What greyhounds do in bed

This is not one of mine...but it might as well be.

Stuff...

Craft-y stuff? I finished the doily for my sister's mother-in-law. That thing is huge! It's blocking right now, and I ran out of blocking board before I ran out of doily. (About 17" x 28".) Bits are hanging off both ends of the blocking board. I've started a color doily (Caro's doily was ecru--pretty, but borrrrr-ring) and it's going quickly. It'll be about 16"...or probably smaller, since I'm way under the gauge. This doily uses a solid medium blue and a variegated aqua/light blue/medium-blue. This is one of the few patterns I've seen where a variegated thread might not battle the stitch pattern to a mutual loss. I've also had an idea for another doily, this one in two solid colors...

I've postponed work on Sam's sweater. I have a coat he can wear if he thinks he needs it (he'll let me know, the fuss budget). That can wait until I need some mindless knitting for Christmas day, while we're sitting around and talking after the presents are opened and before lunch.

In reading, I've finished the sixth Harry Potter. At lunch I'm reading Chocolat, and I'll start the last Harry Potter at bedtime. I got the fifth Harry Potter on DVD last Tuesday, and I've enjoyed it. (I don't go to theaters, so I hadn't seen it before last Tuesday.) I got the Kenneth Branagh Hamlet for my birthday (along with three doily pattern books; Caro's doily came from one of the books). And I just got the Charlotte's Web DVD from Netflix.

Most of my Christmas shopping is done. Mother discovered something I can get my father: flannel pajamas. His current set is getting threadbare, and the elastic is shot. Just think: flannel jammies for my father. I think I'm not allowed to buy him jammies with animals on them or with feet in them. :)

I HAZ COOKIEZ!

Unfortunately, I said that really loudly at the front door when I saw who the package was from. The dogs don't know the difference between "I haz" and "We haz." They're learning the hard way. (Jacey is sitting next to me on the sofa, with her head by my shoulder. Sam is standing in front of me with his head on my knee. Ah! Togetherness!)

Thank you very much, florafloraflora. The cookies are wonderful.

Craft-y stuff

Sam has a leash burn on one thigh. He did it to himself a week ago. Saturday, he licked and worried at it and made it bleed. He's muzzled when I'm not home, so he can't mess with the sore place while I'm at away. But I'm making him wear his muzzle when I'm home, since that's the only way to get him to leave the thing alone. I'll try to get him to leave it alone tonight; I don't relish the idea of sleeping with a dog wearing a hard, plastic muzzle.

The custom-dyed yarn I ordered arrive, as did my new ball winder. The results:



I even managed to tame the purple tumbleweed. Before and after:



I didn't much like the doily I made my sister's mother-in-law. So Thursday I suddenly decided to make her a different one. This one is 17" x 28", 34 rounds, and is the biggest doily I've ever done. In two days of work, I've done 18 of the 34 rounds (each round gets bigger than the previous one). This one is going so well it's a bit scary...

It's a sweater!

As I was wrestling with DPNs to knit the armbands, it suddenly occurred to me: Why am I fighting with these stupid things when I KNOW HOW TO CROCHET!?

< My "berry" good girl.

I crocheted the armbands.

On Sam's sweater, I'll crochet the whole band around the body of the sweater, too. It's starting to curl on Jacey's sweater (because I knitted it instead of ribbing, it), but I'm okay with that.

Also, make a dog's sweater longer than you think is necessary. Dogs are horizontal, not vertical, and sweaters don't "hang" on them. You can smooth the sweater down, but the second the dog moves, the sweater's gonna inch back up the spine.

Some pig!

Jacey's sweater is going well, although the tumbleweed reared up and bit me. (Actually, it just snarled-up beyond belief and I had to cut and rejoin the yarn.) I just have the bands around the armholes left to do. I'm thinking I might try to work Sam's sweater from the outside of the ball rather than the inside...although that would mean voluntarily removing the ballband and creating another tumbleweed; but working from the outside probably would eliminate those monstrously big, snarled up bits, which grow more frequent as you go. Maybe I'll hold off on starting his sweater until the ball winder arrives (it's been shipped). My custom-dyed yarn has been shipped, too. I'm excited about it.




And I've found new patterns on Ravelry, including a clever Charlotte A. Cavatica scarf I'm tempted to try.

My latest Netflix movie has been Amazing Grace. It's a nice costume-drama of the sort the British do so well, and it stars Ioan Gruffudd, Albert Finney, Toby Peters, Ciaran Hinds, Michael Gambon, and Nicholas Farrell. It's based on the life of William Wilberforce, crony of William Pitt the Younger and architect of the abolition of the slave trade (and, eventually, slavery itself) in His Majesty's empire. It's nice to see the good guys win one. Eventually.