I know……I promised I wouldn’t overdue the puppy pictures……but I just couldn’t resist.   The puppies have occupied my waking hours, (which has been about 20 hours a day), so…………they just happen to be the focus of my life currently. 

Nestled in between the beanie bears for my grandchildren are the 2 sisters.  Both are doing really well now.  The little one is still very small, but she is a fighter and I am sure now that she will be fine.

Wrapping the puppies is the Noro hat and scarf set that will be making it’s way today, along with the Opera Scarf, to Lisa and Jacob, for their Red Scarf project.

Knitting

It seems that I have been called to do a lot of knitting for special projects lately and it has been a joy to be able to pitch in and help these different organizations in a small way.  The SHIPS project is a worthy one.  It is people knitting hats and slippers for the Soldiers overseas.  This hat that I just finished up was knit with some yarn that my Secret Pal 3, Erica, had sent to me.  I used the Everyone’s Favorite Hat pattern again

Wow……I LOVE this yarn.  The funny part is, I would probably have never picked it out in a store, but it is fabulous to knit with.  It is Lana Grossa, Royal Tweed.  100% Merino…….great stuff!  There is enough left over that I think I will make a pair of fingerless mittens for me.  I am thinking that I would love a sweater made with this yarn.  Yum…..

I have one more hat for SHIPS to finish up before the SPA this weekend.  One of the NETA members sent me this skein of Manos to make up a hat and OH MY!!!  I always knew that I would love to work with Manos, but never dared to shell out the money for a sweater and then be disappointed.  WELL……..guess what, my next sweater is going to be made with this.  (the gold yarn is going to be cloverleaf socks)

I have a icelandic sweater pattern that calls for lopi.  I have never been a big fan of lopi, as I find it to be really scratchy…….but luckily, manos and lopi have the same gauge, so this is going to be my summer project. (it will take me that long to save up enough money to buy the manos..LOL)

So while I am saving my pennies, I am going to work on some bait bags for my dog showing friends.  Actually I am going to start selling these at the shows.  It will help to defray some of the costs of showing, like airfare and hotel rooms.  I am hoping to attend our CKCSC,USA National Specialty, in May.  It is being held in Charlotte, NC this year.  My DH and I have not been on a vacation alone for a very long time, so I am hoping that somehow we might be able to sneak away for a few days and attend the show.  I have never been to Charlotte……..so, fingers are crossed that we will be able to get away.

In closing…….the aftermath of the Nor’easter we had……

Brrrrrrrrrr………….keep warm!

While temperatures of 40’s and 50’s teased us with images of Spring around the corner last week, this is what greeted up this morning.

24 inches of wet, heavy snow is expected up here in the North Country before this storm ends sometime tomorrow.

This much snow, means a day of fun for kids and dogs alike.  I guess Ole Phil, was right when he said 6 more weeks of winter!

Puppies

I want to thank everyone who has remembered my little puppy girls in their thoughts and prayers this week.  The blogging community truly is wonderful!  It has been a long and trying week. 

The littlest girl ended up an infection in her umbilical cord, which is life threatening and a major cause of death in puppies.  It causes a systemic infection, which can quickly destroy the dog’s internal organs.  Hopefully we caught it in time  with antibiotics and probiotics.  Baby girl seems to have turned that proverbial corner and this morning she was up to 4.8 oz and feeling a little less skeletal.  She is nursing on her own and keeping up with the others now.

  To keep it in perspective however, here is a picture of the little girl with her biggest brother.  He is weighing in at a whopping 13.8 oz!    The other girl is now up to a healthy 6.3 oz and I am feeling very good about her developing into a healthy pup.

Thanks again everyone for your good vibes!!!

Knitting

On the knitting front, it has been a frustrating week.  Most likely, from sleep deprivation…LOL

This lovely bunch of wool was in the mail this week.  I had first seen a scarf/hat set made with this Noro yarn on Norma’s page.  The colors really caught my eye.  I am working on a special "red" project, but I wanted to inject some pink into it as well, as the woman who this set will be for is a breast cancer survivor. 

My first attempt was going to be this scarf………but the thicker Noro just wasn’t meant for this scarf……sooooooooooo ripppppppp.  Next, I pulled out my Everyone’s Favorite Hat & Scarf pattern that I picked up in Rhinebeck this fall.  Norma used this pattern and I loved the set, so I know it will work with this yarn.

Here comes the frustrating part….LOL…. Now, I bet your thinking….what??  They look the same…….but they’re not.

I thought that I had grabbed the size 13 needles required for the pattern…..but in my tired haze, it was the size 11’s that I grabbed.  Now in the picture……they really look the same, but when you feel them…….yup, there is a huge difference, so the one on the left is going to frog pond tonight……

In keeping with the snowy theme, I ventured outside to take a picture of the finished opera scarf for the Red Scarf Project.

Pattern:  Opera Scarf
Yarn:  Filaro Kid Illusion (wool, mohair, rayon, nylon)
Needles: 10 1/2

Keep Warm!!

I promise not to bore you with lots of puppy pictures, but I couldn’t resist this one.  What you see in this picture is the largest puppy with his arm around the tiniest puppy.  How cute is that??

Of course, I am operating on almost no sleep…..so be kind…LOL.   Believe it or not, having a litter of puppies is almost as tiring as having an infant.  I don’t go to bed for approximately 10 days, especially when there are puppies as tiny as the 2 girls in this litter.  I am checking on the puppies constantly making sure that Mum hasn’t inadvertently sat on one and suffocated it.  I also rotate the little ones at the milk bar, to make sure that they are getting their fair share. 

As you can see from the picture, there is a HUGE size difference in these puppies.  Both girls were only a tiny 3.7 oz at birth and the other 2 were 6 and 7 oz.  I am not sure how this happened as Breeze was a great eater throughout her pregnancy, so it is not from lack of good nutrition on her part, however in speaking to a long time breeder friend, she mentioned that it could have been that the 2 girls were in one horn of the uterus and the 2 boys were in the other and perhaps the horn that the 2 girls were in, was nutritionally deprived somehow.

Needless to say, I am very concerned about the "wee" ones.  They are very very tiny, but they both seem to be fighters.  In looking at the above picture, you can imagine how easy it is for the big boy to push the little girl away from the milk bar, so I have been spending a lot of time holding him while the 2 little girls take their turns.

Say a little prayer for the 2 little girls…….I have been doing this long enough, that I realize that losing them is a real possibility.  The hard part of breeding.

Spinning

Well, if one has to stay up all night………one might as well be productive. (grin).  I took a few days off from knitting and concentrated on spinning.  The roving is hand dyed, blended fiber from my rabbits here.  When I had my last batch of rovings processed, I pulled this colorway out and kept it for myself.  After working on some scratchy romney earlier last week, it was a treat to come back to the soft angora/merino blend.

This bag full of roving is destined to
become this vest.  The pattern is from Mountain Colors.  It is nice to have a finished object out of my rovings, so that people can see what it knits up like.  Angora is so very warm that I don’t know that I could stand wearing a sweater, so this lacey vest should be a nice choice

Knitting

The new sock for the Six Sock KAL was announced this week and I have to admit that I was not in love with it….in fact, I am not sure that I like it enough to put that much effort into it as I am not a real fan of spiral knitting.  It is lovely, just not my cup of tea………so………..I decided to work on another sock that caught my eye in my blog surfing.

Marguerite from Stiches of Violet , created this great pattern.  You can get the free pattern here.  I have to say that I am really loving this sock!  The yarn is Lang Jawoll superwash and I am working on size 1 doublepoint needles.

I am also plugging away on the X and O vest from Folk Vests.  I am enjoying the pattern, but still not loving the black abbey yarn, although, the yarn does give the pattern alot of definition.

Ribby Cardi is taking a break, due to the fact that I have to rip out the sleeves..ggrrr, so I thought that I would work on this vest instead.  Who knows…….with all of this midnight knitting, I just may get them both finished by the time I make it back upstairs to my bed….LOL.

In parting, I just want to say…………GO PATRIOTS!!!!!!!!   WOO- HOO!!

Kites harness the force of the wind.
They express our intent,
But they cannot change the wind.
(Feb. 4th Tao, Deng Ming-Dao)

Congratulations Breeze (Ballymena Winter’s Wind)

Too tired for anything else………more later this weekend.

Normally, I don’t do these kinds of things…..but since I was tagged twice today, by Jean and Chris,……I thought I would be a good sport…… I guess, I’m IT…hehe. 

One reason why I will do this game, is that I just LOVE music.  I can hear a song and it immediately brings me back to a time in my life.  I am usually pretty good at music trivia.  A few months ago, I won the only contest I have ever won, when Vicki held her, what year was I born in contest.  It was fun and brought me right back to my highschool days.  It seems that she and I graduated the same year..LOL. 

So here goes……be prepared, my music tastes are all over the board:

1.  Total amount of music files on your computer:  one. 
Hard to believe a music lover only has one file and that file is that most ridiculous, yet seriously mesmerizing Rumanian song, sung by our silly German friend, here.  OMG, I can’t even watch it or I will be hearing it in my dreams……..hahahaha.  When I am feeling a bit down, all’s I have to do is click on that link and I find I am smiling again……..but the danger is……..I will be singing it all night long, even in my dreams…

2. The last CD you bought was:
Distant Future by Heidi Talbot
A combination of one of my favorite types of music……bluegrass, with an Irish touch.  Being a redheaded Irish person, I tend to find myself drawn to Irish singers.  I had no clue when I bought this CD that Heidi was from Ireland, but it gave me a wee bit more enjoyment when I read the reviews.

3.  What is the song you last listened to before reading this message?
This one is easy……the stereo is right next to the computer (which is probably why I don’t have music files on the computer),   Out of the Woods, by Nickle Creek .  Another bluegrass band.

4. Write down 5 songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you:
Ugghh…I agree with Chris, now I am going to have to think………there are SO many!

A.When You Come Back Down, again by Nickle Creek
When my granddaughter Avery was stillborn, it was a song that touched many hearts.

B.  Fields of Gold, by Sting
This is a song that brings me back to a carefree time in my life.  A time of complete
freedom in my 30’s and long days in the sun at the ocean.  It is also bittersweet as it  brings back memories of a very dear person, who is no longer with us.

C.   What A Wonderful World, by Louis Armstrong
Whenever I hear this song, I immediately smile and move into that zone of childhood happiness.  I ADORE this song.  It makes me feel like all is right in the world.  I also end up picturing Louis singing , I Wanna Be Like You Hoo Hoo, from the Jungle Book.  Just an all over good feelin’ song!

D.   The Soul of the Machine
Many of you have probably never heard this album……..it is different, very new age.  I learned how to ski with this tape, softly playing in my ears.  I didn’t learn how to ski until I was 32, but living up north, in God’s Country, I figured, I had best learn how to fill those cold winter days.  I was sooooooo bad…..haha.  I fell off of every chair ramp on every mountain up here…some ski bunny, eh?…NOT!  The soothing tunes of this album helped to calm my nerves and settle me down, so that I wasn’t a roving danger to everyone on the mountain.

E.    She Drives Me Crazy, (The Raw and the Cooked, Fine Young Cannibals)
This is my favorite exercise tape.  Whether it is on the stepper or out walking, this tape, along with Robert Cray’s, Strong Persuader, always keep me smiling, in spite of how much I HATE to exercise…LOL.

There you have it.  There is so much more that I love, such as the haunting harp tunes of O’Carolan or the power violins from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.  Then there is the sexy, soothing songs that John Mayer sings or the ecclectic sounds of The Chieftains and one of my new favorites, Maroon 5

Whew……..I spent more time on that than I expected……but it was time I enjoyed spending.  Now the question remains…….who am I going to tag.  I know that you are supposed to tag 3 people, but I also know that this game has gone around a few times, so I am only going to tag one special person.  I know that she hasn’t played and because she doth protest soooooooo much………..she’s (Norma) IT!!  (Ducking for cover…hehe)

Fluted Bannisters are Done!

All’s I can say about this pattern and these socks is…………………I LOVE them!!  They are the most comfortable socks that I have knit todate.  This was a fun pattern, but mindless enough, that you could put it down and then pick it up days months later and easily find your place. (my favorite kind of pattern)
Yarn  Regia Silk, given to me from my Secret 3 Pal, Erica
this is beyond fabulous Yarn!  Needles: Size1                   

Especially For Ryan
 Ryan, my friend, this is for you!  You were wondering which kennel you should find your next companion at……

skip the dog kennel…..

This is what a dog does when a bitch girl dog is in season. 
eewwwwwwwww……………..go for the bunnies!!!

Man oh man, it has been some kind of cold up here.  You are looking at an icycle hanging off of our sunroom.  The icycle is about 5 feet long…..bbrrrrrrr!!

Night time temps have been ranging in the -25 degree range all week and even with these arctic temps we’ve had close to 18 inches of snow over the last week….bbbrrrrrrrrr!!!

A few years ago, it was on a night with similar temps that I rushed to the vet at 3 am for an emergency c-section.  That trip produced two girls.  Ballymena’s Winter’s Tale and Ballymena Winter’s Wind. 

We are getting ready for what appears to be another Wintery Whelping.

Yesterday, during a snowstorm, Breeze and I made our way to the Vet for an xray.  I always do an xray a week before puppies are due.  This way, I can get a head count, check position and most importantly gauge size.  If you click on this picture, you will see the outline of 4 little spines.  Three of the heads are facing towards the left and one is facing the right.  Of course, the 3 facing left tell me that currently they are going to be born breech…sigh….  The good news is, is that they are a nice size and mom should not have too much trouble delivering them.  They could always flip, but my experience has been that they do not change position too often from what I have seen on the x-ray.

So in between the franticness of trying to find another car and send the van with the shot transmission almost 100 miles away to be repaired, I have been getting supplies washed and ready for the Winter Whelping.  We have our whelping box, hot water bottle, heating pad, clamps, scissors, towels, facecloths (for pulling the little buggers out), along with soft pads for when mom is finished and a baby monitor.  What you don’t see is the glass of wine that will be poured and ready for when I am finished…LOL.  Even though I have been breeding for almost 8 years now, I still get nervous with each delivery, so the wine will be there to help settle down the nurse when she is finished.  For now, we will just take temps twice a day and the waiting game begins.  Wish us luck!

The gang is trying to show Breeze their "close" support……….believe it or not there are 6 dogs, crammed into this crate….LOL

On the Knitting Front

The beaded socks for the KAL are finished.  They were fun to knit, but if I do them again, I will make changes.  I think I would use a smaller needle and do some ribbing all the way down the foot, so that the fit is better.  Smaller beads too.  It was a fun challenge though, never having knit with beads before. 

Pattern: Pink Beaded Socks  (Six Sock Knit along)
Needles:  Size 2 double pointed
Beads:   Size 8 "e" beads (Elegant Ewe)
Yarn:  Gray Koigu

I am close to finishing up the Fluted Bannister socks and I LOVE these socks!  They fit so nicely and the yarn is yummy.  I will post more about them when they are finished.

I am also participating in the Red Scarf Project.  Lisa Miller started this project to raise money for Chinese Orphans. You can read more about Lisa’s story here.

Why red scarves: The Chinese have an ancient belief that says all people who are destined to meet are bound by an invisible red thread. The thread may stretch or tangle, but it will never break. (Very meaningful to the families adopting these Chinese Orphans)

I chose the Opera Scarf that Margene shared with us earlier in the month.  I am making it a bit wider than the pattern calls for and on bigger needles.  Hopefully it will be finished and in the mail tomorrow.  It’s a fun project for a good cause.

Ribby..  The back of the Ribby Cardi is finished and
I have started on the sleeves. This is an easy, mindless project…..sometimes mindless is a good thing!   I love the feel of the lambs pride mohair and it is knitting up fast.  This is going to make a nice spring sweater jacket!

Even though it IS knitting up fast and it IS easy, I am finding that my nagging tendonitis and my now strangely sore thumbs is going to slow me down a bit.  I think that I will have to split my time up more evenly over the different fiber arts that I enjoy, instead of being so focused on one.  Maybe a bit more spinning and weaving and a little less knitting will help eleviate some of the pain.  Of course my DH says……"just stop for a while", but he just doesn’t understand.  I don’t think that I could ever just sit in front of the tv without a project in my hands………could you?

You know your having a bad day when……………….

Yesterday was just not a good day….in fact most of the week has been a washout.  Earlier in the week, my husband’s car died for the last time.  It is old, so it was to be expected…….however, yesterday as I was driving my daughter to work, the transmission in my car blew…..aagghhhh!!

After finally getting home and doing laundry, I noticed a small hole in the heel of my favorite Koigu socks…..then before climbing into bed at the end of the day, I put my other favorite socks on….my thick mountain color clog socks on because it is freakin’ cold here.  As my feet touched the cold floor, I felt the cold floor…..why am I feeling the cold floor with these thick cushy socks on I think to myself??  That would be, because there is a HUGE hole in the heel…aagghhhhhh!!!!!

You will also notice that there is a clump of blue wool in this picture.  I am going to try and needle felt the wool into the heel of the koigu sock, but I don’t know if the other pair can be saved.  If any of you are experienced darners and can give me some tips, please give me a shout!

Brrrrrrrrrrrrr

Did I mention that it is freakin’ cold??  As I am sitting here typing, the weather bug is telling me that it is -17….bbrrrrrr.  I headed up to the barn first thing this morning to fetch the bunnies water bottles as they are freezing so fast now.  Ya gotta love my morning barn gear…haha.  Lace and boots….the neighbors must think I am a wee bit touched in the head.

Having animals in the winter can be a challenge.  Rabbits will not eat, if they do not have water and of course, they need to eat to stay warm, so when it is this cold it is an endless cycle of thawing out water bottles.  Up and down the stairs with those big heavy buckets.   bbrrrrrrrrrrrrr…..

Keeping my hands warm and my fingers free to pry off those frozen bottles from the cages are these fingerless mittens that I made earlier this year. 

Pattern: Green Mountain Spinnery – Eric’s Glovelets
Yarn:  Mountain Colors – Indian Corn

Now that I am back inside where it is toasty warm, I am going to play with this new spindle.  The video made it look fun and I love the old antique serrated oak.  Spindling this way is a bit different and after giving it a whorl……..I can see I am going to have to go back and watch the online video again…LOL

As a foot note…….I removed the picture of George Bush from my blog and replaced it with a meaningful to me quote on peace.  Not because I have changed my feelings about him or this war, but after reading different blog comments, I feel that peace has to begin in our hearts first and if a picture is going to cause hurt or sadness in others, then I don’t want to contribute to that.  ~Peace~

We frail humans are at one time capable of the greatest good and, at the same time, capable of the greatest evil. Change will only come about when each of us takes up the daily struggle ourselves to be more forgiving, compassionate, loving, and above all joyful in the knowledge that, by some miracle of grace, we can change as those around us can change too.

Maíread Maguire

It’s getting to be that time of year, when I start thinking ahead to dog shows.  Every year, we take a family vacation in Colonial Williamsburg, VA.  It is an educational vacation for the children, and it just happens to be where Cavaliers of the Northeast holds it’s annual March dog show.

Getting dogs ready for serious dog showing takes a lot of preparation.  Now…..I am not the kind of person who buys all kinds of beauty aids for myself (Lord knows I should…though..haha)…………but look at the array that the dogs have.  You have your shampoos, your conditioners, your whiteners, your finishing cream. Cowboy magic gives us shine and slicker brushes help manage the curls. 

I will start giving the dogs that I will be showing, weekly baths now and will add good things like flax seed oil to their diet.  They will be walked and trained until they can’t stand the sound of that damn clicker.  Actually, it is a sound that they love, because they know a treat follows.

This March’s show team will be Max, Bliss and Max’s daughter, that cute little Dora. 

Here comes the fun part………………………………………

Into the tub they go……..neither Max or Dora are lookin’ very cute right now……….hehe

Look at how the same eye wanders when they are a bit nervous and mad at me for photographing them, when they look more like chipmunks than dogs…. 
Hard to believe they are show dogs, eh?

Then comes the endless blow drying………and yup…….a little more humiliation……………..

When you only have 2 hands….these drying coats really help those flyaway hairs stay still while I am working on getting those ears nice and straight.  Cavalier’s ears have a tendency to want to curl up like a perm when wet.

Dora is little enough, that she dries up quickly, so she was spared the drying coat…..but she wasn’t very sure about the forceful blowing air from the metro dryer.

Hard to believe she is the same dog in the sink, isn’t it…LOL?  She is feeling oh, so much better about herself!

At the end of the day however, it is not just about winning, it is about having fun and spending time with your dog ………but ………winning is nice too!

This was Max’s BIS picture at a match show last year.

After all that beauty spa treatment…….Max was ready for a good ole’ doggy snooze.

WOW……….Elann

All’s I can say is wow, wow, wow!!  Waiting for me at the Post Office was this package from Elann.  I am amazed at how fast it made it’s way to me from Canada.

What lovely yarn this Peruvian Highland Wool is!!  Now I am wishing that I had done what I was originally going to do and made my xo’s vest out of this nice yarn.  It is very soft and the color is vibrant.
With great service and yarn as lovely as this for such an incredible price…….I will definitely be back for more.  (self control……..she whispers……self control)

An Addum

My blogging friend Jean gave us this link today and let me tell you, it is the best laugh I have had all week……..OMG……I watched it a half hour ago and it is still playing and I am still laughing……..hahaha.  The scarey part, is I haven’t a freakin’ clue what he is saying……but I am still laughing…LOL.  Maybe the brain got a wee bit soggy from washing the dogs.   Thank you Jean!!! 

BTW…….Jean is an amazing knitter.  I can’t believe how fast she knit her son’s sweater!!  Go visit her blog, you won’t be disappointed.

Yesterday, I traveled down to Portsmouth, NH to participate in the NETA Afghan Joining Party for the SHIPS program.  SHIPS provides knitted hats for the winters and cool ties for the summer along with other things.  The afghan will be raffled off at the Spa in February and the funds will go towards postage for the knitted items.

Many New England bloggers were there and we shared great food, good laughs, learned some new knitting and spinning tips from each other, along with a fun fiber stash draw.  I was the lucky recipient of this great grab bag from Julia.  Ten lovely skeins of Sylvan Spirit from the Green Mountain Spinnery.  You can see pictures of our joining party here.

Knits
A new lot of Peruvian Highland Wool at Elann went on sale Thursday.  I pulled out books and patterns and quickly had lots of projects, costing lots of money dancing in my head.  As I looked at the total for all of the yarn that I wanted, I almost choked and quickly started rethinking….LOL.  One of the projects that I had been contemplating is the Ribby Cardi from Chicknits.  I was thinking a nice charcoal grey and then I remembered the stash of Lambs Pride that I had sitting in my barn (for over 3 years) and decided to pull that out and save some money. (What a novel concept..hehe) 

I have never worked with Lambs pride before and I was pleasantly suprised at how nice it knits and how yummy it feels.  The ribby cardi works up quickly and is a great, mindless knit.  The body of the sweater will be in the dark charcoal and the sleeves will be knit up in a nice light grey color.  I haven’t knit a full sized sweater for moi in a long time, so this will be fun.

Soooo, as all of the projects were dancing in my head……..then looking at the price tag and remembering my resolution for 2005 of self control and self discipline, I put all of the projects back on the virtual shelf and settled for just one project  in this lovely shade of Red Maple.  I did manage to toss in a couple of skeins of sock yarn though…..but those will be Christmas presents for next year…..so this is a good thing, right??  LOL

Now, I am not on a yarn diet as some others are……but I really am truly trying to control my impulses and show a little self control and discipline this year, in all areas of my life…..
Maybe I will use up my stash AND lose those extra pounds!

I have also been plugging along on the XO vest from Folk Vests.  I love the pattern, but I am still not in love with the Black Water Abbey Yarn.  It gives great definition to the pattern, but it is very scratchy.  I am still holding out until I give the entire vest a good soaking, though, before forming a complete opinion.  It won’t be something worn against the skin, so I am sure that it will be fine :-).

The AKC Eukanuba Invitational

The Eukanuba Invitational Dog show was held this weekend in Florida.  It was televised on the Animal Planet/Discovery Channel.  I don’t get that station here, however my daughter was kind enough to tape it for me, so we will watch it this week.

Little Miss Dora will start her training for the conformation ring this week.  Maybe you will see her shining face at the Invitational in a few years!