Happy Easter Monday

We had the pleasure of having a lovely visit from one of my forever friends for Easter! Unfortunately the Kootenay weather did not oblige and kept us indoors for most of the weekend, thankfully a little red wine and some yarn kept us fully entertained! Although she had a ten page paper to be writing, it only took a little arm twisting to force her to knit something for me! In a few short hours she made me this wonderful washcloth. The pattern does not show very well on camera, but it was very wonderful, and she even made little holes in it so you can hang it from a hook!

She is also a potter! One day we could share a studio and maybe even have that dreamy artisan sign outside our house on the highway. She made this gorgeous mug and gave it to me!

I gave her a quick lesson in spinning and she was spinning away in minutes! Good student and good teacher!

The other big event of the weekend was to visit the alpacas again. But they are all in the barns right now, as they are being sheared next week and if the fleeces are wet, the man will not shear them. So we said a quick hello, and didn't even take any pictures. It's always good to visit them and get a little reminder of what we are working towards!

Dorian wasn't quite sure what to make of his Aunty Jen, he even barked at her at first, which was a little shocking, so we had a good talk about that with our trainer yesterday afternoon. He turned the charm on later, we're not sure why he is having so much trouble with strangers. We wonder if it is part of living in the country and never seeing people very often. Lingy, however, just couldn't get enough of her, she was always sitting on, near, or in front of Jen! It was very exciting to be out of confinement AND have company! But she is back in confinement today, two more weeks to go.

Here's Dorian, what a sweet pea....

...or not....KILL THE POO!!!

Poor Maddy, resting, resting and more resting....

At least she can watch paint dry, there's lots of that going on!

The Patient II

Madeline and Tommy are home from another marathon trip to Calgary. Maddy's staples were removed from her beautiful scar and she had her leg all checked out. The scar is wonderful, however, our vet was less then impressed with the amount of scar tissue that had built up so she has been assigned another three weeks of bed rest! Good lord! She is going to be a flash card genius by the end of this, she'll probably just start speaking english soon!

We certainly didn't expect any less from our Madeline though, the vet said at this point in recovery most normal dogs aren't even putting weight on the leg yet, and Maddy is walking around like she's training for a marathon, and even though we don't allow her to walk unless she is going out for a potty, that amount of using the leg has been to much to build up scar tissue, which is what the vet wants because it will help hold the knee in place. (A tibial crest transposistion is what she had done in case I didn't mention that before).

He also said we won't really have to do and physio or rehad, because clearly she is doing her own rehab. Thats Madeline, always on her own schedule.

Dorian was so glad to have them back last night. He is lost without his big sister to annoy. His big chance to play with anything he wants, and he walks around like he's bored! He had a nice snuggle with dad last night on the lazyboy (and on the orange chair).

Update: On thursday night...wait for it.....

I cast on the cowichan sweater!!!!

It looks fabulous! Every row I finish and look back at takes me back to Grandma's house in Warmen. I can see her with a scarf on her head if weather was mild and her baseball cap with a pompom on the top other times! I wish we knew where her sweater was! I wish I could have knit with her. But unfortunately I was a snotty teenager then, and not interested in knitting. I have many regrets of things I would have enjoyed with my grandma now, that I didn't when I was younger. But I'm glad we had such a great grandma for all the memories we did create.

Tyeing scarfs around our chest and running around her yard in our panties (makeshift bathing suits!)

Letting us cut all her flowers to make flower arrangements in pie plates cover with foil.

Playing in the rain barrel (ew!) on the side of the house.

Playing for hours on the big two bench swing.

Emptying her garden of all the peas and strawberries. (Hm sounds like Julien?)

Playing with her bible study kids.

The ring toss game, using canning lid rubber seals.

The scary scary basement!

Oh the wonderful dress up clothes in the scary basement!

The green swan that always had a candy in it.

Putting curlers in her hair.

Pushing the couches together to make a "crib" for us big kids to sleep in.

That terrible fridge that always pinched our fingers.

The gajillion salt and pepper shakers.

The rocking chair that sits in my living room now, that I rock all my puppies in.

Playing Jack and Jill on the teeny hill on her front lawn.

This list could go on for miles, but those are some of my favorites. oh wait I forgot the best one, Saskatoon Berry Perogies....

I wonder if her list would be the same?

Forlorn

Tom and Madeline have left for Calgary, tomorrow is her post op check and the 12 staples are coming out already! Time has flown! She is doing really well, although quite bored! We were a little worried earlier this week, her walking seemed to get worse and she was rolling her good hip in. I called our vet and they got us another painkiller for her. It has really helped, it was difficult to know she was in enough pain to show it. Last night, since we can't do much training, I started teaching Madeline flash cards. I made a heart, star, circle and square. First I taught her the heart and that she had to slap it with her hand. Then I would shuffle the heart with the other shapes and make her slap the heart, she did it every time! Smart girl! I sent the flash cards with Tom, hopefully he will practice so she doesn't forget, next I will teach her the circle I think. It really makes you wonder how much they can understand, as long as we teach them the word for something they definitly know what it means.

I was looking forward to an evening of Dorian cuddles and knitting......and I FORGOT MY KNITTING AT WORK!!!!! This is the first time I have ever done this. I am so distraught. Hours ahead of me before bed. So, shall I cast on a new project or spin? Or a nice hot soak in the tub? Or painting? Or continue to sit on blogger reading about all the things other people are getting done?

I seem to have this trend of shutting down and doing nothing when Tom goes away. I did do the dishes at least!

The Patient

We made it to Calgary and back this week. It was a tough road for Madeline. She was a hurting unit on Monday night. We stayed at my dads house, and after her knee surgery there was some scar competition! Dad had a hip job done a few years back, I think he won, his was bigger!

Now we are one big nursing station. Madeline is not allowed to do any walking for the first two weeks, except for potty breaks. You can imagine how thrilled she is with that. I wish I could get her to understand that, because I think in her mind she is a three legged dog and she is just trying to adapt and get on with life this way. She doesn't understand there is healing time involved. So she spends a lot of time in Dorians pen (thank you Auntie Carrie and Uncle Darren!!! So handy!!) and the rest of the time in our bed room. She is going rather stir crazy. Today we are back in training classes, we are going to take her, if only for a change of scenery. She is going to get really good at eye contact and no mugging, as that is about all we can do with her!

She lasted one and half days with out licking her wound! We were sure she couldn't reach it! But sure enough, on the second day I came home from lunch and the leg was all wet and the wound was all red....out came the cone! Why do dogs insist on licking wounds? If I had 10 staples in my leg, the last think I would want to do is look at it, let alone put it in my mouth! Gross!

It's looking good already, I'm sure the stubbles will be making her nutty shortly.

Dorian is rather confused. He can't figure out why he is free to roam and she is always locked up now! He doesn't seem to know what to do with himself! Madeline is being very good though, I thought she would be extra snappy with him, because she is in pain, but she is being quite calm. We do our best to keep the bouncing baby boy away from her though, he is still quite a spaz!

I took this picture this morning. His favorite thing is to go up that stairs and then play silly buggers at the top....bark at us to come and get him, and then run away when we do. He still can't get down the stairs and he is getting quite heavy, over 30 pounds now. This game is getting a little tiresome...

Progress on the house has slowed a little, I got one coat done on one wall in the kitchen. For those of you who have seen the "present" on the wall. It has come down and FINALLY been painted over! I'm doing the vanilla icecream on the kitchen walls and not to sure about it. We'll have to see how it looks once we start staining the cupboards.

I started a pair of socks for Tom using leftover yarn, but I think they may just be house socks...the gauge turned out huge!!!

I better sign off and get boiling some liver...class starts in a couple of hours! Yum!

Love for Ling!!!

We are leaving for Calgary tonight, to get little Lingy operated on! Everyone send us good thoughts and fast healing vibes please!!! She is having her knee fixed and possibly her throat and breathing fixed if time allows. We are going to be in rehab mode for almost ten weeks. It should be interesting to say the least, Madeline is a well known olympian in her circles. So we are off on a ladies only road trip this afternoon, and the boys are staying home to play video games and whatever else boys do...cuddle and knit maybe???

We are ALL DONE the floor in the addition room! Ouch, I don't know how people do that for a living. We also found out that those heated back pads actually do stay hot for up to eight hours, and they work really great! The floor looks amazing, we couldn't be happier. We are rather flabbergasted at how crooked the walls are. Is this house actually an oval??? I wouldn't mind seeing those blue prints....or the square that was used??

Dorian and Madeline we very helpful throughout the whole process. We are so lucky to have kids that like to help out around the house.

Can you see Tom gritting his teeth?? Great shot hey?

We started installing the baseboard last night. It also looks great.

I have discovered additional fun with spinning...we did our first dye job this week! Of course I started with my favorite color, pink! I also bought a navy blue, but we haven't dyed any of that yet. We started out with this huge roll of white wool, it was just the cheap stuff as we are still in practice mode.

Then we boil it in it's little chemical bath! I wouldn't highly recommend this method, we don't have a hood fan, so the fumes went everywhere and it was rather stinky, after we try the blue I think we will move onto koolaid dyes, as there is no smelly chemical.

The neatest part, was that after boiling the wool, the water was perfectly clear! All the dye goes into the wool! Then we hung it in the shower to dry.

I just started spinning some of it this week, but nothing to show yet, I was more busy finishing up some knitting projects!

I knit this washcloth with our first spun ball of yarn! It is ....yes well, we have some practicing to do as I mentioned before. This is actually a picture of a kitty with a heart in the middle, can you see it????

I finished Carrie's conductor hat. I'm not thrilled with it. It fits funny, I don't know why these projects for Carrie are not turning out. This is the second try and I'm still not happy.

Then I finished this hat that I started to try out a pattern and use up some of my first yarn purchase....Walmart red heart brand...oh I was so foolish in my young knitting days....I can't believe what a yarn snob I have become. This hat is really really weird. And large. And pointy. Any takers? It's really warm though!

Now, for the first time in my knitting career, I have nothing on any needles. I feel a little lost. I have had an exciting request for a Cowichan sweater, which has come at a great time, because I have been wanted to dive into a bigger project then a hat or socks. Although I do want more socks too. They are so heavenly. So any tips or patterns on cowichan sweaters out there? It seems to be tricky just to find a pattern! Oh well, there's nothing like a good knitting challenge!

Old Man Tommy

A mere one month after dear old Tommy turned 30, his eyesight went down the tubes! Poor old guy! So here are his new spectacles! Gooood Looking!

He was very astonished to find out what we all really look like!

Last night I finished my first little skein. I know it looks a little like a ratty ball of twine, but the impressive part is that it is one continuous piece of string! Then I spun it into a 2 ply yarn! I like to call it varigated weight, in some spots its fingering weight aaannnd in other spots it's chunky! It's a surprise around every stitch! What shall I knit with this beautiful ball of yarn?

We used our second set of passes to Red Mountain yesterday, for a day of relaxing on the snow! The view from the chairlifts are amazing, I have never seen anything like it! I wanted to take the camera this time, but neither of us wanted to carry a back pack! And the weather is so amazing here, I was actually swatting a fly as I was tyeing my boots up! Crazy!

On Sunday, I spent most of the day in my gardens, this is the best winter yet! Don't you all want to move here? All my perennials are poking their little heads out already. We also saw some people out on a boat on the lake on Sunday!

This is going to be THE year of the garden, I just know it!

Louet, you need a name...

Lisa? Lonnie? Louise? Whitney? If I'm going to spend this much time with something, it better have a name....

Welcome home little Louet.

My goodness there was a lot of little pieces in that box!

The wood is unfinished, so I had to take a break from the reno's to work on my louet!

It's really painful when you wait so long for something, and it arrives and then you have to watch paint dry....

Finally, I got to put it all together!

And we had a little unexpected help....

I know it's hard to tell, but yes that is a frog. In my house. In February. I don't know why we even bother with doors. Come on in everybody. Mi Casa, su casa?

Voila! Here she is! Ready to frustrate me to boundries I didn't even know existed!!!

Beeeeutiful!

She came with a full bag of wool roving to practice with....so far I have produced nothing worth taking a picture of! Tom had a spin, he did really well. He's a natural fibre artist. Who knew? Tommy Underwood, Artisan.

Hopefully, by the time we get through this bag of wool, we will be able to produce something with a little consistency. Maybe I will find a class someday too. It would be nice to know if we are even doing it right!

We picked up all the flooring for the room on Friday, its a laminate in a nice dark brown, hopefully it will match nicely with the stain I will do on the cabinet in the kitchen. But now we have a small hiccup because there is some heaving in the concrete floor that will cause some unevenness. It was hidden by a carpet seam before. We will call over the neighbor later today for some advise. He is a concrete guy by trade. Hopefully it will be an easy fix, we were planning to have the floor down by the end of the weekend!!!

Wow, that's a terrible picture! It really does look good!

Back to work now!