I know. I know. But, hey, it's a new year, and I'll try to be here more often. I used to be really good at this BC. What's "BC" you ask? Before Cooper (that darling little Toy Fox Terrier who is now 5 months old). I start and end every sentence with it lately. I used to have a life Before Cooper. Before Cooper, I could sit and knit quietly. Before Cooper . . . fill in the blank. I'm sure whatever you use will work. ha ha
It was New Years Eve and I had the whole day to myself. Paul had to work and I had the day off so I had plans. You see, I've been adding my knitting and crocheting books and magazines into my Ravelry library. It's going to be awesome. All of my patterns at a glance. I can sort, etc., find what I want to knit and then just go get the book or magazine. No more stacks of books and magazines to look through all at once. I even glanced at my yarn and thought how nice that would be to stash it on Ravelry. Then I realized that would be crazy town. Maybe I'll just stash the boxes of yarn coming that I bought for Christmas. I can pretend that's all I have for awhile. yeah.
Anyway, I'm going along with my lovely day and it's snowing outside non-stop. I don't care. I'm not going anywhere. Except maybe to put Cooper out who is still being house-trained. (We won't go there). Paul put a kennel up in the back yard to put him in. I just have to be the goalie when it's time to take him out and bring him back in the house. He likes to play and not come to me when it's time for him to come in. I open the door..... he runs.... I close the door.... he jumps at the door... repeat repeat. He can't do the stairs yet so I have to carry him inside. I wasn't too worried about him getting loose because, hell, there was at least 100 feet of snow on the ground. He's 10 pounds. No way was he running through the snow anywhere. Or so I thought.
Here he is in the correct position (inside the kennel):
The little heathen ran right past me and took off for the front yard!!! In the snow!!! Like a damn jack rabbit!! It's funny now.. but at the time I was terrified. The german shepherd next door (Dexter) is mean and his electric fence isn't working. Can you say lunch? I ran (as fast as my pajamas, slippers and orange camo coat could go) through the snow to the front yard screaming the whole way. There was no way I was catching him. He had already run to the barn and was having the time of his life. He started coming back and Dexter came from next door into the driveway. I swear they were 5 feet apart when I screamed "Dexter, GO HOME" in my most scariest voice ever. And... he actually went home. And.. Cooper didn't follow him! It was a miracle. Cooper ran into the back yard where we have a fence that will mostly contain him (there are bits and pieces Paul will need to fix before we let him have free reign), but he will still trying to get through the fence to get to Dexter who was now on the other side of the fence growling. Me? I have no slippers anymore and snow in places I shouldn't have snow. I was just figuring out how I could catch him when I look up and - you're not going to believe me, but a HAWK was 10 feet from us coming down. Cooper must have looked like a nice snack to him as well. I started screaming again and clapping my hands at the hawk. He must have figured it was not worth it, because he eventually flew away. I finally did catch Cooper (about 20 minutes later) with a football tackle.
I went back in the house. I sat down. I looked around. I was done for the day. LOL That was all the energy I had. Before Cooper, I would have had a wonderful crafty day. After Cooper, just lots of naps. HA!
There was knitting, but it's already unraveled. I knit a hat and mittens in fair isle using the Chroma fingering from knit picks. It was immense fun, but the hat was big enough to fit the Jolly Green Giant and the mittens sucked. I was even getting the pattern messed up on the second mitten because I wanted to be done. I used Mini Mochi Fair Isle Hat & Mittens from Crystal Palace Yarns (free on-line pattern).
Cute and fun, huh? But for $9.99 a skein, if it's not wearable, it's getting unraveled. Ever unravel fair isle before? I definitely could have used an extra set of hands! I did knit one hat that I like and that fits. I used Pallet scraps (like I do for the socks). This is Beezy's Traditional Tam Beret (free pattern in Ravelry).
Now I just need to work myself up to knitting some mittens or wristers to go with it. I'm using the hat right now to nestle my raveled balls of Chroma in.
The fair isle has gone right out of me though. I have a hankering for a nice easy in the round pullover - top down. Plus - now is a good time to knit I think.
shhhhhh!
Oh, holy smoke.
You will appreciate that I was laughing while I was reading this since I knew it would all turn out ok.
Samson ran off recently and was gone for 3 hours (some good Samaritans picked him up). I know how scary loose pups can be.
The knitting is beautiful! I have to get better at Fair Isle.
Posted by: TravelingAnn | January 07, 2013 at 05:31 PM