AmphibiaKnits

Not Much to Show Here

I think I have knitted 2 rows on a heel flap this week.  That's about my current pace.  So given the extent of my yarn collection, I will be able to finish approximately 1 pair of socks per year.  We now have the positive news that the average Canadian life expectancy is now reaching 81.  Even if I err on the side of optimism and assume I'm going to live another 10 years beyond that, I at MOST have 50 skeins of yarn which I will be able to complete before death.

The problem is, which 50 do I set aside for myself?  The real problem is that they keep trickling in.

This week I received my Tanis Fiber Arts Year in Colour offering for September.  It's called Autumn Sun and is Purple Label 70/20/10 MCN.

That's quite a nice shawl pattern, but we know how I am with shawls...

Alice Yu of Socktopus fame is now delving more heavily into dyeing yarn.  She also has a book which is being released next week in Canada and not for another three or four weeks in the US.  I think the UK date is also next week.  I have ordered the book.

But I also ordered some yarn.  (There's a surprise). She had some one-hit wonders and some regular colours of Sokkusu on the website. I ordered Brighton Rock, Ocean Cruise and Woof.  They're a pinky-red, a dark teal, and a light brown respectively.

I had also ordered some HK Artisan Sock in Posy and Low Tide. They arrived yesterday.

Yes, I realize that these are similar to the Sokkusu in terms of colour.  Apparently I'm on a hot pink and greeny-blue kick.

The colours of the Posy and the Low Tide are even more beautiful in person than on the website.  I just adore them.  

Now I need more time. I am on the second heel flap of the Boysenberry YO socks (using Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label in Sunrise).  Soon I'll have a pair.  

It has devolved on me to take the beasts for a walk at the crack of morning every day.  As I just KNEW it would.  We had a fence put in to keep the beasts in check so that they can run around off leash. 

Chain link fences are virtually maintenance free, and they're about 1/3 the cost of wooden fences.  I'm not a fan of the wooden fences, as to me they look boxed in and they block out the light.  

Next year we'll worry about landscaping and plants and greenery (and lawn fertilizer, apparently). 

See the gate in the middle photo? We have one on either side of the house.  The dogs have already figured out how to burrow under the gate to get out.  The fence is now artfully decorated with strategically placed large rocks.

Eventually they will be too big to burrow, but for now we must be vigilant. 

Next post may even contain some evidence of knitting. Maybe. 

 

Before and After

I used to be a woman who knits. I used to be a woman who reads.

Now I am a woman who buys paper towel 24 double rolls at a time.

This lasts us one week.

Now I am a woman who buys Nature's Miracle by the gallon.  Literally.  

I am a woman who spends an inordinate amount of time every day cleaning up after the dogs.  

They don't ever seem to stop moving.

I got a parcel in the mail last week.  I didn't recognize the return address. 

I had to open it to figure out what it was.  It was this. These are yarns from The Woolen Rabbit.

I ordered it back in August, and I had completely forgotten about it.

You know things are bad when you have a serious case of Yarnesia.

Two are skeins of Pearl lightweight MN sock yarn.  There is Rose Quartz and Mystic Mountain Pine.

Harmony in Pussywillow.

And lastly, Kashmir in Cape Cod Blues.

I am actually doing a little bit of knitting at night.  Emphasis on 'little'.

When I have completed single socks or pairs, I will photograph them.  

I have to keep the knitting away from the dogs. They like yarn, I have discovered.  They like the sheepskin.  When I say "like", I mean they like to chew and tear and tug.  

I am okay with having the little b**tards take shoes. I am not okay with them taking my yarn.

But I must leave now because I have to find some energy for a shower. And go to work. Then come home and walk the dogs. 

 

What's one more puppy?

This is Sebastian.  He's MY puppy. 

He's a puggle or a buggle.  Or whatever.  He's 1/2 pug and 1/2 beagle.  He looks more like a beagle than a pug.  He has the most adorable underbite.  He's very sweet.  I refer to him as Sir Wag-alot.

He joins me in the shower and then can't figure out why he's slip sliding all over the floor. 

He is utterly adorable. The cat's don't necessarily share that view.  But he sleeps on my pillows, and some of the cats still sleep on the bed while he's there.  There's some hissing and some barking, but it's all good.

Thank heaven for Puppy Pads.  And newspaper. He's paper trained, fortunately.

I don't think I got any knitting done this weekend because I was on puppy duty 24/7.

But enough about the dogs.  More about the yarn.

My STR order arrived last week or maybe even the week before.  Time escapes me sometimes.

In here are Seastone, Scaponia, Ms. La Rock, Mist, Mermaid, Green and Blue for ST-2, Hot Socks, ZEIN, Blue for Ewe, Help us Rhonda, Ramalaba, A Paler Shade of ST-1, Firecracker (which I clearly forgot I still had from last year's RSC offerings ...), Flash Mobbin' and Sassafras.

I am too sleep-deprived to figure out which is which.

Last week also brought some Hazel Knits.

These are Barnyard and Weather Vane, the August sock club offerings.

Bronze Age

A knotty / naughty skein of May Flowers (a sock club offering from a couple of years ago -- come to think of it, I think this is the yarn which ChristyH used to make socks for me ... Hmmmm.....)

Ruby Love and Vamp in Artisan sock

Baroness

Saffron

And Orchid in Piquant Lite.

Okay, blurry.  So shoot me. It`s like Violetta Lite.

I don't recall ever seeing a colour called Orchid before.  So when I saw it on the website I snatched it up. 

I'm also patiently awaiting Arroyo and Posy to be put up on the website....

I had ordered some Yak / Merino sock yarn from Bijou Basin Ranch.  I of course think of it as Bijou Bison Ranch, but since it's yak and not bison, I have to change that line of thought.

I ordered some Tibetan Dream (which is I think 75/25) and some Yak Fingering (80/20?).  The plainer stuff is in natural cream and brown.  And I ordered a couple of the variegated skeins, which are apparently dyed by Lorna's Laces.  Hmm, the cream-coloured skein is also Tibetan Dream.  

The skeins are very soft, but look as though they will need a largeish needle.  This is fat yarn. 

Okay, enough for now.  Gotta go ....

Dr. Doolittle

I am Dr. Doolittle.  I have 6 cats and 2 fish.  I have divested myself of the raccoons (which is good, since I recently saw a show on raccoon ringworm).  

But I have been worn down by the children.  They have been asking for a puppy for ages.

Yes, I know my children are adults of 20 and 22 years. 

Yes, I know we had a big rough collie named Chaucer who was an awesome dog before he had to be put down a couple of years ago.

The kids started off wanting either a mastiff or a Great Dane.  They wheedled me down to a German Shepherd.

Then Princess went looking for dogs on Kijiji and she found the buggles.

A true buggle is 1/2 pug, 1/2 beagle. 

The buggles on kijiji were 1/2 pug, 1/4 beagle and 1/4 boston terrier.

Uh oh....

Meet Desmond

And Delilah

As a general rule, they don't stop moving. It's been hard to get any pictures because they are perpetual motion machines in miniature.

Delilah has more of the pug face, and Desmond has more of the beagle / boston terrier face. They're both brindled but have white blazes on their chests.  Desmond is black and fawn brindled; Delilah is dark brown and fawn brindled.

The kids rearranged the furniture to accommodate the large dog crate.  There are 2 other crates in the hall.  There are 4 dog beds of various sizes underfoot, as well as chew toys, ropes, denta bones, little tennis balls, etc.

They're paper trained.  We have things that look like flimsy disposable diapers strategically placed all over the house (covered with newspaper flyers). 

The first night they learned to walk up and down the stairs.  It's pretty funny to watch because they're so tiny.

The kids are sleep deprived because they have to keep taking the dogs out for little walks and eco breaks.  (Ha!  There's payback.  I told them this is birth control for them, and they both agreed). 

So the kids are exhausted but happy.

I almost succumbed to puppy fever myself, but I didn't. Phew.

Instead, I can snuggle with my yarn.

Advantages of Yarn over Puppies:

1.    No puppy pads

2.    No puppy smell

3.    Less shedding

4.    Still allows me an uninterrupted sleep

5.    No biting or drooling

There has also been yarn acquisition, but this might be enough overwhelming cuteness for one post.

Advantages of Puppies over Cats

1.    They'll actually sleep on the sheepskin rug.

Advantages of Cats over Puppies

1.    They purr.

2.    They can find their own way to the bathroom without interrupting sleep.