Blog comments

If you received a comment from me (or more than one) and think I'm wacky.. I'm sorry. I must have wacky typing fingers today because I had such problems logging in and receiving error messages for comments.

Anyway, I'm quitting for the night, but thought in case you checked me out - I apologize for any error messages, duplications or just plain nonsense messages.

Good night!

Denim Dog Coat Received

My mom received the denim dog coat today. I added the red pocket so the dog can carry his pickup bags and his treats

It's still a bit small, but at least this one can be adjusted. I'll have to fix that gaping hole on the side.

I've got his measurements now.

Another project complete

So my mum sent back the Dogosaurus sweater because she couldn't get her dog inside of it. I opened up the chest and made a gusset, knitting it out of the same yarn but on bigger needles and garter stitch. As well I removed the sleeves and added one round of double crochet to clean it up. It may be tough to decipher what I'm taking a photo of, but here's the new belly:
The photo actually makes it look like I've just opened up the centre seam and what you're seeing is the inside of the back. (My thinking was that when the dog has the sweater on, the garter stitched tummy gusset will look more like the dinosaur's scaly tummy. Oh who am I kidding? )


Here's the link for a photo of the original sweater, with the pattern.

Project Finished - Dog coat

Another dog coat completed, this one crocheted in scarlet red acrylic with blue mohair trim (stash diving) to fit my mom's schnauzer. I hope this one fits and she'll send photos soon as it doesn't look like much when it's not on the dog.


Stitch detail below (and a better idea of the colours). The body is single crochet, the trim is double crochet. I made the trim a bit flouncy, forgetting is wasn't very masculine - I hope my mom will still use it, she just might need to tell people it's a boy dog.

I guess I'll start the new tummy panel of the Dogasaurus sweater that was too tight for him while it's still cold outside.

I've also put the denim blue and red one in the mail on Friday, so she should have that one next week. Once I've fixed the Dogasaurus sweater, I have one more to knit and then I'll be taking a break from dog sweaters. It's time to move one.

Can you believe it's sunny?

We've been having a terrible couple of months with the weather in the Vancouver area. For many they might not pay attention, but my job is involves booking work crews who must be outside - so I am very aware of the weather. When it's raining hard, I now wake up and think about all the emergency calls I'm going to get the next day - that kind of thing

So you can imagine that having a full day of sun is uplifting in more than one way! And, I sure hope the weather man isn't teasing me because the forecast shows sun until February 2nd. That is so incredible, you have no idea.

Tonight, I have a crock pot full of beef stew to feed to JP who still has a fever and several cold symptoms. I guess that's his payback for going on a school bus with a full Grade 3 class. No wonder he was the only parent who went.

I just came back from walking the dogs and chatting with the neighbours. We're the kind of neighbours who barely see each other in the winter but over the fences while we're gardening there's always lots to talk about. A sunny day brings us outside. This years garden is going to be more about landscaping details than plants as it's now going into it's 9th year and many borders and wood edgings need to be redone. Stupid rainy weather, lots of wood has rotted. I won't be going too crazy, especially as I don't have a truck anymore and I am very seriously planning to move next year.

Plus I'm planning a vacation to San Antonio in April. I'll need to save up for that.

Now it's time for me to get a few rows of crochet into the red dog sweater. I'm more than half way done.

And let's cross our fingers that I don't get JPs fever and cold.

Puter Repairs

So yesterday I take my computer into the shop because my back up wasn't working. They had no other computers on their desk. They were bored. They said everyone must have overspent at Christmas because it's very slow. I say "oh good, then I can have my computer back by noon" We all laugh... har dee har har

Then I wait. No computer for work all day. I go through paper files. I phone around 3:30 to ask how it's going. Nothing. They call me at 5:15 and tell me it's ready. I pick it up. They tell me everything is working fine, and only charge me 1/2 hour labour. I'm okay with the cost, I'm glad they were so honest. But why did I have to wait 8 hours to pick up my computer when they only needed it for 1/2 an hour and supposedly had nothing to do all day?

Next computer repair.... they're coming to my house!

Help

Is anyone good at helping? Or is it just me? Maybe I'm not good at asking for help. I don't ask for help often. But I've always been a helper. Whenever I help others I try to give as much information. I try to be patient and understand that they don't know. I wait. I ask them if there is more. I make sure everything is going smoothly before I walk away. I make myself available for them to call me if they get stuck. Maybe I 'over help'.

But when it's my turn to ask for help I get one word answers like "yep". Or "go there and try that" - they don't stay with me to see if it works. I get criticized for 'not thinking it through" Of course I'm not thinking it through, I'm asking for help, it's something I don't know how to do.

Do you ever feel that you give lots to others, but just don't get it back? Should I give less of myself? Am I expecting others to be too much like me when it comes to helping?

Dog Coat - WIP

Here's how far I've gotten on the dog sweater. This is a pattern from Annie's Attic. You can get one free crochet pattern everyday. I found this one intriguing because you crochet the neck in rounds and then you start the body perpendicular to the yoke.

I am driven by curiousity with this project for two reasons: 1) I found the construction interesting- it's all one piece, no sewing together, and 2) I've resized it myself. I have made some adjustments along the way, but so far I still believe it's going to fit my mum's Schnauzer.

And finally, I am making it out of stash yarn, which is a spool of machine knitting acrylic given to me by my mum. I am double-stranding it and winding the ball by hand.

The pattern calls for a contrasting trim and I haven't decided on the second colour yet. I don't want it to be white - it'll look too much like a Santa suit. I might do a baby blue trim. Also, I might embellish the back when I'm all done - with his initial, or a heart for valentines? I don't want to work it into the yarn as I'm not sure where things will be so it's safest to add it on later.

De-lurking

Okay, by now I am very behind the others, but apparently it was de-lurking week last week. And it seems to be quite successful. May I ask the same of you?

De-lurk yourself I say!

Bring it on!

Like a melting ice cream cake

That's what our weather's like right now - everything is melting and dripping, it's foggy and damp and cold - we're just a big sopping wet ice cream cake, discarded after the party......even the dogs don't spend much time outside now.

I just saw a crocheted dog sweater on Annie's Attic, pattern of the day... I've taken the gauge measurements and have enlarged it to fit my mum's schnauzer (it was for a Jack Russell). The pattern was only in one size - I guess that's what you get for a free pattern. I've been itching to make it, but haven't put my fingers on enough of the same wool and haven't figured out patterns for striping yet.

The lace shawl is looking quite good, progress is slow because I need to count lots and can't be interrupted, but I knew that going in and I think it'll be worth it when I'm finished.

I am working on booking a location for an upcoming business meeting. I stopped by one hotel that was built about 2-3 years ago. The event manager took me to the meeting room. It was a converted guest room with a fireplace and kitchen. She proudly told me it was 600 square feet. It was a very poor excuse for a meeting room - I'm sorry to say. Why would you build a new hotel and then not build any conference/meeting rooms? Why wouldn't you make it look more like a meeting room and less like a guest room without the bed? I mentioned that we were thinking of a group dinner for 20. She took me to the restaurant and showed me a semi-private area with 2 big 1/2 circle booths and 3 smaller booths - not suitable for work. She was very young and didn't even have a business card. Trust me, I'm not snobby. I give people the benefit of the doubt but this was a very poor presentation of business services. This is an example where they'd be better off saying that they just don't do it. Do it well, or not at all.

Joey Update!

I just received this happy email and wanted to share:

Fetch

January 15, 2006

In follow up to our abandoned dog Joey, we are happy to report that she has been adopted!
Mark and Marie have been long time friends and fetch Clients; they will give Joey a fabulous life.
She is settling in well and had a positive exam this morning at the vet.
Photos of Joey with her new family will be posted on our website soon.
Thank you very much for everyones help and concern.

Also, thank you to Animal Advocates for their advice. Please visit their website for more dogs available for adoption.

There is a sweet chocolate lab and husky cross, among others who are desperate for a new home.
Please visit http://www.animaladvocates.com/adoptions/ to read more about these dogs.
Reply to Judy: animaladvocates@telus.net

Sincerely,
Fetch Staff
www.fetchstore.ca

Yes, we still have snow on the ground, and more is expected tonight. Bah! This is not Vancouver weather! I'm ready to pack her in! 14 storms since October? What is that about?

Cat tracks across my front yard (at least I hope they are cat tracks):It's not too often that we get 3' long icicles! All the buckets in my back yard are frozen solid! Usually we just get a bit of the top.... I should have taken more ceramic plant pots in - I hope I didn't lose any.
Anyway, I finished the 'rug' out of the mystery yarn: My plan is to crochet some sea creatures and make a bit of an ocean scene. I'll be using olive coloured yarn to make i-cord seaweed. That's all I've got for now....

I've been having a really achy neck and back lately. I'm wondering if it's a form of the flu.... but that's slowed me down from creating more things.

An origami butterfly - in hopes of spring:

Isn't this sad?

I received this notice from a doggie supply store with a doggie grooming facility called SPaW:

Joey was dropped off at the SPaW on January 8th at Fetch North Van.
Her owner was to pick her up at 2pm and never did.
Her phone numbers were out of service.
We think Joey is around 2 years old, she is housebroken, good on leash, does not bark, good with other dogs and has a very sweet nature.
Please forward to anyone who may be interested in giving Joey a stable new home. Call Kelly at Fetch in North Van: 604.986.8302

So what happened to the owner? Just too wimpy to properly adopt out her dog? Or was she in a car accident? I sure hope there's a good explanation by the owner, but I doubt it.

Poor puppy.

And the sad thing is, this kind of thing happens all over. And not just to dogs either.

We've had snow again! We've got about 7" sitting on the ground and it won't be going anywhere soon as it's -6 degrees right now. Yesterday I felt it was faster just to walk to the doctor's office than to clean off the car, warm it up and drive in the snow... plus it was better for me healthwise. I quite enjoyed it anyways.

I did shovel the driveway twice - so I think that counts for my daily exercise.

But today, I'll have to do something more - well I could walk the dogs in the snow - Jazz really seems to love it!

So that's it. Just powering down with work. Trying to clean up and declutter. I haven't spent much time crafting as I pulled in muscle over my shoulder blade and have been trying to take it a bit easy.

Trying to work on some personal goals, which I always seem to put last on my list!

It's a been a super busy week at work and I've had headaches and an achy back all week - I don't know if it's stress, or I'm out of shape or both. So I'm trying to get more excercise to see if that helps both issues.

It's been very rainy and windy here and that's lead to fitfull sleeps, wet dogs and general grumpiness. We even had snow on Thursday! Vancouver is getting hit with lots of crappy weather, and Toronto is laughing at us - they're walking around in 13 degree weather - that's our weather! And, on Friday, the dome of BC Place Stadium came down - that's a shocker for us, and a big change to our sightlines and the city. Yikes! I'm just so glad there wasn't an event inside.

WIPs: I've got rust colour crochet bear started, a pale green lace shawl and for the fourth time, I'm trying to make a rug with a very coarse cobalt blue yarn. I tried 2 times with crochet - but I don't have a hook large enough. I tried once with a 15mm pair of knitting needles but that was too big. Now I'm trying a pair of 10mm knitting needles and I think it's working. JP and the kid did have fun ripping it out though - so all was not wasted.

We had the kid all week as school doesn't start until the 8th. That's not a big deal in some ways because I was working, but it's still a change to my routine and an extra body in the house - so I am glad to get back to 'normal' life. We took him home yesterday, so I'll finally take down the Christmas tree and other decorations today. It's a very windy day anyway.

It's the perfect blustery Winnie-the-Pooh day, and I think I'm playing the role of Eeyore.

WIPs! and Happy New Years!

So I've started a knitted shawl in a pattern called Fern Lace. There is lots of counting and so I need to work on it alone, and in almost solitude so that's going to take a while to finish.

I also started an rust coloured amigurumi bear. Why? because I had some small leftover balls which were in a bag with some other leftovers and the colours clashed so I wanted to remove the rust coloured yarn. Is that a little wacky?

And yesterday, after a visit to a thrift store, I found two skeins of a very heavy bright blue 'yarn' which I'm crocheting for a rug; inspired by the rug in Happy Hooker. Yes, I got started right away. That's a project to do in front of the TV. One row SC, on row DC. I'm hoping to embellish it with flowers or other (durable) items as well.

Here's my question of the day: How come we can send people to the moon, but we still have to deal with those plastic produce bags at the grocery store that are barely separable from the roll and then require super fingers to open them? (don't really answer that question...)

We had a nice mellow New Year's. Jazz heard lots of fireworks but handled it quite well. Today I think we're going bowling. Happy 2007! Another year filled with HOPE! I want to do more, and talk less! We'll start with that.

Also last night, we smashed our Peppermint Pig for a new holiday tradition. The pig represents "good health, happiness ans properity.... And after the holiday dinner, the Pig was passed amongst those gathered, each in turn giving the pouch a firm tap and sharing a tale of the past year's good fortune. The delicious broken peppermint and warm memories were enjoyed by all in hops of properity for the coming year." This was an excellent gift from my most excellent brother, Eric.