Words

What words to describe these two?

 

Sweet?

 (This is Lexus)

 

Innocent?

 (This is Penny)

 

Adorable?

 

Cute?

 

 

Well, those are not the words I'm using now that I've seen what they are capable of.

 

In the half hour that we took for our dinner last night, they had the audacity to grab fiber that I had worked on all day to dye and were ready to list in my shop and do their thing with it.

 

 

The yellow top was too much of a mess for the camera.

 

What were they thinking?

I guess this will be mine to spin some day when I can find this funny!!

 

No, seriously, I'm over it now. They are full of energy, curiosity and they need to learn some manners...but we'll get there.

Gone to the dogs!

A morning walk filled with clear blue skies, cool, crisp air, sunshine...what a great day to be outside.

Today, I took Anouk for a walk around the property.

Frankie was concerned about the 'loose' dog about so he came over to check things out.

Then I spent a little bit of time with the crew.

 A bit of talking and cuddling.

Bjorne is the gold one. He's the one guy with a whole bunch of cream girls.

The dogs are in great need of some serious grooming. They are loosing their winter coats and are shedding all over the place. One by one, they will be bathed and brushed and trimmed this week. By next weekend they should all have been done.

But for now, off I go to prepare food for Easter dinner.

Have a wonderful day!

I need one of those

That's my story and I'm sticking to it

Wonderful saturday to be inside!

The weather network mentioned we would get some snow last night and all day today...but Mother Nature really outdid herself this time!

Lots of white stuff accompanied by a fierce northerly wind.

Seems that by the time it's all done, we will have close to 30cm! That's 12 inches !

I think that we have allready reached 30 cm and it's still falling!

The birds are still able to fly around in these condition and get to the birdfeeder.

Those birds are pretty smart to be able to get out and about on such a blistery day!

Even the seeds that were blown to the ground were not ignored.

Twelve year old Bailey thought this was too good to be true.

 You can see how much of a grey day we are having...these pictures were taken at 2 pm this afternoon.

With snow up to her chest, she thought she should check to see what was under all the white stuff!?!

I intended to sit and watch a few movies all day but the satellite was not working for a few hours this afternoon.

Well then, I'll take a drive to the library and pick a few DVDs before I get any more snowed in.

I felt so smart to think of this...I rarely borrow DVDs from the library. And they have a good selection.

So I got ready, shoveled some of the snow in front of the garage door and got in my vehicule. 

Did I mention to you that I am solo this weekend? Hubby is gone fishing 'up north'. The area where he's gone will be getting much more snow, so he might need an extra day to get back out!

But I have a 4-wheel drive SUV so I can go anywhere, anytime!

See the SUV between the posts? It's kinda sitting crooked in front of the garage, isn't?



Well, I'm sure it's better to leave your vehicule out of the garage during a snowstorm and park it diagonally in front of the garage door.

I'm sure there will be less snow in front of the garage because of it.

So smart of me!

I will tell hubby that I'm not struck in the snow drift, I wanted to sweep the garage floor for him.

Sh**, I never even made it out of the drive way...stupid 4-wheel drive!

I could not get out on my side, I had to crawl over on the passenger side because the snow too high. After lots of shovelling and doing my best to move the vehicule, I gave up.

They did it again!

Just yesterday, I was telling you how I liked the Purl Bee website for it's patterns.

Well, they did it again with a new pattern. It's actually a revised version of a baby pullover they had already published.

They now have added Toddler sizes to this knitted cardigan!

And I have a toddler grand daughter to knit it for!! 

With stash yarn and needles I knitted a small piece to get the right gauge. I started with the 3.5 mm needle size suggested but ended up doing better with a 3.25 mm needle. The purl row on my swatch is where I changed to the other needles size.

 Problem is I will need to go shopping for some circular needles in 3.25mm size. I have straight needles in that size but I prefer to knit this one piece cardigan on circular needles...

The yarn is a cotton/acrylic blend and should be perfect for a little spring/summer cardigan. But do you see that knot? I've only knitted a few inches for the swatch and I have a knot in the yarn!
Not impressed.

I hope this is not going to be the case for the remainder of the skeins I have on hand.

I now hope to complete the Grecian rib scarf this week so that I can cast on for this pullover!
Knitting scarves take so much time.

How about a few pics of the pups? They are now 8 weeks old and all weekend long, one by one, they have been joining their new families. We now have only three of the eleven pups left till next weekend when they will also be joining their new owners.

This is Billie, a sweet female.

They love playing outside in the warm sun.

With only three left, the house will be quieter. It will be so much less work as well!

New Year's Mantra

Read this on Sheep Thrills Yarn's blog and loved it...thought I would share it with you here as it's a good way to start the new year...

May we break boundaries, tear down walls, and build on the foundation of goodness inside each of us.

May we look past differences, gain understanding, and embrace acceptance.

May we reach out to each other, rather than resist.

May we be better stewards of the earth, protecting, nurturing, and replenishing the beauties of nature.

May we practice gratitude for all we have, rather than complain about our needs.

May we seek cures for the sick, help for the hungry, and love for the lonely.

May we share our talents, give our time, and teach our children.

May we hold hope for the future very tenderly in our hearts and do all we can to build for a brighter tomorrow.

And may we love with our whole hearts, for that's the only way to love.....

My 2012 resolution remains the same as last year...live healthier. I'm keeping it for another year not because I didn't accomplish this in 2011 but because I believe being healthy is an ongoing process, there is always something more you can do to live a healthy lifestyle. So keep eating well, keep being active, keep meditating and being positive. I should add, to keep learning. It's a good thing to always stimulate our brains with new stuff. It's good to challenge ourself with a new technique and feel great about it when we master it.

About the babies...

Pups are thriving and keeping us busy...mom is super great with them.

They are now 1 week old. (you will count 11 pups as one did not make it the first 24 hours)

I revamped our kennel's website last week. Have a look if you are interested in learning more about our dogs.

I wish you a wonderful 2012 with good health and peace in your heart.

Thank you to all my readers, those that read and leave comments as well as those quiet readers. I appreciate your presence more than words can tell.

Cheers!



FO Baby girl blanket

As my mother is destashing, my stash seems to be growing! That's not exactly how I thought it would end up but some yarn is just too nice to let go. Many, many years ago, my mother and grand mother used to order yarn from Bèrgère de France in Montréal. They would order lots and lots of yarn! My grand mother would knit constantly but my mom would mostly stash it!! (Just kidding mom!)

With all the babies being born lately amongst our friends and family, I thought I would get a few items ready for those baby showers coming this summer.

Eventhough I don't often knit with acrylic yarns, I knew that the washability of this yarn would be appreciated by busy parents.

This blanket starts from the center and is knitted on circular needles. It's one of those mindless knitting project. I always love to have one of those on hand when I want to knit and watch tv or expect to be interupted often.

 The colours are for a baby girl in lavender, rasberry and white. I also made the hat that was included with the blanket pattern. I have enough yarn to make a sweater or booties too.

Pattern: Hopkins Hat and Blanket (free download from Knitcircus Magazine)
Needles: forgot to make a note of it!
Yarn: Barisienne by Bergère de France

Puppy news:
She is growing like a...well...like a puppy! Well not surprising since all she does is sleep, eat, eliminate...
Now 16 days old and with opened eyes.Her ears are starting to open up as well so she will soon be hearing us walk in the room! Doing her best to get off her belly and use her legs. She actually barked this week! With no littermates, we will have to entertain her till she can be introduced to one of our super gentle golden.

She loves to use the stuffed toys as a pillow.
What's her name? Not sure of that yet. She was born by c-section and when we stepped out of the vet's office, there was a penny by the car. I immediately thought of calling her Penny and register her as Lucky Penny. But hubby doesn't seem to like the name too much so we are still working on this.

FO: Wisp scarf

I love scarves and wear them at least three seasons of the year. The weight of the scarf will depend on how cold it is outside and how long I will be out.
The first time I made the Wisp scarf pattern was with a colourful lace yarn I had purchase while visiting our daughter in Calgary.

The muliple colours in this scarf allows me to wear it with so many jackets. Because it's so light, it can easily be worn till fall, winter and spring.

Pattern: Wisp (free on Knitty.com) Very easy lace pattern.

Needles: 5mm

Yarn: Schoppel-Wolle Crazy Zauberball

A week ago, I completed a second Wisp scarf just in time for my mother's birthday.

Good thing I took a few pics while blocking the scarf because I never got around to it after I gave it to her. Love my blocking wires from Knit Picks. I use them for most of my blocking.

Pattern: Wisp

Needles: 5mm

Yarn: Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud

Puppy news:

She's now 9 days old! She can be seen here at 2 days old. As the only pup, she has no competition for food and can drink all she wants, whenever she wants...her little belly is solid like a rock!

Her eyes an ears are still not opened...this will probably happen this week.

(The stuffed toy will be used to compare her growth from week to week.)