Fluff Piece

Turns out, a good bath, and a nice brushing can do wonders for one's outlook. At least that's what I can tell from Boomer. Over the last couple of years of having him, I've come to love all his many looks. Fluffy, trimmed, long ears, short ears, uneven clumps, etc, etc. It's funny, though, how deceiving a few ounces of fur can look. When Boomie is at his fluffiest, he easily looks like he's at least 10 pounds (or more according to some), but alas, under all that snowy-white fluff, he's his usual lean, mean 7 pounds.

Judge for yourself - here he is at full, maximum fluffiness, looking buff:

But, after a few hours at the doggie salon (aka torture shop), we can see that under all that extra poofiness, he's still just a sweet little doggie, with a very handsome profile.....

who still loves the simpler things in life, like a good chewie!

Nobody Said This Would Be Easy...

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,

A tale of a fateful trip.

That started with a ball of yarn,

And some sticks with pointy tips!

Ha - I crack myself up! But seriously, this is a lot of knitting content in this post - all about my Slow Bee adventures. (just warnin' ya'!)

So, I finished up my gauge swatch a couple of weeks ago, blocked it, and was more or less pleased with how it came out. My gauge was correct (yay), even though my swatch ended up looking a little wonky from my half-assed blocking. I knit the top of the swatch with the clear beads I had purchased, and the bottom with the matching/multi colored beads. I decided the clear was definitely the way to go. They blend in with the yarn, but give off just enough sparkle when the light hits them just so. (They're kinda hard to see in the photo, but trust me, they work!)

So, with that final decision made, I was off and knitting Clue 1 of the KAL. As I'm sure I've mentioned once or twice, I tend to knit on the slow side, and since this was my first time knitting something so intricate, I was extra careful (slow). I decided to follow the old "an ounce of prevention..." methodology, and took the time to place my stitch markers before and after each repeat; I counted my stitches between the markers at the end of each row; I inserted my life line (the white thread you can see running through the middle of my work), just in case; and even invested in some "grown up" needles to aid in my quest.

(Brief pause to gush about the aforementioned needles - they are the Addi Turbo Lace Needles, in size 3 with a 47 inch cable. I love love love them!!! The slickness of the needles, the sharpness of the points, the smoothness of the cable joins - I feel a song coming on (but I'll spare you!)!)

I consulted the pattern often, and as I started to see the pattern emerge, I got more and more confident. Placing the beads turned out to be a snap, and with my new extra sharp needles, those tricky ssk's and k3tog's were cake! I found my groove and started to make some progress. Five days of work (told you I was slow), and I was just about done with clue 1. Couldn't wait to start on clue 2, and after a lovely evening of knitting, I went to bed on Sunday with a feeling of accomplishment.

Just as I was drifting off to sleep, I woke up with a jolt. OH. NOOOOOOO. I've been knitting the borders totally WRONG!!! ARGH!!!! Who knows why it occurred to me just then, but I had to get up right then and check the pattern. Yup - totally wrong!

The edges are supposed to be knit in garter stitch (knit on both sides), I was knitting one side and purling the other. What a rookie mistake!

I've hardly been able to even look at my Slow Bee since then. I went on Ravelry to see how others were faring with their KAL's (aka commiserate and whine), and checked out the Slow Bee message board. I bored my BFF daily with my dilemma. Basically, I was living in Denial Town for the last 4 days. I just could not bring myself to utter that horrible F-word, even though I knew, in my heart, I'd have to (gulp) frog it and start over.

I know that I'm not the first to frog this project - doubt that I'll be the last. I'm just bummed and annoyed that it was for something so dumb. Live and learn I guess.

So, today was the the day. The Slow Bee came out of it's time-out, posed for some last photos, and was frogged until it was no more.

This is what was left:

Turns out, I survived the frogging, and cast on once again for the Slow Bee KAL. What an adventure it's been so far. I've laughed, I've cried, and even learned a little something about myself! Tee-hee, dramatic much??

Bzzzzzz

In an effort to challenge myself and learn some new knitting skillz, I decided to join the "Slow Bee Mystery Knit-a-long". This will be my very first time knitting lace, or knitting with beads. I love that it's a slow bee KAL, since, as I've mentioned a time or two, I'm a very slow knitter!! I've also never knit with such a fine gauge of yarn before, but so far, I'm really enjoying it.

I'm only just finishing up my gauge swatch, and the KAL started about 3 weeks ago (people are already finished up with clue 3), but slow and steady - that's me!

So, for my non-knitting readers - the KAL (knit-a-long) works like this: Every week we get a new clue which is basically just a piece of the final pattern of whatever we're supposed to be knitting. In this case, a lace shawl. So, you work on your clue, then get the next one, knit that up, and on and on till the KAL is done. You're not really sure what you're going to end up with, which is part of the fun - just seeing how the pattern works itself out.

Since I've been so slow in getting going, however, I've been able to spy on other people's progress, so I have a pretty good idea of how my project should turn out (fingers crossed)!

The yarn I selected is so delicious, I can't keep from petting the yummy little yarn cakes whenever I walk by my knitting basket.

I ordered it from Knit Picks. It's Gloss lace weight yarn, which is 70% merino wool and 30% silk. It's color is called Aegean, and looks like a freezing Arctic ocean. (My photos make it look a little more green than the actual color)

I couldn't decide on my beads, so I ended up making a couple of trip to Orr's Trading in downtown Denver (BTW - the coolest bead-type place I've been to!!). The first hank of beads I got matched my yarn so perfectly, that you really can't see that they're there. The second hank is just clear beads, which allow the color the yarn to show through, but still give off some sparkle. I'm knitting half of my swatch with the colored beads, the other half with the clear, then I'll decide which to use.

So, I'm off to finish knitting and blocking my gauge swatch, so I can start on clue 1 - good thing there's a Law & Order marathon on today!! Bzzzzz......

On The Spot Update

In the last couple of weeks, I've gotten many concerned inquiries about Boomer and his mystery spot. As you may remember, he was branded by some mysterious entity, and had a dark black spot on his side. As hard as we tried, I could not get the spot out!

Over time, the spot began to fade, and is now completely gone!! Hooray!! However, trying to capture a picture of the spot-free doggie has proven to be a little more difficult.

In general, Boomie is a private little doggie, and as a private citizen, he frowns heavily on being chased down in his own home by the paparazzi (a.k.a. me & my spazzy picture taking behavior). But I did manage to catch a couple of spot-free shots by using some stealth like tactics.

Such as - sneaking up on him lounging behind a pillow on the sofa:

Or sneaking up on him during his morning nappie:

Or sneaking up on him catching some afternoon zzzz's on my bed:

Ok, so I'm not that clever, but at least I (finally) got my picture! Woof!

And we're back....

Back to blog land from my unexpected hiatus! A few things to report - some knitting related, some Boomer related, some random stuff.

But for now, a FO!!! Can ya' believe it? I almost can't!

When I first saw this pattern, I just knew I had to knit it. It was just so sweet! Luckily, I knew just the baby girl to make this for. And so I present, a completed (weaved in ends and all) "Mae Day Smocked Sun Dress"

And now for the stats:

Pattern: "Mae Day Smocked Baby Sun Dress" by Vickie Howell

Yarn: Sugar n' Cream, Hot Pink, 100% Cotton, about 3 balls

Needles: Size 4US straight, Size 6US circs (32in), and Size 4US dpns

Mods: The pattern called for the dress to be knit up in two pieces then seamed up the sides. Um, yeah, I hate seaming, so after the smocked panels were knit up, I put them on the circs and knit the entire bottom in one piece - yay - no seams! Also, I made it about a 1 1/2 inches shorter than the pattern called for. It seemed way too long.

(Top smocked portion)

This was a super easy pattern to follow, and should have only taken me a few days to do, but it kinda got put aside and ended up taking about a month. Oh well, just in time for spring!!

Gotta Go With the Flow (I mean snow)

Weather in Denver can be very unpredictable and kinda tricky at times. Every single weatherman - excuse me, I mean Meteorologist - has the same cheesy joke "Hey, if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes!".....pause for cheddar flavored weatherman laugh (hyuck hyuck)....and we're out!

But it's actually pretty true - especially once Spring rolls around.

I present to you: Exhibit A - Photos of lovely flowers taken two days ago. Temperature outside was 78 degrees, and the sun was shining brightly!

And now: Exhibit B - Photos taken yesterday of the same flowers. Temperature outside was around 37, and no sun to be seen anywhere!

Yes, that's snow. Yes, It's May. Hyuck hyuck hyuck!

Sunshine On My Shoulders Makes Me Happy**

Hooray Hooray!! As if everyone didn't already know - it's Spring!!! Everything is finally getting green again, the weather is not too hot or cold (except, of course, when we have our famous April snow storms), and the days are longer!

I'm very lucky that the complex I live in is very nicely landscaped and maintained. It's almost like living in a park. Boomie loves to run around in the grass, and while he occupies himself with some weird smell or other, I always have lovely things to look at.

Case in point, just outside my front door is this lovely tree!

It's branches hang over my entry way, framing it in Springtime goodness. The flowers will eventually fall off and turn into leaves (which is also nice), but it's so pretty right now.

The colors of my tree have influenced my latest yarn acquisition and project. I have decided to start the Mitered Square Blanket from Mason Dixon Knitting. It'll probably take a couple of years to finish, but I figured that it would be nice to have little mitered squares to work on now and again as a portable project. Standing in my LYS, I immediately gravitated towards the more "springy" colors, and decided upon these two to start my squares out with.

What you are looking at is 2 skeins of Tahki Cotton Classic (yummy yummy yarn), one in Grass Green, the other in Cream. I'm almost hesitant to start knitting with them - I really enjoy just looking at them - all bright and cheerful, wound into their little center-pull balls...

Simple pleasures for a simple mind!





**John Denver rocks!!!