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