DOT -- Puppy Underfoot

In last week's DOT posts, I saw some photos of a cute pup in a kitchen who was then asked to leave because the Mom Rules stated that no one, including the puppy, could be in the kitchen while she cooked. Please forgive me for not remembering who posted this. If you are she, please let me know so I can give you proper credit. (It's Marjie! I guarantee you'll get hungry looking at her blog because she has some great-looking food on there.) This got me to thinking how I wished I had similar rules because I have a rather small kitchen and a rather large dog. Lucy just wants to be with me, even if it means she takes up a big part of the floor space and I must step over her. Here she is, blocking access to both the refrigerator (left) and the pantry (right).
Another view. Note how she must be stepped over to access the breakfast room (where we always eat) while she takes up a good amount of space near the stove top (center top of photo), dishwasher (right), and counter near sink (see blue cutting board with tomatoes just to left of non-pictured sink).
Here she lifts up her head as I step over her on my way back from the breakfast table.
Now dinner is served and she's shifted positions. She's ever hopeful, but Daddy is not going to put spaghetti in her bowl. In fact, he doesn't even notice her because he's busy watching his Cowboys play football.
Now the humans have finished dinner. Maybe if Lucy lays her head in her mom's lap, she'll get to lick the bowl? Nope. But while we are thinking about it, let's take off your old rabies tag and put your new one on the collar.
Banning the dog from the kitchen while cooking and eating is probably a lot safer for all involved, but then cooking and dinner time wouldn't be as colorful and fun.

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I received a wonderful box of dog and human gifts from Beth in the Dogs on Thursday swap! I will post photos next Thursday.

Olympic Knitting

After I finished my bolero parts I needed something to knit during the Olympics.  It had to be fairly simple so I could look at the TV and not lose my place or require too much thinking.  A few posts ago I talked myself out of knitting another Clapotis, then before I knew what had happened, I was at the store buying yarn and then casting on.  Here's what I've done.

I was inspired by the Noro versions of the Clapotis on Ravelry.  This is Silk Garden.  I love the way it stripes.

DOT -- Vet Visit -- 88

Lucy must have sensed we were going to the vet because she performed head surgery on her play vet, destuffed his body, and removed his squeaker.

I took both my girls to the vet on Saturday. I was a bit worried about taking a big pup and a kitty (yes, we are a multi-racial family) to the vet at the same time all by myself. However, it went well and both girls were very well-behaved. I put Lucy in a down-stay as we waited in the lobby for our exam room. She was praised for her good manners by several people and for her good looks by others. Once we were in the exam room, she sat nicely and stayed. (The key here is that I took Lucy to the dog park earlier in the day, let her swim for an hour, and she had no energy left to cause trouble at the vet!) Maggie, the kitty, sat on the table very calmly for her exam. Everyone was on their best behavior. I was proud of them.

Here's the shocking part. Lucy weighs 88 pounds! I knew she was a big girl, but I had no idea she was that big. I shouldn't be surprised though. We were last at the vet in April when she had an eye infection. She weighed 75 pounds then and was 10 months old. I don't know why I thought she'd reached her full size. We've been told Labs can take up to two years to be fully-grown. So why did I assume her 10-month-old size was it? I guess it is harder to notice a big dog get even bigger. In contrast, when she was a puppy, you could look at her and realize she was bigger than she was a few days earlier.

I am still amazed that I have an 88-pound dog living in my house. But she's a mighty cute 88 pounds!

Parts

Here they are. This the back. Right front and left front.
Two sleeves.
These are the parts I have been working on. Please excuse the color. It's not quite accurate, but when I used the camera flash it looked even worse.

Now the challenge will be putting the parts together into a wearable garment. I hope I can do a good job! Since it's going to require some thinking, this will have to wait until the Olympics are over. I don't ever remember being so fascinated by the Olympics. Must be Michael Phelps. I had to watch him swim, then I got hooked on everything else. I even found myself watching badminton on Saturday.

Oh, what's this going to be? A bolero from the little Noro book. Here's the Ravelry link. Wish me luck putting it together.

New Bag

I couldn't help myself. I bought a Namaste Malibu bag. Isn't it beautiful? This bag is big! Notice the skein of yarn for scale. The new bag coordinates with the Cali Clutch my mom bought for me a couple months ago.

Dogs on Thursday

Here's the pup, looking so cute. I have been a dog mom for a year now, as of July 28. I am still fascinated by Lucy...how smart she is, how beautiful, how loyal. I've got to admit about being confused by some things too. For instance, look at the tip of her tail. I call this long hair that grows out of the end her "tail tuft". Is this normal for a yellow Lab? If she were a show dog, would this count against her? Luckily her only job is to be a family pet.
Here's another view of the tail tuft.
Sometimes I read the AKC breed standards for Labrador Retrievers. I like this part: The most distinguishing characteristics of the Labrador Retriever are ...its "kind," friendly eyes, expressing character, intelligence and good temperament.

Can somebody tell me what "withers" are? That's referenced in the neck, topline, and body section of the standards. Even if Lucy's withers are totally the wrong size, she's such a sweet puppy and I love her very much. It's good to be a dog mom.

SP12 Question of the Week #10

What Olympic event would best describe your knitting/knitting style?

I am a knitting decathlete! I don't say this because I am good at 10 different kinds of projects, but because I am in the midst and/or about to try a bunch of different projects.

--I am making a garment. I have just a few more rows until I finish the second sleeve. The challenge for me will be putting all the parts together into something wearable.

--I am making a scarf. This is likely to be a Christmas present for my mom so there's no hurry. I have made this same scarf twice recently and it's quite easy and the yarn is beautiful to work with.

--I am making washcloths for a friend's gift.

--I am about to swatch for another garment.

--Socks are at the top of my learn-to-do list.

--I was looking at the calendar yesterday and realizing I have a vacation coming up in one month. Then I was driving home and my Clapotis was in the passenger seat. I started to think: I could stop by the yarn store tomorrow (which is now today) at lunch, get some yarn, and start a new Clapotis on Wednesday evening. I could get it done in time for use on the plane! Then reality struck me. I am not a fast knitter. I truly want to finish the first garment and I think the second one will go rather quickly. I've got to finish the washcloths. The first Clapotis took over a month to knit and it was pretty much all that I worked on. It's not going to happen.

Other people might call all this jumping around indecisiveness or scatter-brainedness (if that's not a real word, it should be). I prefer to think of it as training for the knitting decathlon.

SP12 Question of the Week #9

Have you ever entered your knitting (or anything else) in the fair? Would you ever consider it?

To me the fair means the Colorado State Fair. It is held in my hometown and I grew up about a mile from the fairgrounds. I always spent a lot to time there as a kid, mainly as a teenager I suppose. My friend Stacy lived even closer to the fairgrounds than I did. My mom would drop me off at her house and we'd walk the couple blocks to the fair together. Later I drove the car to her house to avoid parking hassles and we'd walk from there. We'd do everything from petting cows to hanging out on the midway to seeing concerts to watching the Ginsu knife demonstrations and so much more. Those were good times!

Oh yes, walking through the building to see the domestic-type entries was on the list too. My friend Carolyn used to enter cookies in the junior division and won several ribbons.

My mom is a quilter and she's entered her quilts several times. She has a collection of ribbons to show off for her efforts. I have been to see her quilts hanging at the fair and that is fun.

As for me, my knitting skills are not nearly advanced enough to even consider entering my projects in the fair. The Texas state fair is held in Dallas and I have never been. However, when my visits to Colorado coincide with the fair, I definitely check out what's been entered.