Tag Archive | rescue dogs

Not a Good Day

Today didn’t start out so great. I snoozed a bit too long and got up to a puddle outside the bedroom door (Duncan isn’t great about going very long stretches without a potty break). I confess I cursed a bit as I let the dogs out.

Then when I came down for breakfast, I spotted a knitting needle on the floor. A thin size 1 DPN that should have been in a zipped project bag holding a sock WIP. Oh, that bag? Yeah, it was on the floor, says the husband. Sure enough, the bag had suspicious dog hair on it. I unzipped it and pulled out the sock, and discovered that the rogue needle had been on live stitches. This bag was my Yarn Pop bag, the one with the handy grommet in the side you can pull the yarn through. Apparently, you can also pull a needle through.

I got the stitches back on a needle, a different needle because the first had a splinter and few tiny tooth marks, and it seems to be fine. But OMG this dog. I know, I know. It was my idea, and I found this dog, and blah blah blah. I had clearly forgotten what it’s like to have a young dog in the house, and we got really spoiled with the first two dogs, who never had accidents in the house even at under a year old. So it’s a new problem for us to deal with. Like I said, not so great.

So in the hopes of turning that frown upside down, let’s look at yarn, shall we? I have marvelous friends who give me marvelous yarn. First up is my birthday yarn from a couple of work friends. It’s Madelinetosh Euro Sock in the color Daenerys. I think it might grow up to be a Miso shawl, a simple, versatile staple for my wardrobe.

Second, I have a new skein from an indie dyer, Canon Hand Dyes, in Portland. This was a gift from another friend at work, a thank-you for covering while she was on vacation. The yarn is Oscar Sparkle Fingering and the color is called Isobel Crawley (Downton Abbey inspired, as I’m sure some of you could guess). Isn’t it beautiful? I do love sparkly things, especially sparkly purple things! I haven’t decided yet what it wants to be, but I’m pretty sure it will be another shawl/scarf, something I can pet and admire while I wear it.

There. I feel better now, don’t you? I mean, I’d feel even better if I was at home playing with my new yarn, but we can’t have it all, I suppose. Here’s hoping your day is brighter than mine has been!

More birthday fun

Sep16

One last birthday photo, because I can’t not share the super awesome cake one of my coworkers made. It was a chocolate cake covered in shiny purple glaze!! It was gorgeous.

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Okay, wait, one more. Because a couple of other awesome coworkers gave me some beautiful knitting needles that look like magic wands!! (Again, purple.)

They gave me yarn too (Madelinetosh! HELLO!), but it hasn’t come yet. Seriously, do I have the best coworkers or what?? Another one gave me delicious chocolates, but those didn’t last long enough for a photo!

I’ve also had some good knitting time this week and I’ve cast on two new shawls. I was finally able to get yarn to make the Wonder Woman wrap, hooray!

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I chose Malabrigo Sock yarn in Ravelry Red and Ochre. I’ve cast on and done the easy first section, and am loving it so far. Now I need to move on to the scary part, which has wrap & turn short rows, which I’ve never done before. It’ll be fine, though. Fine. Just fine.

Did you notice? I’m using Wonder Woman stitch markers too! Love them!

And this morning, I cast on for the Rainbow Warrior by Casapinka. I’ve been wanting to make this shawl for ages, but I wanted to do it with the Miss Babs yarn, just like the original, and I could never bring myself to order the yarn. Thanks to birthday money, I was finally able to place the order. And along with an adorable little mini-skein and three stitch markers, I got two skeins of Yummy 2-play, one in Perfectly Wreckless and one in Thunderstorm.

I’m pretty sure this will be a quick, fun knit. I’m already loving it and can’t wait to go back! How do I choose which awesome shawl to work on??

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Plus I want to cast on more things. Really I just want to cast on ALL the things right now. But hopefully I can contain myself to two shawls at a time. More might be overwhelming!

Duncan is settling in nicely. He’s feeling more comfortable, which is mostly good. He’s not quite as mellow and easy-going as he was the first couple of days. In fact, he can be rather ornery and mischievous, both with us and the other dogs. His appetite also grew noticeably, and he’s much more playful and spunky that I thought at first. He’s making the other two play much more than they’re used to, so at least they’re getting worn out. I’m having a marvelous time watching them all interact, and I’m so glad I was able to convince the husband to add just one more dog to the pack.

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Happy weekend, friends!

Birthday Fun

Sep10

I love birthdays, don’t you? You get to celebrate with people you love, and eat yummy food, and sometimes you get fun presents too! I celebrated a few days early this weekend with my family and enjoyed being around three little kids again. (I also enjoyed it when they left and my house was quiet again, haha!) We grilled burgers and drank margaritas and ate cake and played with puppers and it was overall a perfectly lovely party. Duncan was quite a gentleman: quiet, well-behaved, and tolerant of the kids’ attention. Grace was the naughty one, stealing a bun from a plate left too close to the edge of the table! As for the presents, I consider myself a lucky girl:

The pens are Pilot Metropolitan Pop fountain pens and they’re super cute and super fun to write with. The yarn is CASHMERE, friends. Yes, CASHMERE. I will probably cast on with it today simply because I can’t wait to knit with cashmere. And I finally got some of the color-coded cords, which I’ve been coveting for ages. Hooray, lucky me!

It’s been a nice weekend with the new pupper too. Duncan is settling in wonderfully. All three dogs get along and play well together. Duncan is still more selfish about getting attention, but the other two are sharing nicely. He loves to cuddle, loves the couches, and really loves beds.

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So I consider myself pretty lucky with that too. In fact, Duncan might be the best present of all!

Rescuing Duncan

Sep8

Meet our new furry friend, Duncan!

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He’s a shepherd mix, about 15 months old and 78 pounds (or so they said. He doesn’t seem that heavy, but he is solid). We met several dogs over the last week or so, trying to find our newest pupper, and none of the were just right. Duncan was a great mix of cuteness, playfulness, and respectfulness. They all three seem to get along well, and Duncan backs off every time one of the others corrects him, which is a great sign. He runs around the yard with Grace, which she loves, and he roughhouses with Jack, so I think this might work out well. (Fingers crossed!) He doesn’t have great manners all the time so we’ll be working on that, but seems willing to learn.

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Duncan was adopted from the Great Plains SPCA, and they were super helpful in our search. But in the KC metro area, you can also find lots of furry friends at Wayside Waifs and KC Pet Project. I’m a big advocate of Adopt, Don’t Shop!

There has been a bit of knitting here and there too. I finished the set I’m donating to a silent auction fundraiser and I think it turned out pretty cute.

I used the visual element of the Twinkly Lights cowl and combined it with the Zig Zag Chevron hat and the 75 Yard Malabrigo Mitts. Hopefully someone likes it enough to bid on it!

Happy Friday, friends!

Jack’s Gotcha Day

Jun29

No knitting photos today: I didn’t make enough progress on anything yesterday. So instead I’ll share some dog photos, because dogs. Yesterday was Jack’s Gotcha day: two years since we adopted him from Wayside Waifs, one of the local animal shelters. He’s been a treat since day one.

Balancing on boards from deck demolition

“You can’t see me!”

He is my baby, my constant companion, my protector. He is absolutely the perfect dog for me. I could add a ton more cute photos but you’ve seen most of them.

If you’re looking to add a furry friend to your family, PLEASE check your local animals shelters first! You’ll adopt a pet that’s already spayed or neutered, up to date on vaccinations, and assessed for behavioral issues. There are truly amazing animals there, both mixed-breed and full-breed, and they’re all looking for their forever family. Here are a few choices for the KCMO metro area:

Darkness and Light Cowl

Feb21

I’m steadily plowing through my WIPs. This morning I finished my mom’s rainbow cowl, and I’m delighted with it. If she doesn’t love it, I’ll keep it for sure! I used one strand of Done Roving Frolicking Feet DK in Pot o’ Gold and one strand of Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine in black. The pattern is the Hartwell Scarf by Karin Michele. It was a simple pattern, though I did have a bit of trouble with the last round of the repeating pattern and kept ending up with a slipped stitch where it didn’t look right. Not sure if I was supposed to hold the yarn in back maybe? Anyway, it was a minor thing and not noticeable unless you look for it. And I love the diagonal ridge. I’d definitely make this pattern again.

I’ve also got one more WIP that became a FO today. The girl requested a gray beanie with just a little slouch, so we chose the Violet Waffles hat with gray Preciosa Tonal. It was ready for decreases, so I had her try it on first to make sure it was the right amount of slouch. Once she deemed it acceptable, it got finished off pretty quickly. This is a nifty pattern too, one I want to make for myself. I’ll make it gray if I have enough left, or I have a lovely raspberry color I could use instead.

Finally, another WIP left the list via frogging. I’d started some fingerless gloves in August of last year with some Baah Sonoma Chocolate Cherries yarn. Then they got set aside for gift and craft show knitting. Now I’ve decided I want to use the yarn elsewhere. Since I had less than half of one mitt completed, the frogging was quick and painless. The pattern is lovely, but I wear so little red that I wasn’t sure I’d wear them often enough. I have a few black/gray/white shirts, and what I do see myself wearing is a scarf, one with a lovely lacy pattern of some sort. To that end, I’m even considering frogging this Chocolate Cherries shawelette. It’s an awkward length for me, not quite long enough to wear as a scarf, and it ends up hanging in my closet. I do think it’s beautiful, and I enjoyed knitting it, but again, I think I’d rather use the yarn for something I could wear often.

After all that, I’m left with only TWO WIPs! One is a blanket, so I’m content letting that be a long-term project. The other is a gradient cowl that’s simple seed stitch, so I’ll pull that out for my TV knitting, and I might allow myself to cast on something new. I’m working with another blogger on starting a bulky-cowl Knit-along (more details soon). Anyone else want to play??

Finally, yesterday was the anniversary of the day we got Grace! She’s grown up a lot in the last year, and we sure love having her around. She’s a pain in the butt at times, but she’s OUR pain in the butt!

The Day of the Dogs

Dec4

Sometimes, not very often, I question my decision to have dogs.

Yesterday morning I was coming downstairs on my crutches. Through the window at the landing, I saw the neighbor’s dog running freely down the street. Knowing I couldn’t run after her, or call our neighbor (I don’t have their number), I made it down the rest of the stairs and to the front door, thinking maybe I could call her and get her to come inside. Then what, I had no idea. Fortunately, my husband was outside cleaning frost off the car, so he let the neighbor know and helped look for the dog. And within ten minutes, another friendly neighbor had managed to get her on a leash and returned home. Whew, good news, crisis averted. Right? Right.

Or not.

Ever since we got our fence finished, the puppies love to be outside. Grace especially will spend hours out there if we let her. Our morning routine is for me to let them out while I have breakfast, Jack will come in after half an hour or so, and Grace stays out for another hour or so. Well, it got to be longer than that and I figured I better get her in. I opened the door and hollered at her. Usually she’ll pop up right away, even if she doesn’t come in easily. But not yesterday. I found my crutches and hopped out to the back deck and hollered again, and after a minute I saw here…on the other side of the fence. Seriously. She’d broken a picket and gotten out and thought it would be fun to go frolic with the neighbor’s dog. Yep, same neighbor. They have an invisible fence so Grace could just pop over and say hey, and she thought that was fantastic.

Still with the crutches, I hopped down the steep stairs to the yard. Neighbor came outside, put his dog inside and tried to catch Grace. She’s a wily little thing, though, and thought it was all a fun game so she ran all around his yard and toward the street and back toward our yard and then around again. With just a sock on my good foot, I hopped to the gate and opened it, keeping Jack inside at the same time, calling for Grace so she could ignore me. Poor Neighbor kept chasing the darn dog until I asked her if she wanted a carrot (they love their carrot treats), and somehow she ended up going back through her hole into the yarn. Neighbor put two big rocks in front of the hole and I herded both dogs up the stairs and into the house. I locked the door and collapsed into my rolling chair. My sock was damp and muddy , my foot was freezing, and I was shaking with adrenalin.

So remind my: why do I have dogs?? Oh yeah. This is why. Darn those dogs anyway. As near as we can tell, Grace was digging under the fence and broke the picket forcing her way under. The picket has been replaced and her two big holes have cement blocks in them. I know she’ll dig more if she can. So yeah, now I guess we’re going to look into getting an invisible fence as a second layer of protection. Until then, her time outside will be limited and have frequent supervision.

As for me, I recovered by knitting along to a Harry Potter movie marathon, and today will be more of the same, with a fervent hope that it will be a much less eventful day!

p.s. I had a knitting photo from yesterday to share but it’s not loading and I don’t want to fight with it. Maybe tomorrow.

Puppy Time

Feb22

We got our new puppy yesterday! I got tired of waiting to hear from the volunteer-run rescue shelter place, so we drove out to the Great Plains SPCA just to see if anyone caught our eye. We made it all the way through before this little black Lab looked up at us. All the other dogs were barking and she was just watching us. She had this pretty white streak on her chest and little white socks on her back paws. She was a little over nine months old, young like we were looking for, and seemed friendly enough. We arranged for a meeting and she was bouncy and playful and affectionate, and it didn’t take long for us to decide we needed to bring Jack up to meet her. The meeting went well, though they didn’t play immediately like I was expecting. She was a little more aggressive than he was, and he didn’t appreciate her nose going where it went. But they didn’t dislike each other, little growling, no hackles raised, so we figured what the heck, and brought her home.Her name is Grace, and she’s 59 pounds of sweet sass. She’s not quite 10 months old yet so they expect her to get a little bigger. Right now she’s about as tall and long as Jack is, but he’s much stockier. She seems lean and streamlined compared to him.As soon as we got them in the backyard together, they started wrestling, and pretty much haven’t stopped. They’ll take a five-minute break and then they’re back at it. I love that they’re getting along so well, but I had no idea how much space two crazy puppies would take up! Three dogs? Fuhgeddaboudit! But these two seem to be having a ball, so I can handle it. I kind of wish they’d chill out a little bit now and then, but it’ll happen eventually.The best news for me was that they did fine overnight together. Jack has a bed in the kitchen, so we put another bed in there for Gracie, and after a few thumps, it was quiet all night. I woke up to two very bouncy, happy puppies. And a puddle too, but hopefully that won’t last long. She grasps the concept; I think Jack just needs to leave her alone long enough to let her pee when they’re outside.

Really, it’s going better than I expected. I know there’ll be some tension over toys and sticks, but they had breakfast in the same room without too much trouble. The only sad part is that I seem to have lost my cuddle puppy. He won’t lie on the couch with me and when I got up, he didn’t even roll over and ask for his ten-minute belly rub. That’ll come back, right? I sure hope so!

And they do wear each other out, that’s for sure! This is Jack last night after three hours of almost non-stop wrestling:It’s been an adventure already, and I think we’re in for a lot more. I’ve got more dirt and noise than I had before, but I’ve also got a lot of sweet moments.

If you’re thinking about a new furry friend, please check out your local animal shelters first. There are a lot of wonderful dogs out there, and mixed-breeds can be just as fantastic (if not more so) than a pure-bred with papers. In the Kansas City Metro Area we have three big ones: Wayside Waifs, Great Plains SPCA and the KC Pet Project.

I’m not a Dog Person

Dec29

I was never a Dog Person. We had tons of pets when I was growing up, but I always preferred the cats to the dogs. Cats were soft and fluffy, cuddly and cute. Dogs were big and messy, noisy and smelly. When my husband and I got married and rented our first house, I was so happy to bring my cats from home to live with us. After that last year of college, they moved with us to an apartment, then to our family home. I liked cats. I was a cat person.

But I tried to be a dog person. After we bought our house, my parents gave us their dog. They were moving and didn’t have a fenced yard, which we did. So we got a big white husky-type mix named Quincy. He was sweet, if stupid, but he had a habit of pooping inside, and he loved to escape. We tolerated it. But then our first baby was born, and suddenly I had a dog following me around as I tried to take care of this fussy, colicky, screaming child. My patience was limited. I couldn’t deal with both, and I confess we gave the dog back to my parents after they’d fenced their yard. Life was simpler with just the cats.

Then my favorite cat died, poor Sasha. I was pregnant with my second child at the time, and the hormones got the best of me. We quickly adopted another Himalayan who we named George. Several months later, we found out our firstborn is allergic to cats. We helped George find a good new home, but the other cat, Beeper, was old. He was my cat. Katie’s allergies weren’t severe enough to warrant rehoming him immediately, so we decided to make it work, and we just wouldn’t get any more cats once Beeper was gone. He made it to 17 years old, poor thing, before his body started giving out in all sorts of ways. I hated to say goodbye but had to do it.

We were pet-free. Somehow we never even considered getting a dog, even though nobody was allergic. We weren’t dog people. Since we couldn’t be cat people, we’d be pet-free people. And in some ways, it was really nice. The house stayed cleaner and smelled better. We could have leather couches without worrying about claws. We didn’t have to clean litter boxes. We had a bit of extra money. We could travel without care. Yes, I could do this just fine!

Then my dad, who was living in Arizona, got sick. After a few months, it became clear that he wouldn’t be able to keep taking care of his dog. Samson was a huge red husky mix around nine years old. He was docile, gentle, and friendly. I liked him. I didn’t love him, but I liked him. Enough that I didn’t want to see him go to strangers. Maybe more importantly, I loved my dad enough that I wanted to take care of his beloved dog. So Samson came home with us.We had Samson for almost two years. Tomorrow it will be a year since we lost him, and tomorrow I’ll tell you his story. That’s what I started to do today, but this post is already too long. I guess the point today is that Samson turned me into a Dog Person. After we lost him, I really thought we would go back to being pet-free people. I donated or gave away all the dog supplies immediately. Samson was special and irreplaceable, and the only reason we had him was to to please my dad. Why would we ever get another animal?

But the house seemed so quiet and empty. I would come home and look in the kitchen door expecting to see a furry smile. I got up in the morning and the kitchen was colder without a soft dog to welcome me. The squirrels ran around our yard happily without a big brown dog chasing them. The snow fell and I couldn’t watch him frolic in it. I didn’t like it.

I lasted four months. It probably only took so long because I had to convince my husband he was ready for another dog. The kids were always ready, of course. So we scoured the animal shelters until we found our dog. We’ve had some struggles and some issues, but they’re worth it. Now I’ve got a sweet dog who snuggles on the couch with me, who plays with my son, who goes on walks with my daughter and on runs with my husband. He fills different needs for all of us, except one: that need to share unconditional love. And there’s no animal better at that than dogs.Yes, I’m a Dog Person now. Thanks, Samson, and thanks, Daddy.

I’ve said it before and will keep saying it: if you’re wanting a new furry friend, please be sure to visit your local animals shelter(s). There are so many wonderful animals needing homes!

Nope, that didn’t happen

Dec4

Well. That hat I was going to make yesterday? Ha. I was dreaming or something. Despite ~~getting distracted by internet and Grey’s Anatomy~~ my best efforts, I only got about halfway done. So no picture for you today, sorry. Instead I will give you a picture of my charming puppy. And the cheese knife he chewed up this morning. And the Christmas tree he was pondering.

Good thing puppies are cute, eh?

I have errands to run and miles to go before I knit, but I have faith the hat will be complete by tomorrow.