Happy Birthday, Laika!

It’s her birthday today… Happy 4th my love!

Click here for more pics ♥

Well, well.

It seems that two of my life long dreams have come true:

1) The Monterey Bay Aquarium has a program where you can spend the night. In the building. I KNOW. I can't even think about this without squealing. *squeal*! See, I told you.

2) Speaking of squealing, I know you have probably already heard, but: tiny piggies. THAT YOU CAN KEEP AS PETS. I have always said that if pot-bellied pigs stayed small, I'd be all over that! Eeeeeep!

Gifty Paintings

Two paintings, same frame:

This one was for my mom (for her birthday)... Pudge is her Pomeranian/Chihuahua (that's right, pom-chi) and is always with her. It's gouache on paper.

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And this one was a commission by Joan, my MIL's best friend, who has a new little nephew! It's oil on canvas.

I'm taken with ovals at the moment... and I love that frame! I may have to go stock up on them at some point. Now I have to get around to painting something for myself...

Another one.

Another neckwarmer...

Celtic Cable Neckwarmer

Yarn: Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande, Pattern: here

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I swear I am happier about this neckwarmer than I look in the picture. I unraveled an old cable cowl that was a bit too small a bit too plain for me... I've made so many plain scarves that I've given away or abandoned. So now, I've been playing a little catch-up since I don't actually have many scarves to wear... and no black scarf! That's crazy talk.

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Though I could just wrap Black Kitty around my neck...

He's certainly long enough.

Top 5.

My Top 5 Pets...

as in, the top 5 that I don't have, but want desperately.

As in, I can't actually talk Chris into bringing these home...

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(in no particular order)

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Pygmy Hedgehog

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Fennec Fox

(That's right. A fox. That you can keep as a pet. I KNOW.)

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Miniature Pony
(They're dog-sized! Ahhhh!)

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Bunnies
(one Angora)

(...and one Dwarf)
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Sheep/Goats
(I put them together because they're pretty close, really...

except personality-wise... sheep pretty much hate people.

Mine will have to get over it. Because I will hug it. Daily.)

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And I leave you with this:
In case you haven't already died from cute.

(All pictures from Cute Overload)

Laika's a Betsy!

So, we got Laika a DNA test... yes, we are that geeky. We got it here, and after some hullabaloo involving a false poodle identification, we found out that Laika is a Border Collie! A Level 1 (more than 75%) Border Collie and Level 4 (10-19%) Weimaranar, to be precise... Anyway, that was very exciting because I'm a big fan of the breed after reading about Betsy in National Geographic:

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...a border collie named Rico appeared on a German TV game show in 2001. Rico knew the names of some 200 toys and acquired the names of new ones with ease. ...To find more examples, the scientists read all the letters from hundreds of people claiming that their dogs had Rico's talent. In fact, only two—both border collies—had comparable skills. One of them—the researchers call her Betsy—has a vocabulary of more than 300 words. Name: "Betsy"

Species: Border Collie

Home: Vienna, Austria

Smarts: Retains an ever growing vocabulary that rivals a toddlers.
How much thought goes on behind those eyes? A lot, in this case. Six-year-old "Betsy" can put names to objects faster than a great ape, and her vocabulary is at 340 words and counting. Her smarts showed up early: At ten weeks she would sit on command and was soon picking up on names of items and rushing to retrieve them—ball, rope, paper, box, keys, and dozens more. She now knows at least 15 people by name, and in scientific tests she's proved skilled at linking photographs with the objects they represent. Says her owner, "She's a dog in a human [pack]. We're learning her language, and she's learning ours."

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Read the whole article here. It's not just about dogs, and the whole thing is fascinating.

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We had thought Laika was an Australian Shepard (that's what they suggested at the SPCA) mixed with some sort of racing breed, since she's so slim and fast. Fast like she gives the Whippet at the dog park a run for his $. The surgeon that set her broken leg thought so too... Plus, she's less that 35 pounds, so we figured something small, but I suppose it's always a crapshoot when you try to guess. Anyway, we didn't really care what she was, we were just curious... we'd love her if she was a poodle, too.

A couple more Sea Creatures...

They both join the other sea creatures in the bathroom.

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Squid

Pattern:
Squid-A-Licious by Hansigurumi

The only mod I made was making the body in one piece instead of two. I just ran a length of yarn through the middle and tightened it to make up for that.
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Cuddle-Fish

Pattern: Cuttlefish by Hansigurumi

I used to eat copious amounts of dried cuttlefish (as a child).

They're not really "fish". Obviously.
I really had to force myself to finish this one. There were many mistakes in the pattern (very unusual for Hansi… she’s pretty much a genius) (*I included my Errata below). It’s also a bit bigger than the other cepholopods- I’d probably would have used sport-ish weight if I thought ahead… I embroidered him with some stripeys to make him a bit more realistic, and cast off the fins with white for a little extra detail.

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And speaking of Sea Creatures:

I'm pretty sure Maggie is an otter. There's more new pics of her here.

And her BFF, Laika, of course.

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My Hansigurumi Cuttlefish Errata:

Page 4, Section 4 (last on page): Even Rows- do not wrap and turn, as you are at the end of the rows.

Hansi's Errata: Page 6, should read "Using Figure 1 as a guide, use MC and pick up a total of 34 stitches from the top selvedge of arms as follows...", and Row 1 should read "P22, w&t"

Page 6: Row 21: P25
Page 7 (top): Row 22: K9, SSK, k2tog, SSK, K2tog, K9. Place remaining 22 stitches...

Page 7 (middle): Clarification- When picking up 5 sts from the underside of the outermost arms, do not pick up from the webbing area.

Page 7 (bottom): Round 4: K1, *K2tog, repeat from * to the end of the round, end K1. (20 stitches)

Page 8: Round 7: (*K2tog, KI), repeat from * to last 2 stitches, K2tog. (6 stitches)

Page 11: Round 4: *SSK, (K1, KLR, K1) 3 times, (K1, KLR) 56 times, (K1, KLR, K1)...

Maggie!

There's a new pup-pup in town! Chris's parents picked up Maggie (AKA Maggie Magnolia, Maggie May, Maggie Mags, Magpie, Auntie Maggie [because she's Laika's aunt now]) last weekend in Grass Valley...

She's a chocolate lab, 7 weeks old now.

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Here she is plotting something sinister:

There are plenty more pics here.

Happy Birthday Kitties!

White Kitty and Black Kitty are now both 10 years old!

Happy Birthday, buddies.

Yeah, that's how they roll.

Doggies & Dollies...

I have to show off my lovely pup's new name tag:

I picked it up on Etsy, here. You can have any photo or drawing you like etched onto your tag, front and back! They are ridiculously well priced and came with just about the cutest stamps I've ever seen on the package. Oh Taiwan, you really know from cute.

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I also wanted to mention I am arranging a little crafting get together... Emily from the Black Apple was on Martha last week making these cute dolls:

and I want to make them with you! We'޲ll wat޲ch the޲ seg޲men޲t, eat޲ sna޲cks޲, and޲ mak޲e cut޲e dol޲ls.޲.. I thi޲nk I hav޲e at lea޲st one޲ boy޲ int޲ere޲ste޲d! He'޲s goi޲ng to mak޲e a Bus޲h voo޲doo޲ dol޲l ver޲sio޲n! If you޲'re޲ int޲ere޲ste޲d, mes޲sag޲e me for޲ inf޲o (di޲rec޲tio޲ns,޲ etc޲). I'm޲ thi޲nki޲ng nex޲t Saturday (Ap޲ril 5th޲).

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Supply List:

Printout of Directions (here)

Fabric (for skin color, dress color, and leg/tights color)

Felt* (for hair)

Poly-Fil (Stuffing)

Optional: Accessory supplies > Felt* (scarves, shoes, collars), Buttons, Ribbons, etc.

*Preferably wool felt, especially if you want to be able to wash it.

I've seen it available at Beverly's and occasionally JoAnn's.

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I will have paint for the face and sewing machines & thread, plus some extra poly-fil & buttons. Visit the Black Apple for ideas & inspiration for your doll!

A very bad dog.

A couple weeks ago, I came home to this:

"Ummmm... me? Nothing..." You see, if our beautiful Australian Shepard/racing breed mutt isn't brought to the dog park as close to every day as possible, this is what you get. No, walking will not help much- we can walk her an hour a day, and it does almost nothing for her... she needs to run. A lot.

She's pretty good if she gets enough exercise, but her eating-fits are very unpredictable. She's a year and 7 months-ish old, and in the year-plus we've had her, she's only eaten one shoe (only one little strap on said shoe, in fact), but then she pulls out all the stops and does this:

That would be: one ball of Rowan 4-Ply Soft ($9) mostly destroyed, one brand-new customized GoKnit Pouch ($20) that will need major work, one discontinued walnut #11 Brittany knitting needle ($25-50 on Ebay) that just happened to be half of my very favorite needles, one set of #7 Clover 16" circs ($8) destroyed, one Chibi needle case (not shown, $5) destroyed, and an evening spent repairing/rewinding damage.

Not that it couldn't have been much worse, I know, but still. I really, really wanted to strangle her. She's very lucky that she's adorable.

Ranch. Of the Sea.

As in, Sea Ranch. Pictures from our 2nd anniversary vacation there are up on Shutterfly...

So, most people want to go somewhere warm on vacation, but living in the Sacramento valley makes us long for places like this:

Here's the house where we stayed (Thanks, Adrian!):

Oh deer!

And our dog was in mid-air for the majority of the 5 days.

Go see the rest here: http://awesomefraser.shutterfly.com/action/

And just to make this knitting related, I posed for pics of my Ribbed Lace Bolero (fabulous pattern by tragicheroine---> http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=181117.0):

And my new labels!

I used 3 balls of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran 300611
(compensated for by going down a needle size),
which is, as I have stated in the past, soft as kittens.
Kittens, I say.