The Girls and Me

A few weeks back I gave a free seminar at Unwind Yarn showing the techniques to do double knitting. I want to thank the 30 plus ladies who all showed up eager to learn this new thing.

Now just to be clear, I am not talking about stranded knitting, which in down east is also called double knitting. No, in this case we are talking about knitting both a front and back at the same time on the same needles.

I had tried this a few times, but got the idea after it got cold walking my dog. So I decided to knit a two layer mitten. The outside layer was Cascade 220, which I figure would be fairly hardy and look good. The inside was done with Misti Alpaca worsted. This was for it's warmth and extreme softness.

I must say I had a great time teaching this method, and the girls were all eager and fantastic to work with. Each one had success at learning this style. I have even seen a few of the ladies try their own double knit mitten.

It's great to learn new things, and even better to share them with friends. That's what I consider all of you girls who came out. Afterall, when you spend 2 hours with people doing something you love how can you leave at the end of the night and not be friends. Thanks ladies. You always make it a pleasure to teach and I always learn something from all of you.

Archie and Me -

 Who would have thought that one dog, rescued a short while ago would become such a good friend in so short a time frame. Yes that's my dog Archie. And this past few months he has certainly been up to some hi-jinx.

It started last month after I had taken him into a forest area for a walk. Archie loves these walks cause he can run into the woods and then come out somewhere down the path and run back to me. After our walk, while we were back home, I noticed him licking at his arm. A closer look showed that he had somehow taken a good chunk of skin off.  I quickly called the vet, and a while later, Archie had gotten himself his first set of stitches. He had 4 to be exact. Along with a bunch of pills, and a taped up arm, I was also given the "Cone of Shame". For those of you with dogs, you know that is the big plastic cone that goes over the dogs head and prevents him from getting at his wound.

I really did not want to put this on him, so instead pledged to keep him with me at all times. The first night worked well, and the next day I took him to work. Later that day however, when I went to the washroom, he promptly took off his bandage. Of course this meant going back to the vet to have it re-wrapped.

Archie and Toulouse wondering how to get at my daughters pet rats.

Again I pledged to keep him in my site, but of course later that night I awoke to the sound of Archie pulling off the second bandage. I had to face the fact that the "Cone of Shame" was the only choice. So with a sad heart I put it on him. Well, the look on his face nearly broke my heart. I don't think I have ever seen a dog look so despondent. All night long he just walked around the bedroom, bumping into things with this space sized cone, and then back over to my bed he would come. His head resting on my bed he just sighed and stared at me with the saddest eyes.

I am please to say however, that after that night, I took the cone off and the bandage and found that without the bandage he would leave the wound alone.
The second problem was that he was on limited walks. This meant that after a day or two he was incredibly rangy. This multiplied each day. Well, to make a long story a bit shorter, his leg healed and I paid a fair sized vet bill.

Now we were back in business, so off we went for a walk in the golf course. Archie, ran ahead and as I got closer so that he was scuffling with something. It looked like a large rat, but I think it was a groundhog. The two went at it for a bit before I finally got him away. As I pulled him away, I noticed that he was bleeding. The groundhog had been able to land a couple nice bites on Archie's face. Again I called the vet and again set out to have him looked at.

As I was driving to the vet, I remembered something else. Something I forgot to tell you. You see, early that day my SO decided that she was going to pain Archie's nail a metallic Blue. Now of course I had said many times before, "please don't paint the dogs toenails". Of course you can see how much this was listened to. Now as I neared the vet I thought about how I was going to explain my big manly dog having "Blue Nail Polish". I didn't now who would be more embarassed, me or Archie. Well, in the end the wounds were not too deep and back home we went. Another large vet bill and another rehabing dog.

Finally today, I felt that he was recovered enough to brave another walk in the golf course. I prayed that the groundhog was no longer there. And to my delight he was nowhere to be found. But of course that isn't the end of it. Archie took off running, and the next thing I know he is chasing something. Something just as fast. Yes, he had found a fox and the two were moving at quite a fast speed. My heart dropped. What next.

Well, I don't know how the fox did it but he lost the dog and got away, Of course Archie, running through some trees had ripped his scab and was bleeding again. And off to home we went so I could clean up the wound.

Yes, it has been an eventful few months with my dog. I do think however, we will stay away from the golf course for a few weeks.