Big Thanks To Caroline!

I have been fortunate enough to have the Aussie-loving Caroline as my Mix Makers Swap spoiler in the second round. She and I have very similar music tastes, yarn tastes and snack tastes. I received my last package from her earlier this week and it continued the fabulousness of her first two packages.


First of all was the mix. This time the theme was "Spring Fever ". It's full of fresh, lively music that is perfect for listening to over and over again. I have lots of new favorites on here. I want to point out the cute packaging that Caroline has created for all of the mixes she has sent. I really enjoy these little details.

This time she outdid herself on the yarn - mmmmMalabgigo!!! 2 skeins!!! In one of my most favorite shades of blue! She also sent a pattern (the Drop-Stitch Scarf), which may be what this beautiful yarn becomes. She included some sugar-frosted gummy bunnies - so cute and very delicious! A Key Limeade mix, enough to make a big pitcherful. One of my favorite flavors is lime so this will get mixed up and be gone by the end of the weekend. She also included a cute little memo pad, which I use by the dozens. And finally, 3 packs of very pretty little tissues, polka-dotted and monogrammed. Just right for this time of year, when the dandelion fluffs start flying around and my allergies hit the roof. Problem is, they're too pretty to use!

Thank you so much, Caroline. I love everything and have really enjoyed having you for a spoiler. You're the best!

When Pointy Sticks Become Weapons of Mass Destruction

The basic logic for knitting for afghans 4 Afghans is simple: the Taliban recruits poor, uneducated people from a very young age, taking advantage of the extreme poverty and harsh living conditions that are found in Afghanistan. If international charity organizations can get to them first, with food, medicine, warmth and education, they may be less vulnerable to the brainwashing of the terrorists.

A4A provides the "warmth" part of this equation by collecting knitted and crocheted wool items and sending them along with the other critical supplies, which are then distributed by the organization. There is a strong hope that, by reaching the impoverished Afghans first, they will be better able to resist the propaganda of the Taliban and be strong enough to function independently and ultimately, without recruits, the Taliban will fail in Afghanistan.

Therefore, each big shipment by a4A is like a big, soft, wooly bomb going off. I love the idea that maybe I can make a tiny difference in ending this war, while helping someone in great need.

These are my peaceful bullets, shot from my powerful and pointy sticks of mass destruction:

My first mittens, made from the pattern BB's Knitted Mittens- super easy and went really fast. I wanted to knit flat first, so I could understand the basic construction. I didn't like the bulky seam, so will definitely knit future mittens on circ's. But they're cute, aren't they? (I believe these are going to children who live in the Northeast part of Afghanistan).

The baby blankie, finally finished. My "pattern", if you can call it that. I knitted and crocheted a variety of squares, using common stitch patterns that I sort of winged as I went. I ended by crocheting a single-crochet border in black around each square. This allowed me to use black yarn to join the squares with a crochet slip-stitch. I like the consistent appearance, and, for me, I feel like this went faster and was less tedious than sewing the squares together. Next time, I will be more clever and knit the blankie in strips, picking up stitches along the sides for each new lengthwise row. (My blankie will be given to a baby at the Pediatric Hospital in Kabul).

This project has been so satisfying and makes me feel happy all over! Plus, it used up a lot of my stash, especially my odds & ends. There's actually a bit of empty space in the Rubbermaid bin that holds my wool yarns. And you know what that means...

If you would like to join the effort, there is still time before the May 15 deadline. A4A is still in great need of socks for babies and small children. Friends of a4A is a forum on Ravelry. You can search the recent threads to find more information on the specifics of what is needed. All items must be made from animal fiber, so this is a great way to use up leftover sock yarn! Even if you can't make it in time for this current deadline, you can always make some and keep them on hand for the next campaign. There is also a drawing for 3 $50 gift certificates for any mittens sent before the May 15 deadline.

Greetings From a Bird-Nerd

In addition to all the other ways I like to be dorky, I am also an avid bird-nerd. That would be wild birds - I don't do inside birds, in fact they scare me. But I can use up a lot of time watching the birds who come to our feeders and the ones who inhabit the woods behind my house. I read at least a couple of books each year about birds. Right now I am fascinated by raptors. We have 3 kinds of hawks, a pair of peregrines and 2 kinds of owls who frequent our neighborhood. I bought a beautiful book last week about owls. Mr. C isn't yet convinced of why he needs to build an owl box for our patch of woods, so I am hoping this web site will help convince him.



Klaara is an adorable Tawny Owl who lives in Estonia. (I had no idea where Estonia is located, except I do know they knit exceptionally beautiful lace there. Anyway, it's near Finland. But I digress.) Klaara and her mate, Klaus, are currently raising 4 adorable little balls of white fluff and you can watch them 24/7 on the Klaara-cam. I have been addicted to peeking in on Klaara and company for a couple of weeks now, but especially since I watched her help her third chick hatch last Saturday night. It was amazing and I feel so privileged to have seen this happen. There's a group of us following the action over on Ravelry, in the Bird Lovers group.

Tawny owls are related to barred owls. Our little patch of woods is a favorite hunting ground for a pair of barred owls and this week we've heard them sounding their mating calls, which sound like they're calling "Who-cooks-for-you? Who cooks for you, who?" That's a question I wonder a lot about recently, as I haven't been in a cookerly kind of mood for several weeks now and I would love for someone to cook for me. My neighbors are not as charmed, however, since the male owl likes to sit in a dead tree right outside their bedroom window and serenade his lady just before dawn.



Klaara's little owlets are getting bigger everyday. She can barely keep them tucked under her warm feathers now. In just one week, she has shown them how to eat for themselves. Klaus keeps bringing her enormous rodents, which she keeps re-arranging in the nest throughout the day. These varmints serve as the owl-buffet in the nest. I keep the window open, but shrunk, with the sound turned up when I am not actually watching the cuteness of Klaara's family. Chloe and Abbie have taken to hanging out in my office with me, and there is always great interest on their parts when Klaus arrives at the nest to deliver food, with the rustle of wings and Klaara shrieking and owlets peeping. They both run up to my desk, noses twitching and tails wagging. Our family is so easily entertained.




As the babies get bigger, Klaara will join Klaus in their hunting efforts to keep enough voles and mice available to feed the growing chicks, who will be out of the nest in about 3 weeks.

Fortunately, it is easy to keep an eye on the little brood and knit at the same time. The A4A blankie is finally finished and is blocking right now. I hope to have pictures to show in the next day or two.

An Un-Baa-Lievable Video (With Proof That Border Collies Are the Einsteins of the Dog World!)

I saw this link on a forum in Ravelry. Forgive me if any one has already posted this already, but this is too awesome not to share!

Where's a Nice Lamb When You Need One?

If it's true about March that "in like a lion, out like a lamb", then the opposite is also true. And this March, which started off as nice and soft as a newborn merino lamb, is ending up like a whole pride of lions. Hungry and angry lions at that.

Beginning of March

End of March (ignore the fact the sun is out in this picture)

Days like today are the ones that make me ask myself, "What am I doing here in this place?". Precipitati0n has been coming down all day. Lots of it, in the form of rain, freezing rain and sleet. The temperature is stuck right at 32 degrees, so the rain portion of this mess is icing over. I can see some snow starting to mix in, but it's melting as soon as it hits the ground and then it'll probably turn to ice.

Where was this stuff during the winter?

The birds and the pine tree are not happy about this, either.

I'm feeling very frustrated with Mother Nature right now, because this is the third year in a row we're having one of these nasty icy storms just as the trees and shrubs are starting to bud. I know the flowers that have started blooming and the ones that are ready to bloom in the next few days are toast. I have my fingers crossed that my yellow "Butterflies" magnolia buds, which just barely started coloring up this week, will survive because the buds are still wearing their little fuzzy coverings.

It could be worse, of course. Up until I went to bed last night, the blizzard that has slammed western Kansas, leaving a record 28" (!!!) by Wichita, was headed straight for us. Our part of town was going to get the worst, anywhere from 8-12". So I guess this is better - it doesn't seem bad enough to knock out the power (fingers crossed).

It's a great day for knitting, at least. I have finally finished making all of the squares for the baby blankie. They are all washed, blocked and ready to be joined together. I am not a fan of sewing squares together. Not only is the back and forth tedious, and all of the loose ends annoying, but I think the sewn stitches look very unattractive. So I am going to crochet the joins instead, which will end up finishing it off very nicely. I'm going to sit and catch up on the numerous tv shows I have recorded while working on the blankie. I'd like to have it finished and ready to go by next weekend. Here it is, laid out and ready to be joined:



And when I get tired of squares, I will alternate working on the Montego Bay scarf I am making for myself out of the merino/sea cell yarn I bought in San Diego. It's finally long enough to where I can see how it will drape, and it's going to be lovely.

I hope that you are all having a lovely weekend, whether your end of March is a lion or a lamb!

Mix Makers Swap, Part 2

Once again, I have been wonderfully spoiled by Caroline. It is amazing how she picks out things that I would get for myself if I had seen it first. She must be psychic or something.


The mix she put together this time is themed "Singer/Songwriter Mix" and has a great group of songs from such songwriter artists as Ani DeFranco, Ray LeMontagne, Jeff Buckley, Turin Brakes and, my favorite of the mix, Dashboard Confessional. While I've heard of, or have a few songs from some of the singers, every song on the cd is new to me, which is so much fun! I just love finding out about new music! The majority of the songs are mellow and it seems like the perfect cd to listen to on a lazy Sunday afternoon, drinking tea and knitting.

She also sent a big bag of M&M's in pretty springtime colors, a pack of those thingies that hold needles together (thanks, Caroline, I didn't have any and was resorting to using rubberbands), an adorable and extremely useful little lunchbox type box that contained some very pretty fish stitch markers that she made. The yarn she sent is some crushingly soft baby alpaca in a dreamy fuschia color - perfect for an early spring hat - and the pattern for the amazing Koolhaas hat that I had admired many times on Ravelry but never thought I could make something this beautiful. I still don't think I can make something this beautiful, but I'm going to give it a try because I love this hat!

Here's some yarn and stitchmarker pron for your viewing pleasure:


There was one more piece to the package that is not pictured, but is probably my favorite part of all. Caroline, a fellow animal lover & parent, made a donation in my name to the ASPCA. How awesome is that? Helping homeless animals is one of my favorite things in the whole world, which makes this part of the package priceless!

So, Caroline, thanks you most sincerely for another fantastic swap. And may the swap goddesses bring you an equally wonderful package this time around!

By the way, I found out that Caroline is not completely blogless. She shares one with her husband. Please go by and visit and check out her adorable fur-kids, Fenway and Cat.

DoT: Sure Sign of Spring

Although tomorrow is the first official day of spring, Chloe and Abbie decided that it should unofficially start today. As evidence, here are their usual winter napping spots - perfect for basking in the warm sun:

No dogs here....

...or here...

...not here either...

Today was beautiful with balmy temps and a sunny sky. That means the door to the porch stays open all day, letting the girls come and go as they please. Who wants to stay inside on a day like this?

Well, that's exactly what I had to do today. I caught an upper respiratory bug that Mr. C brought back from our trip to San Diego. I've been coughing and congested for over a week now. After mostly ignoring it, I finally had to give in to it when I completely lost my voice yesterday. Nothing at all is coming out, not even a croak. We will not pay any attention to Mr. Criquette's snarky jokes about peace and quiet.

I figured I could at least take the opportunity to do some overdue chores around the house, but moving around just brought on more fits of coughing. So all I could do was to hang out in front of the TV and continue knitting for the A4A baby blankie I am still working on. Since I haven't recovered virtually any ability to speak at this point in the evening, I will probably have to cancel my patients for tomorrow, too. Since other than the coughing and laryngitis I feel okay, I feel really guilty about staying home, but I can't do therapy without talking and miming is out of the question! Oh well, as long as I stay busy with my knitting for Afghan orphans, I'm still being productive, right?

Another sure sign of spring is when Abbie starts the compulsive chewing on herself. This year, it's her hind leg. The only way to stop her, and to keep her from licking off the medicine, is to put her into The Cone of Shame. I'd pity her, but it doesn't look like it's keeping her from enjoying a gorgeous spring day!

Speaking of beagles, someone sent me this personality quiz to take. Usually, I score as a Labrador. I answered the way I typically do on these things, but this time, it seems like I am a beagle. Except, I am a beagle who does not chew holes in her leg. No Cone of Shame for me, no sir!

You are good natured. You enjoy spending time with people and animals. You have a wild, independent streak. If you're left to your own devices, you get in trouble. You love to eat and enjoy food of all kinds. If you don't get enough physical activity, you tend to have a weight problem. You are very stubborn. You don't like authority, and you tend to do your own thing no matter what.

What Breed of Dog Are You?

Swapping Around the World (and Actual Knitting Content!)

Last fall, I signed up for what looked like an interesting little swap on Ravelry - the Mix Makers Swap, where we create music mixes and swap them along with some yarn and other goodies. The first round ended up being a lot of fun and so I signed up for the second round. And am I ever glad that I did.

I am fortunate to have been paired up with blogless Caroline (her rav id is 'ameristralian'). We have some important things in common, especially our love of knitting hats, scarves and other simple diversions (although she is by far a more talented knitter than I), as well as our love of similar kinds of music. And, while I am not as passionate about all things Aussie as she is, I have had a lifelong fascination with the country, even going so far as badgering my parents about moving our entire family there during a particularly difficult 7th grade school year. I had seen the movie "The Sundowners", after which I developed a brief, but intense desire to become part of a sheep ranching family. During my graduate school years, I was part of a collaborative research project with a group of delightful Aussies down under in New South Wales, when I again entertained the notion to move there.

But I digress from the more important task of flashing my great first package from Caroline. She must be psychic, because I could not have done a better job of putting together my own package. Even though I have never said this in response to a swap questionnaire, I love the color grey and have numerous items of grey clothing and accessories. So I was delighted to get 2 skeins of Paton's Shetland Chunky in a beautiful shade of charcoal grey and a pattern for the Bella mittens. I have seen these on ravelry and lusted after them, except they looked way too difficult to consider. Caroline also included some cable needles and a very sweet note encouraging me to take the plunge into the wild world of cable knitting. She assured me it's not hard, so I think I'll take the plunge soon.


There was also a GREAT mix of world music, of which I loved every single song! And quite possibly the very best treats I've ever received in a swap - silky, creamy milk chocolate covered cookies and a slab of chocolate covered popcorn. I haven't tried the cookies yet, but I am not ashamed to tell you that after one taste of the popcorn, I put it away until Mr. C went out of town this week so that I don't have to share it with him. Judge me if you want to, but if you could only taste this crack-in-a-cellophane-wrapper, you'd do the same thing too.

Finally, look at these gorgeous stitch markers (I am guessing she made them!). They came in this cute little bag and I just love them. In fact, I loved everything, can you tell? Thanks so much Caroline - you're the best!!!

In case you haven't noticed, I have been very remiss in my blogging. Work, not enough time in a day, blahblahblah. I have been knitting furiously every day, however, trying to get as many wooly items made as I can before the shipping deadline for Afghans 4 Afghans. I made two hats, but I think they're too big for this shipment (they need items for young children and infants) so these may need to wait until another time. The green one was knit in Lamb's Pride Bulky and still needs a pompom. The variegated one is Galway chunky yarn and is my favorite. I crocheted 3 strips of single crochet for the corkscrew top and stitched them together in the middle, then ran the 2 long threads down in the top center of the hat, tied it off and wove the ends in. Faster than icord!



Here are some of the squares for the blankie. I am mixing knit and crochet, which should give an interesting texture. I am using a lot of leftovers from my stash and am amazed at how well the colors go together considering I didn't buy the original yarns to go together.

We had a very sweet, but uneventful Valentine's weekend here at the little house on the prairie. Criquette had her fill of flowers and candy and romantic movies and she hopes you all had likewise.



I am getting ready to go to San Diego to join up with Mr. C who is already there on business. I've never been there and have already gotten lots of very useful advice from the SD Knitters group on ravelry. I have made plans to visit at least one yarn shop and of course, the zoo. I'll be back with a full report. Hope you're all staying warm and dry!

A Scare, A Blankie and An Excellent New Swap

This past week, it has been Abbie's turn to give us quite a scare. It all started when Mr. C, who is normally the perfect life-partner, made a Very Bad Mistake. He has the bad habit of not closing drawers, cabinets and closet doors after he has opened them. It irks me to no end, but since he actually enables my yarn addiction, I can usually overlook it. Earlier this week, he made some pork babyback ribs, of which I am not a fan. Even worse, he didn't close the sliding drawer that contains our garbage can after he disposed of the bones. Then he left to run an errand and I wasn't home either. These are the times Abbie often gets herself in trouble if she is left to run loose in the house, usually by snacking from the kitty box or chewing up something of mine.

This time, however, her excellent beagle nose led her straight to the open garbage can. When Mr. C got home, he found her chewing on one of the bones. He found the remains of 2 others. And I mean chewed. Into little needle-sharp shards of bone. And, being a typical man, he under-reacted and did nothing about it, not even calling me, because "she was acting fine.". I didn't get home until about 3 hours later. Of course, I freaked out. Then I went to trusty Google and called up some websites that offered advice to other idiots who had not protected their dogs from pork bones.

What I read freaked me out even more. If she didn't end up with a blockage, she could end up with a pierced or ruptured bowel, leading to peritonitis and a slow, agonizing death. Cooked chicken bones can do the same thing. Several people recommended feeding the dog lots of bread, to help the bones pass through their bowels more safely. It sounded like a good idea to me, so I made Abbie a "bread pudding" with torn up chunks of bread, a jar of lamb babyfood, 2 giant spoonfuls of Greek yogurt, 2 giant spoonfuls of pumpkin and sprinkled on a bit of garlic powder (good for digestion)and she scarfed half of it down. I gave her the rest about an hour later. Our vet told us what to watch out for and bring her in if she was exhibiting problems.

She seemed fine that evening and the next morning, passed a stool that contained a lot of bone fragments. She was not exhibiting any of the symptoms of possible problems, including dry coughing, unsuccessful attempts to throw up, pain in the abdominal area, straining to poop and passing blood (I am only giving yucky details in case any of you ever have a similar problem). By the second day, she had thrown up about a handful of very sharp bone shards, and got us up several times during that night to go out. She started having normal BM's after that and we are hoping we are out of the woods and that there isn't trouble brewing. I really think the bread pudding idea helped enormously, and we are still giving her some yogurt every day.

So I kept her close to me all week when I got home from work, and it is amazing how fast the time passes (and nothing gets accomplished)when I am hanging out with my fur-babies.

But I did manage to get quite a bit of knitting done. I even (gasp) picked up the crochet hook, which I had shunned since I began knitting 3 years ago. The spring campaign for Afghans for Afghans has been announced and they need hats, mittens, socks and blankets for infants and toddlers. I have a couple of wool baby hats I had already made and thought I'd make one or two more as well as knit a blanket. I remembered how much I liked the patchwork blankets we made from squares for the Greensburg, KS project and thought it would be fun, as well as a great stashbuster to make one of the for the campaign. So I knit a few squares and decided to crochet one for the center. After I made the crocheted square, I realized how much faster I can crochet than knit and decided to crochet some more to scatter around in the blanket.

I figured I'll need 40 or 48 squares to make the requested size, and I have finished 13 so far, in a little over one week. Abbie-nursing has made me very productive. I can't wait to see it come together. I have until at least sometime in March to finish and at this rate, I should be able to do another hat and maybe some mittens.

Here's the hat I am working on - I have to check the size as it may be bigger than toddler size.



And here are some of the squares:


And because of Abbie's little mishap this week, I have not been able to blog, which means I haven't been able to tell you that the second edition of the Mix Makers Swap is about to begin and signups are still going until midnight tonight. You can find out more by going to Ravelry groups and looking up Mix Makers Swap. The first round was a lot of fun, and I am looking forward to this next go-round. Of course there's yarn involved, but my favorite part is getting to burn and receive cd's full of music I haven't discovered before. I have a huge music library, but there's always room for more! So if you're looking for a very pleasant little diversion to lift you out of the winter blahs, this could do the trick! And if you're late, go over there anyway and ask Jen, the wonderful moderator, if you can squeeze in. And blame it on me, or rather, blame it on Mr. C.

We are supposed to emerge from our deep-freeze conditions tomorrow - sunny and high in the 60's. I will be outside, soaking up the sun and warmth. Hope it's coming your way soon!

Whiskers on Wednesday: Easily Amused

I am lucky to be owned by two kitties who are not only adorable, but are easily amused. They enjoy a wide variety of hobbies, such as...

...garden gazing...

...jigsaw assembling...

...birdie catching...

...paper romping...

...salsa dancing...

...and, of course, yarn wrestling.

But even the most fun-loving kitties get bored with their amusements and wish for a new entertainment. And I think I've found just the thing. Don't you think they'll just love their new BFF?

History In the Making

How awe-inspiring to be a small part of history being made.




Words cannot explain the emotions I am feeling today as I have watched our new president take office to become our leader. I am so thankful that, finally, our healing as a nation can begin. I am proud that we Americans have finally had the courage to look beyond race and political parties in order to exercise our voice for change. I am filled with joyful optimism that, although not easy, our new journey is bringing us to a new kind of prosperity and peace, truly "one nation, under God". I am so happy to be here, at this time and place in history. God bless America and especially, God bless President Barack Obama.

Whiskers On Wednesday (On Saturday): Today the Tabletop, Tomorrow the Universe

Everyone who lives under our roof knows that Ms. Criquette is The Boss. Very few events escape her notice, and she usually needs to supervise it all very closely. So when I sat down at the table recently to organize my schedule, she immediately bee-lined it over to see what I was up to. Deciding she needed to get a better look, she began sit and stare and to harass me until I finally gave in and let her up on my lap. She knows that we can't resist "The Look".

She started off with all 4 paws on my lap. However, that wouldn't do. Within 30 seconds on my lap, she began to sidle her way onto the table, inch by inch, in order to get a closer look at what I was doing, just like she does every other time.

First her left paw, and then the right one. It starts with just the tips of her toes, and then the full paw. Before you know it, she's slid a shoulder onto the table. It's done so smoothly, you don't even realize she's moved.


So then she's reading what you've written and, if she approves, leaves several big splotchs of drool. For this reason, I've learned to use permanant ink. But it doesn't stop there.

A little wiggle, a tiny stretch and she has half her body up there. It's amazing how big and heavy she gets when she doesn't want to be moved.

This last was taken just before the final breach of the table, at which point she had created a puddle of saliva all over my list. As you can see, she had gotten me to abandon my writing and was going in for the final victory of laying fully on top of my work so that it could not be read, which would leave me with nothing else to do except give her lots of pets and scratchies for the rest of the evening.

It takes a brilliant mind to come up with a plan like that. Now you see why we're all just pawns in her quest to take over the house, and then the world.

FO's/Non-Knitted

Christmas 2008 was one of the best I've enjoyed with my family in a long time. Everything just came together to make it perfect. I'm really happy because my idea of giving handmade gifts not only didn't backfire, but got an enthusiastic response from everyone.

One of the easiest gifts to make was the infused cranberry vodka. Not only was this really fun, but it got a very good response from the recipients.




Fortunately, I had about a third of a bottle leftover and got to keep some for myself. Let's just say that it blends so well with cranberry juice and lime that a person could perhaps drink a bit too much before realizing how much they had actually drunk. Ahem. Thank goodness I had the sense to finish preparing the brunch for Mr. C's family celebration before hitting the juice.

The other gift from my kitchen whipped up pretty quickly. It was the brown sugar scrub recipe that I found on Deep-Fried Kudzu. I used Ginger's idea for the packaging as well. We have a really neat shop where I got to concoct my own essential oil fragrance. I blended together some chai, some chocolate and a hint of peppermint for a fragrance I named "Chocolate Chai". It smells so delicious that I wanted to gnaw my arm off after I used some of the scrub on my hands.

Martha, eat your heart out!

The little jars were so cute and I couldn't believe my luck when I found these adorable gift bags in the $1 bins at Target that perfectly matched the lids! These went over very well, also.


Then I dusted off my beading supplies and made some angel necklaces for my sister and her daughter, and a pretty pink pearl bracelet for another niece.

And I made ornaments for everyone. The young ones got some candy canes, made from pony beads strung onto a piece of pipe cleaner.


And I discovered a use for the origami cranes I like to make. I decided to add some beads and turn them into "peace crane" ornaments. Everyone really seemed to like theirs.

There have been some suggestions that I make more of these and offer them for sale. I'd love to do that, but it will have to wait until I can cut back on my hours at work.

I also made 4 blanket-sized snuggles for the younger nieces and nephews. They were a very big hit, especially with the teenaged nephew, which was a complete surprise because ...well, he's a teenage boy. He's too cool for school. But not only did he love his snuggle, but was wrapped in it when I went to visit a few days later. I think the older ones were a bit disappointed that they didn't get one, so they may each have to have their own next year.

And finally, these were not technically a Christmas gift. I made them for my Music Mix Swap partner who owns 4 rescued bassets. I had to show you, because they turned out to be so adorable. I wish I could get more of these beads, but I got the last ones.


It was so gratifying to see how happy everyone was with their handmade gifts. I was really surprised by their responses. I still have some promised knitted gifts for my beautiful nieces. One is finished and just needs blocking. One is finished and just needs a trimmed edge and some blocking. I will show pictures when they're ready to go. The other two have yet to be cast on. Let's hope that I get them completed before Christmas of 2009.