------------------------------- ------------------------------------ On and Off The Needles

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Afflicted

Seems like after doing the Single Sock Swap, and seeing many other very happy single sockkers, I seem to have been infected. After making my single sock for the swap, it felt a little liberating. While waiting for my single sock to come, I started a simple top down stockinette sock from the much coveted Sock Hop Yarn. The colorway is Crazy Love and I fell Crazy in Love with it for sure. Soft, springy and the colors....

Sock Hop Sock Close
It made perfect plane knitting and I got the entire leg done on the flight out to Arizona. I should also mention that this ENTIRE sock was knit Continental style!! I am normally an English knitter - I carry the yarn in my right hand, but when I do stranded colorwork, I knit with both hands. A plain stockinette sock I thought was a great place to practice some left handed carrying. Now, I am much more comfortable with it and my gauge is a bit looser as well. I am kind of disappointed I didn't do it toe up. There is quite a bit of yarn left - I bet I could have made them knee socks! I do have something in mind for the leftovers though....

I did make good progress on it this weekend. (I'm getting much better at juggling the puppy/knitting balance...)
Sock Hop Sock #1
So, with my single sock received, and my first sock hop sock done, what is a girl to do? So, in a leap to the dark side I cast on for the second New England sock. Leaving the Sock Hop Sock alone for now. Yes, a single sock resides with me now. And I don't feel a lick of angst or guilt.

While I was taking up Continental knitting and watching hundreds of dogs do agility, hubby was quite busy as well. My van is now a fully fashioned doggie mobile.
Crate Platform
The pups now ride in style! There is plenty of room for my big ol' zero gravity chair as well as water and anything else I may need for a weekend of trialing. He did such a great job. The platform is really sturdy, and it is in two pieces so I can remove it easily if I want. Otis especially likes traveling in a crate much more so than riding loose. He has so far willingly jumped into the crate in the van versus me chasing him around the house to get him into it! Much less stressful!

That wasn't the end of it. Hubby has a great love of doing projects or getting things to surprise me while I'm gone. One year he built me a garden, one year he put in a brick front walkway. He not only built the platform for the van, but we got this!
Table
A new kitchen table! It's huge! A large, square, maple barstool height with eight different color microsuede seats on the stools. Love it. We had looked at this one eons ago, but it just wasn't a good fit at the time. I still can't believe we have it! I spent quite a bit of time at it this weekend. The stools are super comfy and perfect for doing some knitting while sipping my new favorite weekend morning brew.
Mount Hagen Coffee
Mount Hagen Instant Organic Decaf Coffee! I found this while wandering around the Sprouts store that was down the street from the hotel in Scottsdale. I got it then as we had no coffee maker. Before we left I went and got another jar so I could take it home. It makes quite a great cuppa joe.

Since I haven't put any puppy pictures up in a while, I figured I was due - Ace turned 12 weeks old on Sunday and is growing like crazy.
Ace
He can now jump into the van by himself and is doing very well with his training. We started puppy kindergarten class last week and will also be doing breed handling to practice when he goes into the show ring. Tucker and Otis seem to have adjusted - Otis has even started playing with him! A little rough, but they seem to have become buddies.

We are all headed down to Maryland later this week for our annual "Faux Thanksgiving". Since nobody likes to drive on Thanksgiving weekend, we celebrate it the weekend before! Plus, it coincides with the Sugarloaf Craft Festival and I've also entered Tucker in one day of agility trials in the area. Busy Busy!