Dogs Steal Yarn

All hail Diego's healthy liver!

Diego's bloodwork came back completely normal (for the first time in a long time, actually). So the bleeding seems to have been a broken-off rotten tooth or something of the sort. He'll have to go back in for another dental cleaning in August or thereabouts. HUGE relief that our little guy is okay. He's feeling fine and back to his usual excited, nervous, smiling self. Thanks to all for the good wishes. Diego adores each and every one of you and wants to sit on your lap and push his nose against your knitting until the stitches fly off the needle. The dog seems to believe that his love can be measured in dropped stitches.

On another note... anyone have an oddball of Noro Silk Garden #84 that you'd want to swap for some oddball(s) I've still got around here? The yarn I set aside for Gloria has been calling to me, and this morning I dug into the bag and finally thought to check yarn requirements. I'm using the Silk Garden left over from my Clapotis, and I have three balls of it. I need four to make the medium size. Yes, this should have occured to me about a year ago when I set the yarn aside, but it didn't. Thought it was worth asking after any lonely leftover balls of the stuff that might be out there before I set out to buy a new one. I'll poke around and see what tempty oddballs I might have to offer.

On still yet another note...we have officially entered the third trimester, Thumper and I. Today I go for the glucose tolerance test. Fun fun.

Because we hadn't been to the vet's office in almost two weeks...

...clearly we were due for another visit.

Let me begin by saying that Diego now seems to be mostly fine and is asleep on a comfy chair in my office, tucked under his favorite smelly dog blanket.

I'm on a tight freelance deadline right now, and so spent most of the morning and afternoon hunkered down at my desk. Diego, who usually likes to hang out wherever I am, instead opted to nap downstairs on the couch. Around 3pm I went downstairs for some water and saw him sitting on the couch, covered in blood. I mean covered. His chest, his paws, his muzzle, all coated in thick red blood. He was calm and alert (well, as calm as Diego gets, anyway) but...there was all this blood and absolutely no explanation for it. (See why I started off by telling you he's okay?)

I couldn't tell where the blood was coming from, so I carried him upstairs to the bathroom and washed away as much of it as I could. No wounds on his chest, or his feet, or his muzzle. Thick blood still coming from his mouth. Crap. Now I was imagining all kinds of internal bleeding. Then I got a look at his gums and it looked like it might be coming from there, but it was hard to tell with all that blood and there were clots... It was a mess.

I called the vet to tell them I was bringing an emergency in, called a car service, and tried to get the dog as cleaned up as possible so the car service driver wouldn't freak out when I tried to get into the car with a blood-covered hound. Luckily his winter jacket covered a lot of the gore I couldn't get off fast enough, and the bleeding had stopped by the time the car arrived.

The good news: It's definitely his gums, and there is no sign of internal bleeding. He has notoriously awful teeth, and perhaps a rotten tooth broke off. There was a hell of a lot of blood, though. The potential bad news: Poor clotting is a symptom or side effect of liver disease, which he had trouble with last year. So a small cut on his gums that normally wouldn't be big deal could have bled that much.

Ugh. We'll get bloodwork back tomorrow that will tell us (hopefully) what's going on. Fingers crossed that his liver values come back normal.

We got back home a few hours later. Diego was okay. I was totally frazzled. And still on deadline. I ordered a pizza and got back to work. Which is where I am now, still at my desk. I'm still a bit frazzled, though, and worried about my hound. I thought the pizza would help, but look what I just went and did...

No new yarn in 2006, right? Well, I just ordered this mitten kit (the Solhav kit), which I'd been wanting for a while. I was taking a break from the work and doing some harmless window shopping, and next thing I know...well... At least it's a relatively small purchase. I got it in red with purple. You know...just in time for spring.

Sigh.

I'm weak.

But NOW no more yarn in 2006. I really mean it. Unless there's another vet emergency. I apparently can't make any promises then.

Yes, correct pronunciation DOES matter

Overheard on the way home this evening, 6th Ave and 54th:

"If he keeps up this pace, he'll be comma toast by tomorrow."

Sounds kinda tasty, actually. Comma toast. A healthy part of your grammatically correct breakfast.

Guess it's handwashing from now on

The washing machine ate one of my feather and fan socks. Its first time through the washer and it came out all chewed up! I was going to show you a close-up of the hole, but its just too gory a sight for a knitter. This is the third sock the washer has eaten in the last month. I'd love to know what's going on in there. These huge holes, with many strands torn and frayed and dropped stitches everywhere etc aren't exactly fun to repair, but I just can't bring myself to throw out a pair of handknit socks. So I've been fixing them. Luckily all the holes have been on the foot so far, so it doesn't matter that the results are somewhat ugly. Too ugly to show on the blog (come on. no one wants to see a sock with a scar) but not too ugly to wear inside my shoe. Frankensocks. It's all very sad.

I've given up on the washer. Last night I handwashed seven pairs of socks, and that's what I'll keep doing from now on. I had considered washing the socks in the washer but zipping them into a zippered pillowcase or something, but now the washer has me spooked. The socks will probably hold up longer with handwashing, anyway. And we love our handknit socks around here.

Romper progress

I'm in the home stretch on the romper, but I'm not sure I'm happy with it. Take a look:

There isn't enough of a top to knit the top in a solid color, I think. It looks off-balance. I'm also not thrilled about the way the double seed stitch looks against those stripes. I think I'm going to rip the top out and reknit it in st st. Then I'll pick up and knit an edging, probably garter. I'll continue the striping all the way up the top and see how that looks... Definitely need to knit more of a top, too. The sizing is right this way, lengthwise, but it looks funny. Maybe if I continue the striping and don't do decreases before the top, but just knit straight until the armhole decreases? Hmmm... But the bottom is wider to accomodate a diapered bottom, so would it then be too loose on top?

Sigh.

Cobbling together a pattern for a baby is really hard when there isn't yet a baby in the house to try the stuff on.

In case I've tempted you to have a stash sale on your own blog...

...something you should know...

All the packages have now been sent out from my stash sale the other week...and I spent over $200 in shipping costs. Yeah. I decided to include shipping in the price, thinking yarn is light and it wouldn't be that big a deal to absorb that cost and it would be a nice thing to do as well as more convenient for me. What I failed to take into account is that yarn may be light, but it still costs to ship 30+ packages. And some of them weren't all that light. And that's regular parcel post. (Sorry folks, if I'd gone with priority mail I would have taken a complete loss on this endeavor. Your yarn is on its way. I swear.)

Sigh.

I discounted the yarn a lot because I didn't want to be greedy. (And yet, how is it greedy to charge what something is worth? You see the conflict here? Socialists shouldn't go into retail, I guess.) I probably shouldn't have discounted it that much AND given free shipping. I'm a lousy capitalist. Clearly it's a good thing that I'm not normally in the business of selling stuff. Think I'll stick to the writing thing. Hey--I've got an MFA, not an MBA, you know.

But at least my stash is smaller, and there are people out there happy with their new yarn. So that's a good thing...

But it's something for you to keep in mind if you're thinking of destashing this way.

Live and learn.

Added later: Eek!!! Everyone who bought from me, THANK YOU for your kind offers to contribute to the shipping costs, but that's not necessary. Very sweet of you, but not necessary. I just wanted to share what I learned and what I would do differently next time with those who may be considering a stash sale.

The best possible news

You may recall that when I first found Oscar he tested FIV+. The vet said at the time that there was a chance that he was just expressing antibodies from his mother, and that a retest in six months would give us a definite answer.

Well, Oscar went to the vet today to be fixed (yes, he was quite broken) and to be retested. The vet just called. He's FIV Negative!!! The little guy is going to be okay!

Of course now Billy wants to adopt another cat immediately, which we'll probably end up doing. Hey--as long as I'm pregnant and then nursing, he's on litter duty anyway. I'll worry about the realities of a two-cat, two-dog household about two years from now.

Hurray for healthy Oscar! I can't wait to bring him home from the vet tonight.

Cold baby! Thumper needs something to romp in!

In all the flurry of the destashing and stash sale, I forgot to tell you something. Remember what started the whole urge to destash? I was looking for the right yarn to knit the Child's First Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks and was quickly overwhelmed by the size of the stash. And then I asked you which yarn I should use for the pattern. Remember that?

I went with the Lorna's Laces Cranberry.

This sock got a big burst of attention during the Oscars, but has been languishing in its project bag since. Why? Baby knitting. Between socks and Rogue, I started to feel like I was neglecting the baby knitting. Yeah--that "Cold Baby!" feeling snuck in again, as unfounded as it may be. I picked the Sea Lion sweater up again, and also cast on for a new baby project. One I'm extremely amused by, so it will probably be finished rather quickly. A romper/overalls type thing for Thumper. Thumper's Romper.

I wasn't perfectly satisfied by any of the many patterns I found, so I'm cobbling a pattern together based on several Dale patterns and some ideal romper that lives somewhere in my head. I didn't want to knit it on #1 or #0 needles, which my loose knitting usually requires with Dale patterns. I wanted snaps along the leg for easy diaper changes. I wanted an unfussy pattern. And I wanted to use a cotton blend, since I'd like my June baby to be able to wear this right away. Oh--and I wanted to knit from the stash.

I'm using KnitPicks Shine. (From the stash!) Amazing what a good percentage of modal can do to make cotton...pleasant to knit. Yes, I said it. I'm knitting with cotton and enjoying it. That said, still keep the 100% cotton far from me please. But this stuff...knits up beautifully and makes such a soft fabric. Here's the first leg.

I'm writing the pattern up as I go, so I'm not 100% sure yet what the top will look like. It will most likely be solid, probably using the lighter green.

Evidence of actual knitting activity

Rolltop Trekking socks (ball band lost and I have no idea what color # this is) finished. Next pair of mindless rolltop socks cast on (Regia #5399). I'd forgotten how much fun the simple self-patterning sock yarns like Regia can be. I have a ton of work to do today, but all I want to do is keep knitting this sock to see what color stripe comes up next.

And the first Rogue sleeve is done. When this sweater is done, will I remember when slipping my arms into the sleeves years down the road that nearly the entire time I spent knitting this first sleeve, a certain fetus was kicking me really hard in the ribs? Same spot over and over? Probably not. I'm sure the euphoric recall will erase it. Right now though? I really wish he'd move on to a different spot. When he first started kicking I dubbed him Thumper. In the last couple of weeks, he's gained so much strength that we're calling him the Kickboxer instead. A bit of in utero muay thai. I had hoped he'd take after me in the martial arts, but not until after he was born. Where was I? Oh yeah. A sleeve.

That's all I've got for you, folks. Back to the editing desk I go.

Wow! Um.... Wow!

You folks are fast with the yarn-buying! Every item has sold, most of it spoken for within the first couple hours of the sale. Thank you so much! It feels great to lighten the stash load, and I'm glad the yarn will be going to new homes where it will be used and enjoyed.

Six boxes went out the door today, and more will be shipped tomorrow, Monday, and Tuesday. So if you bought anything from the sale, keep an eye out for your yarn. It's coming to you soon.

I've been working like crazy this week, but there has been a small bit of knitting time. The first Rogue sleeve is just about done--ten rows to go. I'll post a pic soon. The Peace Fleece is working out really well for this pattern. Nice crisp cable, and a good firm outerwear fabric. I've decided to knit the body in the round and steek it rather than knit it flat. I may come to regret that...we'll see. What's knitting without a bit of adventure, anyway. I've never steeked before. (Can you even use it as a verb like that? I steek. You steek. He/she/it steeks... Hmm....) This should be entertaining.