Paws for Thought

Mine!

2009-12-01T10:12:00.004-05:00

Some people say you shouldn't play tug games with dogs because it teaches them to be aggressive. Other people say that, taught correctly, tug can teach your dog self control. And anyone who does agility knows that tug is a perfect reward. I'm (obviously) in the pro-tug camp. Some of the pro-tug people recommend designating a special toy that the dog doesn't have access to until the human decides to play. And they say that the human should always win. But what's the fun in that? We love to watch Katie dig through her toy box, choose a toy, and bring it over to us. Sometimes when she wins, she "kills" the toy. Sometimes she drops it in front of us for more.

We do have a couple of rules, which we established when she was a puppy:

If doggy teeth touch human skin, even accidentally, the game ends.
She has to drop the toy when asked, or the game ends.

I don't know if this works because we started when she was a puppy. I'm sure her general good temperament also has something to do with it. She loves interactive games--but is that because we taught her to play that way, or because her herding genes condition her to cooperate with humans, or because we just kind of lucked out and got a good dog? Probably it's a combination of all these things.

New Project

2009-11-28T15:48:00.005-05:00

Because I didn't have enough WIPs and hadn't finished the actual work I'd planned to do yesterday or made much progress on Christmas knitting, I started a new project: Alexandra Tinsley's EDI ("Everybody's Doing It") Cowl (available here). I'm using Lamb's Pride Bulky, which, I know, some people (GK) find "too itchy," but which I find really toasty for scarves, especially when I'm bundling up in the wee hours of a cold winter morning to walk the dog. And--bonus: no scarf ENDS to dangle and possibly touch (ugh) the dog poo when I bend over to pick it up. I've knitted my way through one skein and I expect to use most of another before it's long enough.

I am trying to be disciplined about the Christmas knits, and I'm making some progress. I can't show everything here, but as I was knitting another finger of Welig this afternoon, I noticed how gloves IP look kind of alien--in an ET-phone-home sort of way.

(Source: http://www.free-wallpaper-download.com/movie/ET/slides/ET.wallpaper.htm)

Hand Warm-y Thoughts

2009-11-27T12:34:00.006-05:00

I've been preoccupied lately with knitting mittens (and other hand warm-y type projects). This is a photo of some things in my gift stash. Clockwise from the top right are Sue Coffin's Fingerless Mittens (from 101 OS Wonders), Eli Stubenrach's Herringbone Mittens (on Ravelry),
Robin Melanson's Jack-in-the-Box Mittens (from Knitting New Mittens and Gloves), Diane Soucy's Super Fast, Super Bulky Mittens, and creativeyarn's Mohair Handwarmers.

And then this week I've been working on Welig, another pattern from Knitting New Mittens.

Like the other pattern I tried from Melanson's book (Jack-in-the-Box), this one is really well written and the yarn (Nashua Handknits Julia) is a perfect match for the project. It's warm and soft and if I'm going to gift these as planned, someone may need to pry them out of my hands.

Planting Garlic

2009-11-10T12:17:00.002-05:00

On Sunday we planted garlic, which will be ready to harvest next summer. We were also hoping to plant a cover crop, but it's been so rainy here that we missed our window of opportunity. So we'll just have to suffer the weedy consequences next spring.

Happy Halloween

2009-10-31T13:57:00.003-04:00

Rice Crispy Ghosts from Recipezaar

So I finished the the second of my Falling Leaves socks and, for some bizarre reason, it's bigger than the first sock. I cannot figure out what went wrong. Same needles, same yarn, same me, bigger sock. It's a Halloween mystery. I've already frogged sock #2. I'm going to try again on smaller needles, but if that doesn't work, I'm not sure what I'll do--probably just frog the whole project. Sometimes, knitting is hard.

Some Sewing

2009-10-25T12:41:00.003-04:00

Dinner napkins from Weekend Sewing. Except for me these were a weekLONG project, because--well--I'm still not so good with the sewing. But I'm learning. These will probably be a gift for a friend's bday (no, CR, not you), and I may make a few more sets for Christmas gifts.
If I had a big fabric stash, this project would be good for using up leftovers. As it is, this project is a good excuse for me to buy fabric so I can have a stash to bust later on.

Knitting!

2009-09-13T11:42:00.003-04:00

I haven't done much knitting lately, but we've had had two days of rainy, unseasonably cool weather, and (after a day of writing) knitting some mittens seemed like the right thing to do. So I pulled out these flip-top mittens that I'd started at the beginning of the summer, and this morning I completed the first one (except for the sewing up), and then CO for the second (to avoid SMS). This is SUCH a nice pattern, and I love working with Lamb's Pride Worsted. These were planned for my gift stash but I may keep them for myself. Their mohair, cable-y goodness is hard to resist.

What I did yesterday

2009-08-28T07:52:00.003-04:00

Classes begin on Monday, but instead of writing my syllabus yesterday, I spent a crafty afternoon with C and another friend. My goal (besides avoiding other more pressing responsibilities) was to learn to put in a zipper. Even for a newbie sewer, I am painfully slow. The above photo documents my progress after 3 hours. At this rate, I should complete the project in a year or so.

Garden Notes

2009-08-19T09:10:00.003-04:00

Yesterday's haul included hot peppers, beans, tomatoes (which last week finally started to turn red), and our first eggplant. The hot peppers were an accident--we thought we were buying sweet banana peppers but the plants must have been mislabeled. We're not sure what we actually have. We only know that they're really really hot. So I'm looking for things I can make with them, and I'd welcome suggestions.

Locavore Lunch

2009-08-12T15:46:00.006-04:00

Tomato sandwich with homegrown tomatoes. MMmmm.

It's Official

2009-08-04T22:16:00.003-04:00

High as an elephant's eye. (I've been waiting all summer to say that.)

Attack of the Giant Zucchini

2009-07-31T11:13:00.003-04:00

This week's haul included those two gigantor zucchini in the back, cucumbers and a handful of beans. I'm running out of ideas for zucchini :O --especially these big guys which don't taste as good. These cukes may be the last of the summer, but we sure have enjoyed them. And next year I think we'll plant more so we can enjoy them longer. My favorite cucumber recipe at the moment is to just add some rice wine vinegar, a little sugar, and a few teaspoons of toasted sesame seeds. Totally yum.

A big distraction this week has been 365 Days of My Dog--my new favorite Flickr group. Which I joined. Because (1) I need more excuses to take pictures of my dog and (2) I need more reasons to be at my computer.

Also keeping me online these days is this podcast on dog training hosted by Jolanta Benal. If you're looking for excellent advice about positive training, this podcast is worth a listen.

Vegetable Gardening (what else?)

2009-07-24T10:59:00.006-04:00

Earlier this week, A and I took a pail of freshly made compost out to the garden. While we were there, we did a little weeding. Recently, a shed was added to the garden which will allow us to store tools instead of dragging them back and forth.
It's so great to see our stuff actually growing! This week we had lots of zucchini and cucumbers.

And we appear to have lots of peppers in progress.

Garden Notes

2009-07-20T10:15:00.005-04:00

Cucumber salad from our very own, homegrown cucumbers. Mm-mm. I wish we'd planted more than one cucumber plant! Oh well--something to keep in mind for next year. Mostly what we're eating at the moment is zucchini. Lots and lots of zucchini...

Embossed Leaves

2009-07-12T11:30:00.005-04:00

This photo was taken with my iPhone and then enhanced using the CameraBag app. Cool, no?

I finished the above Embossed Leaves sock this morning, and then just to ensure it will have a mate, I CO and knit the first two rows of sock #2. I would have finished these sooner, except that I got distracted by these coasters (one set for me, one gifted), this quilt and these mittens.

Now that we've had more sun, our vegetable garden has perked up. On Monday, we picked the rest of the radishes and in their place planted brussel sprouts. We also weeded and thinned out the corn, and added a nifty stepping stone path. Re the War against Weeds, er, Wild Plants--I can't say enough good things about our stirrup hoe. It's unbelievably efficient. Worth every penny. Srsly.

Accomplishments

2009-07-04T11:48:00.005-04:00

I'm proud to say that Katie has earned her TDIA, awarded by Therapy Dogs, Int'l (TDI) after 50 visits. When I showed her the certificate, she gave it one snoof, and went back to her afternoon nap. Oh well.

Last week in the garden, we noticed that the string beans and radishes were ready to eat.

I don't like radishes, but I heard from A. and H. that they were good. I do like string beans, though, and I'm disappointed that the plants don't seem to be thriving. Or maybe 8 plants isn't enough to produce many beans. Or maybe we planted them too late. Or they don't like the soil they're planted in. Clearly, I need to read more about growing beans.

On a more positive note, my stirrup hoe arrived. Look out weeds!

Summer of Weeds

2009-06-16T12:18:00.007-04:00

Okay, I lied. I'm sick of weeding! After two hours of work, Helena and I had the corn patch under control, but unless we want to spend all our spare time out there, we're going to have to be more pro-active. We're thinking of mulching with grass clippings. According to Organic Gardening for Dummies, after cutting the lawn, you can let the clippings dry out in the sun for a bit before raking them up and they won't get slimy.

While we were out there, we spotted an indigo bunting. Srsly. Helena made the call in response to my "hey, look at that blue bird!" What a sight! Unfortunately, the bird took off just as I was heading for my camera. Maybe he'll make another appearance.

Community Garden

2009-06-11T11:34:00.005-04:00

This summer we're participating through the College in a community garden project. Because the plots are huge, we're sharing ours with another couple. I think we'll still have more vegetables than 4 people can reasonably eat--provided the critters don't get to them first. There's a big fence around the whole thing, designed and built by students and faculty, but it's not going to keep out any self-respecting ground hog or rabbit. More photos of the project here, and of our plot here. With all the rain we've had lately, it's getting hard to tell the plants from weeds. Still the rain has gotten our seeds and plants off to a good start, and in exchange, I don't mind pulling some weeds.

Weekend Gardening

2009-05-17T10:52:00.005-04:00

Yesterday we gave our hedge a haircut. The hedge came with the house, and it's a pain to maintain, but when it's all trimmed, it does make a nice backdrop for flowers. And of course it provides some privacy. Because I can't ever seem to keep a straight line, A. did the trimming, and I picked up the clippings, about a third of which I shreddred in our new chipper and composted. But there was such a huge pile (you can sort of see it in the photo above, in the upper right corner), we'll be taking a bunch to the city compost center too.

For ordinary backyard jobs, though, this little machine does the job. Yesterday it turned a wheelbarrow full of sticks and leaves into this (which I added to the compost bin to balance out the grass and hedge clippings):

May 15 was the predicted date for a final frost, so this week, in between grading and other end-of-term chores I'll start putting things in the ground. (Additional garden photos, as always, are posted in my garden notebook on my Flickr page.)

In the meantime, I'm posting some knitting for GK. My first Selbu pattern. TaDA!

It's a dog! On a mitten! Although I'm not completely new to colorwork, I did have to rip and reknit because the fabric was looking (as Chawne puts it) all puckery and weird. As you can see from these photos, the knitting still isn't perfect, but hopefully I'll improve with practice. Here's the palm side:

At the Dog Park

2009-05-09T06:04:00.015-04:00

A topic of discussion at the dog park this week has been whether we can say that dogs smile--which question we all answered in the affirmative. Readers of Bark magazine know this unequivocally thanks to Bark's tireless efforts to photograph smilers. The more scientifically inclined dog person might be interested in recent studies of dog laughter. But for those of us content to hang out at the dog park on a nice spring morning--really, we don't need no stinkin' studies. Consider EXHIBIT A

and EXHIBIT B.

Some dogs, smiling and otherwise, are admittedly harder to photograph at the dog park than others. It took me a few tries, for example, to get a shot in which all of Beau appears in the frame. (That's part of Beau there on the right, and behind him Snowy is investigating some interesting something or other under a pile of leaves.)

Eventually, in response to the magic finger, Beau performed a brief, but beautifully executed down, for which he received a treat.

Not surprisingly, mugging for treats is a very popular pastime.

The dogs throw us a look like I'm sooooo hungry...I haven't eaten in days...may I please have one of those treats in your pocket? and we oblige.

Another favorite game is to roll the balls through a hole in the fence so that Bob has to retrieve them. (This is something like the opposite of "Fetch" where the human throws the ball and the dog retrieves it.)

Can you hear the doggie laughter?

2009-05-08T09:36:00.000-04:00

Happy spring, everybody.

Birds Ate My Breakfast

2009-05-05T10:48:00.005-04:00

Gino and Rocky are nothing if not persistent. And they love cereal. Here they are perched on my bowl looking for a handout.

Katie, meanwhile, has been giving our new mudroom rug a test drive.

This is a super tough, indoor/outdoor rug--guaranteed to stand up to muddy feet and paws. A couple passes with the vacuum and it looks like new again.

This is my first post in a while. The past couple months of this term have been unbelieveably busy. Not much time for blogging or knitting. Classes end this week and, hopefully, things will settle down a bit.

Random Stuff

2008-11-08T12:00:00.009-05:00

It's dark and rainy here--just the kind of day to stay inside and knit. And read Harry Potter (which I'm teaching this week in Intro to Children's Lit). Before the rain started this morning, a flock of sparrows was gathered by the back door where I'd tossed out some birdseed. In their midst was a little chipmunk. Kate, an unrepentant chipmunk chaser, couldn't tear herself away from this little scene.

In between the usual insanity that increases as the end of term approaches, I've been trying to fit in my Christmas gift knitting. Which, of course, kind of limits what I can show here. But here's a peek at one project:

I've been itching to try these Mosaic Mitts (from IK), and now, having nearly finished the first one, I can heartily recommend them to anyone looking for a quick gift knit. This pattern is a good stash buster (although I admit I did buy some new yarn for these). And it's fun to try different color combinations.

Also IP are these Monkey Socks, which I started a couple weeks ago. These are for me because, well, I heart the colors of this Trekking yarn too much to part with them. Unfortunately it's hard to get a good photo today because it's so dark outside.

11/10/08 ETA: Mitts are worked on my new Knit Picks Harmony DPS--which, can I just say?--are totally fab.

Winter Walk

2009-01-19T11:30:00.023-05:00

Yesterday morning we woke up to more snow and, thankfully, somewhat warmer temperatures. After zero degrees, 32 feels downright balmy. Kate loves the snow, and she couldn't wait to go for a walk. Thinking I might get some nice photos, I grabbed my camera and we set out.

Kate and I have a pretty regular morning route around our neighborhood and over to school. Once we turned the corner, Kate noticed a couple of corgis walking their person.

One of our walking games (that I learned from Control Unleashed) is that when Kate "finds" a dog, she gets a treat. It's a strategy that allows her to look at other dogs, but instead of barking at them, she looks at me for a treat.

Kate is a dog of routines and a dog who keeps track of things, and she'll sometimes bark at dogs she doesn't know. It's not so unusual--especially for herding dogs who can be vocal and who are predisposed to pay careful attention to who's where in their flock (Kate's part collie). But it's not a habit I want to encourage around other dogs, so instead her "job" is to find dogs and check in with me for her reward. I used to ask her to focus on me first, but getting a look at the other dog actually works better. And she can look more than once. The point is that she "checks in" between looks.

Another walking game is that we only move forward when the leash is loose. I hate it when I see people dragging their dogs around by yanking on the leash. I don't want Kate to pull--obviously--but I also try to avoid pulling too. If Kate does pull, I stop, or walk in another direction. It's a zen thing. To get what she wants, she has to keep a loose leash. Here she wanted to sniff this particular spot (probably some pee-mail), but to get to the spot, she had to walk there calmly.

This wall is one of Kate's favorite sniffing spots. I thought it looked really pretty covered in snow. That's New Jersey off in the distance.

By this point, we're just a few blocks from campus and Kate's favorite part of our route because she gets to run around off leash. It was too snowy to throw a ball, so she just enjoyed messing around in the snow. Here she is demonstrating her excellent recall skills. Who's a good dog?!

Deep Freeze

2009-01-15T10:08:00.007-05:00

Like much of the country, here in eastern PA it's pretty darn cold. This morning we woke up to a light dusting of snow (which, it turns out, is a nice break from all the ice we've had lately). A good day to stay home and knit. I've been working on another pair of Newfoundland mittens, mostly because I like how these two yarns looked together.

The white is Lion Brand Wool Ease which I had in my stash from a long-abandoned learning-to-crochet project. The blue is some gorgeous (but itchy!) Rowan Scottish Tweed that I'd been trying to find a good use for. As I was trying out colors for another project, these two landed next to one another, and I liked the combo.

I made another pair of these mittens (Ravelry link) about a year ago, and since then I've been wanting to try the pattern again with some other colors and yarns. Plus, this weather is making me want to knit things to keep my hands warm. And the RST yarn is REALLY warm. The warm outweighs the itch.

But this morning as I was working on the second thumb, I noticed that it was a little different than the first. Here's a closer look:

See how the thumb on the left has that nice row of white purl bumps underneath and the right one doesn't? I'm pretty sure the one on the right is wrong, and even though it's not a huge mistake, it's going to bug me, so I think I'm going to frog.

Ribbit.

ETA 1/16/09. Turns out? the one on the LEFT is wrong. Should have read the pattern again BEFORE I frogged. Oh well. I don't think it much matters in the end. At least now the two thumbs will look the same.