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But They’re So Goooood!

I often teach knitting classes here at my home. On class nights I always put the dogs in my bedroom behind a baby gate and give them delicious new chew toys to keep them entertained.

During these classes, it never fails that one knitter will say, “Aww! Let them out! They’re such good dogs.” Then it also never fails that everyone else chimes in, and the dogs stand there at the baby gate with their best sad faces on. Sometimes I’ll let Ike out, but Tippy and Abe are not allowed loose around that much yarn.

After last night’s class I let the dogs out of my bedroom, and began picking up wine glasses and putting away the cookies and chocolates. (My knitting classes are AWESOME.) I turned my back on Tippy, to see he had started his own fiber project.

This is why he has to stay in lockup.

And the guilty little monster, apparently not feeling guilty at all. I’d say that was a look of pride, even.

You’ll see that I have a nice cup of coffee to keep me going while I try to make sense of this mess. Ah, Tippy.

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Sorry, Subscribers.

Ugh. I recently noticed that the feed address for subscriptions to verypink was automatically changed by Feedburner due to the feed size being over 512k. WHATEVER. I don’t understand what happened, but I think I’m on my way to fixing it. What I do know is that I lost most of you as subscribers. I went from hundreds of subscribers down to TWO, all because the feed address changed.

If I have actually fixed it, verypink should automatically start showing in your blog reader again. If it doesn’t, you can resubscribe by clicking the big pink button to the left, or here.

This post is also a test, because I won’t know if my solution worked until the feed readers pick up this new post. Fingers crossed!

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Why I Need a Doggie Door

Blazing Texas heat, overworked air conditioner. I’m working from home about half the time, and my dogs want in-and-out, in-and-out, every hour that I’m here.

That’s my normal summertime routine, and I’m used to it, but I realize that it’s crazy. I decided to count the number of times in a day that I stop what I’m doing to either open or close the back door.


I used this knitting row katcha-counter, and I faithfully clicked every single time I had to walk to the back door for a dog.

Here’s a slice of how this normal summertime day went:
7 am – I’m just waking up, Abe wants out. Counter = 1
7 – 10:45 am – Door stays open, no activity.
10:45 am – Door closed, a/c on. Abe and Tippy are outside.
10:46 am – Abe and Tippy in. Counter = 2


10:48 am – Tippy acts like he wants out, false alarm. Counter = 3


10:50 am – Ike and Tippy out to work on their tans. Counter = 4
11 am – Ike in. Counter = 5
11:20 am – Tippy in. Counter = 6


11:50 am – All dogs in, I leave the house to run errands.
1:30 pm – I’m home, all dogs out. Counter = 7
1:51 pm – I’m trying to eat my lunch, but I stop to let dogs in. Counter = 8


2:10 pm – Ike is sweet.
2:11 pm – Abe and Tippy out. Counter = 9.
2:13 pm – Ike says he wants out, false alarm. Counter = 10
2:22 pm – Tippy in. Counter = 11
2:30 pm – Tippy gets really worked up about something in the backyard and MUST GO OUT. Counter = 12


2:30 pm – Nothing to get worked up about after all.

You get the idea. I was working from home for the rest of the day, so this went on and on. Want to know the grand total?


Yes, that says FIFTY-ONE. Fifty-one times that I stopped what I was doing to let a dog in or out. INSANE.

You might be wondering why I don’t just tell the dogs “no” when they want to go outside for the tenth time in one hour. That’s because I honestly can’t tell if they want to go out to pee, or to chase squirrels. Going outside to pee is important.

I realize that a doggie door would allow me to increase my work-at-home productivity by at least a million percent, but installing one is no easy task. My current door won’t accommodate one, and it looks like I’ll need to cut a hole in a wall instead. All that aside, I can’t even be sure the little bastards will use it once it’s there.

Here’s a cute photo of Abe, since he doesn’t appear anywhere else in this post.

Gotta run. Tippy just shoved the back door open again.

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Blocking (not a video)

“How do I block this?” That’s the knitting question I get more than any other. So, here we go…

The situation – you have finished knitting, seaming, and weaving in the ends. Now you’re ready to block the piece, which will transform your caterpillar knitting into a beautiful butterfly. This is also how you will hand wash your knitting every time it needs it.

Before we start, are you working with multiple yarn colors? Stripes, borders, fair isle, etc? If so, there is a chance that the dyes will bleed when they get wet, so you want to set the dyes before you follow the instructions below. Fill the sink with cold water and about a cup of white vinegar. Soak your knitting for about a half-hour, and rinse to get out the pickle smell. You can move on to blocking while it’s still wet, no prob.

Step 1:


Clean sink.

Step 2:


Fill with lukewarm water and add wool wash. I prefer the wool washes that don’t require rinsing, like Eucalan or Soak.

Step 3:


Send your knitting for a swim. Give it a few good squeezes to work the wool wash into the fibers.

Step 4:


Go find something else to do for a half-hour or so while it soaks.

Step 5:


Drain the sink, and gently squeeze out the excess water.

Step 6:


Spread an old towel out on the floor. (I recommend an old towel, because there still may be some color bleeding.) Gently lay the knitted piece out on the towel, being careful not to allow the weight of the piece to stretch it out while it’s wet and heavy.

Step 7:


Roll-up your knitting inside the towel like a burrito.

Step 8:


Step all over it. Give it a quarter turn, step all over it again. This is a way of squishing out the extra water without wringing. Note: do not do this in stocking feet. Ask me how I know this.*

Step 9:


Blocking boards are awesome, but not totally necessary. Find a place for your knitting to dry WHERE YOUR PETS CANNOT GO. That’s the only steadfast rule. You can ask me how I know this tidbit, too.** Spread out your knitting to measurements, and pin if necessary. Bonus if there is a ceiling fan in the room.

The piece will dry exactly as you shape it, so be sure to square-out the corners and smooth the stitches. If you’re blocking something that is double-thick (like a sweater), flip it over once the top side is dry.

More notes:
– Since you, my friend, are a careful and smart knitter, you knit and blocked a swatch before you started knitting, right? That means there won’t be any nasty surprises like out-of-control stretching when the piece gets wet. Good for you!
– I have found superwash wool to be the most unpredictable fiber when it comes to blocking. Be SURE to block your swatch.
– These instructions are primarily for wool, but you can use them to block any fiber.
– Like I said, you’ll use these instructions every time you hand wash your knitting, which sounds like a lot of work. The truth is, wool doesn’t need washing all that often. I live in a warm climate, and I really only wash my wool sweaters once at the end of the cold season every year.

*I’ve ended up with wet socks more than once while stepping all over the towel burrito.
**When dogs and cats smell wet wool, they will be convinced that there is a rain-soaked sheep in the house. They will dig through your wet knitting, trying to find this tiny sheep.

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Lone Star Baby Crib Blanket

If you’ve never worked (or heard of) Tunisian crochet, take a look! It’s really simple to do, take a look at this short instructional video.

Tunisian crochet is an awesome technique that my family has used for generations, but I have found that there is little known about it with fiber people nowadays. In my family, we have always called it “the afghan stitch”. It works up like a cross between knitting and crochet. Tunisian crochet hooks are long (10” or more), and stitches are held on the hook much like a knitting needle. To compare it further to knitting, it is sort of like picking up and binding-off stitches every row.

I am in love with the fabric that is created with Tunisian Crochet. It is a plain fabric that can be compared to Stockinette Stitch in its simplicity, but it is flat and does not curl like Stockinette. Also, the stitches are perfect little squares with holes at the four corners, which nicely accommodate cross stitch designs.

This pattern makes a proportionally-accurate Texas State Flag, which just happens to be proportionally-accurate for a crib blanket as well. The size can be modified by changing the yarn or hook size for a bigger or smaller blanket.

Details –
Size: 60” x 40”
Yarn: 3 hanks each color Cascade 220 (or about 600 yards of each color in any worsted-weight yarn) in:
• White
• Ruby
• Stratosphere
Hook: Tunisian crochet hook in size 10/J, or size to obtain gauge
Additional Tools: row counter (optional), tapestry needle

Pattern is $4.00 via PayPal.

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Fixed

Two posts in one day. Ca-razy!

Anyway, just a note to let you know that I fixed the comments. I didn’t realize there was anything wrong (other than the fact that you folks strangely stopped leaving comments) until I was told that leaving a comment required logging in. Boo! It must have happened when I updated WordPress months ago, but I didn’t notice.

But now it’s fixed! So now you can discuss how bad my dogs are in the video below.

xo
S t a c i

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My Bad

I read somewhere that Basenjis are difficult to train because they need to repeat an action or hear a command FORTY times before they learn it. This is complete hogwash. Basenjis only need to experience something ONCE for it to become a habit, provided it is a habit they enjoy doing. The video below is proof.

Here’s the story…bedtime is usually a very calm and quiet routine at my house. The dogs are always sacked-out by 8pm, and when I’m ready for bed I take their collars and turn off the lights in the house. Then they follow me into my bedroom to continue sleeping. Calm.

I made a mistake last week that upset this applecart. Abe was being silly at bedtime, and he tried to get Tippy to play with him. I thought it was cute and funny, so I very foolishly encouraged the behavior by roughhousing a bit with Abe. Tippy and Ike joined in, and it became a complete circus. A totally fun circus, yes, but a very bad idea at bedtime.

So this is what I’m left with. Three dogs that have adopted a new bedtime routine that includes behaving like crazed monkeys. Enjoy my pain in HD quality.

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Learn to Knit an Aran Shawl

Intimidated by the twists and turns of traditional Irish Fisherman knitting? This shawl is a good place to start learning how to manage a cable needle and read the charts.

This pattern is available two ways – either as a pattern with instructional videos, or as a pattern only.

Materials Needed:
• Yarn: 400 grams worsted-weight wool (about 600 yards)
• Needles: Size 7 US circulars or straights
• Additional Materials: row counter (or more than one), cable needle, stitch markers, tapestry needle

The pattern + links to five instructional videos is $8.00 via PayPal.

The pattern alone is $3.00 via PayPal.

Here is the introduction to the instructional videos. Man, I wish I could capture a better still than this, I look very goofy.

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