Definintions

Two: 1)more than one 2)second in a series

Dog: a flesh eating domestic mammal related to wolves

Yarn: 1)a continuous often plied strand composed of fibers or filaments and used in knitting and weaving. 2)a story, especially a tall tale

Service Dog: an animal which has thousands of hours of training to perform specific tasks to assist a disabled person, improving their quality of life Per the ADA, Service Dogs are allowed everywhere their handler goes.

Therapy Dog: an animal with obedience training and a calm disposition who is invited to visit facilities to brighten up clients days

Emotional Support Animal: An animal with no special training, they give their owner comfort in times of stress. ESAs are covered by both the fair housing and travel acts.

~~~~~

I have two dogs, and I like to knit. I'm also a spinner and a weaver. I like sharing stories about my life with the pups. I also enjoy teaching a few folks the textile arts. I'm also the owner of a retired therapy dog who doubles as my ESA. My younger dog is in training for public access. It's my hope she will be mentally and emotionally stable enough to become my service dog.

One of my bete noirs is folks who want to pass off their pets as something they aren't. It takes a solid temperament along with hours of training to make a service dog. Travel is very stressful for pets. If your dog isn't a service dog, don't try to pass it off as one. Bite liability is a major thing. When you have your pet in public, you are liable for any injuries your dog gives to others.

A Service Dog is a medical necessity. It's not a fashion statement or a way to draw attention. It's a way for a person to be able to leave their home and possibly have a job. Being disabled isn't being lucky. It's having a helper with you 24/7. It's carrying your rescue meds, a water bowl for the dog, clean up bags, and making sure to find quiet places for your dog to be able to relieve itself. Having a Service Dog means people stopping you and asking rude, invasive questions about your medical condition. It's random folks demanding they be allowed to pet your dog, or distracting your dog which can imperil you. It's having people try to not allow you to enter their business, judging you on the poor behavior of someone's pet that was passed off as a working dog. It's also running the risk of having a poorly trained dog attack your helper because someone never socialized their pet and bought a vest on the internet because they wanted to have their precious snowflake with them.

For Pete's sake, if your dog isn't a working dog, don't try to pass it off as one.

knitting with dogs

Knitting with dogs sounds like an interesting skill, however, I've yet to get either pup to pick up the needles. Also, they're a bit large to manipulate into a fabric.

Training went something like this:

Me: bring it.

Dog: bring what?

Me: The needles

Dog: Needles? You're taking me to the vet, no......



Rather than follow through with that idea, I switched to teaching them to leave my yarn alone. The most important words in a Dog's vocabulary are: Sit, Stay, and Leave It.

Leave it was taught by saying those two words whenever the pup's nose went to something I didn't want him to pick up. If he looked at me, I praised him and petted him. If the pup picked up the item, I gently took it from him and said "Leave it." A few rounds of this game with random treats and the pup leaves my yarn alone.

If only I can come up with a command that means "No I don't want your slobber encrusted tennis ball in my knitting basket."

In with the New

I was reading one of the blogs I follow and discovered how you spend your New Year's day is how you will spend the rest of the year.
This theory makes sense out of last year's record breaking doctor visits and other medical issues. I took a spill carrying something to the compost heap, banged up my knee and twisted my ankle, the year went to Hades in a handbasket from that moment.

I believe this year has an auspicious beginning. While I did take down curtains and tossed them into the laundry room, we also managed to get a home improvement project completed. One I had the parts for but never got around to doing because it involved two people. I now have fabric shutters across my living room window! No more having everyone who drives by seeing what's on the telly. (Yes, the house is a tad close to the road) Better still, road noise has been cut in half.

I also managed to get in a bit of reading. I checked three books by Clara Parkes out of the library. The Book of Wool was fascinating reading. Her Book of Socks had loads of info on construction. I am seriously considering adding her Book of Yarn to my wish list. This one volume has information on the types of yarn, how it is structured, how it behaves, why it behaves that way and then there are the knitting patterns. I found four I wanted to cast on while flipped through the back of the book.

I also managed to do a wee bit of knitting today. I made up a watch cap in a denim blue colored yarn. It will be making its way to a friend who was promised a knit gift back in December 2010. He's been very patient and understanding. I need to bake some cookies to add into the package. That level of patience deserves a big reward.

Year in Review

Looking back, I managed to knit less. It seems I completed 20 projects this year. I must confess to reading a whole lot more. I devoured read 113 books. The books varied in length from novellas to full length sagas, there were some classics in the mix along with brain candy (romances) and a few non-fiction works.

My recent projects were all gift items or commissions. I completed two hats this week, a pair of house shoes and one head band from Knitty.com.

Calorimetry was made with Lion Brand's wool-ease yarn.


The dog blanket/sweater was made with Caron's Simply Soft. Yes it's an inexpensive acrylic. A dog will be wearing it and the owner doesn't know how to care for good wool

She requested I include a horse shoe for luck. If you click on those images, you can view the larger sized photo.

Hat number one is a simple cover

No real pattern, just cast on and start knitting until it was done.

Hat number two is a version of something found in the Leisure Arts book: Slouchy Beanies.


This year I have also discovered taking pictures of hats in the mirror is a challenge when you have short arms.

November daze

How time flies. I looked at the calendar yesterday and couldn't believe it was already the middle of November. I need to check the stashed presents and see who in the family I still want to shop for.

Along with copious amounts of reading (at 98 books for the year and counting), I have been working on smaller projects. The pumpkin bag I made up for Halloween inspired me to make a slouchy hat. I followed the pattern until the decreases matched a hat opening, changed to a pale green yarn and worked a few rows of ribbing.


I am not only amused by the results, I think I now have a hat to wear while shoveling the end of our driveway. If oncoming traffic cannot see this hat, they are blind.

In other knitting news, I am so far behind on my pay it forward knitting it isn't funny. My only excuse is procrastination. I have finished another project off that list and am going to be shipping it out this week.
Say hello to Norberta


The pattern is from Knitty.com, one of my favorite online knitting newsletters. I like the slightly puzzled air this little dragon has. It's as if everything the humans around her do is a wonder to her.

Last night, the hound and did some volunteer work. If it weren't for my dog, I probably would never be able to stand or move after an hour in a metal folding chair. Arthritis, dampness, plus fibromyalgia = a not happy body.
My fun discovery of the night is that the dog can recognize my phone's new ring tone. One week, with minimal calls and she was able to alert me to the phone ringing in my purse where it was sitting under a mound of coats.

On to the next project.

Knit and Natter

I've been slow finishing up my last scarf for the Super Bowl project. The pattern is sweet. Knitting 325 stitch rows can be boring. I really miss having a television. One good Ghost Hunters marathon and the scarf would be done.


It's a pretty slip stitch pattern. Unfortunately the pattern is not fully reversible. My only other complaint, I do not have quite enough yarn to complete the last pattern repeat:


I may go ahead and bind off since the scarf is almost 6 inches wide.

The other experiment in color work was a knit hat. I recently finished this little gem and sent it off to a friend.


The pattern can be found in Quick Nordic Knits by Ann-Mari Nilsson. The book is very nice. Patterns are easy to read and there are a variety of skill levels to play with while knitting. I checked a copy out of the library and felt compelled to knit the above hat. Thus showing my fondness for slouchy hats and berets.

In other news, I've decided to deactivate my account on facebook. This is in response to repeated "updates" and new features which make chatting with the relatives more complicated instead of simple. Snail mail is much less stressful even if it does cost money. Seriously, having something update and move each time a contact sneezes let alone likes something or writes a comment is almost seizure inducing. It certainly is nausea inducing.

Knitting, Politics, Budgets

There's been a lot on my mind lately. Most of it having to do with my personal budget. It seems like the cost of everything is going up however, our pay isn't. Add to this a person who has been paying less of his rent because things are tight for him and I'm getting stressed.

The cure for stress is knitting. I promised a baby blanket (or two) for twins back in March. I completed a nice nine patch blanket done in rows of three squares last week. It was supposed to be delivered to the new parents this week. My messenger has car troubles, a snug budget and is not traveling east on his vacation as planned. Instead, he's sitting around waiting for the car to be repaired.

Exhibit One:
Baby Blanket


I did get a package into the mail today. It contains the Tudor shawl, some toys and books for a friend who is going through a rough patch. I now know why I could not find an auction to put this shawl in over the spring months.

Now to the Political part of my program. There was a big recall of Turkey this week. At first I got very excited. I thought the members of our National Legislature had all been sent home.

I'm appalled at how they have twiddled, diddled and done next to nothing about our debt. If I ran my household like they are our country, I'd be in prison for financial fraud, or worse.

After thinking things over, I came up with some short term programs to help ease the country's financial woes. None of this is a cure, but it can't hurt to implement a few basic bits of common sense.

Pay cuts: when a private company has financial trouble, employees get pay cuts. Personally, I'd like to see those folks take a big pay cut. I'm of the firm opinion members of the House and Senate need to make 5 figures, just like members of our military.

Pensions: those little necessities often disappear during a financial crisis. The Legislature members can lose their pensions just like many folks have lost their IRA's, 401's and so called Social Security.

Retinues: Package them up as staff, or whatever you want to call them. There are too many people earning money for following their representative around. Let them get a real job in the real world, or let the states pay those people, but take them out of the national budget.

Cars, Planes, etc: no more five star hotels, minimize the amount of travel you all do, and drive economy vehicles. Show us you really do understand how the rest of the nation is doing.

Earmarks: I saw a reaction from an 'honorable' member of congress where he said "our peculiar institution" You know what, there was another 'peculiar institution' and it cost our nation money and lives. Drop Them. Stop adding expenses to bills/laws. No more back room deals where in "I'll vote for your healthcare if you add in this pet project" Half the time those pet projects have nothing whatsoever to do with the legislation being passed and only benefit the bozo who's pushing for it. We Cannot Afford IT. Quit Spending Money You Don't Have.

And last but not least, let's hear it for term limits. Honestly, there are people serving on Capital Hill who've been there for 30+ years. Do they still have a clue as to what will be in the best interests of the country? I doubt it. Recall them. As voters, we need to look at what our congress persons and senators are doing. We need to stop voting straight party tickets.
Until there are TERM LIMITS on the seats in both the House and Senate, we the voters need to enforce term limits.

NO INCUMBENTS IN 2012

Working and Reading

Over the years I have become less heat tolerant. This means less time where I can easily work in my butterfly garden. I decided to make an attempt at beating back what is fast looking like a rain forest. The back yard is the finger system for our septic tank, so all of the plants are very happy and very big.

After wacking down a pokeberry shrub and taking out the sapling which seems to have a love affair with our deck, I sprayed the driveway weeds with a combination of vinegar and salt. I got the recipe from a friend who swears by it. She also warned me nothing will grow in the sprayed areas for two years. I'm good with the idea of no drive way weeds for that long, or longer.

Since it is summer, and warm, I spend a lot of time reading. So far this year, I've read 57 books, most of them are novella length or full sized novels of 400 or more pages. I should focus more on growing my direct sales business. My only excuse is that reading feels safer to me.

Knitting continues, I'm working on a hat, a baby blanket and want to knit up Alan Dart's chess set. I got that pattern in the June copy of Simply Knitting. It looks like something fun to make and it will be useful since I like to play chess. I might try adapting the pattern and giving the pieces specific personalities based on a series of books. We'll see how ambitious I get over the fall.

Ramadan started today. I have a few Muslim friends who fast during this time. I wish them a good holiday. Lammas is in another day, to all of my Pagan friends, have a good celebration of first fruits.

Little bit of Knitting, Little bit of Life

Since my last post, I've made another scarf for that super bowl project, taught another class or two, traveled to Mississippi and made it to New Orleans for a long weekend.

I did a bit of experimenting with yarn while traveling in the truck and decided jaggerspun was not going to give the effect I was looking for on the needles I had with me.


This swatch went to the frog pond. And I pulled out a cone of cotton yarn from the same company. My first lace scarf turned out nicely, even if some of the cat tracks are from a polydactyl cat.


I got a bit adventurous and made a toy gargoyle. The pattern called for making it in the round. I was not up to playing with nine (9) stitches on double point needles, so I made it flat and sewed up the seams. Instead of a traditional grey, my guardian of the computer is a bit pink and perky.

The photo is a tad blurry because Nugget moved. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Blankets, Scarves and Hats, Oh My!

It's winter here in the Midwest which means the weather forecasters are predicting gloom, doom and end of the world scenarios. So far, it's been a normal winter.

With that in mind, and my resolution to knit more, I've dug in my stash and started to use yarns I bought with certain projects in mind. I am finally getting around to them.

I made one baby blanket and have two more on the needles


Then there is the blue and white insanity which is called the Super Bowl Scarf Project
This is my third contribution to the cause


I wanted to make something quick. I needed to see progress in my knitting and pulled out a partial skein of bright red wool along with a skein of mixed red, blue and purple wool blend.
When I cast on, I thought it would be nice to make a beret. I was too lazy to dig out a pattern and put 82 stitches on a US size 10 needle, closed the circle and managed not to twist the stitches. That is always cause for celebration.
After an inch of k2p2 ribbing, I began to knit plain. I decided to place markers every 21 stitches and increased one stitch before and after each marker on every fourth row. This gave me a nice shape. When I thought I had enough increases, I decreased one stitch front and back of each marker at every fourth row.
The decreases eventually made a need to switch to double point needles, and once I was down to 8 stitches, I cut the yarn, slipped the tail through those final stitches and tightened up the hat.
After two rounds in the wash with my darks (heavy agitation, lots of pounding) the hat was the right size for me to wear.


I love it when a plan comes together

Travel Tale, or An Adventure in Attending a Funeral

Travel Tale:

We left Indy around 2pm. There were light flurries and the temp was dropping. Somewhere near Lieber State recreational area, the skies cleared off and we got to see wild turkeys in some open fields. Really neat!

The weather started to turn when we got close to Terre Haute
After we crossed the Illinois state line, things got really interesting with lots of white outs, less traffic and we saw two semi's on the shoulder of the road, one of which had been rear-ended.

The state police closed I70 at IL route 130 in Greenup
We were routed onto US 40 and got to travel a new (for us) section of the National Road. We saw a nice little fair grounds, a covered bridge, some cool older homes and lots of little towns. There were volunteer fire fighters and various town constables at some cross roads, directing traffic so that we stayed on route 40.

Teutopolis, IL is where we got to sit for two hours. This village boasts a high school, a very pretty Catholic church (St. Francis of Assisi) a used car lot, some bars (closed due to weather) a variety of stores and two gas stations. Eventually, we got to the edge of town and found a small yet steep hill with a jack-knifed semi blocking it. Since there was a corn field with an access road right next to us and we needed a pit stop, D turned the truck and round and we went to the Marathon station. We all took a restroom break. Georgie-girl got to stroll around the parking lot (the wind was really bad) and since the Subway sandwich part of the station was closed, we got back in the truck and moved over to the Casey's General Store. They had fresh made pizza by the slice. It was hot, so it was good.

After sitting for 2.5 hours, talking and texting with various people (trying to find an alternate route because we wanted to move somewhere, anywhere), the hill was cleared and traffic started to move. According to the nice people at the general store, the ONLY road into Effingham was route 40. So, we were stuck being in a conga line of traffic that was stopping and starting at random intervals while folks slipped and slid down that untreated hill.

We managed to get back on I70 near the big cross There were some slick spots, some more white outs and lots of wind as we continued west on I 70. Near Vandalia, IL the weather started to settle down. It was still windy, but there was not as much blowing and drifting snow.

We continued on to Collingswood erm, Collingdale OK, I was really tired and couldn't say the name of our destination right after 6 hours in a truck. We took the first exit for Collinsville, and called to the hotel. Found out we needed to get back on the interstate and go to the next Collinsville exit. Arrived at the Motomart near the hotel and got some bottled water so I could take my meds. Checked in at hotel where Georgie-girl was greeted with enthusiasm and we were given a special hang tag for our room door to let the staff know there was a dog in residence. (extra coolness!) I took my meds, we visited with friends, then hubby went in search of food with friends while the pooch and I lounged on a bed, looking over a knitting book because I really needed to decompress and had zero desire to get back into a car or truck.

We sat up visiting, (holding a wake) until 1am which is when folks decided sleep was in order since we needed to be at the funeral home later that morning. Had a decent night's sleep, got up and enjoyed a huge bowl of oatmeal with strawberries and a glass of cranberry juice. Helped hubby eat his hash browns and a slice of bacon. Then it was time to get dressed up and head over to the funeral home.

The visitation time was nice. We got to meet up with Gene's family and they are very sweet folks. The service had a message of remembering to celebrate our friend's life. It was short and sweet. Then came the drive to Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. This place is large and very busy. The graveside ceremony was brief and chilly. The funeral home brought along stadium blankets to put on the benches and over the knees of the family.

Georgie-girl was not happy about the salute. She's not a fan of firearms. I petted her and said whoa each time I heard the slide of a round being jacked into place. She pressed back against my legs and against Gene's cousin (who I was sitting next to). The bugler played taps, then the service was over.

We had another hour long drive back into town where we stopped at a friend's house for supper and around 7:30pm, hubby and I returned to the hotel to change into travel clothing, load our stuff and get back on the interstate to head home.

The roads were clear, dry and there was little to no sign of the bad weather until we got to the stretch that had been closed down. 9 semi's were off the road. One was on it's side in the median and one had rolled over. Once we were east of Greenup, IL, there were no more trucks off the road. We made it back to Indy around 11pm and unloaded our stuff. The pooch was very happy to be home and the cats were happy to see us.

This Hat Which is Completed

I did it, I finally got the hat down to normal hat size. There was great rejoicing at this achievement.


It sits a little high in this photo because of my hair clip. There is enough room to wear the hat with my hair pinned up, yet it is snug enough to not blow off if my hair is down.

Knit in the round on US size 9 needles with Fritisgarn wool. This is a bulky yarn from Iceland (I think the band is in Icelandic) and it knits up very nicely. The yarn does make a solid material when felted that has enough play in it to allow for shaping.



In other news, I'm currently listening to the sounds of rattan being loaded into the truck for tomorrow's Crown Tourney. The shop will be there rain or shine. I'm staying home with the guard pets and doing a bit of baking. The weather has been good for staying indoors and being productive in a warm environment.

Wool Sorting

The Sunday after the Corydon Fiber Festival, I was given a surprising offer. My church's organist is a spinner. He had three bags of wool sitting at home not being spun. Did I want it? I said sure. I figured the fleeces can be sorted, cleaned up and used for SCA demos to teach children about spinning.

I was expecting 8 - 15 pound fleeces. Hubby weighed himself while holding two of the bags. I was gifted with two fleeces that weigh approximately 20 pounds. 0.o


exhibit A, two out of three bags full.

Today I popped one of them out of the plastic and sighed.

It should not retain this shape. Carefully unrolling it, I discovered the sheep had not been sheared in one pass. The fleece was in sections. This was not a bad thing since the belly wool with most of the debris was one section, the sides were two more sections and the back was a final section.

I found two bits of hoof paring in the fleece.

this one was the larger of the two.

As you can see, I had expert supervision. Miss Priss, diva kitty of the universe, had a good time sniffing at the wool, rubbing her cheeks on it and finally trying to prevent me from taking it away from her.


Once ownership was settled, (I have the thumbs, I win) she had to check out the stuff that is heading to my compost heap


My final haul from one of the fleeces is pretty impressive.


I'm not looking forward to washing and carding all of this. I may take everything over to a mill and let them do the hard part so I can do the fun part of spinning yarn.

This Hat Which Needs Felting

Last weekend, I went to the Corydon fiber festival. It's not Rhinebeck by any stretch of the imagination. However, there were some good bargains to be found. I also had nice visits with other textile fanatics.

I had planned on knitting in the car on the way there and back. Alas, I ran around the house like a mad woman looking for the right sized needle the night before and the morning of our trip and had no luck. I took along the yarn and pattern just in case I found the right sized circular needle and found zero circular knitting needles. Oh well. If I'd been knitting I may not have seen the deer, the fall leaves or the neat older homes along the way.

We got home safely and I found the blasted needle. It was hiding in my basket, laughing at me. I cast on red Fristisgarn:

and got to work. I knit a few times during the week. Then today came the big burst of "just another row" followed by, "I can see the end" and the inevitable "why don't you get larger?"


I did eventually have to switch to double points and an hour after that, I had the following:




I am not too sure of the brim. It may need to be a touch wider. Tomorrow this hat will be taking the big plunge into hot water with lots of beating and felting. If all goes well, it will be a person sized hat.

Of Scarves and Bracelets

I finally completed a garter stitch scarf for the superbowl scarf project. It should not have taken so long to work on. I blame my lack of motivation on how hectic life has been. Also I blame it on my short attention span. I only knit on this project while watching Ghost Hunters on Wednesday evenings.


Last night I went to the local library and taught a beginning knitting class to 9 people. Two folks showed up late and didn't get started since the library closed 30 minutes after they arrived. They did make head way in getting yarn from a hank into a ball. Next month I have got to remember to take along my swift and my ball winder. Those tools will speed things up.

I am planning on sending out an email to the students with an invite/reminder for the local knitting group's gathering on the third Wednesday of the month. I think they'll enjoy it and they will also have more time with knitters while they work on their scarves.

Recently some friends and I were chatting about ways to keep small children from wandering off in a crowd. I mentioned the bracelets linked with cord my younger step-daughter and her mother would wear. This system was made up because the younger child showed signs of being the second coming of Houdini.


There are two bracelets made from ribbon and attached to each other with a sturdy cord. I made the above as a present for one of the ladies in chat night after she requested a set.

~~

I'm still fighting the major depression. It's been a rough season. One daughter was rear ended and is fine. We're now shopping for a replacement car for her. The other daughter's vehicle needed serious repairs due to parts wearing out, our water heater was feeling neglected and sprung a leak. That's been replaced.
To top it all off, a friend passed away over the weekend. I'm alternating between numb and celebrating. You have to understand. This lady spent 25 years as a quadriplegic and is no longer stuck in a hospital bed or a wheel chair.

More knitting will be forthcoming. I promise.

Power Outages and Knitting

Sunday morning we were awakened by a loud boom. I honestly thought we were finally going to get rain. The thunder like sound didn't repeat which made me open my eyes to check the time. My clock was dark. That motivated me to sit up and look out the window to the south.

It was still dark outside, and the traffic light a block away didn't appear to be working. There were however sparks. Lots of sparks from a downed power line and blinking red lights from emergency crews. Someone hit a pole and took down the power lines. No one was hurt. Four hours later, we had electricity and water. The perils of having a well include not having water when the power goes out. This accident made me realize it was approaching the time of year to start keeping jugs of water in the house.

The rational part of me was very glad to find out no one was hurt. The irrational part of my brain went into full parent mode. I spent Sunday alternating between wanting to smack someone for texting while driving and wanting to shake them for endangering themselves and others. I also wanted to celebrate their not being killed.

I'm in a better mental place than I was with my last entry. As you can see by the way I bounce around I am not fully recovered.
Since this blog is supposed to be about needle work and pets, I bring you a poncho.


This one was knit on US size 13 needles using a boucle yarn. I wanted to play with color and texture so I knit a section, joined the garment in a circle and knit more then bound off and cast on in a different direction for the bottom. I'm rather pleased with the way the yarn's colors played out as I worked.

I have also been working on a scarf for when this city hosts the Super Bowl. Since I'm not using the "official" yarn, the scarf I'm making is for a friend who plans on being a volunteer at the big game in 2012. Pictures of blue and white alpaca next time. I promise.

Irony

I have a head cold. This morning I discovered I was nearly out of decongestant and took a trip to the pharmacy. When I left the store, I discovered a flock of Turkey Vultures, known locally as buzzards, roosting on the building to the south of the pharmacy.
This made me pause and wonder if it was nature's way of saying I was going to be dealing with this head cold for a long time.

needlework and other things

I have a fondness for fine needlework and a friend recently pointed me to Chef Tiger's Kitchen which is doing a give away. The needlework set/box has very pretty accessories in it.

I'm making a second cozy for the vigil light at church. This one is in liturgical red. For those who haven't see my post about the purple one I made, the base for our vigil light is very large and ornate. There are certain times of year when covering it is desired by our current priest. Some of us in the parish think covering the base year round is a desirable thing.

For those of you who live in the United States of America and are fans of Avon products, they are having a sale on lip gloss. Each Glazewear purchase comes with the opportunity to win a 2010 chevy. Check with your favorite independent AVON sales representative, or visit my little store for more details.

On the Road Again

I'm not, neither are the critters. Our rattan business however, will be in Perrysburg, Ohio this weekend at an SCA event. We're hoping to make lots of fighters happy with our current selection of rattan. There is more stock on order. It has not arrived as of this evening. The thought has occurred to us that we will get the call saying it is at the local Yellow Freight hub about the time our rig is in northern Indiana.

In other news, the Fibro has settled down and my inner voice is no longer shrieking like Miracle Max's wife. I have passed the pre-screening for a study. Fibromyalgia patients who qualify will be sorted into two groups, one group will receive savella, the other will be receiving a placebo. I don't care which one I end up in. I'm just tickled I can help others by participating. The more doctors can learn about this disease, the better the odds of them finding a cure.

I am working on a few knitting projects. No photos to show off at present. I completed a prayer shawl last night and need to package it for shipping. I plan on working on hubby's socks next followed by finishing up my wimple. I want to stick with some short and easy projects for this month before I begin making baby things for various friends.

Went to the Animal Fair

Actually I went to the Fiber Event in Greencastle, Indiana. It was a very nice sunny day which made wandering through buildings at the Putnam county fairgrounds enjoyable. Lots of lovely yarns to fondle, pretty fleeces to covet and some spinning wheels that were works of art.

I had a good time. I was frugal. I came away with a small project bag, three skeins of yarn and a toy for the younger daughter. I thought she'd be amused by a dog made out of hot glue. I was right.

Today was a meet and greet at City Dog Grocery in Broad Ripple Village. It was very nice to take the pooch to meet up with bulldogs, assorted other pure breed dogs, more bulldogs and lovable mutts. Lots of tail wagging and puppy cuddling going on. I hope the fund raiser/raffle for the local English Bull Dog Rescue does well.

The pooch and I stopped at a local cemetery on the way home. It's a nice place to walk and relax after being in a large gathering. She's a hound mix so getting to sniff and stretch her legs is a very good thing.

Hubby is at an SCA event in Ohio. We're hoping he does well selling rattan there. It would be nice to have a bit more income since our roof decided to leak yet again.