Ready or Not

Well, I have the presents ready to mail (wrapped, in the car and I'm headed to the Post Office today). I have a few more rows to knit on the last knitted present and when I bind off and weave in the ends it means I am DONE with my Christmas presents. I just have a few stocking stuffers to buy and I have to wrap the presents for my family, but for all intents and purposes I am done!! Wow, and I thought I would be knitting right up until Christmas - but I have two whole weeks to spare. Of course, the presents I'm sending to the UK will probably arrive late (sorry Mel) but that is ok.

An artic cold front is arriving in Casper this weekend - temperatures in the single digits for the highs! Buuuurrrrr. I think my hand knit scarves, mittens and hats will be getting a workout next week. Woo Hoo!!

We have drifts of snow and ice on our back deck from the snowstorm we had on Monday. Pershing and Lucie love to much on snow and ice - in fact, they each beg for ice cubes when I am at the freezer. Odd. So anywho, everytime the dogs go out they munch on the ice. But when they come back in, they each pick up a chunk of ice from the deck and bring it in the house to chew on. So, slowly but surely my deck will be cleaned off - one piece at a time. Of course one day Lucie got a little over ambitious and tried to bring in a 2 foot icicle and I made her leave that outside. I do have my limits.

Still no photos as I still have not found my camera. I have a real mystery on my hands here. I really hope it turns up soon.

'Tis the Season

I'm only going slightly crazy this holiday season.

I had a huge list of things to do this weekend - which included a bunch of Christmas knitting to catch up on, baking, shopping, wrapping, etc. I managed to do everything expect the Christmas cards and wrapping.

I have an excuse for the wrapping tho - I normally wrap on the bed in the War Room but I had a knitted present blocking on the bed over the weekend. As it is now dry and blocked I can start wrapping tonight. I also needed to finish knitting some gifts before I could actually wrap them and send them off (novel idea I know.)

I have also misplaced my digital camera. I could have sworn it was in my car but lo and behold it is not there. Hummm. I took knitting photos yesterday using the "old fashioned" film camera. But I really need to find the digital camera as it has some other photos on it I need to work on scrapbooks. If anyone sees a silver digital camera (I don't know the brand - it's silver) with a broken lens cover (I dropped it at the the dog park on day - mittens and cameras don't mesh very well) please let me know. Maybe the dogs took it as they were tired of having their photo taken all the time. This also means that I don't have any photos to post at this time. The cable to connect the camera to my computer is sitting here ready to be used, but no camera.

My LYS (local yarn shop) is having a party tomorrow night and we have to bring in yarn from our stash for a gift exchange. I had a hard time trying to find some yarn to gift. We had a limit of $20 worth of yarn. I don't want to be mean and give out all of the little leftover balls of yarn from years of knitting projects, nor do I want to give the really crappy yarn. I managed to find some chenille yarn and some nubbly stuff purchased at a garage sale. I figure that they add up to about $20 of yarn. Who knows. I need to wrap the box still so I have the rest of the day to change my mind if I want.

My final scrapbooking retreat of the year is coming up this Saturday. Crop 'n Carols! I am still working on my European Invasion album (from my year abroad about 13 years ago). I also have a calendar to work on, I just need to find the photos. There is probably something else but it is not occuring to me right now.

I still have 1.5 presents to knit, and I need to buy some stocking stuffers for the family. Oh, and I need to make a gift to take to my Girl Scout meeting - under $8 and has to be hand made. Humm. Something knitted I'm guessing.

Hat Season

The snow a couple of weeks ago clued us all in that it is getting to be hat weather here in Wyoming. Here are two of my latest projects:

This is the Four-Square hat designed by Jared Flood, aka Brooklyn Tweed. You use two different yarns and change color every 2 - 6 rows. The greyish color is an organic wool from New Zealand. The brown is from Knit Picks - their Peruivan wool. A very southern hemisphere hat. I knit this for the accountant for work - he has spent a lot of time with me recently helping me understand our accounting system and this was to thank him for his time and trouble.

This hat is from the recent Vogue Knitting magazine and it knit up soooo cute. This is for Autumn, the 3-year old daughter of a friend. How is this for a perfect birthday present? The inside yarn is wool/alpaca mix (and since we recently visited an Alpaca farm it is very appropriate) and the outside is a 100% wool. It looks very cute on Autumn.

Literate Knitter

I bought two books last night and finished one and am half-way through the other. Yeah, I know absoutly nothing about delayed gratification. I blame my mother and grandmother for not knowing when to close a book and go to bed. It's a curse, but it is better than some other curses I can think of.

The book I finished:

"Drunk, Divorced and Covered in Cat Hair" by Crazy Aunt Purl. What a great book! Now, I consider myself to be a drunk knitter covered in dog hair (Aunt Purl goes for wine, I love my beer and vodka tonics) but I can identify with her. This funny woman can go thru a very trying time in her life and eventually take the time to laugh and find the humor in her situation. There are also some knitting patterns in the book - if you want to knit a cat tunnel that is. Actually, there are some great patterns in the book and I would love to knit the bracelet purse for someone.

The book I am halfway thru:
"Free-Range Knitter: The Yarn Harlot Writes Again" by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, aka the Yarn Harlot. This woman is a very funny writer and I have read all of her books. Take the time to read her essays - there are some great knitting ideas and concepts in them. My favorite thus far - sock yarn is the knitters equivalent to methadone - when you need a yarn "hit" then sock yarn fits the bill.

I love both of the blogs that these two woman write. Take the time to check them out.

Coming the mail soon.....
"It Itches" by Franklin Habit. It has been released and I have it pre-ordered so it should be on my door any day now. I love Franklin's cartoons about knitting and I love his sense of humor. Also out now is a "beef cake" calendar he did called "Men with Yarn". Oh la la.

Just a Little Snow

It started snowing overnight Thursday into Friday and by Sunday morning this is what it all looked like.

Here is Ron brushing off the car so we can go take the dogs to the park and go out to breakfast.






Here is a view of our backyard. I figure we have at least a foot of snow, it not more, on the railing of the deck.








This is Lucie at the dog park having a most wonderful time. I don't have a speed racer setting on my camera so getting photos of her is rather hard, but I think I was able to capture her joyfulness. She and Pershing had a great time at the park.

This was a wet, slushy snow, so by the time we finished at the park I had wet socks as the snow was deeper than my boots were high.

Saturday I held a Fiber to Fabric Festival for the Girl Scouts of Casper - the event went off quite well and everyone had a most excellent time. The 42 girls and adults that participated were able to learn spinning, weaving, wet and needle felting, knitting and crochet, Kool Aid dyeing, and they worked on Quilts for Newborns in need. My volunteers were wonderful and they had as much fun as the girl scouts did. I was one tired puppy Saturday night. Planning these events are a lot of work but they are very rewarding. However, Mother Nature sees fit to have it snow every time I plan one of these. Last year in October I held a Scouts Tee Off golf event and it snowed that morning. But, Wyoming scouts are tough and we golfed anyway. It is pretty much a crap shoot tho with any event held in October. But with my luck, even if I hold an event in July it will still snow.

I am starting to knit Christmas presents. I have ideas of what I want to knit for people, I just have to find the time to work on them. I knit myself a pair of fingerless gloves out of a llama/silk yarn I bought the last time I was in Boulder. Very warm yarn - in fact, I am wearing them as I type this out. My office gets kind of cold and my heater unit is behind me so the back of my chair gets warm but the front of me stays cold.

Ok, I thought that all of this snow and cold and such like was supposed to kill off the flies!! No such luck. I have a really pesky one in my office right now and I'm ready to go postal on the guy.

Tools of the Trade

I've come to realize that my two hobbies have A LOT of stuff associated with them. Needles & Pens, Yarn & Paper, Patterns & Pictures, both use sissors. Needless to say I have to haul all of this around when I go to events and classes.

Last night was the first night of the knitting class I teach at Casper College. We have a huge class this semester - woo hoo! Darlene is teaching 5 new crocheters and I have 10 (yes, count them, 10) new knitters. And 4 of them are teenagers! This will be the largest group of new knitters I have had to teach - but I think I shall be able to manage.

On the first night of class I always haul everything to show the students what this new hobby involves. They get to see and feel and squish all the different types of yarn - lace, fingering, sport, worsted, bulky, wool, cotton, alpaca, llama, silk, bison, seacell, hemp, etc. They get to see all of the types of tools - needles (straight, circular, double pointed), gauges, rulers, cable needles, yarn needles, stitch holders, stitch markers. And they get to see the finished projects - I tear apart my house pulling out scarves, hats, gloves, sweaters, dish clothes, socks, shawls, blankets, and the like. The fall semester always has more of the finished projects to display as I am knitting Christmas presents. The spring semester does not have a much - just photos. I try not to overwhelm everyone with all of this - I just try to get them excited about the semester and all of the cool projects they get to create.

Tonight I am off to a scrapbooking retreat for the weekend. Instead of yarn and needles, my car is now loaded with paper, albums, and photos. We will be up on Casper Mountain for the next 48 hours! The golf pro claims that this is just an excuse for us girls to escape and drink beer for the weekend. He is right - I do have beer in the car. But we will be doing a lot of scrapbooking! I plan on getting my knitting album caught up, and I will also be working on the album from when I did my year abroad in 1994. Talk about a trip down memory lane.

Maybe I'll have photos to post of my adventures. For a scrapbooker I sure hate to take photos.

To keep you amused until then, here is photo of my mom wearing the shawl I knit her. It is out of Malabrigo yarn - the wool/silk blend. Yummy. And this is the Clapotis Scarf/Shawl:

Pass the Butter...

Spud of the West, aka Dr. Potatohead, recently had a birthday and I tend to knit her less than functional items. That is what friends are for.

A couple of years ago she received this:

Every mad scientist need a knit double helix of their very own. Here is Spud's under the microscope. They always look larger under the microscope.

This year she received....

Ain't he cute? As Mr. Potatohead still resides near Boston and Dr. Potatohead is in Gunnison for another year I thought she needed a little lobster to remind her of home. I bet her students really wonder about their professor. I now have to start looking for next year's pattern.

The Continuing Education catalog came out last week and the knitting class I teach is listed once again. I can hardly wait for the new crop of knitters to come to class and I can warp their little minds, I mean introduce them to the wonders of knitting.

I am very excited about taking a yarn dyeing class this weekend at Dancing Sheep. The instructor is from Thermopolis and sells her own line of hand-dyed yarns and fibers. This should be really fun.

In case I have yet to mention it here, Lucie is a wingnut! Yep, our little bundle of oddness is outdoing herself every day. Now, we knew that Lucie see dogs and animals on the TV - which means we have to block Animal Planet. But the Olympics have added to the list of "Things not to watch when Lucie is in the room". Anything to do with horses: dressage, jumping, pommel horse (yes, you read that right). She barked a little bit at the swimming but that might have been a leftover from the dressage. I was watching "Forest Gump" last night and whenever Forest ran she went a little nuts as well. Also, the scene where Jenny is throwing rocks at her old house - that set Lucie off too. (BTW - my favorite line from Forest Gump: "Sometimes there are just not enough rocks.") Pershing ignores the TV unless a doorbell rings on some show. Oh, and NBC aired some commercial for an upcoming series that had some high pitched noises at the beginning and that really wigged them out. Needless to say, this adds a whole new dimension to our TV viewing. And I don't care if shows are aired in HD - it doesn't matter when your screen is covered in nose prints!

Knitting Odds and Ends

Ok, so the reason I have not been blogging is 1) sheer laziness (I'll be honest), 2) I really do not have that much to say, and 3) I've been busy knitting. So I won't keep you all waiting any longer, here are some pictures of my recent knitting adventures:

Two Cable knit headbands. The green band on the left is out of Hempathy yarn (a cotton, hemp mix) and the red headband is 100% cotton. I love wearing them. You can't see the ties, but they are i-cord. (The headbands are "posed" on a lazy kate.)

Pershing modeling a scarf I knit. In my knitting classes at Casper College we do a scarf out of some sort of novelty yarn (like a fun fun, ribbon yarn, etc) and they have to pick two separate yarns to learn how to change and carry different colors/yarns. This was the sample I knit along with the class this past semester.

Socks, socks, socks. Yes, I do love to knit socks. The first pair are for me (I do so love selfish knitting). They knit up in this fair isle pattern in the browns and greens. I do so love these socks.

This are Primavera Socks. I didn't download the closeup but there is a pattern of sorts. These are knit out of Tofutsies.

Finally, my Mexico socks out of Regia yarn. The yarn band indicates that thier colorways are for the flag colors of various nations. These are Mexico, and not the North Pole as one might initially think. I think these will be a gift.

My life is not all knitting. Here is some wool I spun up. It is a wool, silk mix from Lucy's Sheep Camp in Thermopolis, WY where they dye the wool. Beautiful. I have no idea what I'll do with this yarn...

Finally, the baby blankets. As mentioned in a previous blog there are several babies due this fall. These two blankets are for the twins my cousin is expecting - a boy and a girl. The yarn is Universal. I purchased the yarn when I was in Tempe for the Ironman. They are so beautiful and so soft - perfect for a set of newborns in New Jersey.

I have knit some other stuff as well but don't have the photos yet and/or they are presents and have to be mailed off before I can post the photos. I have several other projects on the needles so I have plently to keep me busy.

In case anyone was concerned, the golf course is back to normal, and perhas a tad better, after the flooding we had in early June. We just finished hosting our largest tournament and the summer season is starting to wind down. Yes, you read correctly. School starts on the 18th of August around here and teachers have to be back the week before so we have only 3 more weeks of summer before we loose all our staff.

I did host a summer scrapbooking party at my house in June and we scrapped all day long in the A/C. I finished the Ironman scrapbook for Dave and am debating when to give it to him. I'll be home over Labor Day weekend for a wedding and would love to give it to him then (I am very impatient). I should wait until Christmas, but I doubt I will make it that long. I am going to a Girls Night Out scrapping this Friday night and will work on some more albums. It is a wonder I have time to work. Speaking of, I should probably get back to it.

Casper Yacht Club

It has been a very wet spring here in Casper - so wet in fact that yesterday the Elkhorn Creek overflowed its banks and flooded our golf course. It is rather disturbing to see whitewater where the driving range is/was. The fantablous grounds crew is pumping our bunkers, checking out the erosion around the bridges and just working their arses off getting the course back into shape before our big tournament next week. We were supposed to have a tournament today, but as we don't have boats to rent to the golfers, they are across town playing golf. Check out the coverage in the local paper.

We have also been installing new software at work so between the conversion process, the rain, and everything I will be working many more hours than I am used to. Thankfully I have a wonderful yarn escape! Tomorrow I get to work at one of the LYS!! Charlotte needs me to cover the store tomorrow so darn it all, I will have to spend the entire day in a yarn store. Mom says is like having the fox guard the chicken coop, but I think I will be able to restrain myself. I will be teaching a cable knit class at the end of June so I will probably be playing with fiber and figuring out a pattern. I knit a really cute cable headband this week - pictures are still on the camera - out of a poppy red cotton yarn (the yarn label is also at home - sorry for the vague details for those that care). I have also been doing some spinning this week. I purchased some roving from Lucy's Sheep Camp (out of Thermopolis, WY) and have spun up one bobbin so far. I also took a drop spinning class last night - I needed a refresher on the drop spindle - and it was much easier than I remember. Thanks Rebecca for being a most excellent teacher!!

Finished Projects!

I finally have some finished projects - with photos - to show ya'll.

Disco Socks:

This pattern I found in my Knitting Pattern-a-Day calendar. Very cool socks that mom is now wearing.

Baby Blanket:

My boss and his wife are expecting baby girl #3 in October and as his house will now be overflowing with pink I decided that he needed a Chicago Bears Baby Blanket. He is a huge Bears fan and now he will have something to curl up under with his new daughter. Everyone go "awwwww". The pattern is called Tilting at Windmills that I found in the vast reaches of the internet. I modified the stripes to mimic the blue, white and orange stripes on the old Chicago Bears uniforms. I had to show it to boss-man as it was just so cool. He won't officially receive it tho until closer to the due date.

And this is why my blog is called Knits With Dogs. That is Lucie helping me take the photo of the blanket. Yes, I have a whole house for them to roam in and this is where she hangs out. Earlier, there was a squeaky toy on the blanket. I missed getting Pershing in the photo but he was helping out as well. Sigh - dogs.

My cousin and his wife are expecting twins - a girl and a boy - also in early October. (I am blaming the writers strike for this "baby boom". There was nothing good on TV so let's make our own entertainment! People have no consideration for us knitters.) Anywho, I have the two blankets done for the twins - just the basic diagonal dishcloth blanket, but I will be adding edgings to coordinate to the sexes. I knit both blankets in a verigated yarn by Universal Yarns called Easter Parade and then I can match up the blue and pink colors to knit up edgings. Time to go shopping for yarn!!

On a separate note, Casper now has TWO yarn stores. Yes, I have two LYS to choose from when purchasing yarn. I am currently teaching a beginning knitting class at the new store and taking a shawl sampler class at the other store. If you are ever in Casper be sure to check out All That Yarn and Dancing Sheep Yarn & Fiber. Joan and Charlotte run excellent stores and I am so glad to have ever more selection of beautiful yarns. My checkbook is not so happy however.

What Happened to April?

Apparently I missed April.

The World's Largest Crop was great fun. There were so many cool page ideas - I can't believe how creative some people are.

The Ironman was tiring, awesome, hot, stressful, and wonderful. Dave finished!! Woo Hoo! That is the important thing. The athletes had 17 hours to finish and Dave did it in 16:48:48. His swim and bike were excellent but the run nearly did him him. And the crazy boy wants to do another one in a year or so. I can't be related to someone like this. But, there were 2100 other crazy people compeating as well.

I got home, unburied my desk at work, and then somehow acquired a sinus infection. I'm blaming typhoid Ron for this one. The course of antibiotics is almost done (yeah!) but I still have a mild cough. I started this 10 days ago while doing another scrapbooking weekend. I was slightly out of it and did not have as much fun as I had anticipated. I did get a album completed tho so that is a good thing. But, that Sunday I got even sicker and spent the whole day throwing up.

I am finally feeling better, but realized it is now May and somehow a whole month has gotten away from me. Hopefully nothing too important passed me by.

We Are All Crazy

I am off to Denver this weekend to attend what is being billed as "The World's Largest Crop". 1500 scrapbookers in one room having a wonderful time with photos, paper, sissors, stickers and tape runners. I will spend 12 hours on Saturday working on my Year-Abroad album. I orginally put together an album of my photos from my year in Lancaster, England shortly after returning home. I am now putting it in a Creative Memories album and including all sorts of other stuff there wasn't room for before.

I started my scrapbooking "hobby" to record all of my knitting projects. I am on my third knitting album and I keep on knitting. I am also recording my girl scout troop, the dogs (of course!), life with Ron, and several heritage albums.

Ron will be spending the weekend with the dogs - I wonder who will miss me more - Ron, or Lucie and Pershing.

Speaking of Crazy...
Next week I am off to Tempe, AZ to support my brother as he participates in the Ironman Triathlon on the 13th! Check it out: http://www.ironmanarizona.com/ This event is for crazy people. Why would anyone in their right mind spend a perfectly good Sunday swimming 2 miles, biking 112 miles and running 26 miles when you could be knitting or reading or something. Actually, these athletes are very dedicated and work very hard preparing for the Ironman. I am very excitied to attend and support Dave in his first Ironman! I'll post reports when I get back.

No photos again this time. I did get some photos of the Disco Socks I recently finished but once again forgot to download the photos.

THNGVBD

Raise your hand if you ever read the book "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day". I had one of those yesterday. I'm glad that day is over and I hope to never have it repeat again. It was a payroll issue at work and there is nothing like explaining the same thing over and over (and over) again to 40 employees.

I splurged and spent part of my income tax refund on a new iPod. I have the cutest little Nano now - red! Very cool. I figured I can now have my music travel with me as I knit and spin and play with fiber. I also purchased a jumbo flier wheel for my spinning wheel. Yep, I'm a fiber dork.

Along those lines, one of my girl scouts sold me some raw fiber - 3 bags of wool! (yes sir, yes sir, 3 bags full). This led to the determination that Ron needed to install a utility sink for me in which to wash yarn and wool and perhaps even laundry. Did you know it is a 12 mile round trip from my house to Home Depot and that if you drive it 6 times in a 24-hour period you still don't win a prize? Yes, we spent our Easter attempting to do plumbing, which also meant we spent Easter attempting to get water back to our house. We are NOT DIY'ers. I have cold water going to my sink, but no hot water yet, and no drain attached either. Maybe in a weekend or two.

I really should post a photo but I need to take of photo of the socks I finished knitting a few weeks ago before I give them away. I started knitting a cardigan for myself but was not happy with how it was turning out and I frogged the whole thing and will re-think the pattern. I have started another pair of socks and have several projects that need to be started as well. That should keep me out of trouble.

Random Thoughts of the Day

Ron and I took the dogs to the dog park the other weekend and Lucie was running around like a crazy person, as normal. We encountered some other dog owners that had a Benji-type dog and a Bichon Frise type dog. The dogs greeted each other in the typical manner "Yep, smells like a dog". One of the women asked me if Pershing was a very large schiperkee (sp?) and I said no, he is a lab/chow mix. And then I pointed to Lucie and said she was a lab/wing-nut mix. The woman looked at me and stated "Wingnut? I haven't heard of that breed before?" Yes, she had a straight face. I just wanted Bill Engval around to do his "here's your sign" bit. Um, I cleared her confusion by claiming Lucie was an idiot, and she understood. Actually, the labnut is a new designer breed along the lines of the labradoodle.

I did some much delayed spinning last night. And no, for you excercise types it was not what you think. I used an Ashford Traditional wheel and spun some lovely wool dyed a gorgeous poppy red. Actually, I have not spun for a long time as my right leg muscles were not happy with me after several hours. I tried treadling with my left leg (managable, but not as smooth). Who knew that you should stretch and warm up before spinning. I am now trying to decide if I should ply the red wool with itself, or with a black wool (that would be sharp) or something totally off the wall and glittery.

My Girl Scout troop has been selling cookies at booth sales around town. We sold both Saturday and Sunday last weekend and we will be at it again this Saturday. Please, buy GS cookies! It is for a good cause, it helps to support the troops and the council, and the sooner I am rid of all the cookies the sooner we can get on with our lives. I do finally have my garage back as all the cookies now fit in my car. Now I want my trunk back.

Fibertarians United

To h-e-double hockey sticks with the democrats and the republicans! I am so sick of all this primary nonsense! I have switched parties!!! Vote for Dolores in 2008!!! Fibertarians United!!

For more information regarding her platform (shoes) visit The Panopticon.

Reactions

So far people have been very surprised about the new 'do! But everyone also really likes the hair. And yes, it is much lighter. I am re-learning how to brush short hair and I purchased a hair dryer and a curling iron this weekend so my styling will be more than a bun and a stick. I'll get more photos posted soon - promise!

In case anyone as yet to figure this out but men are the most oblivious creatures on earth! I have been at work for 7 hours now and not one person has actually noticed that I cut my hair. Of course the golf pro and superintendant are not in the office every day, but you think that the club manager would take notice. I would get comments on the days I wore my hair in a braid of "Oh, you wore your hair down today - I never realized how long it was" and the like. But today, not one bloody comment! Would they notice if I shaved my head?

Happy 60th Birthday to mom today! Wish I could be home to celebrate.

Yesterday I froze my arse off with my girl scout troop marching in our MLK parade/march. We were the colorguard and the girls did great!! I believe the temperature at 10:30 yesterday morning was something like -20 (with windchill) and it was snowing. Needless to say it was a very fast march and the photos are of all these bundled up people and it is really hard to identify the girls. Apparently another MLK march in Georgia was cancelled yesterday due to 1" of snow or something. I know that they don't get much snow and such, but what lightweights!

Goodbye Cruel World

Lady Godiva, Rapunzel, Crystal Gayle, yours truly. What do we all have in common?

Yep, this is my hair. I have been growing it out long for at least the past 20 years.

Now, what do Jo March, O. Henry's The Gift of the Magi and yours truly have in common?

Yes folks - I cut my hair. Actually, Kayla at the hair salon cut my hair. It looks really cute, it is very light, and now I have to buy a hair dryer and moose and all of those hair products.

Never fear tho - I am donating the cut hair to locks of love. I do have a photo of the hair but Dial Up takes forever to import a photo. Yes, I know, kicking and screaming into the 21st century. There is also a photo of me smiling - that will be imported soon too.

I am happy with my decision. I can't wait for the comments!

UFO's

I've been finishing off a bunch of UFO's this month (UnFinished Objects to you non-knitters). I finally finished the S'mores Socks and they are ready to go to the Girl Scout Council Silent Auction. I hope someone really enjoys them. Last night I also finally finished an afghan. I started this sucker about 4 years ago when I first started knitting. It is knit in 7 separate panels and then seamed together. The partially completed first panel spent several years laying around my yarn room mocking me. Over the past 18 months I starting working on the panels again - a nice break between socks and holiday knitting. The last panel was knit this weekend while watching playoff games (Go Giants!) and I finished seaming the panels last night! As soon as I get a photo I'll post it. It looks really cool. Only two more UFO afghans to go...

Speaking of photos:

Here is my lovely brother modeling his Christmas present - the big red dog hat. (And no, we can never get a normal photo of Dave.) He wanted an ear flap hat, in University of Arizona colors, and the dog motif was a must. Dave has a big tan dog - Farley the English Mastiff. I lined the hat with fleece as he has a bald head and the wool might be too much against the skin. It is a very warm hat and perfect for him to wear after his workouts. Dave is currently in training to participate in the Ironman Triathlon in Arizona this spring - go Dave!! He wears special gear for working out in winter weather, but the hat is great to wear after the training. In fact, his triathlon club mate people really liked the hat as well. Dave did wish there was a tassel on the top. Maybe I'll send him just the tassel for his birthday.

If all goes according to plan there will be a most surprising post on Friday.