Monday, July 18, 2016

Shiny Gets Me Again

Do y'all remember these yarns?

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The yarns were a wee bit spendy, but worth saving up for due to their colors. Well, their colors online. I thought they'd be more jewel tones, but they're more muted in person. Still, blue!

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A friend of mine (you know who you are) is a knitter with a gift for it. She can do cables, lace knitting, she made a fucking gorgeous knitted dress out of silver sequins. If she weren't so talented, she should be ashamed of herself for posing as a human being when in fact she's a damn knitting demigoddess. So this friend also regularly knits with beads. Tiny beads. Tiny bloody beads in lace knitting. And as usual, it's beyond beautiful what she creates.

I wanted a little of that shiny action. I tried last fall and promptly questioned my sanity, put away the beads and beading equipment and knitted some boring, safe, cotton dishcloths.

Then in searching for another project's bits and pieces (googly eyes and fabric glue for a shark hat), I stumbled on the box that had the beads and equipment in it. Hello! And immediately lost my mind and focus, and began beading a knitted side-to-side scarf. I should have my head examined because I like it. The yarn is soft and the beads are, well, shiny.

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I'm waiting on my beading needles to arrive tomorrow to go back to this project. The beading wire I had is much too soft and incredibly fiddley to work with in the yarn.

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In the meantime, it's working on Bitey the Shark Hat and in between, the cashmere and silk scarf that I'll be knitting on until my death bed, I'm sure.

I'm still missing my girl, Tank. Even if she did hog the comfy leather couch and then ignore me when I tried to take knitting photos with her in the pics. It's going to be a long time before my heart heals from the longing for her.

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Friday, July 08, 2016

Crochet

And life continues...

I finished up the crocheted baby blanket. It's one of only two patterns I know how to crochet, Shell and Post Alternating, which my Gran taught me. She used it for virtually all baby blankets that she crocheted. As I've mentioned before here, Gran was a bit disappointed that I didn't come to the dark side and prefered to knit.


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* * *

Hook
5.5 mm (I)

Yarn
Cascade Yarns 220 Superwash®

How much?
4 skeins = 880.0 yards (804.7 meters), 400 grams

Colorway
Lemon

Sunday, July 03, 2016

Best. Dog. Ever.

Emma, aka "Tank," has died.

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She had bad diarrhea starting Friday three weeks ago. Vet on the following Monday; spleen felt a bit enlarged, so she was treated for bacteria infection and inflammation of large intestinal wall. She wasn't responding to the meds by day three, then began vomiting. The same day in that afternoon she was panting, shivering off & on. So it was back to the vet, and with her significant weight loss, the vet could confirm a mass in Emma's abdomen without any ultrasounds. Tank had lost five pounds in four days.

The only humane choice was the most heartbreaking one.

Do not mistake me. I felt extremely selfish, I wanted to medicate her out of her mind for pain and keep Emma with me as long as possible. I also knew I could not live with myself if I allowed my selfishness to make her suffer.

After thanking her for finding me, and for being the best dog I have ever had the privilege to be a companion to, she was put to sleep. Emma was so sick, she was gone in moments.

I was the third person to come into the humane society to register to adopt her in August 2009. Unlike the others, I came back for Emma. And I told her when I picked her up that I wouldn't abandon her. I was fortunate to be with her until the very end as I had promised.

Emma was a sweet girl. Maybe a sandwich shy of a full picnic basket, but she was friendly to everyone. Probably because she felt every human was a potential treat dispenser. People who weren't even dog persons fell for Emma. I was always concerned her trusting, sweet nature would end up getting her hurt; I made sure to surround her with people who loved and protected her when I wasn't around. Emma was safe from the demons of the world.

And when we were together, she never let me out of her sight.

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The hardest part of missing her is when I'm curled up on the couch, her favorite spot was behind my knees.

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Now it's so empty there.

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Very few things are able to crack my cold, black, cynical heart. Emma was one.

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Best. Dog. Ever.

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