Wow…how does a week go by so quickly?? 

The weather today here is surprisingly bitter cold, so in lieu of my Wednesday Walk, I thought I would try and catch up with all of you in blogland.  It’s amazing…a few days away from the computer and my blogline list has exploded with new entries!

I betcha thought I had forgotten about my little blog decorating contest, but I didn’t :-).  On Friday morning, I had my daughter, Hannah draw a name and blogless Debbie B is the winner of this very soft Malabrigio yarn.  I got carried away buying Malabrigio last year and in the spirit of cleaning out the clutter, I thought someone else might enjoy knitting with this yarn too.

What a busy weekend!

Whew…..this weekend was non-stop busy, but in a good way.  Saturday had Ken, Hannah, 2 of the dogs and I heading down to Fitchburg Mass for a dog show.  This was to be Cleo and Maggie’s debut.   Maggie is going thru the puppy gawky stage right now and did nothing other than have fun…..however, our little Cleo surprised us all with a very big win!  She won Winners Bitch, Best of Winners and Best of Breed.  Quite an accomplishment for a 7 month old puppy and very exciting for all us.

Sunday was just as busy and fun in it’s own way.  My morning was spent finishing up my very very late square for the SHIPS afghan.  I chose a textured pattern from Barbara Walkers 2nd book, which seemed to work well with the wool/acrylic blend of yarn that was provided.  After finishing up with the square, I spent such an enjoyable afternoon at a local coffee shop with Teresa, looking at the lovely skeins of yarn she has spun on her Rhinebeck spindles and chatting up a storm.  Then home to watch the Pat’s very surprising and exciting win against the chargers.

And Lastly a Thank~you
to all of your thoughtful comments from my last post.  Last Thursday, I visited one last time with little Morgan and Izzy.  As you may have guessed,my little friend lost her battle with cancer late Thursday evening.  While I was filled with sadness, I was also thankful that she was freed from her battle.  Right up until the end, Morgan was a fighter.   Such a spirited young lady….that I am thankful to have had the pleasure of getting to know.  She will be missed~

(Some days there are no words, so I will leave you with one of my favorite pictures from last winter and a verse from my favorite book.)
Upon completion comes fullfillment.
With fulfillment comes liberation.
Liberation allows you to go on.
Even death is not a true ending.
Life is infinite continuation.
Deng Ming~Dao

Do you see what I see in this picture?  Yes, a box of lovely chocolates.  Chocolate Silky Wool that is, but take a look closer.  Closer…….you can do it…come a little closer.

It’s SNOW!  I know, it’s hard for my fellow New Englanders to believe, but it actually snowed up here and didn’t melt 5 minutes later!!

This is about as far as my Walk With Me Wednesday walk got……..down the back stairs and then back up again.  I’ve been fighting that pesky cold that seems to have been going around and lost that fight today.

Perhaps it was the handling class that I attended with Maggie last night that had me….’O’ chubby one running around the ring (now there’s a vision for you), that lowered my resistance, but what ever it was, there was no walking today.  In fact, there wasn’t even any knitting or spinning last night or today.  Tomorrow’s another day and I am going to will myself into feeling better, as I have something special lined up.  I don’t want to jinx it, as being well is necessary, so I will shush for now.

Doggy Flossing

Have you ever wondered what a dog looked like when they were flossing their teeth?  Probably not…..I didn’t either, until we stumbled upon this new favorite in my house…………
The Phat Flossie

Does she not look like a happy dog or what?  LOL

Alternate between the solitary and the social.
Whether alone or with others, keep serenity.
Den Ming~Dao

I figured I would snap a picture of the snow that fell on us over night here in the mountains.  So exciting…..until the rain.  Winter oh winter, where art thou?

Knitting a big item doesn’t make for interesting pictures, but I am moving right along on my cable vest.  I love this pattern!  I hope to be finished with it this week.  Motivation comes in 2 forms.  Most importantly, I am looking forward  (and so is my family) to having a new vest to wear and secondly because I ordered some yarn for Anne’s Hypotenuse.  Of course if winter doesn’t arrive, I may not need it, but the pattern looks fascinating :-).

As I mentioned in my last post and as you can see here, I am making changes at The Woolen Rabbit.  Perhaps it is the Spring like weather, but the urge to unclutter my life is strong.  I will continue to play over the week with my blog until it feels like home (thank you for your suggestions) and on Friday morning, I will randomly choose a winner for a nice little gift.

Yesterday, it truly felt like an April day here, when I went up to the barn to clean cages.  In keeping with that uncluttering theme, I continued hoeing after cleaning the bunnies homes. 

I have always struggled with letting go of fiber, even stuff I know I will never use.  I have always said…."well, I could always use it for felting or for this or that", but this time………heave ho……out it went, and it felt good!  I tossed out bag after bag of pure junk and ended up spending the entire day up just cleaning out the clutter.  I went into the house a much lighter person…..in spirit anyways 🙂

Maybe it’s the time of year….the quiet after the chaos, or maybe it’s just me, but I am finding a need to clean out the clutter.  Here in my home, in the barn, in my stashes and even my blog.

I need some help though because as you can see, what I have here is one of typepad’s templates and it is just blah, blah, blah.  I like the clean lines and a little less clutter, but I need something to make it feel like home.   

Any suggestions would be greatly welcomed and I’m thinking that there could even a little prize too, in-fact I am sure of it.  All of the helpful comments (even a hello) will go into the basket for a name to be drawn, later this week. 🙂
(With all this clutter cleaning, there are sure to be some nice little extras)

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Before I forget……a little birdie mentioned that there is a birthday girl in blogland.  Go wish Laurie a Happy Birthday and take a look at her new wheel….it’s a beauty!!
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So many people have asked me how my little friend Morgan is doing and how her tree is growing, so I added a little button on my side bar so that you can watch her tree grow along with me. 🙂

If Morgan is feeling up to it, I am hoping to visit with her for a little while next week, when Maggie goes for a touch up before her first show.  Morgan’s hospice nurse says that while Morgan’s body is weak, her spirit is strong.  She is a little trooper for sure!!

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Does typepad ever make you crazy??  Somehow I managed to delete my Saturday Sky post while trying to figure out how to change the banner.  This post was supposed to go up tomorrow….Grrrr…..

Growing up so fast!

Well, it would appear that the Blocking Goddess did smile on me this time.  I can’t tell you how much I was sweating this one!!  On the needles it looked VERY narrow, but after a nice warm bath and a date with a fluffy towel it blocked out to just the right size.  Whew!!!

I’ve been thinking alot about what my knitting goals are this year.  I have read the aspirations from a few friends and decided to take a stab at putting my goals in print.

Even though I know I can do more, why put pressure on myself?  If I get this accomplished than I can do more…right??

2007
* 9 pairs of socks (this is a challenge for me, because I get so blessed bored with the second sock)
* 2 vests as I love wearing them
* Hypotenuse (GREAT design Anne!)
* and finish all of the items I have on my needles currently.

It is a modest list, I know, but it’s a start 🙂

Another thing I wasn’t going to put here even though I have joined, as these kinds of physical challenges are always scary for me (brings me right back to gym class), is the 100 mile walk a along.  Being a computer chair potato the 100 mile walk by April 1st that Rachel and Scout are hosting will be a challenge for me, but I am commited to giving it my best try.  2007 is the year that I have committed to taking care of my health as I am knocking on 50’s door and I want to be 50 and healthy.  This is one more way to help me stay on track 🙂
Now mind you…….I am so NOT a "Let’s go for a walk", when it is freezin’ out, so I’m considering doing my walking at our local gym…..I may stay more motivated.

Walk With Me Thursday?

The cold has definitely put a damper on my Wednesday Walks too, as you may have noticed, but this week, we have a guest Wednesday Walker trying out her new camera.  Ashley, my middle daughter is home on her college break.  She and her boyfirend took her new camera on a hike in the woods. (yep….that’s the handspun hat I made for her last winter 🙂

Brrr…………..see how bundled up they are….bbrrrrrrrr.  (Scarey thing is, it really has been a mild winter……yep, I’m a pansy when it’s cold).

Their hike took them to the falls of Jackson, NH and then to Diana’s Bath, the place where I started out on a walk this past fall, until I heard the shots from a hunter’s gun.

Enjoy…………………..

Wind in the cave:
Movement in stillness.
Power in silence.
Deng Ming~Dao

THANK-YOU all so much for your generosity!

My friend Jill,sent me this email today, after a visit with Morgan……..

"Because of timing this year (Morgan’s hospital stay earlier this month and her
journey into hospice care), Lisa didn’t get a chance to remind people about
Morgan’s tree.  I somehow think it was meant to be this way.  It has been a
faith renewing experience for all of us to see how kind and generous people are
who haven’t even ever met them or heard of them.  It brought tears to Lisa’s
eyes when she was trying to express her surprise and gratitude at the
generosity of so many people.  Please let  your Cavalier and Fiber friends
know that they have really made a big difference in many ways."

It was my hope to fill little Morgan’s tree again for her and we are only 9 ornaments from reaching that goal……..whoo~hoo!! 

it’s hard to follow that up with some knitting, but here goes :-)………..

Yesterday when I was trying to get semi caught up on my blog reading after the holidays, I read Wendy’s post on her dilema as to whether or not she should fix a small error on her gorgeous sweater.  I tried to leave a response, but the comments had been closed.

Ooohh….I must have been tempting the karma fates!  The comment that I was going to leave was how I allow for only one error in any knitting project.  Sometimes it may be a big one that I can live with or a teeny one that no one else would notice.  Since I had already left a big error that most people will never notice, I couldn’t leave the little one that I noticed when I picked up my knitting this morning……ugghh! 

I may have been tempted to leave it, but after my imaginary comment, I was shamed, if even only in my own mind, into fixing it.  In the past, I would have tinked back all of the rows that were beyond the error, but this time, I thought that I would take some of the knowledge that I have picked up along the way in blog land.  Gulp………terror…………ouch!  I ripped back only the stitches on that narrow cable line and started working my way back up again.

It’s not perfect……but it’s close enough to make me smile :-).

Now, I am praying that the blocking goddess is going to smile on me as well.  Did I swatch before I started?  Of course not……that is what patient people do….. 

Once again………thank you all for your kindness and generosity for my little friend Morgan!

Last winter, I was contacted by a woman who was looking for a Cavalier for a child who had had cancer, but who was now in remission.  This woman, Jill, was a friend of Maggie’s breeder, which is how she got my name. 

This little girl, Morgan, was hoping to get a dog to do junior handling with and wanted a Cavalier more than any other dog.  At the time, I was going to keep the puppy that I currently had to show myself and did not have any other puppies available that I felt were nice enough for a child to compete in the ring with, so I referred a few breeders to her.

Some of you may remember the little puppy, Bibbity who I was going to
keep here.  As she grew, however,I knew her markings would hold her back in the
ring, but she had just about the dearest temperament ever, so I went
back and forth.  Should she stay or should she become someones much
loved pet?  These are very hard decisions for a breeder. 

On one of those days when I was going back and forth on what to do, I got another call from Jill.  She had bad news.  The little girl, Morgan’s cancer had come back and this time the prognosis was not very good.  More than anything in the world, Morgan wanted a blenheim cavalier girl.  The family was going to visit a black and tan puppy that was available, but Jill wanted to check one more time with me and to get a reference on the breeder with whom she had spoken with (who btw, is a wonderful breeder as well).  This call clinched it for me.  Bibbity had a mission in her sweet little life and it was to be a much loved companion for Morgan.  Can you believe that they even threw a "shower" for Morgan in preparation for Bibbity, who is now Izzy.

Morgan’s Mom has a website which goes through the ups and downs of what their lives have been like since Morgan was diagnosed with cancer.  I had linked to her website asking for some prayers.  Last week I spent the week going all the way back to the beginning of her Mom’s blog and was so touched at what this family has endured, only to be faced with what they are now facing.  Today I receved an email from Jill, who is now my friend as well, and these are her words………

*************************************************************************************

Their website is:  http://www.lunchforlife.org

To make a donation and have your
ornament(s) doubled, use the name of Morgan
Betz and then the code#24085.

[This organization is 501(c)(3)
nonprofit organization, and the family endorses it.]

Some of you may think that this post is going to be a knitting lesson if you look at the picture…………but trust me, it is not.  What it is, is the beginning of what my day was going to be like….an omen you may say.

Seed stitch.  love it…….hate it.  As I sat down with my coffee this morning to work on the LL vest, after the dogs so graciously let me sleep past the "Crack O’ Dawn", I noticed that I had knit where I should have purled and purled where I should have knit on the seed stitch border…..an easy mistake with seed stitch.  Out comes the old reliable red plastic crochet hook that has had quite a work out lately.  Note to self……."Self, wine and seed stitch are not good partners".

So after fixing my seed stitch and enjoying a quiet hour of knitting, I set about the day’s business.  Hannah was playing with the dogs in their sun room when I heard the call for MOOOOOM, come quick!! 

Oh crap…. 2 of the dogs were in the midst of a serious fight!  Now mind you, Cavaliers are the mildest mannered dogs that ever were, but they are still dogs.  I only have 4 cavaliers currently, but Kali, my young b/t girl has been challenging one of the older dogs, who is what we call the "alpha" for a few months now.  Usually the dogs will sort it out between themselves without any drama…however, that has not been the case with these girls.  Two days ago, there was a minor fight, but today it was a full fledged fight of the scary variety. :(.  Once 2 girls (yep…the girls are worse than the boys) fight, you can count on more fights of this type and it is unacceptable here.  It breaks my heart that one of them is going to have to leave, but I can’t risk one of them being hurt or even worse, one of the kids getting bitten accidentally while they are fighting.

Soooo…….after breaking up the fight, talking to a few breeder friends and resigning myself to the fact that I will have to place the younger dog, I took myself out shopping for a little spell….a stress reliever of sorts you might call it.  It took my mind off of the dogs for a few minutes, and relieved the stress a little  until ………..BANG……..  Yep, a driver of the ski tourist variety slammed into the back of my car.  Thankfully other than a good teeth grinding and a few dents, there was no harm, but oh my………Ei Yi Yi…..what a freakin’ day!  Thankfully tomorrow, as Scarlett so aptly put it….is another day 🙂