Catching Up

I know I have been away for a while, so I will try to be succinct. 

I finished the Baby Dean Tweed for Glenn's other cousin's baby BEFORE the baby came!  I hadn't knitted much lace before and this was my first time to aggressively block something.  I bought the blocking mats and then spent a lot of time trying to convince the 2 scotties and 2 cats that they didn't need to stand, lay, sit or roll on it while drying. I repurposed Moxie's puppy X-pen to protect the blanket.

I was very happy with how this turned out. 

Not too bad for my first lace effort.  And I really liked the i-cord bind off.  Nice strong edge for when the kid drags it around!

And the girls liked it too.  After I told them "off" Moxie tried her nose under the blanket trick, but I couldn't capture it.  You can see she flipped the edge over nicely.

Baby Dean Tweed has been taken to it's forever home and I hope to see a picture with Mr. Weston sometime!

In May, I traveled with a friend to Castle Rock, CO for the Terrier Only Performance Summit.  My friend Sandy drove most of the way while I knitted (AWESOME!) and navigated. Sandy and her two Seallyham Terriers were fun bunk mates. Dobby and Alice played nicely with my two.  We stopped in Lamar, CO on our way and the visitor center had a great expanse of grass.

We were packed into the car pretty tightly, but everyone were great travelers.

We stayed in a nice LaQuinta near the show site.  The back of the room opened into a nice grassy courtyard where we could potty the dogs without stepping out of the room.  However, the bunnies and squirrels had very little sense of preservation and hung out in the courtyard.  Bailey and Moxie quickly spotted them from the bed in the room.  After that, the curtains were perpetually closed and all potty excursions were scouted prior to execution!

The girls on bunny watch!

I lost my mind and entered Moxie in Rally Obedience after the very minimum in practice. The first day I ended up being the first dog to run, so I was very nervous that I didn't know quite what I was doing, but Moxie earned her first Rally Novice A leg with an 87 out of 100. 

Doesn't she look thrilled!?! Pictures aren't her favorite thing.

She seemed to enjoy Rally, and especially the peanut butter cup reward afterward.  The second day we earned a 95.  The third day, we earned her RN with a 97.  I think we will try doing more Rally in the future. 

Bailey qualified in four out of 6 agility runs, which put her at the top of the Scottish Terriers in performance points, so she got named the TOPS Scottie. Moxie unfortunately was totally taken with the Colorado ravens and had a hard time focusing on pottying when there was "caa caa" to be heard.  She pottied in the ring one day.  Had she concentrated better and qualified a few more times, she could have beaten Bailey out with the addition of her Rally points.  But, she is quite happy letting big sister take the spotlight. 

June 21st was my 35th birthday. It's an age I am having a hard time reconciling.  It feels rather old.  I am not sure where all the time has gone.  However, I had no shortage of friends and family quite happy to celebrate it. My friend Katie (click the link to see her blog entry about this) put on the COOLEST party.  We dyed yarn at a local yarn shop. I had the BEST time. 

My friend Bonita dyes the last third of her yarn green.

Michelle begins hand painting her two skeins of yarn.

Lisa begins a tripple dip of shades of blue.

After the second dip, Lisa rotates the yarn to orient the last third at the bottom for dunking in her third shade of blue.

I pose with my virgin skein of yarn, ready to dip in the red dye.

Katie helps me hold the half dyed skein of yarn.

Here I am hand painting my second skein of yarn.

Here Katie is making sure her gloves are clean as she prepares to dip her chartreuse yarn in a fushia pink dye.  She ended up with a BEAUTIFUL skein we like to call Orchid. In the foreground, Lisa is hand painting the highlight color of "burnt" to her orange skein. Being the Longhorn lover, there was quite a bit of consideration on how to get the best burnt orange. 

The Glamour shot: from left to right, Michelle's two hand-painted skeins, my cherries and chocolate skein and Lisa's tripple blue skein.  All of these skeins are merino with silk mixed in, which gives them the shiny look you see.  And, the silk and wool take the dyes differently, so it gives each color a variagation which is truly awesome.

Here are Bonita's two tulip skeins of orange, green and yellow. Then Kerry's two sage green skeins and on the right, somewhat in shadow are Don's amethyst and taupe skeins. 

At the end, we got to create a grafiti skein with all the colors of our dyeing session.  It is crazy colored.  The current plan is that I (amazing how Katie's great ideas often involove me doing all the work!) will make Christmas ornaments out of that yarn. 

At the end, we took a group shot.  Notice the grafiti yarn that Michelle and I are holding up.

The folks at Gauge Knits were truly wonderful. Doug and his helper Kim of White Bear Fibers were absolute god-sends. They did all the grunt work so that we could have fun dying. They soaked the yarn before dying, nuked the dyed yarn to set the color, mixed up endless numbers of dyes, rinsed the yarn and laid them out to dry and acted as general gophers when bowls, jars, paper towels and various items were needed. If you ever have the chance to take a dying class with them, DO IT!

My sweet husband gave me a beautiful diamond pendant for my birthday. He picked out a beautiful (and robust) chain for it that sparkles and catches the light almost as much as the pendant. He did quite well and is pretty much off the hook for the month of July.

I have several WIPs, but most of them are gifts, so they are all under wraps, but will appear here eventually. We have a family wedding in July in Carbondale, IL. Then Glenn and his brother Craig will be heading to Oregon for a nice short vacation. Glenn and I will be joining my family on an Alaskan cruise in August. I am so glad that we will be getting some opportunites at cooler weather this summer. The heat here has been crazy and we will be ready for the relief. So, there will be plenty of picture opportunities in the next couple of months. Moxie and I will be trying our hand at more Rally in Houston at the Reliant World Series of Dog shows in July. Of course, Bailey and Moxie will both be running agility as well. I am hoping we will get to visit with Moxie's breeder while there. In short, the summer will be busy, but I will try to update "le blog", as Katie says, more often.

What's in a Name--Attitude

I have always heard you should never name a dog something you don't want them to be.  Name a dog Crash and he will be a constant bar knocker.  Name one Psych and it will bark like a fiend.  Name a dog Moxie and don't expect her to sit in her crate quietly when you run her sister!

Moxie's first show was at Reliant in July.  Before that, I don't know that she realized that going to shows was agility, she just wasn't getting to do it.  We crated far enough from the ring that she didn't realize what was going on.  At Reliant it was like a big light bulb went off over her head.  When I took her out she would have a little dancing party.  And when I took Bailey out of her crate and left Moxie in, she vocally made her disapproval known. 

THEN she got spayed and had to sit through a whole show without running.  I have several videos of Bailey running where you can hear Moxie in the background whining and crying pitifully.  Well, this weekend, there was another show (same place as the one she couldn't play was held).  The first day she cried and was unhappy when Bailey ran and then when her runs came she was great.  The second day, I take Bailey for her first run and as I come out of the ring I hear "Loose Scottie" and I think "well, she's on leash, come on guys."  I hear my name and look up to see another competitor holding Moxie, who is paddling her legs and trying to get to me.  She had stuck her nose or paw between the zippers and pushed her way out of her crate, then run a good way to try to get in the ring before being caught. 

So, now I have to clip the crate zippers together and hope she figures out that she gets to play from now on before ripping through her mesh crate.  Sheez!  I really can't complain to have a dog that so obviously wants to run with me and is having a blast when we run. 

AND got the pics from Reliant from Tien Tran.  They are wonderful.  I do wish Moxie had her ears up and looked less scared.  Maybe I am the only one who thinks she looks scared.  Most people say she looks focused.  I looked back at pics of Bailey for a friend to compare and most of hers her mouth is open barking.  She is quite the loud mouth.  But it's hard to frown with your mouth open, so she always looks like she is grinning.  Anyway, Reliant objective accomplished--got Tien Tran pics of Moxie before Tien retired. 

Three Little Pigs Blanket Complete & Scottie Approved

I have been working on this blanket for a month or so. It was an easy pattern and I really loved the cotton yarn.  My friend K tells me it reminds her of bricks.  From there she thought of the wise third little pig, whom legend holds built his house of bricks.  :-)  Hence, the name. 

You didn't say anything about UNDER the blanket.

Of course, anytime I spread anything out on the floor, the dogs think I have laid out a nice new bed for them.  I had to shoo them both off numerous times.  Which led Moxie, the jokester, to try putting her nose under the blanket.  And my hurried laying the blanket out means that the pictures look all crooked.  I really don't think it is that bad in person, but I haven't blocked it yet.  So....who knows.

Since Moxie just got spayed yesterday, I am glad to see her seeming to feel better. Last night she laid around groaning in her sleep. She seemed dazed and confused.   Bailey sniffed Moxie head to toe when she got home and has generally been gentle with her. Ever the long-suffering big sister, she only too kindly offered to finish Moxie's dinner last night (perhaps she is one of the 3 little pigs) and I had to kindly turn down that offer on Moxie's behalf.  Today, she has seemed more herself, although somewhat slower than usual, but rather happy-go-lucky for 24 hours post-op. She will be feeling 100% better long before her shaved "poodle arm" from the IV will grow back.  Gotta love that look! Good things dogs don't care about stuff like that!

Now, here's hoping one of the several pregnant women I know (or the one's I am crossing my fingers for lately) will have a girl so they can have the Three Little Pigs blanket a good home. And an excuse to do another pink blanket would be great.  I am tired of blue for a while.

Beauty is in the Eye of the Dog Parent

When I got Moxie, we had an agreement with the breeder that we would leave her intact and evaluate her for confirmation at a year old.  Due to various reasons, we didn't get around to the evaluation until this weekend (17 months). Glenn and I were really hoping for a verdict of "no" so we could spay her and avoid another heat cycle.  I honestly don't know how people used to stand that for a dog's whole life.  Yuk! Last weekend at the Reliant Park show, the breeder saw her and there was talk about grooming and showing.  I talked to Glenn about the possibility of showing her and he was not thrilled at the idea, but he didn't protest too strongly.  Later that day, he said "I always said I would never let a daughter of mine be in a beauty pageant." He has made no bones about the fact that he thinks the whole thing is ridiculous. 

Then this weekend I traveled to College Station to work on grooming Moxie and talk to the breeder about what we were going to decide about showing Moxie.  We put her up on the table, and while she is a really nice dog, she is simply longer in the leg than your average scottie.  The breed standard clearly calls for space for the average man's fist to fit between their brisket and the ground.  She said she thought we should focus on agility and not worry about showing.  I was thinking Hallelujah.  I want her to be a nicely groomed pretty dog, but I don't necessarily need a judge to tell me that.  :-)  So, I drove home eagerly anticipating calling the vet Monday morning and scheduling a spay surgery! 

When I got home, I told Glenn the good news and he was oddly subdued.  This is the man who has repeatedly told me how much prefers the "natural" look (think the shaggy Fala look) and thinks Moxie all groomed looks like an aardvark. He looked over at Moxie and says "Don't worry girl, I think you are beautiful, even if that breeder woman doesn't."  He asked how a scottie with what he frequently describes as "T-rex" flippers rather than front legs can be too long in the leg.  (As an aside, it is interesting that a dog with legs too short to easily cover her own snout with her paws---that trick just isn't going to happen as she can't comfortably hold that pose--can have legs that are too long) He immediately put her on the floor and turned to me and held his fingers open an inch.  "But, it's only that much clearance." I was somewhat perplexed at this point, this was NOT the response I expected.  He went on to grumble for a while about how he wanted to tell her no, not her tell us no.  That he thought she was as good looking as the dogs he sees at shows, etc.  I finally said, "I thought you would be happy that we could spay her and move on." He agreed that he was, but he didn't like Moxie being rejected.  I assured him that she is perfectly happy and feels no rejection here.  And I have to be secretly pleased that he feels such a strong protection instinct over the dogs. He can say they are "ugly" but no one else better say it.  :-)

After her spay surgery Wednesday, she has laid in her bed and groaned.  Bailey brought over Moxie's favorite toy--the green duck.