A Night Well Slept

Poki slept down by my feet all night, just where her foster mom said she likes. Grace sleeps up at the top, so they don't conflict. Wiener sleeps in his own bed on the floor until morning, when he climbs in bed on my side--then our 14 yr old big dog Daphne comes in and takes Wiener's place in the floor bed.
LaMont did not put up the bag of food Poki came with and Daphne got into it during the night, so Poki had most of her breakfast off the floor this morning, while I picked up the rest. The food is now in a jar on the counter, safe from marauders like Daphne.
I put the bed stairs down by the dog couch this morning, and Poki learned immediately that she could use them to get up there. She also learned to use the dog door right away, too. I showed her once, and that was that. She's smart.
Grace's nose was seriously out of joint yesterday; she kept glaring at Poki, but Wiener has accepted her and Poki has twice initiated boistrous play with him. Grace will come around; she's just used to being the only girl baby around here and doesn't like sharing the spotlight.

Poki comes home today!

Poki comes home today after four surgeries to fix her badly broken back legs. We are excited to add her to our family of dauchshunds; I know Grace will be glad to have a younger sister to play with, and Wiener will be proud to have another younger dog to watch over.

Green Knitting

I'm making progress on my Green Knitting Club project for Swapbot.com. I think I will be able to mail it on Monday, only one day past the deadline. This is MUCH better than I usually do with swaps. Maybe I really AM getting more organized. My knitting group helps me stay on task, too.
What is green knitting, you ask? It is buying a knitted item at a thrift store, unraveling it to produce several balls of yarn, and reknitting it into something new. Grandmothers in China have been doing this since dirt was invented, unraveling a grandchild's outgrown sweater and reknitting it in a larger size. I swap with Swap-bot!

A Chilly January Day in SW WA State

These are our three dogs, on this cold January day. The two pics above are Wiener in the front window. LaMont is gone, so Wiener is on guard, watching for his return. I couldn't resist photographing Grace's cute little Doxie tush; I love the way her short little back legs stick out straight behind her sometimes.

The picture to the left is Daphne, our 14 year old mix; she is lying not far from the gas fireplace--a good place for an old dog on a cold afternoon.

They are out where it's warm, and I'm in here where it's cold. My knitting is also out there where it's warm and I'm going to join the heat-seekers and knit!!

Taking apart knitted garment, making something new

Last night I cut apart a cotton (knitted) sweater, planning to make it into a bag. Previously when I did this, I unraveled the entire sweater, however this sweater had lovely diamonds knitted into it and I didn't want to destroy them. So, I cut the sweater at the arms, so I had a straight piece of knitted fabric. Then I sewed a seam at the side and unraveled one arm's worth of yarn. The ribbing end of the piece(formerly at the bottom of the sweater) will now become the top of my bag. I attached my yarn at the raw edge of my bag and picked up the free loops; I began to knit, to make my bag deeper. That is where I'm at now-see picture.

Next, I plan to begin decreases to make an oval bottom to the bag. After that I will knit an eyelet row above the ribbing, and knit a strap. Then the bag will be finished, and it will have cost me just a couple of dollars.

A word of warning about purchasing used sweaters to unravel: many sweaters these days are not knit per se. The pieces are cut from large pieces of knit fabric, much as you would cut the pieces for a shirt from cloth fabric. You DON'T want to use these sweaters for unraveling as all you will get is one yard long pieces of yarn! (Ask me how I know!) You want to buy a hand knit sweater; these sweaters will be sewn together with the yarn they were knitted from, and they will have very finished-looking seams, unlike the seams from the former sweaters which will have seams with little short pieces of yarn kind of poking out. You may get some of the wrong sweaters at first, but you can still use the yarn from them to crochet little amigurumi toys, etc. You don't need to waste it. Good luck and happy hunting and knitting!

http://secure.habitat.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=340274&lis=1&kntae340274=836921195D8D497796F7397C4D5FCC44&supId=0&team=3634157&cj=

Hello, again. I work with Habitat here in my local sw WA town. I'd like to raise enough money to build a Habitat Home in Haiti to replace one lost in the recent earthquake. My site address is above.

I know a lot of you have already given to other organizations, so if you can't do this at this time, I completely understand. If you think you might be able to donate at a later date, please bookmark my site. I know we can reach the goal of $2500 eventually, and that is enough to build one house. If we can do more than one, that is just more good. Thanks for anything you can do, and please spread the word to your friends and family.

How Large is Your Soul?

"Folks will know how large your soul is by the way you treat a dog." Charles F. Duran
You could probably also substitute:
a homeless person
a child
an old person
a horse, cat, gerbil, etc.
a person performing a "menial" task

We are all the same inside; we all deserve to be treated with respect, no matter the circumstances of our lives, or whether we were born human or other animal.

OK, ok. I'll get off my soapbox now. I just liked that quote and wanted to share it!

Please spread the word about Craft Hope; CH spreads seeds of hope one stitch at a time.
http://crafthope.com/2010/01/craft-hope-for-haiti/
They have an Etsy Store raising money for Haiti, but on Jan 20, they suspended donations for two weeks due to an absolutely astounding response. So wait a couple weeks and check the site; they will want more items in the future. That gives you time to make a few!

Project 6 is for foster care teens. They say:
"Much of the nation is currently overwhelmed by this Arctic blast that has covered our landscape. It’s cold out there and what better time to launch a project that allows you to sit on your couch and knit or crochet. For Project 6, we have partnered with The Orphan Foundation of America’s Red Scarf Project. Yup, get your needles and yarn out because it’s time to make a scarf. A red scarf!"
The Star Scarf pattern has been donated and we can all use it; you can download it from their site. They want it to be red and it is due Feb 14. This is rather late notice, I know, but I just learned about Craft Hope today. I'm going to take the Star Scarf pattern to our local knitting group on Thursday; maybe we can make several before Feb 14.
I love blogs, and they are such an excellent way to communicate and to organize good projects. There is no reason for anyone anywhere to think there is nothing they can do to make the world a better, kinder, or more peaceful place!!

The lost is found!!!

I am SO happy!!! Last night I found the Round-Robin-Doll-in-a-Bag I'd been looking for so hard for the last two weeks!! I went to a doll class and the owner of the doll told me it WASN'T in a brown paper bag like all the others were. It was in a green and white cotton bag. I found it in our entry hall, partially hidden, without even looking!
I felt like I had won the LOTTERY!!! It was terrible to have to tell Sandy that I had not found her doll yet, and it was the FIRST DOLL SHE HAD EVER MADE, too. I was losing sleep over this every night, trying to remember if there was anywhere I hadn't looked!!
So my wish today is for anyone who is looking for something lost: may you find it today, or at least very soon. The moral is: know what you're looking for; if you aren't looking for the right thing, you won't find it!! Have a good day/week everyone.

Habitat Home for Haiti

Hi, again! I'm trying to raise enough money to finance a Habitat for Humanity home for a family in Haiti. It only costs $2000-3000 to build a brand new home there; I'm hoping to raise that amount. Please donate what you can, and pass this information on to your friends and family. So many have lost their homes in Haiti--this is REALLY important! Here's my team page:
http://secure.habitat.org/faf/search/searchTeamPart.asp?ievent=340274&lis=1&kntae340274=487D371E595B4B539E52FD340B8333FC&team=3634157

Please help by giving what you can--a couple lattes skipped could help us reach this goal, if enough of us join together!! None of us are billionaires, but if a lot of us join together, our small donations can make wonderful things happen.

These are the pictures that go with the post below. Cute little guy, isn't he?

My First Knitted Rainbow Baby

This is my first Rainbow Baby, made from Jean Greenhowe's pattern: www.jeangreenhowe.com/Images/Rainbow_Babies.pdf -
I used number two needles and worsted weight yarn, and at first it was difficult to knit with that thicker yarn on those thinner needles, but I was pleased with the finished result. I might try using number 3 (US) needles next time, but I DID get used to the twos. The main yarn in this toy was gleaned from a thrift store vest I unraveled.

Hi, Readers. I am active in Habitat for Humanity Grays Harbor, our local Habitat group. It is so important for people to have a decent home! I have started a Habitat Fundraising Group called Knitters, Quilters, & Doll-ers for Haiti Habitat:
http://secure.habitat.org/faf/search/searchTeamPart.asp?ievent=340274&lis=1&kntae340274=487D371E595B4B539E52FD340B8333FC&team=3634157

If you'd like to help me raise enough $ for one house in Haiti ($2000-3000), go to the link above and donate what you can. Please pass this on; maybe we can build two houses!

Dogs are back to normal

Grace has recovered from her hernia surgery and Poki, our soon-to-be-adopted pup, has had hardware removed from one leg (one to go) and been spayed. Both are doing well. We visited Poki yesterday again; she should be able to go home with us in a couple more weeks. She's a very sweet dog and our other two seem to like her fine.