Gunther and Knitting

Good news, Gunther has made it to week 4 in the Cutest Dog Contest. If you have voted thank you so much and if you haven't please vote for him. The info is in the post below. It's a week by week thing, so every Saturday he has to start all over with votes.

This morning I was thinking it's been awhile since I posted any photos of what I've been up to so today is picture day. I hope you like.

Have a great day!

Christmas is on it's way

It's good to have friends that work in yarn departments. The girl who works in the yard department at the Hobby Lobby where I teach, showed me some new stuff. It wasn't even marked yet. In fact she was holding it in one of the boxes to be put out for me.

See me and her had been discussing some things I wanted to make as gifts for Christmas and when this yarn came in she held it for me. SWEEEEETTTT!

The red, beige and green will be wash clothes and hand towels that will be given with a long with a handmade bar of soap. (closer to Christmas I'll have pictures) I all ready have one washcloth made. LOL. You can see the beginning of it with the first ball of cotton up at the top. By the way I'm using blocks from the 200 Knitted Blocks book for my washcloths. That is one of the handiest books I have for quick ideas and patterns. I love it.

Now I have to decided what to make with the green and beige. I got that just because I loved the color. LOL.

Sad news, once again I have frogged the Black Purl sock. For some reason this damn sock is driving me nuts. I do believe though that I have found a pattern that will show the yarn off and still be fun to make. Not too complicated, easy to memorize and yet classy. Cross your fingers for me.

Just when I posted things were going good, things got crazy again. Ok stop laughing I can hear you. I know that you know exactly what I'm talking about. (it is a little funny) Seriously though I almost lost my new pup. You can read about on Gunther's blog. Gunther. And if that wasn't bad enough, one of the thorns in my flesh from earlier this year has raised "it's" head and started stirring again. But, it's all good, a pain in the butt, but it's still ok, because it's nothing compared to what the kids and I faced at the beginning of the year. And that just brought out the best in us. I will say that it is truly a shame that people take forgiveness as weakness.

Knitting again, has brought so much peace into my life. It has also brought some of the nicest woman you will ever meet. I can't imagine my life without them. They are such a precious gift. I am grateful for each of you.

Blessed Be

Knitting, Dog Shows and other stuff

It's true, I haven't fallen off the end of the earth yet. This year has been something else so far, but I can say that finally life is beginning to be much happier. Though I'm twice as busy, I am happy and getting some knitting done, and going to dog shows and taking charge of areas of my life that I had let slack or thought was ok.

Anyway, I've got some projects going on. The yarn below is Kid Merino from Crystal Palace. It's for a shawl that I'm making for my daughter. The shawl is called Milady's Shawl, designed by Dee Jones for Alpine Meadow Yarns.


A little while back I was not really intending on buying any yarn I was just looking and there on Handpainted Yarn's website were these two beautiful lace weight yarns. They just somehow got into my cart and ended up in my mailbox. LOL.

And here is what I'm making. It's a variation of the Feather and Fan shawl. It's hard to see because of the wood background. But when it's finished I'll take a much better picture for you. We've been joking around about how these are the very colors of my new pup, T.

Details and a better idea of the colors.

You know I can't let this one go. LOL. Today is Gunther's 2nd birthday. Him and T have celebrate all day. We've been to PetCo, Starbucks and Petsmart. It's been a big day. I'll have more pictures tomorrow on Gunther's blog. Gunther, GT and I just got back on Saturday from a dog show in Greenville, SC. We have a great time inspite of my mistake. LOL.

It really feels good to be in a place in my life where I am feeling centered again. Where most of the people who made my life a living hell the first part of the year are long gone and dealt with. It's been an interesting spiritual ride, many lessons reviewed and new ones learned. But I'm just grateful for today. Grateful is such an overlooked feeling. It can be the entrance to such peace.

I'm back home, finally!

Oh my goodness, what a trip. We ended up staying longer because of my mom's health and doctor's appointments, but finally here I am. It feels so good to be back home.

I got some knitting done while away. I finished the scarf that I was helping one of my students with and I got a huge portion of the Black Purl sock done. That sock was perfect to work on while on the road and waiting in doctor's offices. There's no pattern to it, just ribbing and stockinette stitch, but the yarn is magical to use. I don't think I have ever really gotten so caught up in the pattern of the colors before.

Did I get any new yarn while up there? Nope not this time, but I did come back with something. It wasn't really planned until the last minute.

Yup, Gunther has a little brother now. We call him "T" but his AKC name is Sir Hagan Tru, son of Shockin. The explanation of his name is the Sir is a reference to his father, Royale, Hagen is the mythological brother to Gunther, Tru is a reference to what the breeder called him, Truman, and the son of Shockin is the acknowledgement of the breeder's kennel name. But, we just call him "T". Here is a link to his sire CH Stone Valley's Rocky Raccoon CD, RE, CGC, TT, HIT and a link to his mom, Shannon's Shockin You Again. T, is 16 weeks old and will be in his first dog show in October of this year. He weighs 45 lbs as of yesterday (Friday).

P I C T U R E S

I promised pictures and here they are. Of course I have to start out with my furry son's ribbons. LOL. The one on the left is the place ribbon and the other one is the qualifying ribbon. Now for knitting. (grin)

Here is the finished ribbon scarf. I LOVE IT. But, you know the next one I make will have changes in it. First off it's too wide. For us Southern ladies, we don't want to do or wear anything that might make us "glisten" a little too much.
This ribbon yarn is heavy and will make you sweat like a pig. LOL. It's definitely not a scarf meant for warmth, but as an accessory, so when I get it all written out, it will be half the width and not quiet as long. It's a quick pattern and will make a great gift.

By the way, it's made on size 10's or 10 1/2's and I got the ribbon yarn at JoAnn's a long time ago. But I was in there the other day and seen that they have some really pretty ribbon yarns.

Now for more pretty stuff. I have always loved looking at the Recycled Himalaya Yarns. They are just so full of color and personality. So when Patternworks had their Recycled Rayon on sale I ordered 2 hanks. I have no idea what I'm going to make with them. But I have them now and just enjoy the colors.

And finally. I have a distant cousin that just had her first baby. A little boy. Some of you may recognize this yarn from a previous blanket, but I have enough left over to make this Fan and Feather baby blanket. Since the picture was taken I have gotten quiet a bit done on it and have about another quarter of work to do.

So there we are. We're caught up on knitting and we are caught up on Gunther. LOL. Oh one more thing. If you are a dog owner let me suggest to you a lady who makes Tugz for all size dogs. Rescue Me Tugz. She makes no money on her dog toys, all of it is donated to different dog rescues. For the month of June she is donating all her money to the Great Dane Club of the Mid South's Rescue. Our rescue needs the help, so if you can order a $3 or $5 tugz it would be greatly appreciated.

Coming Soon (LOL)

I am working on writing up the patterns for the lap afghan and for the scarf. So those will be posted pretty soon. I also got some beautiful yarn in them mail yesterday that I have to get pictures of to share. So I haven't forgotten the knitting world.

Things are getting better in around here. I've been doing some dog training on the side which is a hell of a lot of fun. I may pursue it full time because I am having a great time with it. I've also been working with Gunther and he has been in a few obedience competitions and won so that has been crazy. His next one is in July and we'll be traveling to Greenville, SC. While at the shows I've had time to do some knitting and I was amazed at the ladies at the dog shows that knit. Of course she it's a competitive atmosphere, you know after a while the conversation turns into a pissing contest of who knitted what and how difficult the pattern was and on and on. LOL. It takes all kinds. But, they are knitters, and for the most part fun to talk to.

So that's all I've got for now. Hold on and come back for pictures! By the way, just because I've not been posting doesn't mean that I haven't been keeping up with everyones blogs. OMG I've turned into a lerker!

A No Picture Post

The fast pace around here is now the norm. Like I have mentioned in the past we've been dealing with a lot of change and closure on things because of a decision my EX made. One day soon I will share the whole thing. Now his life is wonderful and he is happy, but it's at a great cost and he doesn't even realize it. His kids are the price.

Like I have said before we are moving, some where. We are staying in GA. With Sara's internship at the bakery and GT about to finish homeschool and take his GED, I can't see moving out of state. We have so many friends here and our roots are pretty much dug deep in the red clay of Georgia. We've been looking at house and some of my friends have been taking time out of their days and going and looking for me too. I'm still trying to make a dent in what to get rid of and what to keep. Some of the furniture is beautiful expensive furniture we got when were got married and now I can't stand to look at it. So it's going first off.

Ok I don't want to talk anymore about that let's talk about knitting. About the only knitting I have been doing is on a shawl. I will take some pictures of the first one soon. I started a second one Monday night. Nearly all my knitting students are making shawls. We are all giving them away. I have some wonderful knitting students, each of them bring such a great energy to the classes and we have a good time. I look forward to them so much. I can only hope that I give them when what they give to me.

And for those who know Gunther. Gunther is now 21 months old about 127 lbs and maturing into a find boy. His training is on going and he has been the therapy in the world for what we have been going through.