Yesterday was the end of Zuzu’s quarantine! But it was late in the day when she got the ok from the vet (which was in truth something of a joke…they can’t test for rabies on a live creature). It has been a long 45 days! So, this morning, we took a walk. A walk! OK, so what if it was 39 degrees and raining and hypothermia weather. It’s like the Norwegians say, there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes. DH was up north today and said there was snow! I was very happy in my sexy black rubbers(wellies).

Here she is, a very happy girl,

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And now for an admission of truth. Sid (Zuzu’s brother and littermate who was also in on the whole bat exposure) has been here to play with Zuzu in our fenced yard…and even for a couple puppy sleepovers. Though on Oct 23, they had their first birthday, so now they are DOGS. They are TOO funny…they can spend hours wrestling. Sometimes it is hard to see where one dog ends and one begins

I only know because I can see a collar that it is Sid on the lower part of that pic.

Tug and chase are also favorite games. Sid left and Zuzu right.

OH, and other excitement…this came in the mail today,

The books… I got sucked into crafter’s choice. The 5 books (including shipping) were about $28. I just have to buy one more book within the year. And keep on top of the things I DON’T want. I’m hoping that something I really want comes up soon.

And the little card, it has two cats on it. From Maria, mi ahijada (sponsor child) en Guatemala. Her mom writes short letters. My spanish is VERY rusty, but I get the gist of the letters…a dictionary usually helps, but I need a current one. It is a very good feeling that what is basically my spare change is changing a young person’s life for the better. Actually, in this case, there is a project in their town, and all the kids benefit…by sponsoring, you get a personal relationship with somebody. Maria’s (who is 7) older sister and younger brother also benefit.

Here are two mittens (the mates are also made)

This is from Fiber Trend’s Easy Hat and Mittens pattern. I’ve gotta say, the sizing seems off a bit. The bigger mitten is in a worsted, and I’m a bit off on guage, 4.25 per inch versus the stated 4.5. I made the CHILD large/adult small. It’s WAY big! It’s out of an odd skein from French Hill farms, got it a couple years ago at the fiber frolic. I REALLY like this yarn, but don’t have enough to do much with except mittens or a hat (I have 2 different dye lots of gold and one of maroon left). I’ve tried to felt the yarn, it doesn’t. But it fulls a BIT…I’ll try to full the mittens so that they are a bit smaller. Thanks Libby for the suggestion! And the smaller mitten is a CHILD MEDIUM!!! I am right on gauge. The yarn is Shakespeare. I made it a bit longer to fit my hand. I like my mittens tighter versus looser. But I had intended these for my mother in law. I’ll give her both pairs and she should like one, maybe both.

I’m still waiting on word for buttons for the VEST. I’d really like to give it to Andrea soon!

I opened an accound over at wordpress (no ads! and they indicate that you can bring over all your other blogging), BUT BUT I can’t figure out how to upload a user pic (avatar)…I need some software to make the pictures smaller. This computer runs on Windows Me and I’m reluctant to add anything like a program from on line…it’ll make it S-L-O-W-E-R. I’ll do some more work/research over the weekend, but until then, and maybe after… I’ll be here.

A year ago I met these creatures

Actually, this pic was taken 366 days ago…but I met them the day prior! Only one was distinguishable, the big tank, who got named Clifford. The rest, they all looked alike. Zuzu is in that pile, and so is Sid. Their momma, Mickey, is 1/2 border collie (Mickey’s mom is named Kate and is about the sweetest border collie…and I had one for 16 years) and 1/2 lab (Mickey’s dad is a big yellow lab named Tucker). Kate and Mickey and a sister (auntie to Zuzu) from another litter named Bear are all used in therapy work w/ kids. They are really great tempered dogs. The pups father is a nice looking and nicely behaved black standard poodle named Mikey (this gets confusing w/ Mickey).

The puppies were all so even tempered that we let Nick choose from the 5 girls. He picked puppy “b” at 5 weeks or so…even though I liked puppy c. The following weekend I told him we had to go back to visit the pups (who I’d been visiting regularly since they were born)…he got all mad at me thinking I was trying to trick him into getting puppy c. First thing he said to Karen (the woman who bred the pups and she owns Mickey, Kate, Bear, and Tucker-and she used to own Mikey the poodle) was “which is b?”…of course she had no idea! They all looked alike…though they were beginning to start to show very minor differences…one girl had a small hernia, she and another was a bit bigger, one had a bit of a pointier nose (zuzu), one had a more distinguised stop…but I’m telling you, they were all black curly things…and until you tipped them over, it was even hard to tell the boys from the girls! Except for Clifford…the tank. And what did I notice on that visit?, that the curly girl (who was “c”) was quite the explorer…separating from the rest of the litter and sneaking under a fence and off she went! So, I wasn’t at all sad to say “b”!

I’d load up more puppy pics (the day Nick chose and the week following), but this last pic took 10 (TEN) minutes to load up! At 7 weeks, the pup came home to visit for the day, and she came home named Zuzu at 8 weeks. She might have been zuzu at 7 weeks, hard to remember anymore! I do remember that we were tossing around names, and Don woke up one morning saying “cocoa” or “zuzu”…that night I came back from petco stocking up on something and what was on? It’s a Wonderful Life…so zuzu it was!

Here she is mid December, about the time we brought her home,

And now she’s the big girl you have seen in other photos. I’ll take a new one soon and post it. We were going to have a birthday party for Zuzu and Sid (a friend owns Sid), but they are still in quarantine. Only 10 days to go…it’s been a long 45 days. Did we do anything special? No. What bad doggie parents! I went with julie to see Ellen at Purl Diva . Ellen was having a premie hat knitathon. Bad Juju crocheted!!! Ellen said she’d post pics of the folks that were there today, so go check out her page.

Hey Tom, get Julie to make you something that uses this

Ginny’s Amazing Pie Crust (I have no idea what it is really called, but Ginny gave me the recipe)

12 Tbs butter, cut in 3/4 inch cubes, freeze 30 minutes

In a food processor, mix
2 cups all purpose flour (or 2c+3Tbs pastry)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder

Cut 4 1/2 ounces cream cheese into in 3 or 4 pieces, put into the food processor and process about 20 seconds, until it is a coarse meal.

Add frozen butter and pulse until the mix is pea size.

Add 2 Tbs ICE water and 1 Tbs cider vinegar and pulse until the mix is small pea size (this is ridiculous, right?, oh, and I’ve used white vinegar and this is still good)

Put all this in a plastic bag and knead it until stretchy. Put it in the fridge for 45 minutes.

What’s amazing about this pie crust is that (1) it rolls out super easy (2) it has a great texture, even though it isn’t finely flakey it is crisp and (3) it tastes good…well great with fruit pies. This makes more than enough for a two crust pie….I roll up the extra w/ some jam, kind of like rugelah.

NEWS…DSL TOMORROW CAN YOU SAY I AWAIT WITH BAITED BREATH? I will be moving this blog after I get DSL, but I’ll keep you posted. Hopefully it’ll happen by mid week, but certainly by the weekend.

And if anybody knows anybody who wants a horse, Karen has a nice filly named Suzy Q who was born in the spring. She’s a paint with a little “Q” on her hindquarter. I’m pretty sure she’s an arab…let me know, I’ll pass it along to her. She’s got pics on line someplace.

First the very exciting news (well for me anyhow)…On Oct 23 I will have DSL!! No more super slow dial up! I can post better quality pictures! I can send and receive email pictures! I can open some of the blogs I like to read more quickly! (One I like is so slow to load for me that I can go use the toilet AND fold a load of laundry before it comes up!)

Other news, the doggies are over half way done with their quarantine, 27 days into the 45 days. It all ends on November 1. Then they can go out in public and socialize with other dogs. We will all be so happy.

The vest is blocking! I plan to put it together with black I cord, sewn on after it’s made. Short segments for horizontals, longer for verticals, and perhaps for the border the eyelet I cord that Nicky Epstein wrote about in the recent Vogue (p. 32) with the green/blue Quest run through the openings (it&apos;s the shiny green/blue yarn in bits on the squares).

And here’s more exciting news…I usually block on the bed in the spare room, but the cold weather has started and we keep that door closed…so it takes about FOREVER for something in there to dry. Notice the brightness of the vest blocking picture…it is OUTSIDE. A piece of some insulating foam board with some foil stuff on it and a scary name that is something like polycyanide (but not quite) with a towel on it.

Another premie cap for Ellen’s caps to the capitol campaign.

Another hat for Dulaan (see link on side bar)

That’s mostly malabrigo (the purple and green)-super soft- with some Bartlett (it matched so well!) edging and a couple stripes of odd wools.

I have yet another under way, but it is not so interesting to me…warm though. Picture when done. I’ve got an idea for a hat combining the vest square technique (with less crochet on top) and Melanie Falick’s simple kid’s hat in her Kids Knitting book. I’m thinking it’ll be a good way to use up bits of this and that.

A gift for my neice Tess. The scarf is a bit short, so I’ll put long fringe on it (and she’s only 6…don’t want it too long!)

Here she is in her poncho from last year, that she liked.

The year before she got a very cute hat, I can’t find the picture! It was the genghis khan hat from Jil Eaton (I think). Tess declared “I ugly in that hat, why you make me ugly hat Auntie Lisa?”. Here’s hoping she likes the pink one!

Sizzle,

This is a stashbuster for me and I’m using some discontinued Linet from Berocco. The label says use a 7, but it was too loose. So I used 6’s and was getting pattern gauge, but still too loose. So now on 5’s and the fabric looks better, but because I am now knitting the next size up, I’m not so sure I’ll have enough. So, will do borders in a dk cotton called Santos (also from stash, and used on baby kimono). Here’s progress as of last night. If you look closely, you can see where yarns switch on the swatch, but I figure it won’t be too bad on the sweater because it&apos;ll happen between seed and stockinette.

I’m figuring out how to put a list of blogs I read on the sidebar!

Someday I’ll figure out how to do the photo gallery thing, meantime, here are a couple FO’s

dna scarf for 4th grade teacher, made in May, also a stashbuster! (ds is now in 5th)

OK, so I have to make myself a new rule…until I get off of the dial up, only small size pictures!

This was supposed to be a stashbuster, but I so loved the frog tree alpaca (the orangy stuff near the brim) that when visiting my bro (and subsequently the LYS there), I got more, the coral and black frog tree. My row gauge was off (likely due to the local wool in the top portion of the hat), so the whole thing came out rather long and pointy. But a visiting friend liked it and it suits him well. This is the Cathedral Hat from Hope Spinnery (I still haven’t figured out the in text links!)

Still coping with (possible!) rabies exoposure consequences. Dogs have boosters. Hanging at home.

Yesterday afternoon I was happily making pizza dough when I heard a squealing noise outside. It took a moment or two to register. Then I looked outside to find these two charmers

(Sid on left, Zuzu on right)

extremely interested in something.

It was this

This is a high resolution picture, sorry if you’re like me and still on a dial-up. But note that you can even see its lower teeth (and that bats have no lower incisors). We couldn’t tell if the dogs actually had the thing or not.

All kinds of activity ensued. Dogs were put inside. Bat was corralled into a box (by dh in protective gear). As this was Sunday, we had to wait until today to bring it to testing lab. Late today we got the news, rabid bat. This means boosters and a 45 (FORTY-FIVE!!!!!!) day in home quarantine for these dogs who are current and up to date on rabies vaccine. What’s the point if you have to go through all this rigamarole? I guess it’s better than a 3 month facility quarantine or mandatory rabies test (do you know HOW they do that???, it’d mean no more dog). And Sid’s family’s other pets need boosters too.

Knitting…
just need to sew sleeve seems on kimono. Do you like antique rose and green ribbon w/ collar as in pattern

Or with pink and blue ribbon and collar flapped over?

I cast on for Sizzle. Until I work out the link thing, here’s url

http://knitandtonic.typepad.com/knitandtonic/2006/07/sizzle.html

Don’t have much done. Was going to include pic, but there are bunch in this post already.

Off to teach tae kwon do tonight…