Sheba the Wonder Dog

Part of our move to Texas included me telling the kids that the likelihood that they could get a dog would increase greatly. Princess began telling everyone who would listen about how she was going to get a dog. I sighed inwardly and wondered what kind of deal I had set up for myself.

We had only been here a few weeks when I saw two dogs listed on a local garage sale group that needed homes. They were two boys, and they person who had taken them in off the streets believed they were about 8 months old. They were both very skinny and my heart went out to them. Unfortunately, after they had been in our home for a few weeks, we had to face the fact that it was not meant to be. We don't think they had ever truly had a home, and they did not seem to want to be with us or inside the house. Once they figured out that between the two of them, they could push their way out whenever anyone opened a door, all they wanted to do was be free in the open countryside and bother the neighbors cows, or terrorize our cat, Cricket, while inside. The poor kitty went from having free roaming of the house to being stuck in the master bedroom all the time.

The kids really wanted a dog that would love them back, and it was hard for them to feel shunned by the pups, especially on top of getting used to a new area. We also felt that keeping them was unfair to our existing pets, since the dogs wanted to chase and try to bite Cricket, our bunnies, and our chickens. It took me a few weeks of working with rescues and shelters, but I found a cute young couple that were very excited to take them. I am happy that we were at least able to help them put on a few pounds each and get de-wormed.

Our nights got quieter for sure without all the howling, but I will admit that the house did feel a little empty, and I missed taking the dogs for walks around the property. I began researching breeds that would work well for us, and how much money we needed to save up to purchase one, since the breeds I was interested in were quite pricey.

When we attended the local winter festival, the city animal shelter had some of their adoptable animals there. Brady and the kids were instantly drawn to Sheba. I stood back, biting my lip and unsure if I was willing to try bringing a dog into the house again, but I caved. I am glad that I did.

Sheba is a believed to be a bit over a year old, and is of a mixed breed. The shelter said she was a Carolina dog. She physically resembles the akita breed as well with her short snout and curled tail. Both are not known for doing well around chickens, but she is so eager to please her humans that she sits quietly around the coop. She absolutely LOVES belly rubs.

She went through two families before making it to us, so she does have some anxiety about being left. This is understandable, and we are working to help her know that we will always come back when we leave the house and to make her more comfortable in her crate.

Our morning routine involves me getting her out of her crate and her making a frantic search of the house trying to find all of her people.

Cricket is handling having another red colored pet around quite nicely. We are still trying to figure out exactly how, but she has managed to establish some dominance over Sheba, who is easily four or five times her size. Apparently, her hissing is very scary. I think it will actually be quite good for her to have another pet around the house since she is strictly an indoor cat now and could maybe use the company. As for how she feels about it though, I think her face pretty much sums it up....

Winter Festival!

This past week was cold. Sheet of ice on the windshield kind of cold. The type of cold that leaves me scowling at the temperature and muttering stuff about how it is not supposed to be this cold in Texas. I am obviously wrong in this belief, but that will most likely not stop my angry mutterings at the cold.

The weather forecast showed beautiful weather in the high 70s for the weekend. We were planning on attending the city winter festival, but it was really hard to believe that it would not be insufferably cold. Even Saturday morning was rather crisp, but as noon approached the sky turned blue and we all packed into the car with only light jackets needed. After we had been there a little while, it was warm enough that they kids were able to eat snow cones without freezing. Not exactly keeping with a winter theme, but I was certainly not complaining.

The festival was held on main street, with a large section shut down to traffic for the festivities. There were vendor booths, games, and rides, along with live music. We had quite a bit of fun strolling through, although the rides were a bit more exciting for the kids.

We didn't think that snow tubing was going to be an activity we would get to enjoy here, so the snow slide was awesome. It was a really large slide that was periodically refreshed with snow.

The favorite activity for all the kids was probably the bungee jump.

We spent some of the day visiting with the local shelter staff and volunteers at an adoption event. We did end up bringing someone home with us, but I will save telling you about that for another post.

Two State Socks

Last night, I snipped off the ends of woven in yarn on these socks, finishing them up. The yarn is not that great, I am not head over heels about the color, but these socks have a dear place in my heart anyway. They are not exactly the same, this pair of socks. There are differences in the toe decreases, because by the time I got to the second sock, I had forgotten just how I had done the first. But that is not the difference that I think about when I look down. 

The first sock was knitted in Utah, in the house where we had been living for almost ten years. The second was knitted in Texas, in the new home that we are still getting adjusted to. My husband got a good opportunity to take a job promotion down here in the Lone Star State, and we decided to take a leap. 

Moving was a crazy blur of time. From the time we were sure we were moving, to when me and the kids left Utah, there was only about a month and a half of time. Brady had to be in Texas for the new job, while I handled packing up what stuff I thought we could take and getting the house on the market. I am so grateful for both of our families who helped so much with accomplishing everything. There was painting, packing, getting rid of stuff, and re-carpeting going on, and to top it all of, I caught a case of pneumonia to go along with it. I had hoped to make goodbye visits to more people, but sometimes only so much can be done. 

So here we are now, in Texas, in a beautiful and slightly larger home. One of the most exciting aspects is that we have a 9 acre property. Brady has been building our chickens a wonderful new coop and they seem very happy. Hopefully, they will be sharing their yard with other animals soon, as this land gives us the potential to have some sheep or alpaca. :) 

Some days, I deeply miss my old home and the familiarity of living in a place that I knew so well. Other days, I ache for my kids as I watch them struggle with the hardships of new schools and new friends. Most of the time though, I am excited for our future and envisioning what new adventures will come our way.

Ravelry Project Link

SLC Comic Con 2014

As you may or may not have heard, the Salt Lake City Comic Convention was held earlier this month. This was the second year this particular convention has been held, and it has became a very large convention in a very short time. We missed out on the excitement last year, so it was a big goal for us to make it down this time around. Shortly before prices went up, I went online and purchased Saturday tickets for our crew.

We really don't live that far from Salt Lake City, so driving down for the day was an option. Brady made an executive decision that we should turn the fun into a mini vacation. This was one of those times that my husband was right; it was great. After a fair amount of researching hotels, we ended up staying at the Doubletree by Hilton that was about 3/4 a mile from the convention center. We stayed in a suite setup, complete with a mini fridge and coffee maker. Finding food that is safe for our food restrictions can be a complete pain in the behind. So having the ability to eat meals we brought with us, and can serve in the room, was awesome and saved us from dragging our tired children around the big city even more. Plus....our view was not half bad either.

Since we arrived the evening before we planned on attending the event, the older kids and I took the opportunity to walk to the convention center and get our wrist bands. I would highly recommend this. We arrived as things were shutting down, so there was no line to pick up the wristbands, and it saved us a lot of time the next morning. It was also nice to get to see some of the costumed attendees meandering around the grounds.

Saturday morning, we all got dressed and ready to go. My wonderful hubby even ran to Walgreens to pick up some cosmetics for me since I left mine home and I knew pictures would be taken. I am pretty sure that was a little awkward for him.

Princess dressed as Elsa, Squirt as Spiderman, and Spike as......Spike. As for the oldest child, she dressed as Terezi Pyrope from Homestuck.....

If you don't know who that is, don't feel bad, it is a bit obscure....and not appropriate for
young-uns. However, she did put a lot of effort into her cosplay, including make her horns, the design on her T-shirt, her glasses,  the arm stockings, and the stuffed toy (called a scalemate), so it was nice to see some people recognize what she was and give her a holler. She has written some information on how she made some of these, and other fandom crafts on her blog.

Of course, one of the biggest draws of a Comic Con is the fellow attendees in cosplay. These were just a few of my favorites (although I wish I would have taken pictures of so much more.)

Hiccup and Astrid from How to Train Your Dragon 2

Me and Princess with Totoro

We spotted Merida in line. She was super sweet and Princess was thrilled.

We had a great time at SLC Comic Con. We saw cool things, bought cool things, and talked to cool people, including many authors and artists, which I did not expect. There are definitely things that could be improved upon, such as the extremely long wait to get in that the people on opening day had to deal with, but for the most part it was great.  The biggest problem is that so many people want to attend, and I just don't know where they could possibly hold the event that would allow for better traffic management. For perspective, this year 120,000 people attended SLC Comic Con. That is just so many nerdy people to manage in a single building, ya know. Even with the ridiculous crowds, we would still like to go again. Here's hoping next time is even better.

For more pictures and information about our experience at Comic Con, you can check out my husband's blog here.

Recent Spinning

This month, I had a lot of fun with my spinning projects. I decided to try something new and purchased 4 oz. of corriedale from my local yarn shop. There were two packages for sale: an off-white colored one, and one that was a slight variety of darker colors. I chose the darker fiber. While it has some off-white fiber in it, it is mostly a brownish gray. The color does give it a more rustic look, and it does not look as soft as it is. Especially after washing it, it should be soft enough to wear against the skin without a problem. 

Spinning the corriedale was wonderful. It drafted like butta'. Up until this point, I have not been able to spin a thicker yarn with much consistency, but my 2-ply finished yarn falls mostly within a worsted weight, with some thick and thin action happening. When I originally purchased it, I was debating whether to be listing the finished yarn on my Etsy shop. If it shows up and then disappears, it may be because Spike did take a liking to it and thought it would make a nice hat. :)

Would I spin corriedale again? Definitely. 

Another fun spinning-related thing that happened was the county fair. The kids and I have attended either the county or state fairs every year since we began homeschooling. Getting to go during non-busy hours and getting a nice discount on admission are a big part of that, but the kids have always enjoyed it. Normally, I leave the fair kicking myself for not submitting anything for the living arts competition. This year, I decided to change that. I submitted this shawl and my bamboo handspun yarn. My shawl got first place, and my yarn received best of division. The ribbons are currently hanging by my yarn stash, in all their kitschy glory.

I have learned over the years that many knitters, spinners, and crocheters have yarn distributed in many areas of their home. I am no exception. My kids jokingly kid me about it, and my husband does not mind it at all. I do, from time to time, make it attempt to corral all the yarn back to it's central location in our school/craft room. Our entertainment center has a shelf that was a temporary home to many small balls of handspun. These are mostly the leftovers after finished a full bobbin of 2-ply. I get excited to see it all strung upon my niddy-noddy and toss the remainders up upon the shelf. I decided to do something about that this week, and have been working a little each evening on plying together some of those lonely small balls of singles. The latest amount I finished is some of the remainder of some merino that I Kool-Aid dyed. I spun a large amount of the singles with a spindle before I got my wheel, and it was the first yarn I ever plyed. It does look nicer on the niddy-noddy than in a ball on a shelf, I must say.

Chore Charts

The school year is creeping in on us, and with it is coming the intense and undeniable draw to be more organized. It could be because of the back to school sales, where aisles of all sorts of organizational goodness like binders and file folders beckon, or because I know our life is about to lose the lazyness of summer, but the call of organization is hitting me bad.

I have had the same piece of paper with the kids' chores taped to the pantry door for quite some time. It has included a regular set of chores, which they have memorized by this time. As I sat and pondered deep household-running thoughts the other day, it did occur to me that having the same chores week after week does not teach the kids to clean more than those items. They also get really complacent after doing the same job so many times.

So tonight I sit here at my computer, while all my munchkins are tucked into their beds, working on blank chore charts, that can be filled in weekly with a variety of skill-building chores. And since I have gone to the trouble, might as well share them with you. They are listed below in a variety of colors. I am planning on letting each child pick a color, printing it out, and then laminating it so that I can use a dry erase marker to write the chores and reuse the chart each week. There is also a plain version that would use less ink if you would like tor reprint the chart each week.

There are two time slots per day for chores. Some things, like emptying the dishwasher need to be done in the morning in our household. The morning chores will be things that only take 10 minutes or less, although the complaining about it may be much longer. 

Chore Charts

Blue 

Green

Red

Turquoise 

Purple

Plain

.

Recent Knitting

I realized yesterday that I never posted anything about the shawl that was destined for the cruise. When I picked out the dress that I wore for formal night, I thought it would be nice to have a shawl to go with it. Like many knitters out there, wanting a shawl did not mean going to the store to peruse the selection of shawls. Instead, it means going to the yarn store and perusing the selection of yarns. Even if the cruise is a mere few weeks away. With the blessing of my husband, I went to the local yarn shop and spent a good deal of time looking at every beautiful yarn that seemed like it would coordinate with the purple of my dress, as seen here. I rubbed them against the inside of my wrist to see how soft they were. I carried them around. I laid all my choices side by side and stared at them. I texted my husband pictures of the laid out yarns and asked his opinion. I ended up choosing a 50% merino, 50% silk fingering weight yarn by the Great Adirondack Yarn Co. The yarn name is Sirino, and the colorway is Peacock. The price tag for the yarn did make my breath catch, but it was just so pretty. This was, by far, the most expensive yarn I have ever purchased.

I chose the pattern Palessie. This is a paid pattern, and I felt it was well written and worth the cost. I purchased the ebook with has both a shawl and cowl pattern.

 I knit with all my might and free time on this shawl, trying to finish in time. My free time was not in a great abundance leading up the cruise and trying to get all of out preparations and packing in order. I was so close, and yet not quite there. By the time I went to bed on the first evening of the cruise I was a third of the way finished with the bind off. With formal night being on the second night, I really did not think I have time to finish and block the shawl, and made the decision not to let it overtake the other fun things I wanted to do with my family.

I did end up finishing it on the place ride home, and blocking it the following weekend. As far as I am concerned, it still is a souvenir from my trip, and I love wearing it. I still have yet to master the great shawl photograph, so you will have to take my word on just how much more beautiful the colors are in person.

The second project that I am working on is a simple pair of socks for myself. The yarn is Premier Yarns Serenity Sock Yarn in the Indigo colorway. But what is that you are thinking? That sock picture below looks nothing like Indigo. Well, you see, Joanns had a wonderful clearance of sock yarns going on a while ago so I purchased a number of skeins. I had enough for two pair of socks with this colorway, but I didn't actually want two pair of socks the same color. The color you see below is the result of me plopping the yarn into a pot filled with water and a number of Kool-Aid packets. There was grape and some sort of red one, but I can not get any more specific than that....since I can't remember.

The pattern for the sock is just from using the numbers provided in Silver's Sock Class, which I highly recommend for those wanting to learn to knit socks. I did change the heel flap for a regular stockinette and added the garter edging. The toe does look really weird in this photograph due to the fact that I still need to do the Kitchener stitch to close it up. Second sock syndrome hit me pretty bad on this one, and even before the first sock was done.

Lastly, I am working on a pair of socks for the little man. Squirt has been asking me who gets the socks I was working on for the last few pairs I have made, and was disappointed that none of them were for him. I had a single skein of Panda Cotton on my yarn shelf, so I decided to try to whip him up a quick pair. I had gotten to the arch of his foot when I made the conclusion that they were too big.

Two things bothered me about the socks being too large. First, I was pretty sure I would run out of yarn before I finished. Second, the whole idea of making something for him to grow into flies out the window as far as socks are concerned. I would bet my pinky toe that one is lost within two months of me completing them.