FOs and more pet pics ;0)

Firstly, as a break from all my pet photos ;0), here are some things I've recently finished.

This jacket is from Stylecraft leaflet #4205, made for DS (age 6) using just under 1 x 400g ball of Stylecraft Special Aran with Wool (80% acrylic, 20% wool). A quick and easy knit, finished just in time for last week's heatwave! *LOL*















And I finally gave in and made a Baby Surprise Jacket (by Elizabeth Zimmerman). I did not understand the pattern at all - before, during or after knitting it! *LOL* But it's very effective. I used Bright Dyes 100% merino 4ply on 3.5mm needles. I made a hat to match and think I have enough left over to make some bootees.

On the needles at the moment is a pair of socks, feather and fan comfort shawl, HipKnits project club silk cardi, and about 4 other things that either need finishing or frogging. I haven't quite decided yet but more about those in a future blog post. ;0)




Now on to the animal pics. ;0)




This is Chance, a 3 year old GSD who came to live with us (via German Shepherd Rescue UK) at the beginning of last month, just a few days before we lost Buster. He wasn't house trained, lead trained or very well mannered :0( but he's coming on in leaps and bounds now. We've been in touch with a wonderful trainer - John Bills of Gelert Dog Training - and he's now a pleasure to take out on walks and have in the house.















This is what he looked like when he came to us - a dirty, unbrushed coat, caked in mud and poo underneath him, and was petrified of anyone touching his legs/belly. You could see every single bone in his body. :0(

Within the first week he was housetrained, allowed me to trim away all the matted bits of fur and remove the dirt, and now he now loves to be brushed. Thank goodness for the Furminator I say! :0)

He's getting on really well with Lexi and Snoopy, although he can be a bit boisterous with them on times but Snoopy puts him in his place quickly enough!





And now on to furry creatures on a smaller scale. ;0)

We have 2 rats at the moment - Nibble 8 months old and Toffee 2 and a half years old. As Toffee is now quite old for a rat (they usually live about 3 years), we decided to get 2 baby rats so Nibble won't be on his own if/when the worst happens. After years of buying from pet shops - and suffering the consequences in the form of tumours and breathing difficulties :0( - we contacted a breeder in Cheltenham and was put on the waiting list. A few months later, these little cuties came to live with us.

They are about 8 weeks old in these photos.

This is Strawberry - a ruby eyed Himalayan Rex. His whiskers are really curly and his coat will become curlier as he gets older.















And this is Smokey - his coat is extremely silky and soft at the moment.















After some initial "argy bargy", they are now all getting on extremely well.

Their favourite place to sleep at the moment is in the top hammock, all piled on top of each other.















They are really friendy and love nothing better than coming out for "free time", running around DS's (well covered) bed and having cuddles.

A Tribute to Buster

Buster
RIP
June 1996 - April 2008





We had to make the heartbreaking decision to have Buster, my beautiful GSD, put to sleep on Monday, 7th April, just 3 days after we came back from holiday with him and only 2 months before he would have been 12 years old. :0( He had twisted his stomach that afternoon and although he could have had an operation, he would only have had a 30-50% chance of survival. I felt I didn't want to put him through it, as he probably wouldn't have had a good time post-op what with needing his cart to get around and also his spine was starting to fuse together in places (according to x-rays the vet took that evening).

He was a beautiful old dog and I'd like to share some photos of him with you.

Me and DH (then my boyfriend) had just moved into our first house together and DH decided he wanted a German Shepherd. He'd had one as a child and loved the breed. I wasn't too sure (my parents had always had Yorkshire Terriers) but I went along with him anyway.

DH chose Buster - but Buster chose me! What I mean is, considering he was supposed to be my husband's dog, he bonded with me instead. ;0)

This is Buster at 8 weeks old in 1996. He was a very good puppy, easily house trained, although slightly highly strung and very protective of the family.















I took him to training classes up until the age of 1 year old and he passed his 'final' with flying colours.

Don't be fooled and think he was by now perfect though, it didn't last - when the postman delivered his training certificate and rosette a week later, he chased him up the road!















He discovered his love of lying on the furniture at an early age -

1997














2007











One house move and a pregnancy later, Buster had appointed himself 'protector of the baby'.

When I was pregnant, my nan was extremely worried about having "such a big dog" in the house with a new baby and told us we should "get rid of him". I was having no such thing!

Buster was 6 when DS was born in 2002, and I spent a few days in hospital following a caesarean. DH brought home blankets, clothes, nappies, etc. which smelled of the new baby to get Buster used to the smell.




We brought DS home in his car seat, put him on the floor, Buster had a sniff and since that day we never had a problem. DS was taught to respect our dogs and knew not to tease, annoy, pull, climb on them, etc..















Buster loved the beach and I always remember the look on his face when we took him there the first time - I've never seen a dog 'smile' so widely or bound across the sand so fast! He loved it and looked so happy.




Although he was never keen on the water and refused to go swimming. ;0)











He loved to be close when I was napping, and in fact spent all of his 11 years sleeping next to me on the floor in the bedroom.

...... and on the bed (even my pillow!) when I was out. ;0)







When he was about 8 years old, he developed CDRM (a degenerative spinal problem). It didn't cause him pain but he did start to drag his legs around a bit. This didn't become a problem for him going for walks until he was about 9 or 10, when we decided to buy him a cart. DH and I were a bit dubious, thinking that there was no way he'd take to it and we'd probably end up sending it back.

But did he prove us wrong! The first day we put him in it, he raced off up the road with a big silly grin on his face. He loved it. :0)

He became a bit of a celebrity on holiday in West Wales (where we go regularly) with everyone wanting to know why he had it, where we got it from, etc.

And he went from being a dog who didn't like people approaching him, to actually going up to people so they *would* make a fuss of him. :0)






He was a wonderful dog - protector of the family,minor celebrity and giver of kisses and unconditional love.

He was my constant companion for nigh on 12 years and I don't know what to do with myself now he's gone. :0(



Buster, you are missed.
x

I'm Back!

As it's been almost a month since I last blogged, I thought I'd post a few photos just so you know I'm still around. ;0)

This is one of the reasons why I haven't been around as much lately - Snoopy, a 14 year old lab cross, who we adopted from Many Tears Rescue in Llanelli two weeks ago.

As you can see, he found his spot straight away - ;0) - and has settled in with our other dogs very well.











He's the first dog we've had who has liked to cuddle up to other dogs when he's sleeping.















Not to be left out, Lexi thought she'd give it a try too. ;0)















Buster, however, still refuses to cuddle up to anyone. But he did at least agree to have his photo taken next to Snoopy. :0)













I finished the Sirdar Click cable jacket yesterday, although I used Sirdar Peru Naturals instead, Machu Picchu colourway. I used 10 balls of Peru - the pattern stated 16 balls of Click.

I love this jacket. It's very warm and comfortable to wear, and I think I'll be getting a lot of use out of it.

I did a slightly smaller collar than on the pattern (2 inches less of rib) because I never feel comfortable with a huge collar around my neck.















This was a very quick knit, even with the cables up the front and back. I started it on the 16th February, worked on other projects as well, and finished it on 22nd March. Altogether, it took 8 days to knit and sew up.









I also finished the 2nd baby blanket for my cousin, same details as previous blanket. This one only took 3 days to complete - I'll be able to knit this in my sleep soon!















And because I've finished a few projects, I thought I'd cast on straight away for my next one - the HipKnits Project Club cardigan kit. It uses 500g of HipKnits Silk Aran for the main colour (a beautiful deep blue), has a fairisle band around the middle using 100g of variegated silk aran (Splash) and is knit from the top down. I've only managed about 10 rows so far, which doesn't exactly make for an exciting picture. ;0)

A lucky couple of days :0)

Yes, I certainly have had a lucky couple of days, and I am very grateful to whoever it is "up there" who's looking over me. :0)


Last sunday, I won the The Yarn Grove's prize for the Under Cover Club afghan which I finished in December 2007. I loved receiving the squares to knit each month and the finished afghan has certainly kept me warm since Christmas - it's been sitting on the back of the chair in the living room, ready to keep me warm on a cold winter night or when I've been shivering with the 'flu. :0)


And this morning, DH woke me at 1am to tell me I'd won the lottery. I was just about to start shouting at him for waking me up *just* for a tenner (three numbers), when he told me I had 5 numbers!!! I got up straight away at that! I have won .... £1,373. Not enough to give up work and retire ;0) but enough to pay some bills (and pay for our holiday at the end of next month) and have some "guilt-free" spending at Wonderwool on 26th April. :0)


I've had a stupid grin on my face all day!


And finally to some knitting. I finished my Sockamania socks for February some time last week but my didn't take a photo until today - and then my camera died on me and I haven't been able to find my batteries. *rolls eyes*


These were made with Fyberspates merino tencel in Sherbet colourway on 2.5mm circs and I love them. :0)

















I'd also like to say thanks for all the comments I had on my last post. The dog coats will be sent off ASAP to keep the dogs warm at Many Tears

but unfortunately I haven't been able to get any further on my Sirdar cable jacket. I've been working on a commission for the company (Sirdar) which was for a stocking stitch summer top with (very) short sleeves. No problem. Or so you'd think!


It's knitted in Just Soya, which is lovely yarn but has been causing me major problems. :0( My tension was out, so I went down to smaller needles, then the knitted fabric looked very "bitty" and uneven. Even DH mentioned it! I'll be ringing them tomorrow to see if it's the yarn they've sent - or just me!


And look away NOW if you've just eaten. LOL! DH, who is 6 in April, has just lost his 2 lower front teeth and wanted me to blog about it! His new teeth had come through before the old ones came out, so I'm hoping they'll all "line up" eventually. ;0)


Ready?

















Eww! Yet he thought it was sooooooooooooooo cool to have his teeth and gums on show on the 'net!













Oh, I almost forgot. I was nominated recently for a "You Make my Day Award" by Belaybunny. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I have to nominate 10 people in return.


The ones I nominate so far are:


Aknita - Queen of the Forest Canopy Shawl! A Very, Very Nice Person! And As I'm not so well travelled myself, I love to see her holiday pics. :0)


Posh Yarn - I love Dee's yarn and I love reading her blog too. I'm Very Jealous that she lives in a place I would LOVE to live myself!


CJ - who nominated me in the first place, and who is another lovely person I've met IRL. I am in awe of the fact that she has started sewing clothes for her little ones. They are just soooo cute (clothes and little ones!). I can't sew a straight line to save my life !


BlueADT_Knits - This one is for a fellow dog lover who resuced a puppy and gave her the best life she could have wanted. :0) I've followed Blue's illness for a while and was very sad to hear she had passed away. :0(


I'll be nominating more people later and letting them know that they've been nominated. :0)

Where does the time go?

I really don't know where these last few weeks have gone. It doesn't help that a bout of D&V one week and 'flu the next have left me feeling weaker than a wrung-out dish cloth. :0( But enough of my whinging! Onto the FOs and WIPs. ;0)

I finished the first baby blanket for my cousin at the beginning of this month. I used 2 x 100g balls of Stylecraft Special DK, yarn held double on 6mm needles.

One down, two to go ......


I finished these socks for my son, also at the beginning of this month. This was a ball of yarn I've had in stash for ages after I did a swap with an online friend. It had no ballband on it, so could be anything really, but from the feel of it I'd say it's Opal. I used my usual toe up pattern on 2.5mm needles.









I've almost finished this month's Sockamania pattern - Simply Love. Again, this yarn has been sitting in my stash for ages just waiting for the right pattern to come along. And here it is.

The yarn is Fyberspates Merino Tencel in the Sherbet colourway, which reminds me of Battenburg cake so you can imagine what I've been obsessing about since starting these! ;0)





I love the twisted cable on the rib, too. It was a bit difficult to start with - twisting through the backs of loops - but wasn't too bad once I'd got going.

It was worth it because it really finishes the socks off nicely.


In between my first and second Sockamania sock, I made this - Regia Silk Colour on 2.5 mm needles.

Again, this was yarn I swapped online and I really must buy more - it's lovely to knit with and feels great on the foot. I managed to get a nice long leg from the first 50g ball too. The second one will be started once my Sockamania socks are finished.





The newest Knitting magazine arrived yesterday before I went to our knitting group meeting in Pontypool. There was a lovely cable jacket on the back which kept nagging at me the whole time I was there, so I popped into my LYS on the way home and bought some wool to make it. They didn't have enough of the shade of Sirdar Click Chunky I wanted, so I went for Sirdar Peru Naturals in the Machu Picchu colurway (# 0553).

It's the first time I've used this yarn but I really like how it's knitting up, it feels a lot softer than it does on the ball.

I'm using 6.5mm needles as recommended and it's knitting up nice and quickly, which is always a bonus. ;0)

At the knitting group yesterday, I didn't get much knitting done because I was teaching 2 new members, Alison and Ruth, how to make toe-up socks. .

However, I did manage a few rows on another dog sweater - this time in Bergere de France Sport in a khaki colour.











On the topic of dog coats, I'd like to say a very big thank you to Alison and her mam who knitted some dog coats to be donated to the Many Tears Rescue in Llanelli.

Alison made this one.













And her mam made the other three. The blue one is extremely soft and I just want to keep stroking it. ;0)

So thanks again for all your work in making these sweaters - the dogs will really appreciate being toasty warm when they're wearing them. :0)

Now where did I put that pattern ..................... ???

These past few days I've searched the whole house, high and low, 2 or 3 times in each room, searching for a pattern - King Cole #2242. I've had this pattern for over 20 years and now I've been asked to knit another 3 blankets, I've lost the blooming thing. I posted on forums to ask if someone might have a spare copy - they don't - and I've e-mailed the company (who probably won't be able to get back to me until next week).

It was only after e-mailing the company that I found some photos I'd taken of the blankets I made last year, nice close ups. So good in fact that I could see how many stitches I had OTN and from there work out the pattern. It was a toss up between sl1, k2tog, psso or k3tog on the pattern row - I went for the sl1, k2tog, psso in the end because it looked more like the photo. ;0)

And this is what I have at the moment -
















2 of my cousin's friends have had baby boys recently and one is due next week. She wants me to knit three blankets in a fortnight! She's got no chance! I have, however, agreed to get one done within the next fortnight and let her have the other 2 as soon as I can. (I do have a life, you know, and DS and DH demand to be fed occasionally!)

I've been knitting dog sweaters again for Many Tears Rescue in Llanelli, South Wales. They're short of Labrador-sized sweaters at the moment so I'm using some Sirdar Country Style DK in Teal that I've had in my stash for over 2 years - it was originally bought to make me a cardigan but by the time I got around to using it, I'd gone off the pattern!
















And I'm only 10 rows of rib away from finishing these socks for my aunty. Remember the merino/tencel ones which I'd promised her and then kept myself? Well, these are to make up for it. ;0)















The yarn is The Yarn Yard Soulmates sock yarn in the Arm in Arm colourway. I have 50g of the variegated left over and 10g of the solid so I should be able to make another pair of socks for myself out of that. Excellent value for money, I'd say.

My Fearless Foray into Fair Isle Continues

Yes indeedy, I have overcome my fear of fair isle and, following success with the Corazon mittens in December, I decided to purchase a few patterns from Red Bird Knits - I got Andes, Bird Foot and Winter Dreams.

In my stash, I had some Regia 4 ply in 'King's Blue' (aka navy!) which went perfectly with the January 2007 Posh Yarn sock club yarn in 'Twinkle'. I can't believe I've had this lovely PY yarn in my stash for a whole year and haven't used it. I loved the colours of it but it just didn't seem right with any pattern or even plain socks for that matter. However, when used as the contrast yarn for this pattern, I think it really hits the spot. :0) I'm so glad I waited for the right pattern to come along. :0)















This is knit top down - I know I've been obsessed with toe up for the past however-many months, but I thought I'd make an exception for this pattern. ;0)

This is the inside of the heel flap - I'm about to start the gusset shaping.















And here's a close up of the pattern. I'm using 2.75 mm Knit Picks circs to get gauge of 8.5 sts per inch.

I finished my Cascading Leaves shawl on Friday evening - here it is blocking.

I love the way it's turned out. :0) It's just the right size - 66 inches wide x 37 inches deep.





























Started: 9th January, 2008
Finished: 18th January, 2008
Blocked: 19th January, 2008
Yarn: 155g of Posh Yarn Lucia in the "Deluxe" colourway
Needles: 4mm KnitPicks Options
Pattern: Cascading Leaves by Vicki Mikulak

I did 13 pattern repeats and had 363 stitches on the needles at the end. It took about 10 minutes to knit 1 row.

And this is the gorgeous Perl Gray shawl pin which I bought from Purlescence. It's just right for fastening my gorgeous new shawl. :0)