules.



Bruno's favorite game is tug. See him holding the knotted rope in his mouth?



He really wants Bill to play. Bill is MY favorite person. Bruno quickly learned that Bill is a "dog" person. You know, one of those people that loves dogs. You know who they are. And you know if you are or aren't one. Bruno can just tell that Bill loves animals of all kinds, including dogs. He's been known to carry on whole conversations with the two furry family members here at my house. (Shhhhh! they don't really know they are dogs!)



Of course, Bill obliges Bruno with a rousing game of tug! Bruno wrestles the rope away from Bill and runs away with it. Then he brings it back for more.



Once the game is done, Bruno decides he has to climb up in Bill's lap and give him hugs and kisses, too!



All of a sudden, there was a loud *SQUEEEEK!*



Bruno was wondering if Bill did that in his shorts, I think. ;-) hehehehe Bill tried to pull a fast one by inviting a squeaky ball to the party. Cut the innocent act, Bill. He's wise to you!

Interestingly enough, my female Lab, Coco, had no interest in playing their sophomoric games. Think I can teach her to knit??

The Start...

Of a beautiful friendship...





Look at the detail in that dandelion! And check out Coco! She really is chocolate brown! Look at the detail in her fur. See her white whiskers? Wow. And her amber eyes.

This is going to be so much fun, friends.

Yay! The new, new camera works.

Calling All Dog Lovers

Or all Yarnaholics!

My knitting friend Karen is having a raffle to raise money for the rescue organization where she adopted her dog. Vinnie incurred some big vet bills recently, and 4 Paws Sake covered his care because he was still considered a foster.

What can you win? WOLLMEISE. YARN PIRATE. YARNTINI.


Check out Karen's Knoobie Knitter Blog for the contest and pictures of prizes. You'll find a link to the rescue donation page and can donate directly to them via PayPal. The money goes straight to them!


Here's Vinnie! He says thanks!

The Drive Home

This morning it started snowing, but not early enough to delay school. It snowed all day, and the drive home looked like this:

Between school and home, an 18-minute drive on city streets, the kids and I saw ONE snow plow.

Can you see the guy out there walking his dog? They have the right idea. They're nowhere near the road! My dogs were happy to get out and play in the snow. See?

Even though it's Yarn Haven's One Year Anniversary, I think staying home tonight is a good idea. Stay warm!

Lab Results

Hi. I'm Bruno. I'm doing the blogging today. You have no idea how long I've been waiting for my turn at the computer!

Here's what you need to know to know about me. I'm a good dog. I'm a really good dog. 120 lbs. of good dog! Seriously. My kids lay on me. They put bandages on me. They use me for a bean bag chair. They turn my ears inside out and play doctor on me. When I'm tired of my kids bugging me, I get up, dump them off, and go in another room. I didn't even care when Mayhem put red lipstick on me! Do you know how long it took to get it off my lovely fur? When my human mom has a migraine, I get up beside her on the bed and stay with her until it's gone. My human mom rescued me when I was 8 weeks old from an organization that finds homes for unwanted pets. My siblings and I had all been dumped. (She rescued Coco Loco from the dog pound. That's another story for another day.)

My point is this. I'm a good, good dog. That's all I'm trying to make clear. At my house, I'm not the dog that gets in trouble. Usually. So the incident the other day with the alpaca? That was a fluke.

Wait. You didn't hear about that? Good. I'll tell my side.

My human mom has a lot of yarn. More yarn than you know. I love to give it a good sniff when it comes into the house. It's mostly wooly, sheepy stuff, but to be honest, I'm just not all that interested. Once she has those pointy sticks in there, I really don't want to be bothered with it. Mom gives me plenty of rawhide chewies to play with, and a Kong full of peanut butter is much, much better than yarn.

But the other day she was knitting with a little ball of some dark yarn I hadn't sniffed before. It wasn't a big ball of yarn like she usually has. This was just a little itty bit of yarn. Sniiiiiffffffff. Yummm. What is that?? What's that smell?? I shoved my head under her arm to make Mom pay attention to me, and get closer to that yummy stuff. sniff, sniff, snuffle, snort, sneeze

About that time she took the pointy sticks out of the aromatic yarn and let Absent Minded Professor pet the yarn. Seeing my opportunity, I turned toward him and took another big sniiiiiiffff. I just couldn't help myself guys. My mouth just opened and the next thing I know that yarn swatch jumped into my mouth and I was drooling all over it and running around the room like I did when I was I was a puppy! I ran to the right, and the kids chased me. I dodged left behind the recliner. Wheeee! What fun, the chase was on!

The kids were squealing and chasing me. Mom was demanding, "Bruno, drop the alpaca!" I was behaving in a way totally unbecoming my six years of age. The scent and taste of alpaca filled my head and I just went nuts. Finally, Mom got the kids to stop making so much noise and then commanded me to sit. At that point I figured I better drop that yummy stuff or risk having to go to the crate; I haven't been there in years. You know, doggy jail. I handed over the yarn, a bit wet, but not chewed.

You know, looking back, I should have just done what Mayhem always does when she wants something... snuggled up to Mom, turned up the charm, batted the puppy dog eyes, and said, "Can we buy one, please, please, please?" I have a feeling there won't be anymore alpaca coming into this house.

Progress

What do you know? It looks like a sock. Sort of. The heel is turned. I've picked up the gussett stitches and am working on the instep. Today was gloriously sunny (but cold) so the sock made a trip outside for a photo. I may actually get to start sock number two by the end of the week!

Spring arrives tonight and Bruno thought he would celebrate by parading around the yard with a very big stick. He thought he was helping me clean the yard. Then he whapped me in the side of the knee with it. Thanks, Bru-nut. I don't plan to photograph the large bruise that is already forming. Here's the dog and the stick.

Alone time

There are some people I know who will do just about anything to avoid being alone. Not me. I really enjoy being alone. That's probably because it happens so seldom. My house is busy and chaotic to the point of me often saying, "I go to work every day because it's the one place I can go to the bathroom by myself." Seriously.

This weekend, Mayhem and The Absent-Minded Professor took off with their dad to see their godparents and also go to the Deer and Turkey Expo at the Ohio State Fairgrounds. It's an annual thing. That left me, worn out from a hectic school schedule and some late nights (I'm a building rep for my teacher's union and we've had some heavy-duty grievance hearings this past week), home with the 4-legged kids.

Know what I did? Not much! I slept. Finally. Embarrassingly late, I might add. Bruno and Coco are so good to me, when I let them sleep with me. They know if they get to sleep in the people bed, that they better not ask to go outside at 6:30 in the morning. When the big old blue blanket gets tossed on top of the bed, the doggy blanket, the tails start wagging. B & C know they get to be on the bed! Normally Bruno sleeps on the floor beside the bed, and Coco sleeps in a crate (that's a nice word for doggy cage). Lest you think badly, it's big enough for me to get into, or both of my kids to be inside at one time.

Saturday I didn't do much. At some point I got dressed enough to go out and clean up the "land mines" in the backyard. After that, I built a fire and camped out on the couch. I read an entire James Patterson novel, Step on a Crack. I didn't feel like knitting. (What's up with that???) I watched the fire. I dozed. I went to bed and slept 12 hours.

Today I did venture out of the house. To reward my furry compatriots for their stellar behavior, we walked two miles early this afternoon. B= 120 lbs. C= 95 lbs. Connect them both to one leash with a splitter. I got more exercise than they did! After that, I headed to Borders to pick up this: The Friday Night Knitting Club and this: Favorite Socks: 25 Timeless Designs From Interweave. I added a large coffee to my purchases there. Seattle's Best Coffee isn't Starbucks, but it will do in a pinch. Plus my purchase adds to my holiday rewards bucks.

On the way home I stopped at Panera to get a sandwich to go, planning a late lunch/early dinner. Heading toward home, I called my favorite Chinese restaurant to order a take out container of hot and sour soup to go with it. Might as well have what I want since I don't have to feed any kids, right?

In about two or three hours the quiet will be shattered by "Mom! Guess what we saw!" (Wow) "I got to touch a..." (Eeewwww) and "Do I have to take a shower?" (YES... especially after touching that!) The washer and dryer are already going, getting the kids' clothes ready for another week of school. I'm going to clear away the evidence of my little smorgasbord meal and go knit.

Or read.

Or not.

Aaaaaaaccckkk!

Saturday Evening
Big people sock attempt #1... Cast on 60 stitches, divide evenly among 4 needles. K2 P1 ribbing. OK so far. Only, why is this such a mess? Twisted stitches!!!!!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrr Start over.

Big people sock attempt #2... Cast on 60 stitches, divide evenly among 4 needles. K2 P1 ribbing. OK so far. Multiple interruptions from Absent-Minded Professor who does not take ADHD meds on weekends. Mess up K2 P1 pattern, which goes unnoticed until next round. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Pull knitting off needles. Start over.

Big people sock attempt #3... Cast on 60 stitches, divide evenly among 4 needles. K2 P1 ribbing. OK so far. Kids are both in bed. Knit peacefully for several rounds. Large Lab nose invades knitting and pulls stitches off one dpn causing a major unravel. GRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! Pull knitting off needles. Curse like a sailor. Go polish off the bottle of Riesling in the fridge instead of starting over.

Sunday Morning
Big people sock attempt #4... Awaken at 6:00 AM before anyone. Put the Labs outside, let them in to eat, put them back out and leave them there. Cast on 60 stitches, divide evenly among 4 needles. K2 P1 ribbing. OK so far. Knit peacefully for several rounds. Put sock in progress away before any further disaster can befall it!! Breathe sigh of relief... for now.

Someday I'm going to laugh about this, right? Right???

A Little Mystery... and some knitting

Have you ever received an anonymous card in the mail? Today I did. Strange. It's for my birthday. Only, in a way, it's not anonymous. It's from the dog. Seriously. On the front is a big yellow Lab, and the card says, "This birthday card is from me. The dog." The text goes babbling on about how I (the card reader) am probably wondering how he (the dog) got out to go buy a card. Inside it says, "Let's just say I know people." Below that, "Happy birthday from...that's right...the dog."

I am not participating in any secret pal things right now, so rule out secret pals as possible senders. The card was postmarked here in my own city. It has no return address, simply a pawprint sticker. Likewise, a sticker for the signature inside. Of the three most viable options, two have already denied responsibility, including the person I thought most likely; my friend Sharon. She does have six dogs, and helped me rescue my chocolate Lab from the pound. Rest assured, I will get to the bottom of this. Otherwise, this gentleman gets all the credit!

On to knitting, now. After all, I promised knitting photos and content in my last entry.

First up, the green raglan sweater. I am determined to finish this sweater. I don't hate it. For the life of me, I can't figure out why it's taking me so long! It's not difficult. Now that I've wound the yarn and seen the different colors I even have a bit of a challenge with changing balls every few rows so that I don't end up with a huge color shift halfway through like I did with the back. And speaking of the back, look at those lovely raglan decreases where my sleeves will be joined!

A closer shot, you say? I can do that.

Just for kicks, I'll even show you the progress I've made on the front!

One last thing. I have been wanting to make myself some simple wrist warmers or fingerless gloves. I have this delicious merino wool from Classic Elite that I dug out of my stash. It's called Waterlily. I bought a deep blue, called Inlet. Friends, I cannot tell you enough how soft this wool truly feels. It's not scratchy at all like some think immediately when they think of wool. Having fallen in love with making cables, I decided to make Irish Hiking Wrist Warmers using this buttery soft merino wool. Here's the start of the first one...

Why a boy needs a dog...or two

Boy and Dog
Dogs are companions. Dogs listen when you're lonely. Dogs keep your secrets.

According to Absent-Minded Professor, Coco even helps him play gameboy.