Just add "Doggy Stylist" to my resume...

I do it all baby....

Here is a picture of Jade, looking more like one of the Three Stooges then a poodle..... Even she looks embarrassed....




And here she is after SEVEN hours of grooming....... looking rather happy, I'd say.... The picture outside is a few days later..... I just like it.




PS... the poms on her feet are at Dale's request...... Quite the change from "We can get a poodle, but it better not ever LOOK like a poodle"... He looks adorable walking her (the fluffy poodle and the dude covered in tattoos)

In the Nick of Time.

After a marathon of flicking, carding and spinning over the past few days, I am done. Actually, I should probably restate that... I am as done, as I'm gonna be. I have only today to pack for me, the children and the dogs for a lengthy trip to BC, clean my house and do all the little things around the home that need to be done before I go.

First of all, I want to say that I'm pretty damn proud of myself. I took a fleece... straight off the sheep's back (The Sheep and The Process) and transformed it into yarn.

Unfortunately that yarn, did not fully meet up with my expectations:

A) It's under plied (you can see this quite clearly in the pictures below). This is a problem which I might be able to fix, if I had more time, but I don't and I still want to bring the yarn with me on my trip. However, if I manage to do all of my chores today, I might run it through my wheel again, to somewhat fix that.... we shall see.

B) It's too thick. I had planned on a laceweight yarn, but my finished yarn turned out to be fingering weight.

C) My dye job.... Actually, the colour is PERFECT. Exactly what I had in mind.... regrettably, the areas where the yarn was tied, did not dye (there is a reason that it's called Tie Dye, after all).... so there are lighter and whiter patches in the yarn in these spots (you can see this in the last dye picture). I knew this was going to happen, but in my rush to finish last night, I forgot to check...... I could dye the yarn again, but as I mentioned already... I am out of time and so, I will knit the yarn as is and if the whiter spots bug me, I'll attempt to over-dye the finished shawl.




D) I have 1300m. The pattern calls for around 1350m. I am taking a big risk here. I did a Ravelry search for a new pattern, but I have my heart set on Evenstar. And so ..... even with the problems mentioned above, I am going to use my yarn to attempt to knit it..... and hope for the best..... if worse comes to worse, I guess I will have to finally admit defeat and use a mill-spun yarn for the shawl... because I WILL knit this shawl.

Stay tuned for THAT adventure...... although blogging will be limited to non-existent while I travel.....

And for a final picture.... Look at my cutie doggies.... they had a fresh haircut yesterday. I LOVE it when they're newly clipped, they look ridiculous.....

Pure Bliss

I went horseback riding today, with my friend Lynzy (to whom I am incredibly grateful for the use of her horsies). It was amazing, although you'll have to trust me 'cause I didn't bring a camera (people that know me well will be shocked..... Me without a camera??? Crazy!).

We rode through open fields surrounded by leafy, green trees. The green was that lovely intense green that you can only see in the fresh green of spring. The fields were sprinkled with a liberal dose of dandelions (a flower, I love; as long as it stays in the wild open spaces of the world... and out of my backyard) and hidden beneath the dandelions was a carpet of purple, wild violas. It was spectacular..... The sun was shining, there were hardly any bugs, I had great company and I was at peace...... almost anyway; I brought Jade (my standard poodle, the toy poodle stayed home) along for the ride. Jade is a city dog, she's never been around horses and she was quite concerned about me being up on that weird creature and voiced her concern occasionally throughout the ride. Overall, she did really well and loved running around... Her belly-flop into a creek was pretty funny to.....