Dragon Ass. It Must Be Contagious.

A case of dragon ass has hit the south, in a big way, because my ass has definitely been draggin' lately, and I'm not the only one. Evidence here. My pal Pinkie still managed to give blood and make housewarming gifts, and me? I managed to have a yard sale on Saturday and sleep my Sunday away before making spaghetti for dinner. Things are slow. I haven't even managed to finish the poochie sweater I promised to make for Pinkie, and that thing only takes a few hours to make.

My master plan was to take my knitting with me to the yard sale, but I didn't quite get that far. It's probably best I didn't. With the evidence I am sporting of a nice, deep sunburn on my shoulders and face, a certain someone (my MOTHER) kept skipping her turn helping customers, and kept herself parked under the shade tree. Clever gal my mom. I did not inherit that gene as I jumped up with each new visitor, never once thinking about retrieving my sunscreen from home. I did pretty well though, selling most all of the crap I wasn't able to pawn off on my friend Chad for his new house. Our friend Debbie probably made more money than I did (although she was left with a lot of stuff also) and my mom actually ended up in the hole. I'm not sure if it was all of those trips to the gas station she kept making, or if she was actually paying people to take her stuff off. I was left with $80 more than I had the day before, a house in disarray, but a lot less stuff to put back. I'm happy. My new motto is "if I don't use it, lose it". I think that is a side effect of living with a man that kept every little thing he ever got. First went the man, now goes the stuff. I hear his new house has a big basement, all I can say is he's going to need it!!!

Before I head off to slather myself yet again in Aloe and Lidocaine lotion, I will leave you with my first attempt at knitting with colors using a grid pattern.

The PTBNL....Revealed

Finally, I get to talk about the PTBNL. Yes I know. What is all the hype about a silly little knitted sweater for my dog? Let me tell a little back story:

Back when I first started knitting, I thumbed through every pattern book I could find, trying to decide what kind of patterns I'd like to take on. I'm a pretty practical gal, and at the time we were having to buy new dog sweaters every month or so. We had two growing puppies and it was wicked cold outside. A dog sweater! I kept finding myself checking out dog sweaters. Unfortunately, in my pre-Ravelry days, the only patterns I could find were crochet, or detailed knitted ones. Something I could not take on being a newbie knitter.

I learned to knit about a year ago, and knitted a bad scarf and the checkered baby blanket. Then came the great tomato tragedy of 2007. I sliced off the end of one of my fingers with a tomato slicer. Ok so there was nothing great or tragic about it, and after 8 months it has healed up nicely, but "tomato slicer incident" just didn't have the same ring to it. I still have limited feeling in the tip of my finger, but it no longer hurts or hinders my knitting. I guess technically you could say I have only been knitting for a few months, if you add my actual time with the needles together. But I digress, let's get back to the pink poochie sweater:

I sucked terribly in the beginning, and could never imagine myself actually being able to make a dog sweater. (or anything practical for that matter!) I guess you could say it has been my goal from the start to complete a dog sweater. It has been the one thing that has stuck in my head thinking that if I complete it, I can call myself a knitter.

I know it is silly, but I feel like today I tackled a big hurdle, and made it!

Now on to the pattern:
I found this insanely easy Talking Tails Easy Dog Sweater. Had I found this pattern last year I probably would have made it from the start. Thank you Ravelry! I used Caron Simply Soft in Watermelon, about half a skein. It was an extra I had purchased by accident for the Wild Stripes Blanket. I want to tackle it again at some point with a heavier weight yarn in a different color. One downfall of loving baby blankets, you end up with a lot of bright colors. I am really glad I found this pattern. It fits Gidget perfectly with no modifications, and it will be a good way to attempt cable knitting, knitting with colors, and following a pattern chart. Gidget is going to have a larger wardrobe than her owner by the time I'm done.

Back to the task at hand...

Has Friday ever snuck up on you? I mean, you are well into Friday afternoon when it finally hits you: IT'S FRIDAY! I don't mean that you don't realize what day it is (although not working it is possible that very thing could happen to me), but I mean when it's Friday and you know it's Friday, but then you realize what that means. You know what I'm talking about! That very thing happened to me. I was updating all FOUR of my blogs, planning a bridal shower I am co-hosting, working on invitations, getting a little website work done and BAM! The phone rings....it's Friday, and I am spending the weekend away from home. I packed myself some dirty (yes dirty, but to be washed upon arriving at my destination) clothes, some jammies, the necessary toiletries, my laptop, and of course my knitting bag, and I was off. And now here I am.


The bud, the brother, and the sister-in-law are off to TN, the puppies are all tucked in. The wind is blowing insanely hard outside, fall is in the air, and I am inside with my knitting bag, my laptop, some sorbet, and the Girls Next Door. Yes that is right, Holly, Bridget, Kendra, and Hef. What can I say? It is my one guilty pleasure. But poor TV aside I am hoping to have the PTBNL completed tomorrow. I am so excited to complete the PTBNL. It will be a big milestone for this newbie knitter. It's actually something useful and wearable! I can't wait! I also think Holly, Bridget, and Kendra would approve of my current project.

Well I am off to enjoy the solitude: Me, my faithful superhero sidekick Gidget, my sorbet, and my knitting. I hope to have good news to report soon!