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Behold, the first FO of the year:

Plain Jane stockinette socks out of Knit Picks Essentials on size 1 needles.  I started these way back in September when I was in Orlando.

Marguerite commented on my 9 wip’s in Ravelry.  She said that she was amazed that I was so organized that I could keep my place in so many projects.  Well, you know what?  I can’t!  When I pick up a project that I haven’t worked on in months, it takes forever to figure out where I was and what I was doing.  Several days ago I decided to work on the Bright Traditions child sweater.  I was so lost in the directions I ended frogging back several inches to get back to a reference point.  Not good.  I think this was just the incentive I needed to cut way back on my projects.  So, I’m giving another go at limiting my wip’s.  Remember you heard it here first!  I’ve already frogged a couple of projects that just weren’t working and I’m making an effort to complete some of the wip’s that are the closest to being done.  My current emphasis is to finish Abby’s sweater.  I got a lot accomplished yesterday – collar done and side seams sewn:

The sleeves are knitted, I just need to seam and insert.  Of course, then the search is on for a zipper.  I feel a little bad that the weather in Orlando has actually been cold enough that she could have used it this week!

In fact, it was cool enough that the munchkins modeled their Tulip sweaters!

In closing I leave you more puppy cuteness.  In our house we call this "lap full o’ dog":

That’s Kirby in his usual spot, snuggled against me in the recliner.  This is where he is the happiest.  He’d rather do this than anything else, including eating.  He’ll be getting lots of snuggling time because this where I both knit and study.  Classes start tomorrow – my last semester!!!  My main class is "Managing Behavior in Early Childhood".  I also have two seminars to attend and that will be it.  I can’t wait!

Happy New Year to everyone.  Our celebration consisted of trying to stay up as late as possible, but we’re both fighting colds and hit the hay at 9:30!  I did take the time to make an inventory of my knitting accomplishments for 2007:

8 pairs of socks
1 pair fingerless mitts
2 shawls
1 baby afghan
1 vest
1 scarf
4 baby/child sweaters
2 small quilts

Not quite the output of 2006, but not too shabby either.  And considering that I also had some pretty difficult classes it’s probably surprising I got that much done.  Oh, and that doesn’t include several dresses I made for Isobel.  What are my goals for this year?  Well, looking at my last year’s New Year’s resolution, I set some rather unrealistic goals about the number of wip’s I would have at any time.  Marguerite pointed out that I have 9 wip’s posted on Ravelry.  That is definitely too many.  So today I’m going to spend assessing each project and some may be frogged.  My goal for 2008 will be to complete the ones that remain and to end the year with considerably fewer projects than I started.

Marguerite also requested more puppy pictures, so here you are:

Maggie’s newest toy is the laundry basket.  She loves jumping in and out:

However, sorting laundry can be quite exhausting:

 

She also loves investigating interesting smelling objects:

And this has become an increasingly frequent sight around here:

My friend Jan pointed out that Kirby is not getting equal photo opportunity.  Kirby is getting to be pretty old – he’ll turn 15 this year.  He spends much of his time sleeping, curled up next to me in the chair while I knit.  So it’s pretty hard to catch him doing anything else.  Here he is in one of his more alert moments:

He still has not quite accepted Maggie.  As far as he’s concerned, she’s an annoying little pest.  She’ll run circles around him, barking and trying to get him to play, but he is clearly not interested.  I believe he’ll come around, though.  It took him several months to get used to Hester, and she was not nearly as squirrely as little Maggie.  Bill and I, however, are completely taken in by Maggie.  She is settling in to be a very good little dog.  She’s completely housebroken now and for the most part confines her chewing to her toys.  She sits on command and comes most of the time.

Yesterday Bill and I were reflecting on how differently the year turned out than we had expected.  A year ago we had no idea that Ivy would be coming into our lives.  We also did not know that Hester would be leaving us, or that Maggie would come and fill in the gap left by her death.  Joys and sorrows.  I wonder what this year will bring?

Knitters, whether they be bloggers or not are just the best!  Thank you, Daisy, for setting up this meeting.  Although the border guards did not cooperate and poor Daisy and Linda were delayed for over two hours, we finally met up at the Wool Station in Bellingham.  I am happy to report that neither one appeared to be an axe murderer.  Although the day was cold and wet, the friendships forged were warm and fuzzy.  We spent some time getting to know each other and scoping out the great yarns at the Wool Station.  They have a large selection of Heirloom Yarns, and although I didn’t buy any yesterday, I do think I will have to give them a try.

After a brief stop for a little bakery style sustenance, we headed over to N.W. Handspun Yarns.  The name is a little bit of a misnomer because in addition to spinning supplies, they had a nice selection of commercial yarns as well, including Zephyr on cones!  I’ll have to remember that for future use.  We saved the best for last, though.  Apple Yarns is a fairly new store and I fell instantly in love!  Here is our happy group:

Left to right are Marsha, Li, me, Linda and Daisy.  Unfortunately Marsha, Linda and Daisy do not have blogs (yet!).  But Daisy and Linda have been to Rhinebeck, which caused Li and me to gaze upon them with awe.  They are from Ottowa, but were out visiting family in Vancouver and came down to meet us.  Somehow when meeting knitters it’s just like meeting old friends and we had instant rapport.

And, of course, stash enhancement happened (big time!).  Here’s my haul:

I found Smooshy by Dream in Color, in Visual Purple and Chinatown Apple colorways.  Apparently Chinatown Apples are brown.  There is also some lovely Schaefer Anne yarn, and two skeins of incredibly soft Avery Allison (in just my colors!) gifted to me by Daisy.  And the staff at Apple Yarns gave us all a free tote bag!  If you are anywhere near Bellingham, Washington, I highly recommend this shop.  If I were ever inclined to open a yarn shop (which I’m not), this is exactly what I would want.  I think all of us did our part to make sure that they stay in business!

You can see over to the left that the purple Smooshy jumped onto my needles without delay.  However, I’m not going to blog about it because my New Year’s resolution is to start on Christmas presents early.  However, since none of my giftees are on Ravelry, you can head on over there to check out what I’m working on.  Ok, just give me a few minutes to put it up.

Several commenters asked about the tote bag.  I wish it was an original pattern, but it is not.  You can purchase the pattern for The Professional Tote at The Creative Thimble. It is a not a quick and easy pattern, but is well worth the trouble.  It is quite sturdy and would make a great carry-on for travel.

It was a wonderful Christmas here at Missouri Star. A little low-key after last year’s blow out, but sometimes those are nice too. As usual, my sister came up from Kirkland and we had a nice celebration. Now I can actually show some of the projects I’ve been working on. First up, Christmas socks:

These were for my sister from some Regia in my stash. Of course, I loved them so much I wanted to keep them, but I was a good girl and gave them away. I also made this tote bag for her:

I tried to take a picture of the inside, but couldn’t get a good one. I love this bag too, but since it was monogrammed, I was forced to give this to her. However, I will be making one for myself. It has all kinds of zippered and flapped pockets inside, plus places for an ID card, pen holder, key holder and more. I think she was pleased.

That was about it for the hand made Christmas gifts this year. As usual, I have made a resolution to start earlier for next Christmas, but we will see. One of my gifts this year was Cat Bordhi’s new sock book. I have just briefly skimmed it, but I am blown away by the way that woman’s mind works! I can’t wait to start trying out some of the patterns. I think I will definitely be starting a sock gift stash for next year.

During my time off from work the Garden Path shawl was allowed to come out of the time-out chair. I finished the body and started on the edging:

It only took me about four tries to get this going. It’s not the easiest edging in the world and almost impossible to memorize, so I need to keep the chart close. It will be pretty slow going. I am undecided whether or not I will start the Princess Shawl before this is finished. I had so many great plans for my time off, but the time really seems to be going way too fast.

Tomorrow I meet up with Li, blogless Marsha and blogless Daisy for a yarn crawl in Bellingham. Providing it doesn’t snow! I’ll be looking for some midweight sock yarn as several of the patterns in Cat’s book call for that weight. See you in the New Year!

Backstage at the Nutcracker performed by the Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle was just too much fun to be believed. Our happy group consisted of my best friend Jan, my sister Claudia, her friend Rebecca and me:

We met Herr Drosselmeier in a relaxed pose, complete with puppy:

We got up close and personal with the sets:

Ran into a family of mice:

And met the Nutcracker himself:

The backstage staff could not have been nicer to us. They didn’t make us feel in the way at all and went out of their way to come get us and put us in places where we could see the action the best. At several times during the performace we were literally only inches away from the dancers as they performed. Unfortunately because of union rules we were not allowed to take any pictures of the dancers. It was a breathtaking experience to be so close to all of the action. Great big thanks to my sister for including me.

After the ballet my sister and I rode the monorail into downtown Seattle to do a little shopping. We didn’t stay long. The crowds were not to be believed and we were very tired. So we headed back to Kirkland for a wonderful dinner of pasta primivera and a few glasses of wine. I then proceeded to fall asleep on her couch at 8:30!

I arrived home the next day to find hubby had been hard at work on an early Christmas present:

We had bought a new flat screen TV two months ago and it died already. So the store replaced it (with a much better model). While he was there, he bought a home theater system with surround sound. One little unit replaces a whole stereo cabinet full of equipment. So, he cut down the stereo cabinet, which opens up the living room a lot. Last night we watched Jurassic Park. It’s amazing all the sounds that are there that we never heard before. Great fun!

Today will be spent wrapping last minute presents and getting ready for preparing Christmas dinner tomorrow. Hubby’s mother will be here, along with my sister and our younger son. Merry Christmas to everyone and Happy New Year too. May your holidays be filled with lots of love.

Yes, I’m still here.  I thought that once school was done for the semester I’d have more time, but factor in extra work hours and a new puppy and free time has been in short supply.  I’ve even had a hard time keeping up with my blog reading.  It’s also been difficult to find blocks of time to knit or sew.  Every time I sit down it seems Maggie is into something or needs to be reminded to go outside.  Not that I’m complaining!  She’s so sweet and I know this is just for a limited time – she’ll grow up way too soon.

On the school front, I got an A in my Gerontology class, but am still waiting for the grade in my Psychology of Motivation.  I’m fairly certain I got an A in that one as well.  Several weeks ago, I wasn’t too sure.  On my first assignment, I got a 40 out of 40.  On the second one, I only got 20 out of 40 – a failing grade!!  I was quite upset and the worst part was that the grade was posted late Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  I emailed the teacher trying to find out how I could have gone so horribly wrong, but of course she was out of the office until the next Monday.  Bill kept telling to relax, that it must have been a mistake.  On Monday my teacher emailed an apology.  Apparently in a past version of the class 20 was the maximum points you could receive on that assignment.  She forgot – my grade was really 40.  But it did make for a stressful weekend.

When I have had a free moment or two I’ve been doing secret Christmas sewing and knitting, so I can’t show anything.  So, what better way to distract you than with puppies and babies?

We had gotten a little basket to put Maggie’s toys in, but she had a better idea:

We’re off to the vet this afternoon.  Last Saturday she got sick and threw up her entire dinner.  After that she started refusing to eat and since then has only eaten about half of what she should.  Yesterday she started getting diarrhea, so it’s off to the doctor today just to be sure she’s ok.  She’s still lively – I lost track of how many times writing this post I had to get up and see what she was up to!  So I think she’s ok.

Only four more days of work, then a whole week off for Christmas!  Next Saturday should be loads of fun.  Remember last year my sister took me backstage for the ballet Sleeping Beauty?  Next Saturday we’re going backstage for the Nutcracker.  This is the great Pacific Northwest Ballet version with sets by Maurice Sendak.  My friend Jan is going with us too and it should be great fun.  I’ll be sure to get lots of pictures!

P.S.  Just a quick update – Maggie is fine.  She has giardia, easily treated and the vet said she is otherwise in excellent health.  We are very relieved.

 

Is there such a thing as deja deja vu?  Behold, our parking lot at work:

Can you believe this?  This is third time that a water main has burst and flooded our parking lot!  The last time was in September and it cost about $40,000 to repair the damage to our building!  This time the water didn’t come up into the building, but it was close.  Unbelievable.   This was not caused by the terrible storm that hit the Pacific Northwest that you may be seeing on the news.  We were in this little pocket and the storm pretty much passed us over.  While some places on the mainland got 13 inches of rain in 24 hours, we got less than 1/2 inch.

Ah well.  I did get the afternoon and came home and sewed on Christmas presents.  Not much I can show, though, because too many giftees read my blog.   

Caution:  actual knitting content follows.  Things have been in such upheaval lately that I haven’t really posted about knitting.  So, it’s time for an update.  Unfortunately, there’s been a lot of negative knitting.  First off:  Garden Path.  Things were going along swimmingly and I was making tremendous progress.  In fact, I was only a few rows from the border.  Then I realized that on the "path" sections I had knitted too many plain rows between the flowers.

Since there are only four of these sections, I decided to try dropping down just those sections and knitting back up.  Didn’t work.  So there was nothing for it but to (gasp!) take the whole thing off the needles and start ripping!  On the plus side, it did give an opportunity to get a photo:

I finally got it all back on the needles and tinked back a row.  All better!  Well, not exactly.  I’m about halfway through the second side and my stitch count is off.  I know exactly where it is and I’m afraid the only solution is to drop that little section down and pick up.  But that’s going to take concentration and no distractions, which is in short supply right now.  So Garden Path is in the time-out chair.

So, plain stockinette socks should do the trick, right?  I spent hours untangling the yarn that Lucy had been playing with.  Finally accomplished I sat down to knit on them and discovered this:

Dang!  She not only tangled the yarn and broke a needle, but left holes as well!  There may be enough yarn to just take out this section and start over, but I don’t have the energy for that, so this too has been relegated to the time-out chair.

So, now what?  Maybe a whole new project is in order.  We have Secret Santas at work, so I started a scarf for my gift.  This is a Seaman’s scarf from Myrna Stahman’s book:

I have no idea how this will be cared for, so I’m using some washable Encore sport weight from my stash.

As a consolation prize for all the knitting disasters, this came in the mail today:

I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a package from China before.  Inside:

Beautiful, soft luscious cashmere/silk yarn for the Princess Shawl.  This is such beautiful yarn!  It seems a little heavier than I expected and I hope it will work.  I’ll be doing some swatching to make sure.  Plans are probably to start it while I’m home over Christmas.  This will definitely be a multi-year project.

And, of course I must leave you with some puppy cuteness.  We love playing with our toys:

But it is rather exhausting!

Some things are not meant to be.  We knew that Lucy was a rather shy dog, but we thought she would blossom in our household.  However, from the beginning it was obvious that she was very unhappy.  We managed to get her to go outside in the fenced area to go potty, but otherwise she was terrified of going outside.  When we tried to take her for a walk, you would think we were leading her to slaughter.  Inside she jumped at every little thing.  We were in touch with her breeder every step of the way.  She said that once in a blue moon there will be a dog that is only comfortable in the home where she’s been raised and Lucy is just one of those dogs.  She assured us that it was not us, but Lucy.  So, Lucy has been returned.  The breeder has also assured us that she will have a home with them for life.  You should have seen Lucy when we let her in the door to the breeder – you could not imagine a happier dog!  And she kept running up to us and wanting us to pet her.  It was if she was saying, "Thank you, thank you!"

But all is well because look what came home with us:

This is Maggie!

She is 12 weeks old and in perfect condition.  I think this is a wonderful match.  She is confident but not aggressive, affectionate but not needy.  She’s been very curious, exploring everything and doesn’t even seem deterred by Kirby, who is less than pleased.  Of course, now we have our work cut out for us.  It’s been a long time since we had a baby in the house.  Bill spent yesterday puppy proofing and I know that we have many hours to spend out in the cold convincing Maggie that yes, she DOES need to go potty. 

Lucy did leave me with one little remembrance:

It seems she had a fondness for yarn.  Several times I caught her stealing this sock yarn, but she always surrendered it willingly.  While I was at work Bill left her unguarded for just a little while and came back to find this.  One of my Harmony needles was broken in three pieces.  Yes, I know they come in sets of 6, but I already lost one on the airplane coming home.  So I’ll need to replace this set.  I’m still untangling the yarn! 

I have to say, though, that I’m not sorry we gave Lucy a try.  She was a sweet little girl and she really helped ease the sorrow in our hearts.  Now I have a feeling we’ll be way too busy to let grief overwhelm us.  Color me a happy person!

How do you mend a broken heart?

Her name is Lucy!

I know a lot people have said they couldn’t get a new dog right away, but not us.  There was definitely a  Corgi-sized hole in our hearts that needed filling.  We actually hadn’t intended to get another dog until spring when the breeder said she would be having puppies.  But Bill had been in touch with her to find out if she knew of anyone having puppies before then.  His intention was to surprise me for my birthday.  She knew how much we were hurting and she offered Lucy as her gift to us!  Lucy is just a year old and a perfect show quality specimen.  The problem is that she doesn’t like dog shows.  While her brother preened and strutted and said, "Look at me!", Lucy said, "Thanks, but no thanks."  She does come with a catch.  She has such excellent bloodlines that the breeder would like her to have a litter next year.  We will need to return her to be bred, but can keep her during her pregnancy.  She will return to the breeder’s a week before she gives birth and will come back to us as soon as her puppies are weaned.  And the breeder (who normally does not allow visitors to new puppies) will allow us to visit any time during the 4-6 weeks she will be there.

We just picked her up this afternoon, but she is settling in very well.  She’s already learned to use the doggie door and Kirby is being fairly nonchalant about the whole thing.  He’s come down on her a couple of times to remind her that he is top dog, but she seems pretty willing to let him retain his status.  It was a little bittersweet visiting the breeder.  This picture is of me, Lucy and Hester’s sister:

Hester’s mother was there as well as several other brothers and sisters.  It’s a little early to tell exactly how Lucy’s temperament will settle in, but I believe she is going to be as sweet and gentle as Hester.  While our hearts still ache for Hester, we are so happy to be making a home for Lucy and so grateful to the breeder for entrusting one of her girls to us.