Nana, the Other Fiber Source (a dog and fiber post)

I have a Briard and they are a lovely, if busy dog.  They also have this wonderful long fur and I have a thing for big fuzzy animals.  Unfortunately, it is possibly the all time worse choice for where I live.  Her fur is a velcro mat for every foxtail, cockaburr, corkscrew or miner's lice burr the grasses around here can produce.  Since she and I spend a great deal of time outside this is a problem.  One morning at the ranch equals 45 minutes of going through her feet and legs on top of the usual grooming requirements.  In addition, she really isn't a hot weather dog.  Consequently I took the desperate, radical step and had her sheared.

Before shearing

If you look closely you can see how she also collects twigs that have to be untangled from her furry feet.

After Shearing

She looks ridiculous - but she doesn't pant as much and after a morning at the barn she only required a quick foot check for foxtails and we both breathed easier. One of the side benefits of this shearing was a large zip lock bag of Nana hair and a book lent to me by the groomer.

 The guild heads to the 3rd annual Spindle Camp this June and I think it will be a perfect time to try spinning dog hair.  I wonder if I can get a nice scarf out of this and it is definitely time to get a pair of hand carders. 

As much as I love my furry dog and think she looks dumb naked, shearing may become an annual event unless I move to a much more friendly Briard environment.

Back to Nana

Nana at 3 months

Nana at 16 months

Nana is a 17 month old Briard,  she is currently doing fine, not having had a head shaking seizure since November 30th.  I keep thinking it is a deficit in the neurotransmitter dopamine.  I wish I had a neurological vet student in my pocket to study this.  Her seizures also seem to be food triggered. As long as I keep her food tightly regulated and consistent she seems to do just fine.

This first year of dog ownership has been roller coaster ride of new and exciting medical events.  Some expected, like being spayed, others well not so much. The Briard breed can be a handful. They are busy, smart, independent and inclined to think they can get back to you later.  It isn't that they don't love you, they just aren't the type of dog you micro-manage.  The border collie lives to be told what to do.  The Briard is the independent contactor.  "So you want me to take care of the sheep?"  "Got it......and don't tell me how to do my job and what are you still doing here, if I need you I'll let you know".   She still thinks it is an equal partnership and obedience is optional.  Thank goodness she is a slut for food - my secret weapon.

They say people are their dogs, after listening to my trainer (who has border collies) about what I needed to do with Nana after one particular difficult training session, I realized I wasn't a lot different.  "Let me think about that and I'll get back to you".  Can't fault the dog for a personality trait we both share - but it sure can be annoying.

The Unicorn Hat

Nana in the background

This hat has been hanging out waiting to go live with Knitpicks Independent Designer Program.  I posted it today at Ravelry  http://www.ravelry.com/ under my Victoria Johnston Designs Store, and it should hit Knitpicks next week.

Yep, it is a little hippie or at least the model pronounced it so, the model being my oldest daughter.

  I am really going to have to improve my photo techniques.  My youngest modeled the last hat so I was using my oldest daughter this time around.  Took me almost 3 weeks to catch up with her to take any kind of pictures at all.  Next time I'm going to just grab the nearest body, jam a hat on their head and start snapping pictures - the OMG and WTF moments should be priceless.  The Rav pattern has pictures of my daughter while the Knitpicks pdf  will have pictures of one of their models wearing the hat (I think they preferred a less earthy look).

As for the pattern, I liked the idea of experimenting with stripping and a large one color motif.  This unfortunately made for more fussy color work, but I like the effect.  One of the best things about knitting hats is if you absolutely hate what you are knitting at least it will be over soon.  I would not like tipping into hate territory early in the process with a huge complex sweater thing.  I know this because it took me 17 years to finish "The Sweater from Hell".  I even tried to pay someone to finish it for me, but nooooo.  I finally made a resolution last year to finish everything that was left undone.   I buckled down and finished it in no time.  Amazing what 17 years of practice can do - didn't seem hard at all and knit up really quickly.  I actually don't mind seaming and even that was enjoyable.  The moral to this story is: yes sometimes it is better to put off till tomorrow what you could be doing today.

Happy knitting

And The Darwin Award Goes To......

For those of you who may have read my Life With Nana Blog, you will know that she had a form of seizure and in my excitement of getting her to the emergency vet I left a pot of boiling chicken on the stove.  Now I can tell you with complete certainty that chicken will not boil for the 2.5 hours you are gone at the vet.  In fact it will create what is called a protein fire and fill your small condo with grey smoke that will rival the famous London Fogs.  This is not, I repeat not a good thing.

I knew the instant I drove up and could smell the acrid flavor of burning metal what I had done.  Opening the door, turning off the stove, taking the pot outside and opening every window and exhaust fan I had was only the beginning.  I even had a nice chat with the fire department who were called by my neighbors when the smoke began to billow out the front door and contaminate the entire neighborhood.  A couple of hours later Nana and I were able to get in the condo and I was especially grateful that I hadn't tried to boil chicken in a Teflon pan.  In spite of my best efforts, both the newt and the cat survived.  The cat who enjoys living under the bed had stayed there and had probably the best air quality available through the ordeal.  The newt is an immortal and is going on 16 years.  Someone told me they only live 4 years, but my oldest daughter got it when she was 10 or 11 years old and is now 27.  She moved out, newt stayed with me and will live forever.

Protein fires are acrid, they spew and embed every wall, carpet, and piece of clothing you own with a vile smell.  It doesn't go away.  Waking up the next morning with a headache and nausea I called the Insurance Co.  "Hi, I left a pot on the stove and it really stinks in here.  Is that Covered?"  Sounds stupid, but it is no laughing matter. The Insurance will cover.   The Fire/Smoke experts came out and issued the opinion that I needed to move out.  "This is the worst protein fire incident I've ever seen."  They brought an air scrubber which has been running every since.  Hey, you have to be special to leave a pot on fire for three hours and not notice.  The soft goods people showed up. These are the people that scoop up all your clothes, bedding, curtains, purses, shoes and stuffed animals and have them laundered, dry cleaned or O-zoned.  They said:  "This is the worst protein fire incident I've ever smelled".  Ah yea.....I've heard that before. 

It is a little weird to know that all of your clothes are being inventoried piece by piece on a computer as they get ready to clean them.  One thong, one moth eaten cashmere sweater, you get the picture. I discovered things I didn't know I had, or forgot I had.  I cleaned out the pockets of the jackets in the hall closet and got 2 pairs of glasses, 3 lipsticks, a couple of dollars, lots of dog and horse cookies and enough spare change to do several loads of laundry.  It just feels odd having someone go through every piece of clothing you own, feels far more intimate than it should - a sort of personality strip search that is forced on you. They will return a small portion of "rush" cleaning and the rest I will get back in 3 weeks.  It took five hours of sorting into different bags labeled wash, dry clean or O-zone to get my soft goods into the back of the truck.  In addition, I have yarn, lots and lots of yarn, roving, hand spun, cones of wool, etc.  All loaded and headed to be O-zoned to remove the contamination.  I have a "rush" order on 7 balls of yarn to be delivered on Thursday.  Why you ask, because it is the yarn that needs to go out to the test knitters for a hat I just submitted to KnitPicks for consideration in their Independent Designer Program.  I even have a project on needles in a plastic project bag that is headed to the O-zone chamber.  I am going to have a heck of an organizational task when it all comes back.

The structural clean up crew will be here on Monday to begin work.  It is one heck of a way to do a pre-winter cleaning.  But when this is done, I will have clean air, clean walls, carpets, floors, clothes, bedding, painted ceilings, clean ducts, and an ongoing sense of gratitude.  It could have been so much worse.

As for my smoke alarm - gosh it doesn't work.  It is the hardwired kind, no batteries required.  That is also on the list of things to change immediately.

As for Nana and her seizure/tremors they continue, but I'm working on that.

Tams, Shopping and Little Sleep (A fiber and doggie post)

No pony ride for me today.  Nana has been up since midnight with a nasty case of diarrhea.  I thought things were going so well, until the mystery of yesterday.  I have no idea what she might have gotten into.  I watch her like a hawk these days.  You wouldn't know she felt bad, she roared around the dog park this morning, attacked my pant leg, ate well but still seems to have a nasty gut, though it seems to be slowing down and the next couple of days will be key.

So, I find myself puttering around at home, having been up since 4:30 this morning and given up on getting any more sleep I cruised the KnitPicks site moving the sample colors in the Palette yarn line around to try and find an adequate replacement for the color Mustard which will be going bye-bye.  Brass Heather looked like a possible replacement at $3 something a skein.  I am still working on solving the problem of a soon to be discontinued color in my Summer Dragonfly Tam.  $56.00 later and several hours (not all staring at the KnitPicks website) my purchase was complete.  Obviously I should not shop while sleep deprived.  All resolve goes down the drain, but I had to have those size 8 interchangeable needles or a current project would never be finished.  The only size 8 I have are 16 inch circulars and they will never hold the approx 175 stitches I plan to pick up and knit, not even if I jammed them on there.  Things are getting a little disorganized around here so the project bag was a must.  By then it was all down hill.  I've been looking at the Knitting Math software for some time and there I was just $14.00 dollars short of free shipping, I mean really, what's a girl to do.  So I bought the software!  Of course there were a few piddling other things, like the magnetic thingies that hold your place on a chart, a finger strand thingy, all very necessary I assure you. 

I also managed to get the next chart done for the winter tam and can begin knitting that while I wait for my order from KnitPicks to arrive.  In the meantime I have posted a big note on my Computer:

  "STEP AWAY FROM THE CREDIT CARD" 

We will see how long that lasts.

The Problem of Fair Isle

I have just discovered a problem with designing Fair Isle....what the *bleep* do you do when they discontinue one of the colors you used for shading?  I thought I was so done with that pattern, I sure don't want to redesign it again.  Blech!   Call me naive, but it didn't occur to me how quickly it would become stale dated.  I, of course, posted my dilemma to Ravelry and got some wonderful advice - Rav is really one of the nicest places to hang out.  So I am trying to figure out what color will work as a replacement and then if I can weasel some friend to knit a swatch with the new color and compare the results to the old colorway.....    I have an email in to KnitPicks to see if they have a color recommendation, but haven't heard back yet.  Maybe I should try just sticking to one color or maybe create my very own line of hand dyed stuff......that would be a no.  I can hardly find the time to continue on the winter tam what with the tawny tornado around the house, much less start dyeing and selling yarn.

Much of my time lately has been caught up trying to entertain a year old animated dust mop who after a bit of a tough go with her tummy is now on an eating regime that works for her.  Of course the relative down side of this is she feels so much better and is one very, very busy girl.  Trying to keep her entertained is time consuming. I finally broke down and took her to the groomers to so they could do something with her bangs.  They are so long they generally need a scrunchy so she can see.  This is relatively ineffectual.

This before picture shows that the eyes are completely hidden - can't see a thing. 

After a facial trim, you can see eyes!!  Rather sad eyes actually and her ears are all wilted from the stress of the groomer.  Poor puppy, but she has recovered and is currently sleeping after a morning at the barn. 

Well, I am avoiding the Summer Dragonfly Tam problem hoping it will magically solve itself, but I had better get back to it and patch together some solution for those who don't already have the color "mustard" from the Palette fingerling line

Simplify, Simplify, Simplify....or NOT!!

Today in a fit of over enthusiasm I created a Facebook and a Blog for Nana.  Yes, I probably am "way over the top", but really it wasn't my idea.  Ok, that was a pretty poor excuse - but what a great way to go on and on about my dog.  But frankly, I've done easier things.  The Blog was easy to create and is currently a work in progress and I blatantly stole a post (with a few edits) from here to start.  The Facebook was a nightmare.  I created and deleted a couple of facebook pages and of course I had to create and delete a couple of emails that were linked to the facebook pages.  Deleted forever, does not mean deleted in cyber space I discovered.  I got so twisted around I'm hoping I remember what I finally ended up with as an email and login. 

As a goal of simplifying my life and I have definitely fallen off the wagon.

Find Nana on Facebook at Nana LeBriard

You can find Life with Nana at the following link.

http://thetawneytornado.blogspot.com/