And Ravin Makes Three….

With so many visiting dogs coming in and out over the past year, when I was approached to take a dog for agility training, I figured, “what’s one more dog?”. So, meet our newest addition - Ravin!

He is a 3 year old Australian Shepherd who has finished his AKC confirmation championship, and has sired several litters of puppies who is now looking to add some performance titles to his name. From what I hear, he is a fun boy with lots of energy and drive - something perfect for agility! We are starting from square 1. Being a show dog, he doesn’t even know “sit”! (he does know “stand” quite well though!) Aussies are very intelligent, and I have no doubt he will learn very quickly. I have never met him in person, but I have talked at length with both the owner, and someone who has used him to sire a litter of puppies and he sounds like a great boy. I’m excited to start a dog from the ground up again and use the training skills I acquired in training both Tucker and Otis. I think the boys will be happy to have a new foster brother to play with! He is only here until he earns himself some agility titles, so it will be at least a year or so, but it’s not a permanent addition. Ravin arrives Monday evening - I can’t wait!

Tucker and I actually (finally!) have a trial this weekend! It’s a 3 day long one, and though the forecast is for low 60 degree temperatures and rain, I’m still excited. He has progressed a lot over the summer break, and I’m looking forward to running him again!

For some knitting content, I finished up a pair of mittens out of the handspun my friend’s mom sent me.

They are nice, rustic, chunky, comfy mittens - just what I was going for. I actually ended up doubling up the yarn as it was almost a DK weight. I was pretty worried I may run out, but came in just under the wire. Hats and more mittens are on the agenda for the rest of the handspun - I have a cornflower blue, more off white and a nice grey to play around with. They’ll make some nice dog show knitting!

Another surprise came in the mail -

I ordered the basic colors of Washfast Acid Dyes from Prochem. I got Blue, red, yellow and black. I figure we can make pretty much any color from the four basics. I am being patient though, and waiting until my sister arrives to try them out on my cone of undyed sock yarn. I also got a color card - glad I didn't have it first - there are way too many beautiful shades on it! I see a day of dying in the future!


Smocking is also making steady progress. The second sleeve is on the needles with a few inches of progress. I stopped finishing the back as the instructions were kind of vague as to "introducing" new smocks at the beginning of rows - I wasn't sure which rows or how often, so I am going to make the smocked sleeve (one is smocked, the other is plain ribbing) and see how it matches up. After reading the description, I know the design flows from the back to the sleeve, so I'm hoping finishing the sleeve will clue me in to where to put smocks on the top of the back.

Looking forward to a nice long weekend at the trial, and welcoming in our new resident on Monday! Have a great long weekend everyone!