Seven facts about me that you probablay already know

I got tagged by Jennifer to write seven facts about myself. Here are the rules:

1. Link to your tagger, and also post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of you post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are TAGGED by leaving a comment on their blog

Having done the first, now are the facts, not in any particular order:

1. I drive a mint green 2003 Prius, which I secretly call My Little Green Engine. The best mileage I got was 46.6mpg for a tank a few months ago. It's at the dealer's today for a well-baby-check-up. The brand new Camry loaner is great, but it's not mine.

2. My favorite cocktail drink is mudslide -- alcohol, cream, chocolate, full of evil stuff. Had one Saturday night, mmmmmm

3. I only knit with bamboo or wood needles, same with crochet hooks.

4. I'm very superstitious. I'd never have an important meeting or travel on the 13th.

5. I can live on watermelons in the summer and persimmons in the fall.

6. The last time I bought yarn was well over two months ago, two small skeins of Misty Alpaca from Yarn Dogs for the Garter Stripes sweater. That was a mighty long time ago.

7. I watched the movie De-Lovely the other day and discovered Cole Porter. Now I'm looking for more stuffs about him.

I will tag:
Tina, who blogs at Tina in Wonderland (come see the cutest Boston terrier puppies!)
Sonya, who blogs at In the Skein of Things
Beth, who blogs at Stuck on Socks
Diane, who blogs at And In My Spare Time .....
Karin, who blogs at Knitting &;
Lynn, who blogs at Never a Dull Moment
Nichole, who blogs at Lapdog Creations

Bucky Pumpkin

From last year. Guess I forgot to pull those big ears through the loops. Oh never mind, it's humiliating enough.



Update on Bucky: I've been treating and cleaning the ears every day as instructed by the vet. So far so good. Have to deal with lots of wiggling, sometimes chasing. We end up wrestling on the bathroom floor every time. He has a way to close up the ear canal when I need it to be OPEN. But the ears are cleaner than ever before, which makes mom very happy.

In last week's visit the vet also mentioned that Bucky's kidneys might be aging more than we'd like. Urine test showed he's drinking a good deal of water which puts stress on the kidneys. The vet suggested instead of kibbles that he's had all his life, we should try to switch him to canned senior food. That way he'll have plenty of fluid in him without drinking too much water.

So we picked up some Nature's Recipe senior lamb and rice cans over the weekend. After three days, Bucky is itching all the time. Yep, allergic reaction to the new food. We'll have to put off the new food until the itch stops.

Muir Swatch

Did a little swatching on the Muir stitch pattern. Very interesting open mesh background with the little "tree" standing out. The original pattern works side to side, only four or five repeats per row on lace weight. I'm going to change it to working bottom up with eight repeats on fingering weight. This way when the shawl is on the shoulders the "trees" will be pointing up instead of sideways.

 

Will I really be able to turn this big ball of yarn into a shawl? It'll keep me busy for awhile indeed.

Bonsai Tunic Finale

Pattern: Bonsai Tunic
Designed by: Norah Gaughan
Published: Interweave Knits Spring 2007
Yarn: Donegal Lambswool
Started: August 2007
Finished: October 2007
Progress pictures: lower back, back done, lower front, almost done

Lights of my life

Do you think Trinket has enough cushions under the belly?



Couple of years ago we discovered two of the discs in Bucky's neck were pushing together, causing him a great deal of pain. The vet tried various ways to stop the pain. Thank goodness baby aspirin worked.

Bucky is a bit stiff these days, but no longer in pain. He can't manage the stairs so we carry him up and down. Here he is, waiting for me at the top the stairs, after I took a basket of laundry to the garage.




Yesterday Bucky had his check up. My baby got poked (ears, shots), pinched (bumps), clipped (nails), sqeazed (anal glands) and got his blood drawn. Dogs are never happy with these appointments. He has yeast and heavy wax in the ears, and I'll have to start cleaning those big ears every other day. Not an easy task.

New Project Planned -- Muir

This beautiful shawl designed by fellow blogger, designer Rosemary Hill, who blogs at Rosemary-Go-Round. The pattern was published in the Fall issue of Knitty. Being the good girl that I am, I shopped the stash and found this lovely skein of Newton's Yarn Country cashmere merino, 0.7 lb, 1750 yards. It's much heavier than the lace weight in the pattern, but since I'm not too fond of knitting lace, I'm just going to have to change the pattern a little so it comes out right.

First, gotta wind the yarn! I have a wooden desktop swift, but not a yarn winder. I love hand winding a big skein of yarn into round balls. It might take me couple of evenings just to wind the yarn, but that's more time to feel this lovely yarn going through my fingers inch by inch.

Bonsai Tunic Almost Finished

Done with knitting, pieced front and back together, finished armhole band, wove in all the ends, and blocked. Only thing left is the belt.

 

A close up picture of the front pannels. The pictures look like different colors, but it's just the lights.



Come back next week and there will be finale picture with ME in it!

Dogs on Thursday

Our dogs are house pets, which means they never go outside without a leash and a human at the other end of the leash. Of course the only exception is in their own back yard, or the rare occasion when Bucky goes to a dog park to meet other pugs. Trinket goes to a dog park when he's hungry for the 250lb Rottweiler which we generally discourage.

As Bucky slows down with his decade old spine and perpetually round belly we bend the rules a bit. The other day he ran out of the garage while I was unloading the car (ok, I left the door open and had enough time to grab the camera).

He wandered in the driveway. (don't you love that little kick of the front paw?)



Checked the bushes for message.





And decided, I might just lie down and work on my tan.



All the while Trinket waiting patiently in the kitchen, pawing on the glass door.

Let Sleeping Dog Lie

Old dogs sleep a lot. When Trinket sleeps he tends to collapse and let his limbs fall into whatever position they happen to be. The ears flop up or down. I can lift up one of the top legs and let it drop, and it goes thump. After a few tries, he wakes up, gives me a dirty look, and goes back to sleep.



Please don't bother me, Mom.

Bonsai Tunic Front Bottom Done, Corn

This looks almost the same as the picture of the back I posted over a month ago here, but that was the bottom piece for the back and this is the front. As of last night the ribbing is finished as well, thanks to Desperate Housewives season opener. Now the fun begins! I can't wait to do the front pannels. They are the highlight of this top.

On an unrelated note, we had home grown corn for dinner! Farmer Bill planted six corn stalks in the summer and yesterday he harvested six ears. They are the best corn we ever had! Not bad for a first try. We even have a scare crow helping out in the corn field. (click on the picture to see a bigger version)